From the lowering age of golf club managers to the new trend of holiday park operators buying golf clubs, The Golf Business editor, Alistair Dunsmuir, reviews the big changes in June.
The discrepancy in UK membership prices makes little sense
The average weekly wage in Aberdeen is nearly £650, the average house costs £165,000 and there are 55 golf clubs within driving distance, most of which have membership vacancies. The average cost of membership at those clubs is less than £700.
The average weekly wage in Leicester is about £520, the average house costs £156,000 and there are more than 30 golf clubs within driving distance, most of which have membership vacancies. The average cost of membership at those clubs is well over £1,000.
Why?
Golf club managers are still getting younger
A few years ago it would have been a story if a 100-year-plus golf club had employed someone in their 40s as manager; in 2017 a 128-year-old club has appointed someone who’s only recently hit his 30s.
Congratulations to Steven Morgan and Blairgowrie Golf Club.
Large groups are buying golf clubs
And some of them are buying their first golf club.
At the end of June Wyldecrest Parks, a residential park and holiday home operator, bought Sapey Golf Club – just a few weeks after another holiday park firm, Darwin Escapes, bought The KP Club.
Meanwhile The Club Company, a major operator of health and fitness clubs, has bought its third golf club, Witney Lakes Resort, in the last 18 months.
Leisure operators clearly believe golf in the UK has a thriving future.
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