Golf Club Promotions.......

[Macster]

Hi all, There has been quite a few threads and GM features about Clubs facing dwindling Memberships etc etc, and it got me thinking about my own club.
Although we are a prestigious Club in our immediate area, and have a generally very good and stable Membership, last year even we had 10 less members than 2009, which equates to over £10k lost before we start with Bar takings etc etc.
Undoubtably, and certainly recognised by new Committee members, is the fact that we need to do more to attract and keep Members, and keep the Clubs finances going forward.
In fact, I think we, and perhaps more Clubs, need a Marketing/Promotion Committee, - a think tank for new ideas and ways of attracting new members etc.
We wouldnt want a massive number, which would impact on us all on the first tee etc, but we could easily absorb say 20/30 new Members which would have a significant impact on the Clubs bottom line.

Ive already discussed with the Director of Golf about dropping the Entrance Fee, but thats a definite No-No, as in their opinion, it creates a 'nomadic' membership, - people who swap and change every year etc, and benefeits no club at all. I can understand why we wouldnt therefore drop the Fee.
As it is, people pay an Entrance Fee equivalent of 1 yrs Subs, but we allow it to be spread over 3yrs, interest free.

So....any ideas for how your Club can do this ??

Me......I'm thinking.......
1. Give selected Members (perhaps Medal Winners ?) a 'VIP Pass' to a friend, valid for one month, which they could give to anyone they want, - perhaps a friend who plays at another Club, - in order for them to try and experience your place at no cost to themselves, or indeed anyone.

2. Im considering asking the Club if they will allow me to arrange a Forum meet with no Green Fees, in exchange perhaps for a write up/report in GM, which can therefore be read by all who buy GM in our area, and indeed, it might attract more 'Green Fee's' from visitors too.

Throw your ideas in the middle, we all need to do our bit to keep our Clubs prospering.......

 

[stevek1969]

My club are doing 5 lessons and 3 rounds for a £120 to get pepole to join the club,as they lost some members and a lot of revenue when the course was closed for 8 weeks.

 

[Fyldewhite]

The single biggest obstacle to new members will be the joining fee, especially if other clubs in the area are offering membership without this. It does indeed allow members to pick and choose their clubs but most want to join a club for the long term. If your club can hold it's own in terms of quality (it sounds like it can) then you have nothing to fear from dropping it. It sounds like the guy you spoke to is worried about "nomad members" but maybe not exploring the fact that you may gain more than you lose. If you end up as the only club in the area charging this then you will certainly only lose.

 

[HRC99]

Chris

I think that with fewer and fewer clubs charging entrance fees, it will be ever more of a stumbling block.

£845 is quite a lot for membership as it is around here and adding an extra chunk on top of that in these challenging economic conditions is tough to swallow. I'm pretty sure that it's only Brough and Kirkella that charge an entrance fee now.

I guess though that for Brough, so long as Kirkella charges an entrance fee, you're ok but if they drop theirs that will be a big issue.

Two things spring to mind. Firstly, a good "member get member" scheme can work well with a real incentive for your existing membership to drum up new members. Your members are already your best ambassadors for your clubs and a decent incentive can work really well.

Too often, you just see a lazy £50 offer behind the bar for a recommendation. This often just gets snaffled by the proposer as a perk rather than acts as an incentive. Each new member is worth £845 per year in membership (plus bar spend, comp entries etc) as well as £280 odd in entrance fees in the first year. All told that'll add up to at least £1,250 in the first year. That's all income you don't have at the moment.

The other thing could be a decent leaflet outlining membership options handed out with every visitor green fee. Many visitors are potential members and reminding them of this (perhaps with a membership offer - join and get your green fee refunded something like that) wouldn't hurt.

 

[Macster]

Good points Henry, and I can see both sides of the 'no entrance fee' argument to be honest.

However, I also agree that the Clubs best Ambassadors are its members, hence why I though of the VIP Pass for Medal Winners friends etc.
To roll too many of those out across the board would devalue them, and could work against us if too many people take them up !

We only would realistically need perhaps 20/30 as I say, enough to sustain the Membership etc, and I fear that perhaps 'dropping' the Entrance Fee would/could see an influx of too many potential applicants perhaps, - that may be why they dont want to do it.

Another thing we do have high hopes for is the new Greenkeeper, its too early to fully tell, but the course is looking good already this year, given the conditions we have endured over the winter, the definition is good already around the greens, and I feel that by mid/late summer, Brough is going to be well on its way back to perfection, as it used to be, when we had the likes of the Seniors Tour Events being played here.

Keep the ideas coming.......

 

[thecraw]

I totally disagree with your club and clubs in general who think that Joining Fees are a way of keeping members.

In todays society and lifestyle people are more flexible and dynamic, people relocate for various reasons, better transport links, job moves, marriage etc. For every person who joins a club with a £1000 (for example) joining fee there will have been at leat 20 who have looked at the club web site and thought FRANCE TO THAT! and looked at a competitor. My main concern when looking for a new club over the last couple of months was joining fee. I was looking for the cheapest I could get but also enjoy the course, thankfully my place I joined was only looking for £200 but even then I did all I could to get it waived.

I could have joined other clubs in the area but there was no way on earth I was paying some of their astranomical joining fees. They lost me straight away as a potential customer.

Nomadic golfers will always be present these days its just our society. Gone are the days of 5 plus years on waiting lists, interviews and knowing the captains, sister-in-laws Aunties dug! Golf clubs need to take a long hard look at the times they are currently opperating in.

 

[HRC99]

Realistically, you'll need 20-30 a year for the foreseeable future as the membership ages and declines, so the steps taken will need to generate membership year on year.

I also agree that entrance fees are an anachronism now.

Whilst Brough is a very nice course, gone are the days when golf club membership was an aspirational thing and it is competing with quite a few clubs now that weren't there not so long ago. Entrance fees reflected that aspirational element to membership and the social status that accompanied it.

I do think it is inevitable that, at all but the very very best clubs, entrance fees will disappear. Clubs have to face up to the fact that £75 per month upwards is quite a lot of money and, when many people are so time poor these days, it is hard to justify such an amount unless you play a lot.

 

[Macster]

Craw : I understand what you are saying, BUT, I think my own Club is a little different in that we arent 'desperate' for Members. A large number of 'Members' are non-playing, for whatever reason, and have been for decades, - I dont know why anyone would do that but they do. Simple as. Perhaps its a Status thing, I dunno.

We have a great 'playing' membership too though, but we dont ever have to wait for more than 5mins to get on the tee, even on a Sat/Sun am, and sometimes, youve got the place to yourself.

However, we would like to attract a 'few' members, Members who want to stay at Brough for many years, much like myself.
In fact, Ive thought of leaving the wife more in the last 20yrs than I have of moving from Brough ! Its never entered my head, I love it, and so do nearly all who are members.

We also know of a Club nearby who DID drop the Entrance Fee, - and they got 50 new members, - but the following year, half of them moved again.....thats not good for anyone, and certainly no good for Golf Club Finances, - that becomes an up/down unknown quantity thats hard to plan for.

 

[HRC99]

We also know of a Club nearby who DID drop the Entrance Fee, - and they got 50 new members, - but the following year, half of them moved again.....thats not good for anyone, and certainly no good for Golf Club Finances, - that becomes an
up/down unknown quantity thats hard to plan for.

That's still 25 extra members on the previous year. Hardly a disaster!

 

[Golfmmad]

It seems to me that the Club want the best of both worlds - in keeping entrance fees and new members. I wouldn't even look at a club that charged entrance fees, no matter how good it was.

Surely a compromise is the way forward, you never know, you may get some good and loyal members, future Captains, committee members and even a golfer that makes it on the tour!

I can't finish without offering a suggestion:

What about arranging an open day for potential members, perhaps with a reduced green fee or a similar incentive to get some interest. Ok, it would initially cost the club, but it probably wouldn't generate more than 20-30 new members anyway.

Golfmmad.

 

[chrisd]

I belong to a private member club that didnt want to drop the joining fee but when all around us dropped theirs, we ended up having to drop ours as well as we were getting loads of membership equiries and none joined. We researched why and the joining fee was the only reason as our track was the best according to those we asked.

We also had a large number of occasional golfers who paid their subs and played just once in a while, but, as the annual fees crept up and up towards the £1,000 mark, they slowly dwindled away and the number of members leaving went from, maybe 30 per year to nearer 80. As a result we have recruited a lot of new members who are possibly going to be nomadic and the nature of the club has changed in the way people play. By that I mean, 5 years ago, say on a Sunday morning, everyone palyed 4 ball better ball and no one turned up after 9.30 and tried to get on the course between the rounds already marching round the course. Now people do exactly what they want, and their are many a 2 ball out at this time - now I dont have any problem with the changes that have taken place and I hope that the new members will take part in the social side of the club. My real concern is that some will have a year or two and then move down the road just to get a different outlook and course - we do need to work to keep them!


Chris

 

[pokerjoke]

Our club is in financial difficulty,due to lack of members,and high overheads.Im was on the sub commitee which was really helping to turn the club around.Due to a fall out the sub commitee has disbanded,and its back to the old commitee.This year we will be operating with 200 club members and unless they pull their fingers out there will be problems or even closure.As far as i can see theres a lot of talk but not enough action.Its so frustrating.The AGM is soon and i think harsh words will be said by certain members.

 

[HRC99]

I am very concerned for the future of many golf clubs.

Consider this scenario:

With ageing but affluent membership, ABC Golf Club has been putting up their subs bit by bit reaching ever higher and higher levels. Now, they are one of the most expensive in the area.

Now their fees may be acceptable to a membership that can afford it and gets value from their membership but are less attractive to new members who cannot afford such levels and don't have the time to get the value from their membership.

Posting more losses, the club continues to put their annual subs up in order to cover the losses. Cost cutting is also undertaken: staff made redundant, repairs and maintenance put off, investment in the course cut.

The existing membership is becoming more and more disaffected. The course isn't what it was, the bar isn't open as much as it used to be, the hours food is available reduces and the quality isn't as good as it used to be.

The existing membership starts to become unhappy at the value they are now receiving from their expensive membership fees. A few at a time, they decide to not to renew their memberships.

Bit by bit, year by year, the club's membership is dwindling. The average age of the membership continues to rise.

As the membership ages and leaves/dies, so it becomes harder and harder to attract new members because the annual subscriptions are so expensive.

The golf club is now caught.

They cannot afford to drop the subscriptions as they are losing money but they desperately need new members and the cost puts many potential members off.

Whether they realise it or not, many clubs in this country are along this path and without action to address these problems their long-term future is in doubt.

 

[richart]

We lost 26 members at the recent membership renewal date, which is not too bad.

Retentions are not our problem, but we struggle to get a lot of new members, as very few people have heard of the club. We have just recruited a marketing manager, so it will be interesting to see if he pays his way. The new members we get tend to be low handicaps, who have played the course before.

We do get quite a few new members, introduced by existing members, as you get £250 on your club card. You do have to wait until they have renewed their membership, but it is a good incentive.

We also offer membership to members of other clubs more than 15 miles away. Half price, no joining fee and they can play in all comps apart from board ones. Picked up quite a few this way, and i expect quite a few will switch full time to us.

 

[full_throttle]

Macster,

I like the idea of 2, although ask for the meet to become a charity day, this could/should generate good publicity for the golf club, maybe in golf monthly but almost certainly locally. Maybe ask for reduced green fees, maybe half the day rate, with 50% of that fee going to charity.

 

[drawboy]

When a club is private unlike municipals the years costs are generally met through renewal of memberships so anyone paying to play is just helping to swell the coffers. With this in mind any takings through green fees are a good thing. The course is already there and prepared for the members so why have it relitively empty as many are midweek. A reduction on mid week green fee's would help. Why charge £35-50 as most do when you could charge £15-20. Obviously you still insist on handicap certificates etc to keep the riff-raff away but if priced more competitively it could help bring more money in.

 

[GB72]

The problem in my area is that there appears to be a cartel in place. All of the clubs of a similar standard charge a similar annual fee and a similar joining fee. This is all well and good at the moment as there is no incentive to go elsewhere because the cost is the same. Problems will happen if one breaks ranks. There are a couple of courses that I have looked at but having just paid off the joining fee at my current club I am not looking to start paying one again elsewhere but if one of the clubs drops it then I may be off.

As to how to attract members, my simple suggestion is to encourage potential members to come and play a free round with a member or 2 who can sell the club. It is amazing how few clubs when you show an interest in joining do not think to invite you to try the course. Most recent club I looked at joining drove me round in a buggy but, despite the fact that I was in my golf gear and had my clubs in the car, there was no invite to try the course whilst I was there. Also impartant, in my mind, to get members involved. I would be more encouraged to join if I had a fun round with a couple of existing members then if I went out on my own.

 

[Macster]

Good point GB, I fully agree.

 

[sweatysock41]

Couldn't agree more with HRC99, this is a vicious circle. Rumours abound surrounding thew future of 2 clubs in my locality - neither of which have a joining fee. On top of that 2 old established clubs have been advertising for members in the press - one of which I enquired about and was told there was a joining fee in excess of £800 - needless to say I couldn't justify to her indoors paying that on top of annual subs.

Also with so many decent pay and play facilities around it is very difficult to attract the occasional golfer.

 

[chrisd]

With this in mind any takings through green fees are a good thing. The course is already there and prepared for the members so why have it relitively empty as many are midweek.

This not necessarily true in the South East. The most active part of a lot of clubs is the veteran 5 day'ers and it can be quite difficult to get on some courses during the week and then us working guys and ladies hog it at weekends


Chris