Australian Golf Industry Council
The Australian Golf Industry Council (AGIC) sought a research project that clearly demonstrated golf's economic, social and health contribution in Australia. Since earlier studies didn't attract the attention needed, AGIC aimed to create an engaging story about golf's value that resonated with the golfing community, funding organisations, and other stakeholders.
After reviewing previous community impact studies the AGIC commissioned, we felt the presentation of results and methodologies could be improved to:
- Make the presentation of the data simple and compelling.
- Reframe the findings to align with the needs of government bodies.
- Emphasise the ‘benefits’ of golf rather than simply golf’s ‘impacts’.
We did this by analysing golf's economic, social, and environmental benefits. We conducted a golf players survey with Prescience Research to gather the primary data about participation, expenditure and perceived benefits. This was analysed alongside industry data and property values.
We further improved and updated the literature review of golf's health and environmental benefits. The health benefits included improved mental and physical health of golf players, plus health system savings. Among others, the environmental benefits included biodiversity and urban cooling.
We found that annually, golf provides:
- $1.4 billion in economic benefits
- $1.0 billion in social benefits
- $890 million in environmental benefits.
We designed a summary report, interactive map, and presentation for AGIC to showcase the value of the findings and, more importantly, the benefits of golf in Australia.
