The Q4 2025 benchmarking report for UK golf retailers has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK golf retailers perform across the digital space.
The latest Q4 2025 benchmarking report for UK golf retailers has just been published. It covers the largest 12 golf retailers, including American Golf, Clubhouse Golf, Golfbidder, County Golf, Snainton Golf Centre, SCOTTSDALE GOLF, Golf Support, Affordable Golf, Druids Golf, Function18.com, HOTGOLF LTD, and GolfOnline.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other golf retailers to win brand exposure, drive online views, and generate in-store footfall (where relevant). The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q4 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
For a glance into just six of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 golf retailers specialists on, check out our quick-look table below;
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK golf retailers specialists or request a copy of the report for the full review.
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing and Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from £30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.
For Q4 2025, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK golf retailers was £6,579, with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £34 . This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.
There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation, businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, Druids Golf reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £0, and Golf Support has the highest at £218.
The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Druids Golf Ltd has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £48, and American Golf has the highest at £280,000.
By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Golf retailers ensure that they’re not directing consumers to broken links, which can cause them to become frustrated and resort to competitor websites instead.
In our previous audit, American Golf reported the most 404 errors (33). This quarter, American Golf remains the golf retailer to watch, and they’ve since increased their total number of 404 errors to 70. 404 error codes are bad for websites because they signal to both users and search engines that a page cannot be found. This can frustrate visitors and lead them to leave the site quickly, increasing the bounce rate and reducing engagement. Over time, this poor user experience can harm a site’s reputation.
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load will see a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. Golf retailers should aim for the highest site speed possible, which may mean switching to a more mobile-friendly website theme so consumers can access their websites on the go with minimal delays.
In our last audit, HOTGOLF LTD reported the slowest mobile site speed (12). This quarter, HOTGOLF LTD has increased their mobile site speed to 21, no longer making them the golf retailer to watch. Currently, the mobile site speed ranged between 39 and 1, with Function18.com reporting the slowest speed. Faster sites keep visitors engaged longer and encourage more actions, such as purchases or sign-ups. Every second saved in load time can boost overall site performance and revenue.
Domain authority (DA) is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. All golf retailers should prioritise creating content that other websites will want to link back to. This includes topics that are selfless and provide their target audience with new information.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it is generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. In our last report, Country Golf received the lowest DA score. This quarter, Country Golf remains the golf retailer with the lowest score (14). Websites can effectively increase their domain authority by earning high-quality backlinks from reputable sources. These links act as “votes of confidence” that signal trust and credibility to search engines. Focus on building relationships and creating content others naturally want to reference.
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for core, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Organic traffic will fluctuation between quarters, and brands should follow a keyword strategy to ensure they’re following protocols to increase organic traffic on both devices.
Six golf retailers reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with Snainton Golf Centre receiving the biggest loss (-40%). On mobile, 6 brands reported a drop in organic traffic, with Snainton Golf Centre receiving the biggest loss on this device, too (-16%). Websites can effectively increase organic traffic by optimising content for relevant keywords across both mobile and desktop. Using a mix of short-tail and longtail keywords helps attract a broader audience and capture specific search intent. Regular content updates also keep pages fresh and visible.
Google Universal Search Results are an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. Golf retailers should focus on appearances for ‘reviews' and ‘images’ to help increase their position in SERPs.
GolfOnline has taken the top spot for the most Universal Search appearances (6,108) — overtaking Affordable Golf (5,683). The majority of GolfOnline’s appearances came from ‘images’ (5,900).
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Golf retailers should focus on longtail keywords that its target audience types into search engines, such as ‘lightweight, wide putter’ or ‘pre-owned golf clubs’.
Golfbidder continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (3,016) — a decrease from 3,189 previously. Clubhouse Golf secured the most appearances for positions 4–10 (3,539) — an increase from 3,163 previously.
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019.
We’ve included screenshots of Clubhouse Golf’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK golf retailer utilised image carousels in their posts to display two images in a single post.
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. Having a consistent social media approach will benefit golf retailers, as it allows their audiences to get to know their brands and become familiar with their products.
American Golf secured the most Facebook Likes (157,200), and SCOTTSDALE GOLF secured the most Instagram followers (204,400). Twitter was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Druids Golf received the highest total engagement rate (77,873) and the highest average engagement (4,581).
About 20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. Golf retailers should ensure they are not excluding visually impaired customers on the basis of having a non-accessible site and must ensure that all consumers are able to browse services with ease.
In our previous audit, Clubhouse Golf received the most accessibility alerts (369). This quarter, Clubhouse Golf remains the golf retailer to watch, though they’ve since decreased their accessibility alerts to 296. Common accessibility alerts include missing alt text, poor colour contrast, and inaccessible navigation. Fixing these issues not only aids users with disabilities but can also enhance SEO. Regular audits help maintain an inclusive and user-friendly website.
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.