The only thing hotter than golf itself just may be golf travel, which has been on a fast track of late. And there are no signs of slowing down as 2026 golf season gets underway, according to Buffalo Groupe’s annual Golf Travel Study.
Buffalo Groupe surveyed more than 530 golf enthusiasts scattered across the United States for its 2025 study. The goal was to analyze past golf travel behaviors, future golf travel intentions and golfer-focused metrics for its clients, many of whom are in the golf destination business.
“A lot of the golf travel stems from really strong economic confidence,” says Kyle Ragsdale, CEO of Buffalo Groupe. “The golfer demographic is just not as elastic as the rest of the world, so they still travel, they still play golf and they still pursue luxury. And I don’t see it going away when you look at every golf stat. Yeah, COVID-19 kind of got us back out on the golf course but people just haven't wavered from that now five years later.”
RELATED: Buffalo Groupe releases 2025 Golf Travel Study | Read
Ragsdale noted that the recent comprehensive study showed that golf during a destination trip is just a piece of the puzzle. Exploring cultural or historical sites while on a golf trip grew by 4% from the 2024 study, while combining a college/professional sporting event also rose the same percentage to 35%.
“Even though fine dining is at the top of that list, we are seeing more and more where golf destinations have to build experiences in unique and interesting ways,” Ragsdale says. “It’s a reality resort or destination people have to deal with right now, they’re having to craft unique experiences well beyond golf because that's a big draw.”
That is one reason why on the international front — even through Scotland and Ireland still top the survey’s top foreign bucket list trips — another portion of Europe is closing the gap fast.
“I think everyone is keeping an eye on Spain, Portugal and Italy,” says Ragsdale, noting that Southern Europe checks the travel boxes for food and culture, coastal views and seamless transition from lodging to tee box. “More golf is being built there; more resorts are being built there. People like the weather and the golf travel emergence in that part of the world is for real. There is just a ton of activity there.”
Forty-six percent of those who responded to the survey indicated that Southern Europe was a golf destination of interest.
“Lisbon's a phenomenal city and Portugal is a very friendly, safe place with great golf, great beaches and great food. You can’t go wrong with picking a trip to Portugal,” says Marty Carr, the CEO of Carr Golf Travel in Ireland, one of the world leaders in luxury golf destination trips. “A lot of the other destinations in that part of Europe really don’t have the golf product that Portugal has now.”
As demand continues to be strong, golfers domestically are planning trips more in advance than ever before, with 39% saying they now plan four to six months out as opposed to 31% in the 2024 study.
“That planning window is expanding,” Ragsdale says. “That decision window is something all of these sales offices at resorts are looking at as a very critical data point.”
Of golf experiences sought out, the big mover in the study over 2024 was boutique or smaller destinations that may have 36 holes of memorable golf.
“I think there is a shift back to people willing to make a trek out to the middle of nowhere, a pilgrimage if you will, to play great golf,” says Billy Dunham, product manager for Atlanta-based Premier Golf, which has more than 35 years of experience in the golf destination space.
The study also shows that word of mouth (64% of respondents) is by far the main method of learning of a potential golf destination, closely followed by resort websites (59%).
And a new player has emerged in this category: AI. Of those who responded to the study, 16% say they used artificial intelligence to research golf services and products.
Ragsdale believes this new trend will continue in growing numbers over the next several years.
“That number is just going to blow up when we look at this next year,” Ragsdale says. “And while the resort website number at 59 percent kind of dwarfs that, the AI trend is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I bring this up because if you ask AI a question of where you should go, say in Ireland or Scotland, the response usually leads you to a website. So the combination of those two is really something to keep an eye on because we call it a zero click. And there's just a lot of zero clicking going on. You're not getting these sponsored searches as much to where you can just click on one. It is AI kind of telling us where to go.
“Those in the golf destination business need to pay attention to that because the way people find you heavily, heavily influences where golfers travel.”
Golf travel consumption on social media has a clear leader and it’s YouTube, according to the study. Forty-one percent say they watched the channel to search for golf travel, and that figure is up 10% from the 2024 study.
“People are still turning to the game,” Carr says. “I mean, demand has never been stronger. We thought maybe we would lose travelers once Covid cooled off, but in fact it’s the opposite.”
PURCHASE: The 2025 Buffalo Groupe Golf Travel Study is available for purchase online at LongitudesGroup.com.
