Bucks club sees record visitor bookings
A golf club in Buckinghamshire has reported that its online visitor bookings in June 2020 were up a staggering 1,335 percent compared with June 2019.
This is the most number of online bookings Chesham & Ley Hill Golf Club has ever had in one month, and the club also tripled its annual average of new joiners in just three weeks.
Chesham & Ley Hill Golf Club in Buckinghamshire accepts online bookings exclusively through GOLFNOW, and Brian Haworth, club trustee, shares his experience of how the club has handled the return from lockdown and the incredible demand for tee times.
“On June 1 we opened up to members’ guests and visitors,” he said.
“And it is from that date that we, as trustees, perhaps really began, more fully, to appreciate just how much of an asset GOLFNOW is to us, as an ongoing service-partner-relationship. In the 18 days since we began to accept visitor bookings, exclusively through GOLFNOW on our website, we have enjoyed very, very significant incremental visitor revenues relative to the norm.”
For clubs like Chesham & Ley Hill, partnering with GOLFNOW has given them the ability to offer safe, contactless tee times for visitors.
“In a Covid-19, ‘clubhouse closed’, ‘cashless-please’ reality, for us to be able to offer guaranteed and well-planned tee times, without any undue stress or unmanageable administrative burdens, has already proven to be a brilliant and beneficial resource,” he added.
“It is a really superb, truly user-friendly system for a club like ours. Maybe, really for any golf club? But what has been so important and vital to us is the quality, responsiveness and informed expert-care we have enjoyed. Especially in these challenging and still stressful times, the GOLFNOW customer support has been – without exception – consistently superb and exemplary.”
Since the return of golf, GOLFNOW’s partner clubs have seen unparalleled growth in rounds and revenue. In June alone, GOLFNOW visitor course rounds increased by 85 percent on the same month last year, with total revenue generated for golf clubs up by 90 percent year-on-year.
That is very good news although I would suggest that, having suffered partial incarceration for the best part of two months, the pent up demand to play golf would more than explain the huge hike in bookings. If the fine weather continues I would anticipate the surge to continue for a good while yet. The problem clubs will have is how to make up for the donwturn in bar and food sales given the distancing restrictions still in force.
Not surprised, it’s a beautiful little course!