If you haven’t already, we’d thoroughly recommend reading the Results Book of the Golf Club Questionnaire 2014, commissioned by England Golf. It’s free and available to download by clicking here.

The research was undertaken by Sports Marketing Surveys Inc. on behalf of England Golf and shows the latest statistical analysis vis-a-vie golf club membership in the UK.

Our highlights (or lowlights more accurately) are as follows:

• There aren’t many golf members under 35 years of age

In total the average club have less than half the number of members below 35 years of age than between 45 and 64 years of age. Less than a quarter of members are under 35 years as aged over 35 years.

That’s quite a shocking statistic – but for any of us who’ve worked in the golf industry recently not a surprising one. Indeed, you don’t even have to work in the golf industry to realize that twenty-something’s and thirty-something’s have much more pressing financial priorities that golf club membership. Paying down student debt and getting onto the property ladder are two such examples that could easily see them into their mid-30’s (early 40’s before too long no doubt).

• 5-day memberships are not a universally popular category

The most popular membership category offered is that of 7-day, available at 94% of golf clubs surveyed. Social, intermediate and student categories are also quite popular, being available at over 60% of golf clubs surveyed. Yet, 5-day membership is only available at 58% of golf clubs.

Here at Promote Training HQ we were a little taken aback by that. In our experience, all golf clubs have plenty of availability Monday to Friday – so why isn’t the 5-day category a more popular one? Maybe historical issues play a part with clubs fearing a mass-downgrade if they introduced it. Alternatively, perhaps some clubs see midweek as their ‘visitor and society’ time and are trying to get the best of both worlds – both membership subscriptions and green fee income.

• Nearly all clubs have membership vacancies yet most clubs have restrictive joining practices

95% of clubs have membership vacancies yet 46% of clubs still require a proposal from another member and/or membership interview to join.

Lies, damn lies and statistics – or just barmy? The golf industry needs to work hard to reduce perceived barriers to entry. Surely reducing some of these rather old-fashioned methods to joining a club would be a great place to start.

• Flexible memberships are on the rise – but maybe not quickly enough

The report suggests that time pressures are inhibiting the uptake of membership at clubs. Golfers today seem to be doing the ‘membership subscription v’s frequency of play’ calculation and the mathematics often don’t add up.

The industry appears to be reacting to this, albeit slowly, with the introduction of ‘flexi-membership’ products. The report shows that 25% of clubs have a flexible membership category available.

We seem to recall that some years ago these were banded around under the title ‘silver membership’ and were a hybrid membership/green fee product – you paid a reduced annual subscription then reduced green fees every time you played.

Today, the concept has moved on a little with many clubs offering a credit-based scheme whereby you purchase ‘bundles’ of credits and redeem them against course access throughout the year. When you’ve run out, you can simply buy some more.

 

We’re featuring some of the England Golf research findings in our new eLearning course – “Generating Membership Leads”, along with lots of strategies on how to overcome the issues highlighted in the report.

The new eLearning course will ‘premiere’ in July of this year – click here to register your interest and we’ll let you know when we’re about to launch.