Steve Bird, Business Development Consultant at Foremost Golf, weighs up the strengths of the pro and in-house retail models, and considers which approach offers the greatest opportunity for green grass retail in 2026.
Every retail business is different
Over the last few years, we have seen a number of golf clubs taking their pro shop services in-house, while others choose the retained professional model. Some find themselves in a quandary on which direction to go in.
Of course, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution and every situation needs careful consideration depending on key factors like membership model, facility, staff, retail objectives and financial planning / cash flow.
Having worked extensively with hundreds of golf clubs using different models, we thought it would be useful to outline several key observations and raise some areas of debate when contemplating which direction will work best for your club.
Performance related incentives
While retained professionals have the ultimate incentive to drive their retail and coaching business (their life savings and livelihood), it is essential for an in-house operation to have a structure in place that motivates the person / people in charge of driving the business.
We have advised on multiple ways of doing this, but the core message is always the same: the better the business does, the better the remuneration of the key staff.
We also closely review the ‘Clubs’ or ‘Equipment’ categories as these are the most impactful to helping golfers / customers and club members with their game.
In essence if you are helping customers in this area along with coaching, you are forming relationships that will benefit other areas of the business and indeed the golf club itself.
Get this right first and the other pieces generally fall into place.
Staff costs
More than a few general managers have commented how high the payroll can get for an in-house operation, so it is well worth carefully costing this out when considering model choice.
Staffing a business that is open for so many hours, with the obvious recent cost increases and the necessity of a quality member of staff managing the business can run into six figures annually.
Furthermore, the key revenue driver and USP for green grass retail (custom fitting) will require additional staffing, but ‘speculate to accumulate’ can really ring true in this area.
Managing sales, stock and margin
The tools to manage a green grass pro shop have advanced massively in the last few years. For example, with our Foremost POS till system and Central Invoicing, we can ensure the accuracy of stock, focus on driving margins and detailed reporting on the business are better than ever, all with a huge reduction in time spent in an office on admin. The days of running a pro shop blind, waiting for the accountant to say whether it’s been a good year or a bad one, are gone. This also allows us as business consultants, to effectively analyse strengths, weaknesses and improve overall business efficiency through retail support visits to our Foremost members.
In addition, from these consultation meetings, action can immediately be taken working in conjunction with the Foremost group’s leading digital and retail marketing programme (EMP) to reset targets for different areas of the retail business, for example if a certain category is struggling for you, there are multiple campaign options to get the category back on track while reviewing the buying for the next year.
Cash flow forecast
It is imperative to accurately plan out the finances of running a pro shop. We have developed a financial planner that has been honed over the years to accurately predict the cash flow of a pro shop for the next two years. It takes into account incomes, margins, outgoings, staff costs, stock requirements, the weighting of turnover annually and has provisions for loans and capital expenditure.
Using this document, we can tell you very quickly whether a business will be viable or not. If so, we can also tell you how much money you will need to start it. Feel free to reach out if you would find this useful.
Conclusion
Both the retained pro and in-house models can work well. We always encourage having a healthy debate between the two and are happy to help in this process. When armed with the facts, stats and relevant information for each individual club’s circumstances, it is now far easier to predict which model will work best both operationally and financially.
If you would like to discuss any of the points raised above, please contact Steve Bird: steve.bird@foremostgolf.co.uk or call 07843 619 377
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