Gen Z Is Driving a Golf and Tennis Boom to Act Like ‘Old Money’

Eleanor Lee grew up surrounded by golf. Her grandparents were members of the exclusive Claremont Country Club in Oakland, California, and would take Lee and her family to the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club near San Diego every Thanksgiving to play its nine-hole course. “​​Most of my golf memories were of being a child running on those golf courses,” she tells me.

But Lee, now 30, never took the time to learn how to actually play until a few years ago. Looking for a casual sport to get into in 2021, Lee decided to put her grandmother’s golf clubs, which she left for Lee when she died, to good use at a public course in Los Angeles. “It was super intimidating,” she remembers.

The next year, Lee moved to Austin and decided to start a golf club for beginners as a way to make friends. She called it Hot Girl Golf — a casual gathering where women, including herself, could gain confidence in the sport. “There’s so many things that if you don’t learn, you feel so out of place,” she says. Since she experienced the fun side of the sport while growing up, she wanted to help more people feel at home on a course.

Lee posted about her first meetup in spring 2022. Eighteen women, some who had never swung a club, turned up at the driving range and hit balls for an hour. The group quickly became a hit, with up to 60 people turning up to events.

Golf has long had a reputation for being a man’s game, specifically a rich old man’s game — an extension of a board meeting for high-flying execs. But the sport has recently seen a major upswing in popularity. Its reach, which includes people who have visited a driving range, golf course, or consumed golf content, is up 30% since 2016, the National Golf Foundation says. Nearly 1.5 million more people than the prepandemic average — 3.4 million total — played golf for the first time in 2023, with the highest level of participation among adults 18 to 34. One of the biggest drivers of the increase has been a new interest among young women: Thirty-seven percent of golfers 18 and younger were female in 2023, compared to just 15% in 2000.

Ironically, golf’s long history of exclusivity and elitism is part of its ascendant appeal among Gen Z. Zoomers are increasingly interested in cosplaying as “old money” aristocracy — polo shirts, tennis skirts, and airport lounge martinis — as a means of manifesting their burning desire to get rich. Two-thirds of Gen Z and nearly three-quarters of millennials said in a Harris Poll last year that they want to be billionaires, whereas only 13% of adults said being wealthy was very important to them in a 2008 Pew Research poll. But instead of emulating today’s black T-shirt, quiet-luxury billionaire style, young people are bringing back older hallmarks of wealth.

“Gen Z doesn’t just idolize wealth for material gain; they see it as a pathway to independence,” Casey Lewis, the author of the youth insights newsletter After School, says. The fascination with old money speaks to the desire of younger generations, dissatisfied with their lot in life, to leapfrog their socioeconomic circumstances. While Lee grew up around country clubs, many newcomers are eager to break into a new tier of wealth. Storming the golf course is the first step in storming the boardroom — for girlbosses and finance bros alike. Even if that doesn’t pan out, they can at least play the part.

During the pandemic when gyms were closed and people were trying to stay active and get outside, “solitary leisure” sports like tennis, skiing, and golf all boomed. LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed professional men’s golf tour that stunned the golf world in 2021, also drove younger generations to the green. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil recently told CNBC that 30% of attendees at LIV tournaments were new to golf events and the average attendee was 15 years younger than at competing tours. The upstart deliberately created an atmosphere that was more casual, fun, and youthful than its staid, buttoned-up rival, the PGA Tour. “When you go to a LIV golf event, it’s a party, there’s music, the players wear shorts,” says Jason Becker, the CEO and founder of Golf Life Navigators, an online marketplace connecting golfers with private club memberships.

The convenience of solitary leisure activities quickly evolved into a new sense of style fueled by fashion brands and films like “Challengers.” “Sports aren’t just sports — they’re also an aesthetic,” Lewis says. “Unlike more conspicuous forms of luxury, participating in these sports signals a more effortless, inherited form of affluence.”

Women want to improve their skills and feel ‘able to be involved in business conversations.’

All sorts of brands have leaned into the old-money sports style, from Miu Miu’s 2022 fall-winter collection, which was shown at a tennis club, to Tyler the Creator’s prep-adjacent streetwear line Golf. Adidas, Lululemon, and Sun Day Red — the clothing line started by Tiger Woods, who singlehandedly sparked a golf boom decades ago — all recently launched their own golf collections for women. And countless boutique designers have taken a new interest in elevating tennis, golf, and ski wear.

Over the years, these sports have moved away from solely being played in country clubs and elite backyards. Three-quarters of all golf courses are open to the public and off-course venues are booming. Golf simulators have surged 73% since 2019, and the entertainment driving range, Topgolf, doubled its revenue in 2021 with additional increases in subsequent years. This year, the United States Tennis Association’s Tennis Venue Services awarded $10 million in grants to repair public tennis courts and build new ones. “Gen Z seems to be challenging time-honored exclusivity by engaging with these sports in public spaces, community-based clubs, and tech-driven alternatives like golf simulators,” says Lewis.

Caitlin Thompson, who founded the quarterly tennis magazine Racquet in 2016, has noticed the boom in tennis. The sport reached its highest-ever number of players in 2024, with one in every 12 Americans participating. It’s grown by 45% since 2019. “Pre-pandemic, we felt more like we were talking to a smaller group of people,” she says. Now, it’s a lot of beginners. Racquet’s events are regularly packed with celebrities and tennis stars, attracting lengthy waiting lists. Its limited-edition merchandise drops sell out almost instantly.

Lee’s Hot Girl Golf Club is also struggling to keep up with demand — it has over 1,000 people in the dedicated group chat. “We sell out all of our events, sometimes within an hour or two,” she says. Attendees are mainly in their 20s and 30s. A big reason, Lee has found, is that women want to improve their skills and feel “able to be involved in business conversations — not feeling left out of those elite circles.” There are also those who simply enjoy the cute outfits. “That preppy girl, old-money vibe is definitely a draw for some,” Lee adds.

That was the case for Casey Forand. After spending some time at a driving range, the 26-year-old played her first round of golf while on vacation in Florida a few weeks ago. “My impression of golf was that it was super hard and intimidating,” she says. But after hitting a few fairways, she was invested and signed up for a county golf membership near her home in New Jersey. “I also love the old-money aesthetic,” she says. “I feel like golf and country club culture is a huge part of that.”

Online, that gilded luxury vibe has taken over. On TikTok and Instagram, videos and photos depicting young people in polos and pearls, with sweaters casually slung over their shoulders rack up millions of views. Often, they’re playing sports like polo, tennis, and golf. Forand says her Instagram is now filled with ads for women’s golf fashion.

Even if they are just there for the looks, the surge of young people in the walled garden of the wealthy is having real consequences.

To make room for so many newcomers, the sports have had to evolve. Thompson says one of the coolest things about the tennis boom is seeing new fans create lasting change. “The more that the younger fans and creators and journalists have pushed, the more the sport has to modernize, not only the way that it allows access but also the way it talks about itself,” Thompson says.

She points to how the American tennis player Taylor Fritz’s influencer girlfriend, Morgan Riddle, complained about some of the restrictions over what is shareable on social media — tournaments often ding creators for influencer-style, behind-the-scenes coverage of events. “That actually has resulted in changes for what can be published from the grounds at a tournament,” Thompson says.

Sneakers on the course, music — I don’t like that. There are people that would say, ‘Oh, you’re, like, country club snob’ and, quite frankly, yes.

In golf, there’s also been a culture clash. Some country clubs offer discounted memberships specifically for those under a certain age, typically 40-something. “These programs recognize that younger members are working full time and may not be on the course every week,” Becker of Golf Life Navigator explains. But recently, he’s seen clubs cap the number of junior executive memberships they sell since there’s so much demand for full memberships. As the new generation of golfers flood both public courses and country clubs, it’s sparked debates about some of the game’s more contentious rules. Barstool Sports’ popular “Fore Play” podcast, which bills itself as “by the common golfer, for the common golfer,” has also led to what some call the Barstool-ification effect where entertainment and “bro culture” are taking over more traditional norms.

As the average age on the links decreases, hot topics in club boardrooms now include whether music should be allowed on the course and whether dress codes should enforce tucked-in shirt rules. “The clubs are trying to figure out a way to appease everyone without turning away a younger potential member who’s going to be there and paying dues for many years,” says Becker. “As the older guard resigns and starts to move on from their private club, things will start to stabilize. Right now it’s a challenge.”

Chris Jenkins, 53, from Colorado, has been playing golf for over 30 years and longs for the days before it became oversaturated. “I admit it, I’m the proverbial ‘get off my lawn’ kind of guy,” he says. “We can’t get tee times or rounds now take 5 ½ hours. We blame all of them.”

For Jenkins, the frustration isn’t necessarily with the younger generation. It’s more the tension that exists when any sport starts to gain popularity. “Sneakers on the course, music — I don’t like that. There are people that would say, ‘Oh, you’re, like, country club snob’ and, quite frankly, yes,” he says.

To avoid the chaos, some golfers like Jenkins have joined country clubs so they don’t have to suffer through slow rounds with rowdy golfers. “I do think that there’s a level of — I don’t want to say exclusivity — but it’s a gentleman sport,” Jenkins says. If it were up to him, it would stay that way. “I get it, my generation is on the way out. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Thompson thinks the newcomers to tennis, whether they’re drawn by the cute clothes or the luxury aesthetic, are a value add for the sport. “We did a big push into Korea last year, partially because people wanted to cosplay tennis, but then they started playing it and realized it was a fun, social way to connect with other people,” she says. “There’s a really amazing recreational and community offering. You don’t get that if you just buy the Chateau Marmont keychain.”

I get it, my generation is on the way out. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Thompson also sees the old-money vibe dying off as more people flood the space: “After a certain period of time, there’s only so many Princess Diana mood boards you can look at.” But she hopes the newfound fans will stay.

“There’s always going to be that demand in the world for something so prestigious to set you apart,” Lee says about golf. But she does see the market growing to cover the demand for casual places to play.

Fortunately for Jenkins, there are some walled gardens that young people haven’t been able to break into. Lee recently expanded Hot Girl Golf to Miami but has had trouble finding affordable golf courses. “Every single golf club is private and we cannot get on a course,” she says.

As it turns out, some places really do require an inherited fortune to access.

Eve Upton-Clark is a features writer covering culture and society.