The manager of Lincoln Golf Club has warned that golf clubs will die unless they start offering flexible membership packages to their customers.
Craig Innes, a former Golf Club Managers’ Association ‘Manager of the Year’ finalist, stated that members of clubs will continue to convert to ‘nomadic’ pay-as-you-play golfers if they are only offered limited subscription packages such as either full or five-day memberships, even if they can pay in instalments. The key, he stated, is to offer golfers packages tailored to their requirements, which involves flexible schemes in which golfers pay a relatively small amount to benefit from being a member of a club and then pay reduced green fees every time they play the course.
“People are queuing up to leave golf clubs, not join them,” he said.
“There is a need to offer different products to suit different lifestyles and today’s golfer is fearful for their job security as well as being value-for-money-orientated and technology-savvy. So flexibility is key.”
Craig accepted that golf club committees and treasurers fear flexible schemes, and many members dislike them, but added that they are proven to work and can secure a golf club’s future.
He cited China Fleet Golf & Country Club in Cornwall which, more than 10 years ago, surveyed former members to find that many had left the club because they were playing too few rounds of golf to justify the annual subscription of £600.
The club, therefore, in 2002 introduced a flexible membership scheme in which members pay £200 per year plus £8 green fees in the summer and £5 in winter.
The scheme attracted 200 new members in its first 18 months. Ten years on it consists of 300 members who have an average age of 45. The average age of members of the club’s traditional scheme, which also has 300 members, is 59.
“I really do feel most private members’ clubs within the next 10 years will be operating on a flexible membership scheme and unfortunately the best thing that can happen if clubs do not, is if some start going to the wall,” stated Craig.
“I do not wish to see any organisation fail, however all the trends are there and failure is a guaranteed way that will kick-start the thinking process to change, and the product to evolve, for those clubs that are left.
“The average age of full playing members at a club I managed at was 60, and only 5.5 per cent of members were under 40. This is not healthy.”
Craig’s comments support research by golf blogging website LDNgolfplayr.com of 32 clubs in London, in which the average annual membership subscription is £1,189 and the average standard weekend green fee is £41.82, meaning that members need to play at their club at least 28 times a year at weekends for it to be better value for money than being a visitor, and that excludes joining fee costs. For some clubs in the UK, members have to play more than 40 times per year – almost once a week – for it to be more cost effective than paying green fees.
“There are also so many other ways for individuals to dispose of their income. To try and justify one large subscription payment for a few rounds per year does not add up,” said Craig.
“Most private members’ clubs must offer a flexible membership in order to survive. We have become too expensive for a lot of people and we must take that leap of faith to accommodate our customers or we will die.”
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