Countries · GOLF COURSES BY COUNTRY

42% of the world's golf courses are in one country.

Name: 42% of the world's golf courses are in one country | Fact Caddie
Description: At the R&A's last count, at the end of 2020, the world had 38,081 golf courses in 206 countries, and 16,156 of them, 42%, were in the United States. Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia follow, and together those four have fewer than two-thirds as many.

At the R&A's last count, at the end of 2020, the world had 38,081 golf courses in 206 countries, and 16,156 of them, 42%, were in the United States. Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia follow, and together those four have fewer than two-thirds as many.

The one to remember

42% in one country.

Facts and sources

At the end of 2020 the world had 38,081 golf courses, in 206 of its 251 countries (The R&A, Golf Around the World 2021).
The United States had 16,156 of them: 42% of the world's courses.
Next came Japan with 3,140, the United Kingdom with 3,101, Canada with 2,564 and Australia with 1,584.
Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia together had 10,389 courses, less than two-thirds of the US total.

Illustration: the gold dots on the globe show each country's share of the world's courses, not where the courses are.

Sources

Golf Around the World 2021, fourth edition · The R&A, with the National Golf Foundation (data as of year-end 2020) checked 11 October 2026

The narration is AI-generated. Sources last checked 11 October 2026.

Script

42% of the world's golf courses are in one country. At the end of 2020, the R&A counted just over 38,000 courses, in 206 countries. The United States alone has 16,156. Japan is a distant second, with 3,140. Then come the UK, Canada and Australia. Add those four together, and they still come to less than two-thirds of the American total. Follow Fact Caddie for more.