Golf club financial plans?

moycullen14

Membership is down, green fee & society income is down, no new members, no hello money, reduced subscriptions, lower bar & catering take....

Almost every area of a golf club's revenue is down and looks like staying down for the foreseeable future. I guess at this stage most clubs must have cut their costs to the bone so the only way to improve the financial situation is to increase revenue. What are clubs doing in this area? What's successful?

I guess every club must be in this situation to a greater or lesser extent and someone must have come up with a 'clever plan'

Dr_Colossus

Given your username I'm presuming you're a member of or at least regularly play Oughterard Golf Club. I see they've extended their successful Tues open day to also include Fri for the remainder of this month. The open days are successful in bringing in new players who're then likely to spend in the pro shop/restaurant and bar afterwards.

AldilaMan

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Given your username I'm presuming you're a member of or at least regularly play Oughterard Golf Club. I see they've extended their successful Tues open day to also include Fri for the remainder of this month. The open days are successful in bringing in new players who're then likely to spend in the pro shop/restaurant and bar afterwards.

I haven't seen an evidence of this in my club (Hollywood Lakes). I was in the last group out in an Open Comp a few weeks ago and visited the bar for a quick pint afterwards. The barman told me I was only the 5th or 6th person who came in all day from a timesheet of around 100. Car Park golfers !

golfwallah

Every golf club has to manage 2 separate key functions – those of running golf activities and those running a business.
The traditional golf club set up (under the GUI “pro-forma” type constitution) is a men’s club and ladies club dealing with golf matters and a joint “management committee” dealing with running the business (or “facilities” as described in constitutions).
Before the recession, clubs had the luxury of concentrating mainly on running golf matters and the business side of things only required management of business as usual.
Running golf matters is relatively easy to do as committees can operate against a backdrop of defined rules and guidelines – from the GUI. ILGU, Congu, R&A, etc. These rules are subject to very little change year on year, month on month, week on week, so disagreements on committee are around relatively minor matters. Therefore, the Club committee management system is well adapted to cope with golf matters.
However, we are now in recession –there’s more competition, the business environment is changing rapidly, members are leaving, new members are harder to get and non-member customers are demanding more “value for money”. It follows that running the business side “as usual” no longer applies. What is required is leadership, business and marketing skills – difficult to achieve with 14 person committees, concerned mostly with golf, fairness, equality, etc., and who meet once a month
Business problems need business like solutions. People with the required competencies are needed to make these solutions happen. If a club doesn’t have these skills available, it needs to hire them in (if necessary, on a payment by results basis). Such solutions include new type of business activities required to support the making and implementation of decisions (e.g. on business plans, budgets, pricing, marketing, sales, out-sourcing, cost-cutting, value add, etc.), that are needed to survive.

mike12

I think the regular open Comps seems to have been almost every clubs first response as it get footfall thru the pro shop and Bars.
Mike

DoctaDee

AldilaMan wrote: »

I haven't seen an evidence of this in my club (Hollywood Lakes). I was in the last group out in an Open Comp a few weeks ago and visited the bar for a quick pint afterwards. The barman told me I was only the 5th or 6th person who came in all day from a timesheet of around 100. Car Park golfers !

Your new clubhouse must be scaring them off, they probably preferred the homeliness of the cow barn !

Dr_Colossus

AldilaMan wrote: »

I haven't seen an evidence of this in my club (Hollywood Lakes). I was in the last group out in an Open Comp a few weeks ago and visited the bar for a quick pint afterwards. The barman told me I was only the 5th or 6th person who came in all day from a timesheet of around 100. Car Park golfers !

That's shocking flow for the bar given the number on the time sheet, would have thought a number of people would have gone in for some food following the round as usually golf clubs are quite reasonable for good quality food.

Played Hollywood Lakes for the first time last month in a two ball using a city deal voucher. Happened to play on the open day Thurs but when we inquired if we could put in on the open competition we were told we couldn't without paying again. We'd already paid for green fees in the form of the voucher but yet the proshop wanted an additional €20 per person for the open day greenfees/entry which didn't make sense to us. Needless to say after the round we didn't particularly feel like sticking around given the cold shoulder we'd received in the pro shop.

Dtoffee

Its not surprising that Clubs are under pressure, far too many have gone mad and spent fortunes in order for some committees to justify their existence.

Today, the celtic tiger is dead and many clubs are suddenly realising that the dream clubhouse they built is now a millstone around their neck. What I find amazing is ...... many still refuse to admit the problems and try to shuffle monies around the budget in order to keep the whole show rolling.

Clubs need to realise that the days of high prices are lone gone and it makes far more sense to have 1000 members paying €500 rather than 500 members paying €1000 ....... the logic being that you will generate more income out of 1000 members and you stand a better chance of surviving.

Its not rocket science, but in reality many clubs are not clubs in the true sense of the word at all .... they are a clique of 20 odd decision makers who form a golden circle and refuse to listen to common sense. The tide is turning and all of a sudden, clubs have finally done away with entrance fees. Now we need a limit of annual subs ....... €2,000 is a joke in this day and age as you would want to live on the course to get any value. Most players play around 30 times a year and green fees are becoming increasingly attractive when compared to €2k per annum.

We need to return to the basics and encourage members to feel part of a club again ....... organise more events and make it all inclusive, build a club not a venue for passing trade.

AldilaMan

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

That's shocking flow for the bar given the number on the time sheet, would have thought a number of people would have gone in for some food following the round as usually golf clubs are quite reasonable for good quality food.

Played Hollywood Lakes for the first time last month in a two ball using a city deal voucher. Happened to play on the open day Thurs but when we inquired if we could put in on the open competition we were told we couldn't without paying again. We'd already paid for green fees in the form of the voucher but yet the proshop wanted an additional €20 per person for the open day greenfees/entry which didn't make sense to us. Needless to say after the round we didn't particularly feel like sticking around given the cold shoulder we'd received in the pro shop.

Sorry to hear that. I don't know how much you paid for the City Deal. It's normally €5 for members and €20 for visitors to enter the open comp. The €20 fee for visitors is made up of €15 green fee and €5 comp fee. I believe you should have been offered entry to the Competition for an additional €5 which is the comp fee that the members pay.

bailey99

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

That's shocking flow for the bar given the number on the time sheet, would have thought a number of people would have gone in for some food following the round as usually golf clubs are quite reasonable for good quality food.

Played Hollywood Lakes for the first time last month in a two ball using a city deal voucher. Happened to play on the open day Thurs but when we inquired if we could put in on the open competition we were told we couldn't without paying again. We'd already paid for green fees in the form of the voucher but yet the proshop wanted an additional €20 per person for the open day greenfees/entry which didn't make sense to us. Needless to say after the round we didn't particularly feel like sticking around given the cold shoulder we'd received in the pro shop.

That's standard practice mate if you have a voucher.

Dr_Colossus

AldilaMan wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. I don't know how much you paid for the City Deal. It's normally €5 for members and €20 for visitors to enter the open comp. The €20 fee for visitors is made up of €15 green fee and €5 comp fee. I believe you should have been offered entry to the Competition for an additional €5 which is the comp fee that the members pay.

Thanks, yea that makes sense and entry to the competition for an additional €5 would be logical also but there was no reasoning with the pro shop. The City Deal voucher was €40 for the two ball although use of a buggy was included also. It was more bad luck that we happened to play on the day of the open competition as otherwise the situation wouldn't have arose and the proshop mightn't have been as flippant regarding our inquiries. Otherwise the course was in good nick and nice to play the longest par 5 in Ireland even if the words "Lakes" in the title is a bit misleading. Nice looking clubhouse also.

Back on topic and apart from efforts of trying to increase footfall either through open days or City Deal type vouchers offering combined golf & lunch/dinner there isn't a hugh amount of options open to courses to increase revenue. Golfers now want value and with so many courses offering good deals the competition is quite tough among the less well known courses that are in close proximity to one another.

tang1

In reply to above post, see Rathsallagh are offering 18 holes of golf and all day breakfast for €45 plus another round of golf free before Feb 2012. Just have 2 play first round on Thursday or Friday. Not bad value. And I'm not a member.

saintastic

Pat Ruddy did a very good article in the Irish Times a few months ago. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0816/1224302520958.html.

“When I was a kid in the 1950s in Connacht, there were 28 clubs in the province and only two of them, Galway and Co Sligo, had clubhouses built of stone. The rest were sheds. When you went to an open day you went for the golf. There was re-entry (to the competition) if you blew up and good days were had.

“The ladies were divine; they made salads and apple tarts and fed their warriors and everyone went out to play more golf. They were happy days.

“That’s the essential thing not to lose sight of: to add sophistication is glorious and lovely if you can afford it. We have gone to a new place. We don’t go to golf any more, we go out for a day. We don’t have dinner in the middle of the day any more, we have lunch. At night we have a meal. All the language has changed. Instead of a sandwich and a beer, you’re having a meal."

“Someone might complain about the cost of a game of golf. I’d say, ‘sir, but you’re royalty’. You get up in the morning for a game of golf and the gardeners are out raking the bunkers and cutting the grass for your coming. The cleaners are in making sure the palace (clubhouse) is ready; the chefs are getting the fry on at 7.30am because you’ll come in looking for one. You couldn’t get one in an Irish golf club 20 years ago but you’re demanding one so the chef has to be in."

I have removed some of the other stuff in the middle but this paragraph at the end sums it all up for me. When you're at your AGM and people are complaining about the cost of membership and how it should be lowered, it should be noted that you are probably only paying a small portion of your annual sub for the golf, the rest is to provide facilities.

If people want lower subs in their club, this just means reduced facilities. I think this is what clubs are going to have to do, agree with membership to reduce the overall offerings in order to subsidise lower fees. This way the club can close the clubhouse on let's say Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (Wednesday open for the open competition).

As someone mentioned above, your club needs someone with a business brain to run the figures on a proposal like this to see if it stacks up.

golfwallah

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower". Steve Jobs RIP.

As a general rule, committees, meeting once a month, are not innovators - what clubs need to survive is imagination, innovation and a willingness to break the mold by trying new things.
Like any business, they need to invest the time and effort required to figure out what customers want and then give it to them.