The Australian Sports Commission’s (ASC) first AusPlay survey has revealed golf to have more club-based players than most other sports, ranking second in most popular sport played in a club by adults and children.

Golf is the number one most popular sports just for adults.

The survey stated that more than 685,000 Australians played club-based golf in 2016 (upto September), second only to football (1.086 million).

AusPlay is a key pillar of the ASC’s game plan to get more Australians participating in organised sport more often and fills a major gap in national sport and physical recreation data after the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ decision in 2014 to cease funding for all sport and recreation data collection.

It will become the single source of data for government and the sport sector that not only tracks Australian sport participation behaviours, but also informs investment, policy and sport delivery and helps identify strategies to grow participation.

“Golf around the country is going from strength to strength and it’s nice to see the numbers validated by AusPlay,” said Golf Australia Chief Executive Stephen Pitt.

“Golf clubs and facilities have come a long way in recent times in becoming destinations that encompass competition, fitness and fun for the whole family.

“We are thrilled to have that officially recognised and to put us above a lot of sports that Australians hold so dearly says a lot about the appeal of golf as a game for life.”

This year, the ASC will release six-monthly updates of AusPlay trends and plans to use survey data to work with national sporting organisations and state departments of sport and recreation and help shape the ASC’s annual participation investment model.