The region's two biggest clubs - Warrnambool and Port Fairy - both revealed a surge in members.

Warrnambool's membership base passed 1000 for the first time since the 1990s after enjoying a 12 per cent rise while Port Fairy welcomed 100 new members.

Smaller clubs, such as East Framlingham and Terang, also registered more interest.

It comes as Golf Australia confirmed more than 42,000 people had joined clubs in the 10 months to the end of October.

It said new membership demand surged 126 per cent nationally with the strongest growth among males aged 20-49. Almost 75 per cent of male membership growth was from that cohort.

Warrnambool Golf Club manager Ashlee Scott said attention had turned to retention.

"We (local clubs) are all experiencing that same challenge - how do we keep them interested in our sport so we can maintain that momentum we had," she said.

"Golf is realising they have to make some adjustments to the way the game is presented as well. People are time poor, you're trying to attract younger people, they've got a campaign where they're trying to engage female participants.

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"The traditional game of golf takes four hours so how do you keep the social golfer or the person who might only have a couple of hours to play engaged in the club?"

Port Fairy operations manager Stephen DeMartin said the club had been "successful in obtaining 100 new members since the lockdown".

He said many of the new members were not new to the game itself.

"A lot of it has to do with the timing in their life and when they're ready to come back and we also hold a ladies' beginners day on Tuesdays and that's been really successful as well," DeMartin said.

New Port Fairy president Helen Rix - the first woman to hold the title - said flexibility was the key to maintaining and growing membership.

Rix said the club, which has tweaked its women's program, "was there to accommodate the golfers, rather than the golfers have to accommodate the rigid club".

"Next year any woman who wants to play in the club championships can play their rounds on a Thursday or a Saturday whereas in the past they had to play on the Thursday," she said.

Rix said providing options was paramount.

"It's all about time. If you're playing competition golf, you're giving up four hours of your day," she said.

"Port Fairy has competition days on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, so five days of the week anyone can play in any competition. It is a very inclusive club, everyone can play at their own level and get enjoyment out of it."

East Framlingham president Ross McLeod said the club's 10 new members would make the most of its new irrigation system which would help maintain the course.

McLeod said "monetary-wise it had been out of our grasp for a long time" before grants, including from Moyne Shire, made the project possible

"We're doing some great improvements to the course and that's bringing people out as well," McLeod said.

"We're putting a brand new watering system throughout the whole course.

"It will hopefully be finished by the end of January or February with a bit of luck."

Terang president Tim Keane said the club had noticed an increase in green fees.

"Over the winter, our normal fields would've been between 10 and 20 and regularly this year we were getting 40 to 60," he said.

The Terang club is in a strong position off the greens too.

"Financially we're going as well as ever at the moment with extra green fee players playing during the week and extra numbers on a Saturday," Keane said.

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