Best Golfing Nation!

[colourblindchameleon]

Allowing for population and climate ...which nation is the best golfing nation...i.e produces the most amount of top quality players!

Surely it`s Australia...or maybe it`s Sweden:confused: ...possibly Spain:confused: ...or South Africa....:confused:

......actually not as easy as I first thought, but when taking into consideration population and climate!....I think it`d probably be Sweden!

What do you reckon?????:confused:

[Creosote]

Men = USA
Ladies = Korea

[colourblindchameleon]

Men = USA
Ladies = Korea


...I`d agree with the Ladies choice of country, but for a population of 300 million I don`t think that America produces as many good players as perhaps it should. Okay the top three are American, but thereafter it`s quite wide open.

Australia currently has major holder with a 20 million population, and Sweden (pop` 8 million) always seems to have either Annika in contention for the ladies or one of the men in contention/winning somewhere in the world each week!

[BT@Home]

CBC, depends on how you are calculating the "best", do you include current/past players, what makes someone considered to be good enough to count. As Creo said USA produces alot of good golfers, and top 3 does show for a lot at the moment, are there any other nations that claim that many in the top 10/top 20?

[Alex_Smith]

Men - South Africa, Sweden and USA all produce good players

South Africa = Els, Goosen, Immelman, T Clark and R Sabbatini
Sweden = H Stenson, R Karlsson, J Parnevik, N Fasth and C Pettersson
USA = Woods, Furyk, Mickelson, Toms and DiMarco.

*Edit*, Forgot Australia!

Australia = S Appleby, A Scott, R Allenby, S Elkington and A Baddelly.

[BigJim]

I'd agree with most of the posts re. the current situation, but historically, there can only be one winner.....the home of golf.

[colourblindchameleon]

CBC, depends on how you are calculating the "best", do you include current/past players.

Good question BT, but on the first post I highlighted the population and climate aspect....some countries seem to be producing a disproportionately high number of top quality golfers, when they`ve either a small pool to choose from, or not the best of weather to play in!

Ireland is another example of world class players coming from a nation with a population of less than 4 million.

Alternatively I`d expect America to have many more top quality players, given good climate (in regions) , excellent courses, good coaching facilites, golf scholarships, and it`s home to the strongest tour in the world. In many ways it`s a bit of a mystery as to why they aren`t flooded with really good players under 30 at the moment!..must be because so many international players there on tour.

[EXMAX]

in the future expect a lot from France and India

[BT@Home]

Good question BT, but on the first post I highlighted the population and climate aspect....some countries seem to be producing a disproportionately high number of top quality golfers, But CBC my question remains unanswered, how are you defining "best", and "top quality"? Surely america has a huge proportion of Pro golfers, are they considered "top" golfers. Basically wondering at what point a golfer is to be considered. I would have thought US had a huge amount (maybe not in direct proportion to the population), but what sort of ratios are being considered to be good?

Anyway nice question :)

[colourblindchameleon]

BT, by `best` or `top quality` I mean players capable of competing at the highest level(s), on the various professional tours of the world! and not `Joe-average-amateur golfer`....but the/a nation that can produce the most number of top quality golfers allowing for it`s climate and population restrictions!.....for example, I think that Sweden would give America a good match (Ryder-Cup style) despite the vast difference in population(s) and climate!....which would make Sweden a very good golfing nation...so to speak!

[colourblindchameleon]

in the future expect a lot from France and India


...crikey, good call EXMAX....with todays result in Spain!