Is golf or tennis more popular worldwide? - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

Zippy Chippy · 07-10-2012, 09:45 PM

Had this debate the other night. Obviously golf in the US, but everytime I go on vacation to other countries tennis is absolutely huge, and golf doesn't seem to be that big.

Striker · 07-10-2012, 10:41 PM

I would say tennis over golf. Tennis has more fans and obviously way more participants worldwide.

cj · 07-10-2012, 11:53 PM

It isn't even close, tennis.

Canarsie · 07-11-2012, 10:34 AM

Tennis by a mile only one part of the slam is on our soil.

NJ Stinks · 07-12-2012, 01:05 AM

I would have thought golf in a romp.

And I am surprised Striker thinks there are more tennis players around the world than golfers.

cj · 07-12-2012, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJ Stinks

I would have thought golf in a romp.

And I am surprised Striker thinks there are more tennis players around the world than golfers.

When I lived in Belgium I knew 3 people that were avid golfers. I knew a hundred that played tennis. I could golf pretty much any time I wanted outside a Saturday morning and see a handful of players at most during a round. Tennis, you better book early.

NJ Stinks · 07-12-2012, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

When I lived in Belgium I knew 3 people that were avid golfers. I knew a hundred that played tennis. I could golf pretty much any time I wanted outside a Saturday morning and see a handful of players at most during a round. Tennis, you better book early.

When I go to London the golf courses in the area are crowded on nice days. And people from all over Europe flock to Spain and Portugal for a week of golf. Kind of like people go to Hilton Head here.

I don't see a lot of tennis being played when I go abroad. But maybe I'm not going to the right places either.

melman · 07-12-2012, 06:57 AM

I don't know about that cj. Is there a way via Google to look into that. First the term"popular" does that mean how many playing or how often is it talked about. Then the term "worldwide" I would guess that golf is more played and talked about in South Korea. Look at all the great young lady golfers who have come out of there in recent years. I spend one year living in Germany (thanks to the US Army)

and way back then there was a lot more talk about the golf then tennis major events. I enjoy watching both as there are "one person" shows. You don't get to blame the coach or the ref's.

Although some tennis players try to blame the chair umpire.

It's an interesting question when you consider all of Asia and not just the US and Europe.

cj · 07-12-2012, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJ Stinks

When I go to London the golf courses in the area are crowded on nice days. And people from all over Europe flock to Spain and Portugal for a week of golf. Kind of like people go to Hilton Head here.

I don't see a lot of tennis being played when I go abroad. But maybe I'm not going to the right places either.

Every place is different and England probably does favor golf. You can't play tennis in the rain. Tennis is much cheaper. I love both, but if I had to stick with one, I'd take tennis. I like the one on one competition and the athleticism required a bit more.

cj · 07-12-2012, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by melman

I don't know about that cj. Is there a way via Google to look into that. First the term"popular" does that mean how many playing or how often is it talked about. Then the term "worldwide" I would guess that golf is more played and talked about in South Korea. Look at all the great young lady golfers who have come out of there in recent years. I spend one year living in Germany (thanks to the US Army)

and way back then there was a lot more talk about the golf then tennis major events. I enjoy watching both as there are "one person" shows. You don't get to blame the coach or the ref's.

Although some tennis players try to blame the chair umpire.

It's an interesting question when you consider all of Asia and not just the US and Europe.

I haven't looked, but I think more play tennis. It is cheaper by far to play. Asia is pretty big on tennis as well. I don't think it is nearly as lopsided as you might think.

There is very little blaming the umpire any longer in tennis, which is nice.

horses4courses · 07-12-2012, 08:40 AM

Tennis

melman · 07-12-2012, 08:49 AM

cj and horses--That brings me back to how do you define "popular", by the number of people playing or the number of people who watch/follow the sport. One other item a friend of mine who had to travel a lot to Japan on business told me many times how amazed he was at the "explosion" of golf in that country. Using my term for popular the are two things I'm sure we can all agree on. In the US it's football by a mile. Worldwide it's soccer by a mile.

cj · 07-12-2012, 08:56 AM

"According to Sports Marketing Surveys, there are 61.1 million golfers worldwide; 6.9 million in Europe, 13.6 million in Asia, 1.7 million in Australasia, 1 million in South America and 500 000 in South Africa. There are 37.1 million in the US alone."

"Tennis is one of the major global sports, with over 75 million participants worldwide."

"The SGMA study says in 2008 there were 18.6 million tennis players in the U.S. (age 6 and above), higher than, for example, totals in 1998 (16.9 million) and 1987 (17.3 million)."

Best I can find, but it would seem to show there are 24 million golfers outside the US and
56 million tennis players.

melman · 07-12-2012, 09:05 AM

Tks cj inteeresting data. I don't think the difference between the two sports is lopside either way. Again people playing the sport is far diferent than people who watch/follow a sport. For instance I know more people personally who played soccer than football. But when you difine the term popular to include people who watch talk about and follow it's football by FAR. Everyone knows that the NFL is the ratings gorilla but in 2nd place it's NCAA football. Those two combined dwarf baseball or basketball in the US. Not that I like that as I am a baseball lover.

melman · 07-12-2012, 09:23 AM

cj---Got I think an interesting question for you. In my area among young people who play a sport there are far more young soccer players than football players. Even consider Pop Warner football. Soccer camps and the turn out for high school teams is big on the side of soccer. Makes sense as soccer is far cheaper and less chance of serious injury. How about out in Oklahoma??? is it the same there?? That would be of interest to me as Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida I would consider the highest of young people going for football.