Members prepared to spend more in 2012

A new survey on the spending behaviour of members of British golf clubs has found that golfers are prepared to spend more on memberships and green fees in 2012 than in 2011, but less on equipment.

The SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC poll of over 2,000 golf club members, who are all members of the HowDidiDo online golf community, revealed that the average golfer spent £2,486 on the game last year. Members paid, on average, £808 for their annual subscription last year, which was the biggest single expenditure item.

The next biggest was golfing holidays, with an average expenditure of £670.  And, as the average member also paid £211 on visitors’ green fees, club members last year spent £1,689 each simply on playing golf – 68 per cent of total expenditure.

The remaining 32 per cent was invested in equipment, including £290 on golf clubs, £141 on apparel, £92 on trolleys, £79 on shoes, £74 on distance measuring devices, £72 on balls and £49 on bags.

Renewal of memberships

Encouragingly for golf clubs, 93 per cent of members said they will renew their annual subscription in 2012, with less than one per cent saying they will definitely not. Of those who will not be renewing, the majority played less golf in 2011 than in previous years.

Expenditure on memberships in 2012

Elsewhere, regular and better golfers spent the most on the game while, overall, just 4.7 per cent of golf club members said they will spend less on their membership in 2012 than in 2011 and 11.4 per cent said they will spend less on green fees over that period. Nearly a third said they will spend more on their memberships while 16.6 per cent said they will spend more on green fees, the rest indicating they will spend the same amount. While more golfers are prepared to spend more on memberships and green fees, most said they will spend less on equipment – particularly trolleys, bags and distance measuring devices.

Age and gender breakdown

Over a third of over 60s said they would spend more on their membership in 2012, while less than a quarter of under 35s said the same.

Perhaps surprisingly, the average woman spent nearly £200 more on her golf club membership than the average man (£984 to £788) and more than £300 more on golfing holidays (£945 to £644).

Under 35s also spent significantly less on golf than the over 35s – the former spent £1,060 on memberships, green fees and holidays, while 36 to 60-year-olds spent £1,780 on the same three items.

Amount of golf played

The survey also found that the vast majority of golf club members are avid golfers. Over 85 per cent played more than 52 times last year, with more than a third saying this was an increase on 2010, while just 0.5 per cent played less than once a month. Nearly half of all club members expect to play even more golf in 2012 than in 2011, with two-thirds of under 35s stating that they will play more golf this year compared with last.