How do clubs become more sustainable

[Hacker Khan]

I think it is very difficult to attract 30 to 40 years olds who have not played or had much interest in the game previously. As on average people in the age range will have young ish kids who swallow a lot of time and resources and a busy job. And golf is a very difficult and time consuming game to master. I could also argue it is relatively expensive as well. Yes I know you can pick up starter sets cheap, but on average the cost required to kit yourself out with clubs, clothes, balls, bags etc etc and to play the game is a lot more than most sports.

Yes it is very rewarding when you gain some proficiency at it, but I just wonder how many relatively busy and time strapped 30 to 40 year olds would stick at it if they have not had a love of the game ignited in their youth.

 

[GB72]

So some are saying that juniors are the future and others saying adults (men and women) around the 35-45 age group are the future.

Probably means that making clubs much more 'Family' friendly is the future - get the parents and the kids in together.

Good point. If you have a club where the kids have lessons whilst mum and dad play you are on to a winner. Problem is that I know too msny members who would turn purple at the thought of kids and families in the clubhouse. I think that is why they lock the junior section in their own room, not as a benefit to the kids but rather to keep them out of the bar and away from the older members

 

[Mike Lane 1977]

I agree with your point with the 30-40 bracket, Im 37 and, like you have seen limited support. The new get into golf offers which are being ran cover all ages mind and I know of 4 people I know who have used this and now getting into golf.

With juniors the financial input from the club is minimal as the English Golf Union provide a lot of support which is fully funded. That age from 16 -22 or the further education years as I call them are the most difficult as there are a host of distractions to lure the golfer away. In regards to spending from juniors I would say that the pro shops are struggling due to the prices online form clubs, bags and clothing, small things like snacks, tees balls are things where money is still spent but do you need a full pro shop for this? I would say not and this would save on many costs, surely a pro should be there to teach and do custom fit, regrips, etc. They do tend to end up as a mars bar seller in many cases haha

The retainers a club plays for the pro are a lot for someone who sells small things for the club, surely this could be used wiser andthe pro could try to spend more time trying to teach and get more people into golf?

 

[Jimaroid]

Golf is an older person's game because clubs don't generally do much to welcome, attract or retain younger people. Membership fees are prohibitively expensive for the majority of 18-25 year olds, whose disposable time and income is relatively low compared to those who have a career in place. That is exactly what happened to me, when I was 17 I was happily playing golf but when I turned 18 I was unable to afford to become an adult member so that was my golf written off for a long time until my career gave me the time and income to return to it nearly 15 years later.

Personally I think that the way clubs will need to adapt is to modify the subscription structures. We're not far away from a cashless society and location based micro-payments will become the norm. I think that clubs that adapt to accepting membership subscriptions based on fair use, restricted, pay as you play or short term subscriptions will be the ones that attract the younger generation. People are already used to these payments models due to mobile phones and suchlike, I think that clubs who try to hold onto the lump sum subscription approach are going to continue to struggle attracting new members.

 

[CMAC]

Bring fun and enjoyment so people want to come to the club and want to bring friends and family.

Make everyone feel welcome- first name terms, how are you, nice to see you, have a nice day etc etc it works extremely well for the most customer driven society on the planet....for a reason.

Most clubs need a radical and virtual shake of the shoulders.

 

[Mike Lane 1977]

I agree, the recently the debate for golf is its: To expensive, to time consuming, to hard.

I would say you can get up and running cheap with sports direct clothing, shoes and you get get 2nd hand clubs in amazing condition cheap, i got a set of Wilson I9 irons for £65 and they were immaculate. Also places like groupon, living social and tee off times offer dirt cheap rounds.

I see what you say about sticking with it as it is the most frustrating game out there haha. Maybe the way they learn could be better like teach the short and develop longer game is the future not go to driving range and try smash the hell out of it

 

[Mike Lane 1977]

Why should it be?

Golf could be great for younger people, you could argue cricket is the same so they introduced 20/20 and now it attracts younger people. Golf needs to look at this would you agree?

 

[Mike Lane 1977]

Fully agree

 

[GB72]

Bring fun and enjoyment so people want to come to the club and want to bring friends and family.

Make everyone feel welcome- first name terms, how are you, nice to see you, have a nice day etc etc it works extremely well for the most customer driven society on the planet....for a reason.

Most clubs need a radical and virtual shake of the shoulders.

Totally agree. With me though this comes back to the dress code. Food and drink at my club us great and well priced. I would bring my wife or friends for lunch regularly if it were not for the dress code. They wear jeans and have no inclination to dress up for what is, when it comes down to it, a pub lunch. Once these people are in the habit of coming to the club and see that it is not what they expected some may even be tempted to give the game a go

 

[Loz1607]

A lot of clubs locally to me are offering cheaper membership and lower or no joining fee for under35s to try an encourage a new influx of 'younger' members.

I know a lot of people that dont have the time due to family comitments to play golf 'properly' - could we start to see the introduction of creche's in golf clubs to aid, younger parents/families?

 

[Slab]

Mike, if you're replying to a specific post then its better to use the Reply with Quote option rather than just Reply as we cant see which you're answering

Oh and welcome

 

[GB72]

Thing is, it is all well and good offering cheaper membership but you need to get people hooked on the game first.

Get in a load of cheap 7 irons and have an hour group session every week for total novices of any age. For those that show an interest, help them find some affordable clubs whether new ir second hand and then sign them up.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I find the whole debate about focusing on the junior section fascinating. There is no doubt that juniors are the future of golf but not necessarily the future of a club if you look at it from a totally selfish point of view. Many juniors pay nominal fees and have little to spend in the bar or shop yet still receive free of subsidised lessons (It used to be group lessons at my old club). I suspect very few of those will go on to become full members at that club. Many will find other interests or move away with work or university. All of this initial expenditure to produce a healthy junior section may not see any financial reward and any that it does receive could be decades down the line.

There are, however, groups that could have a far more dramatic impact on current revenues. Women would be my first target. Many clubs could do with increasing the size of their ladies section so why not have free lessons to attract women to the game. Any member attracted would pay full fees and more than likely have funds to spend in the club facilities.

I would also look at the 30-40 age group. Many men are stopping playing impact sports at this age such as football or rugby and are looking for a new challenge. I have rarely seen free introductory sessions for men but this could, again, produce immediate financial gains.

I would also add that clubs tend to focus their marketing and promotion at the keen or knowledgeable golfer. There is some market for attracting existing golfers to the club but what they need to do is make themselves attractive to people who have not tried golf and that needs more forward thinking.

So, looking at the future of the sport, juniors need to be encouraged but I suspect that they have little impact of the financial sustainability of a club.

I agree with this. However as others have also said many clubs have a lot of older members making a lot of decisions and that needs to be addressed to ensure that decisions taken aren't just for the here and now but will benefit members going forward. I think many still need to enhance changes to things like social media and the internet (websites including my own club are not always great).

Juniors are a difficult area. They come into golf but many will drift away once they find women and beer, and others will go off to uni or play other sports. While a thriving junior section is important I don't think too much reliance can be attached to the economic support they give to a club. It's more the 25-30 year olds and then the 40+'s (the latter having found the bones no longer enjoy cricket rugby and footie). This is where the real money can be made in terms of full fees (no age related discount) and regular money spent in the bar after. As always though with these types of post (very good OP and some fine replies) there isn't always a cut and dried solution

 

[ManinBlack]

It astonishes me that any club should have a dress code that stops perfectly tidily dressed people from entering the clubhouse. I once quoted to our commirre the fact that the local Hilton hotel was happy to allow access to all parts of the hotel however guests were dressed and who did we think we were imposing higher standards. You can look immaculate in jeans & like a tramp in a jacket & tie.

 

[FairwayDodger]

While I tend to agree that the 30-40 bracket might be the demographic where clubs can make the must immediate impact on their own membership, I think they need to take responsibility to encourage juniors and get them into the game. Sure, they might not become full members and might even drift away from the game for years but with that grounding it is easy to take the game up again in later life. The club itself might not benefit immediately but it or another club might in the future.

It'd be an interesting survey to see how many adult golfers joined the clubs where they were juniors. I never did after turning 18 and had moved from the area before deciding to get back into golf.

 

[ManinBlack]

Many of the members of my club are people I played cricket, tennis & rugby with. They got too old for other sports & took up golf. We do free "taster sessions" at the club & it occurs to me that we should be advertising these in the various local sports clubs. The kind of people who take up golf later in life tend to be those who have always done some kind of sport.

 

[Jimaroid]

What is surprising to a lot of people I know is that young people are very willing to dress well and dress "up". The youth of today are much more style conscious and dress savvy than the rest of us and tend to enjoy looking the part. That often can't be said for the older and lazier amongst a club's old guard.

On a semi-serious note, I guarantee that if you can get an active young female membership going, you will attract high spending and well dressed young men into the membership and they will spend plenty behind the bar.

 

[Fyldewhite]

I've been a club member over 20 years (yes, like most I started late). During that time there has always been the same arguments put forward about youth being the future, or must attract more women into golf etc. Nothing much has changed.

I don't think it will ever become a mainstream sport in the 20-35 age group. It is no different to a myriad of other sports in this respect except that with golf it simply takes up too much time to fit into most young couples + mortgage + kids lifestyles.......and that is not a variable that will ever change or be changed. Golf is so far down the list and many try but give up because as we all know, it's difficult and frustrating and playing a few times a year doesn't improve things. It is boring on TV 99% of the time so that's hardly going to generate interest so I think we are stuck largely with the reality that it IS an older persons sport.

So, the ideas about attracting 40/45 year olds is interesting. Never thought of it like that and after all, these people are the "old boys" of the future!

 

[Hacker Khan]

I've been a club member over 20 years (yes, like most I started late). During that time there has always been the same arguments put forward about youth being the future, or must attract more women into golf etc. Nothing much has changed.

I don't think it will ever become a mainstream sport in the 20-35 age group. It is no different to a myriad of other sports in this respect except that with golf it simply takes up too much time to fit into most young couples + mortgage + kids lifestyles.......and that is not a variable that will ever change or be changed. Golf is so far down the list and many try but give up because as we all know, it's difficult and frustrating and playing a few times a year doesn't improve things. It is boring on TV 99% of the time so that's hardly going to generate interest so I think we are stuck largely with the reality that it IS an older persons sport.

So, the ideas about attracting 40/45 year olds is interesting. Never thought of it like that and after all, these people are the "old boys" of the future!

What's the 1%, the final afternoon of the Ryder Cup?

 

[Hacker Khan]

It astonishes me that any club should have a dress code that stops perfectly tidily dressed people from entering the clubhouse. I once quoted to our commirre the fact that the local Hilton hotel was happy to allow access to all parts of the hotel however guests were dressed and who did we think we were imposing higher standards. You can look immaculate in jeans & like a tramp in a jacket & tie.

I always use the example that I have eaten in a multi Michelin stared Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London in clothes that many others in the restaurant were also wearing, but I would not be able to eat a meal in an a lot of golf club restaurants wearing them. Which is just bonkers if you wanting people to eat in said clubhouse.

There was a good restaurant review by AA Gill in the Sunday Times the other week about dress codes and restaurants. The basic gist being that they have just mostly been done away with in the restaurant trade, and any restaurant that does impose one is not worth eating at. He argued that nowadays what you wear is no longer an indication of what type of person you are, then said something like dress codes are liked and imposed mostly by old men as they allow them to conform to the uniformity of blandness. Or something like that, which I thought was quite clever.