A survey of 116 golf clubs in Scotland has found inflation, ageing memberships and attracting visitors are three major concerns at the moment.
The Herald survey finds many clubs in Scotland are struggling now even more than they were before Covid, as inflation has been a greater negative than the participation boost was a positive. Nearly one-in-five clubs said their finances are now worse than they were before the pandemic started, with just over half saying they are better.
When asked to list the four greatest challenges facing their club or facility, 68 said the higher cost of utilities, equipment and supplies was among their biggest concerns. This was followed by an ageing membership (57), rising wage costs (56), and bringing in more visitor income (44).
The Herald states that a few well-known and highly regarded destinations with large memberships ranked their financial strength at 5.0 or less.
Industry spokesman Kevin Fish said for the last seven years Scottish clubs have put the fee for visitors up at a higher rate than they’ve put up the fee for members. “What they want is for someone else to cover the operating costs of the club, rather than have to ask the members,” he said. He added that club membership resignations are running at approximately 6.5 percent, about the same as it was in 2019.
Christopher Spencer, who heads up the Club Management Association of Europe’s Scottish branch, says ageing membership is a conundrum for some because many of those who are retired are “playing three, four or five times per week”, including the weekends.
“I think there are a lot of new people, younger people, who are time-poor and because of work or maybe family commitments they are doing well if they can get out to play a game of golf,” he said. “They want to try to play as early as possible but they are not able to get a tee time because it’s fully booked because all the retired guys are playing on a Saturday morning as they have always done, even though they have already played three or four times that week.
“Everybody wants to play between 9am and noon, and as a result these younger people don’t renew their membership because they can’t gain access. So I think the older members, while they have been loyal and supported a club over the years, could in some cases actually be a blockage to new members coming in.”
In addition, more than a third of those surveyed, 36 percent, said the World Handicap System (WHS) has not been an improvement on the previous system maintained by CONGU up to November 2020.
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