So why do millions of people love Park Golf so much?
Take a look at the numbers:
These figures are based on a nationwide NPGA player survey, with the results published by the Nippon Park Golf Association in 2019. Some 2026 figures added.
Key figures:
73% of park golfers are male. 77% of players have been playing for over 5 years. About 90% of players are between 60 and 79 years old, and 20% began playing to help improve their health.
Over 40% play 3 or 4 times a week, and 60% are members of a club or association. 76% of players said their health improved, and 30% of players started to have more social interactions with others.
As of June 2025, the Nippon Park Golf Association was approved as a provisional member of the Japan Sports Association, and is celebrating its 40th anniversary!
Park Golf Around the World
Japan:
In Japan, there are an estimated 1,300,000 Park Golfers. Japan has about 1,200 courses across the country, with the most being in Hokkaido where Park Golf was born.
An estimated 1.17 million Japanese park golfers are between the ages of 60 and 79. This represents approximately 3.8% of Japan’s 60–79-year-old population.
1 in 26 – Approximately one out of every 26 Japanese people aged 60 to 79 plays Park Golf.
Park Golf is considered a community health activity, and is often supported by local governments.
Courses are typically public and low cost, with city residents enjoying discounted rates. Many courses are integrated into public parks and have ample parking spaces.
What the numbers tell us:
Park Golf is much more than just a game.
The numbers reveal three important characteristics of Park Golf in Japan:
It is social.
60% of players primarily play with members of a Park Golf club or association, while making friends and spending time with friends rank among the sport’s biggest attractions.
It is active.
More than 40% of players report playing three or four times per week, and 76% say their health has improved since taking up Park Golf.
It is accessible.
A typical round takes between one and two hours for the largest group of players, while the sport requires only one club and one ball.
This combination of exercise, social interaction, affordability and accessibility helps explain why Park Golf has become such an important community sport in Japan.
Korea:
Park Golf’s fastest growing market.
While park Golf has been established in Japan for more than 40 years, South Korea has experienced exceptionally rapid growth in recent years.
Korea has over 490 courses and is the fastest growing country. There are over 600,000 players, this number is also increasing rapidly.
Korea has seen explosive growth through a lot of government investment in urban park facilities and senior wellness programs.
Korea is positioning Park Golf as a national leisure sport for an aging society. Over 63% of Korea’s Park Golf courses are built along rivers, making excellent use of otherwise unused land.
Although it began as an older players’ sport, many young people have begun playing and cash prizes of up to U.S. $20,000 or more are offered in some tournaments.
According to a report by “The Chosun Daily” online, published 2026.09.04:
On September 2 at 8 a.m., at the Songdo Park Golf Course in Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu, around 40 people who failed to secure online reservations lined up to get on-site tickets. Son Kyung-rae, 75 years old, said, “Even though I clicked as soon as online reservations opened, there were already 7,000 people in the queue, so I failed. It’s not a lottery, but I had to come in person.”
Incheon City sells 60% of weekly passes online every Monday, but reservations sell out within 2–3 minutes. The World Cup Park Golf Course No. 2 in Seoul’s Mapo-gu, which opened on September 1, also sold out in 2 minutes and 21 seconds after 3,650 people rushed to book online.
Since 2021, 2 million people have visited Hwacheon to play park golf—87 times the county’s population of 23,000. A source from Hwacheon County said, “Park golf enthusiasts are filling the spaces left by departing military units.”
China and Taiwan
Park Golf was introduced to China in 2007, and cities like Weihai hosted early tournaments. Park Golfing is seen as a “cross-border tourism product” with courses built alongside beautiful coastal scenery and aimed mostly at South Korean tourists. In the first five months of 2026, more than 37,000 foreign travelers entered Weihai, while one local Park Golf course alone received nearly 3,000 international visitors, most of them from South Korea.
Taiwan has limited land area, and thus very few courses.
United States
The first Park Golf course in the United States “Destroyer Park Golf” was opened on July 22, 2013, by the world-famous professional wrestler Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer.
From Destroyer Park Golf’s website:
The founder of Destroyer Park Golf and the gentleman responsible for bringing the dream of Park Golf to the shores of the USA mainland, is none other than Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer. His famed history in Japan afforded him 60 years of history and relationships with its culture and people.
Mr. Beyer’s efforts to bring this innovated and very popular sport from Japan finally paid off when his daughter and son-in-law decided to build his ‘retirement’ course. It thrives on a much larger scale than one could have hoped or anticipated! The popularity and interest of park golf in the US continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
Destroyer Park Golf is the first park golf course in the United States. Destroyer Park Golf is sanctioned by the Nihon (Japan) Park Golf Association, Certified by the NPGA, Certified by the IPGAA, and is an IPGAA Member Course.
The IPGAA website shows locations for 18 Park Golf courses throughout the United States.
Park Golf Equipment is also available from Destroyer Park Golf’s “Park Golf Supplies”
The International Park Golf Association of America (IPGAA)
IPGAA is the only Park Golf Organization in North America that is officially recognized and sanctioned by the Japan Park Golf Association (NPGA) and International Park Golf Federation (IPGF).
International Park Golf Association of America (IPGAA), a national not-for-profit corporation, aims to unify all aspects of Park Golf in the United States of America and assist in park golf development in Canada.
Our goal is to popularize and promote Park Golf, introduce and educate participants on the rules, standards and equipment, and to assist and guide Park Golf course development by individuals, companies, and municipalities.
Why These Numbers Matter
Japan provides one of the world’s largest real-world examples of Park Golf at scale.
More than one million people play the sport, approximately 1,200 courses operate across the country, and the majority of players participate regularly as part of their local communities.
The Japanese experience demonstrates that Park Golf can bring together exercise, social interaction, recreation and community participation in a format that requires relatively little land and equipment.
The question now is whether the same model can be adapted successfully for communities in North America.