Lancashire bucks the national trend

But now the Lancashire Union Of Golf Club reports a ‘significant’ increase in 2016 in figures revealed in the Lea-based organisation’s annual report.

The union reports there have been 1,636 new members throughout the year in Lancashire.

County secretary Phil Harvey said: “The sport has continued to be very popular but our increasingly busy lives and financial constraints have meant that joining a golf club hasn’t been a priority for a lot of players.

“Over the past two years the clubs in the county have been doing tremendous work to provide innovative, new, flexible membership options and changing the image of the game, supported by ourselves and England Golf through our strategic plan.

“This hard work and smart thinking has resulted in a 4.2% increase in the number of members across Lancashire this year which is by far the greatest increase in the country.

“We are now about to launch our new development plan for the next two years, so we hope to continue building.”