Maryland State Wire

California, Pennsylvania and Texas are the most popular states for college golf, according to a Higher Education Tribune analysis.

Maryland ranks 38th with 124 players, including 88 men and 36 women.

Colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs report athletics data to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education. The latest data includes more than 2,000 schools reporting participation numbers for 2016.

In the U.S., District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, there are 18,877 college golf players, including 11,930 men and 6,947 women.

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Most popular states for college golf

	State	Men	Women	Total Players
1	California	849	529	1,378
2	Pennsylvania	833	320	1,153
3	Texas	596	410	1,006
4	Illinois	594	336	930
5	Ohio	505	339	844
6	New York	594	213	807
7	North Carolina	466	255	721
8	Iowa	429	253	682
9	Indiana	360	303	663
10	Florida	372	278	650
11	Michigan	381	259	640
12	Georgia	378	217	595
13	Tennessee	344	227	571
14	Missouri	320	217	537
15	Wisconsin	291	202	493
16	Kentucky	273	188	461
17	Minnesota	264	186	450
18	South Carolina	259	163	422
19	Virginia	289	124	413
20	Alabama	265	140	405
21	Massachusetts	305	74	379
22	Oklahoma	208	171	379
23	Kansas	243	108	351
24	Washington	161	130	291
25	Nebraska	176	113	289
26	West Virginia	177	72	249
27	Colorado	126	102	228
28	Oregon	125	100	225
29	Arkansas	140	84	224
30	Mississippi	171	51	222
31	Arizona	128	89	217
32	New Jersey	158	43	201
33	Connecticut	114	60	174
34	Louisiana	108	59	167
35	South Dakota	80	70	150
36	Maine	120	17	137
37	Montana	66	68	134
38	Maryland	88	36	124
39	Utah	70	49	119
40	North Dakota	63	55	118
41	Idaho	53	58	111
42	New Mexico	58	35	93
43	Rhode Island	69	24	93
44	New Hampshire	62	26	88
45	Vermont	55	8	63
46	Delaware	44	16	60
47	Hawaii	34	21	55
48	Nevada	26	26	52
49	Wyoming	22	15	37
50	Washington D.C.	18	8	26
51	Alaska	0	0	0
52	Puerto Rico	0	0	0

Source: U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education