How can golf clubs work better togetHer?

We ask how clubs within striking distance of one another might find ways of collaborating in order to enhance their offering and improve their efficiency

ack in the latter half of the 20th century, golf clubs across the UK were generally doing quite well. Waiting lists were often full and all looked rosy for the future. Fast forward 25 years and the picture is rather different. Economic and social conditions have changed, and people – the younger generation in particular – have less disposable income and less time to spend it. Golf club membership has become a luxury that, for many, is difficult to justify.

According to England Golf’s most recent membership survey, only 10% of clubs now have a waiting list in any membership category and 95% have membership vacancies. So clubs must work harder than ever to succeed. One route to explore is joining forces with other local clubs to find ways of increasing efficiency, and elevating the quality of what they can provide to potential members and visitors. With a little effort and co-operation, golf clubs can work better together.

An obvious way of making a club’s membership offering more appealing is to establish reciprocal playing agreements. Membership of a club might seem significantly more attractive to an individual, or to a family, if it also provides reduced green fees at surrounding courses.

As an example, Launceston Golf Club in Cornwall has reciprocal arrangements with 15 clubs in Cornwall and Devon, giving their members the chance to play these tracks, plus a selection of courses further afield, at significantly reduced rates.

BSetting up such agreements potentially provides a double revenue stream – not only might more prospective members be swayed to join, ramping up the subs intake, but it should also mean that players from other clubs will make use of the reciprocal arrangements, when otherwise they may not have bothered. Although these visitors will play at a reduced rate, few clubs have such a packed tee sheet that they wouldn’t benefit from the discounted green fees plus possible bar and catering income.

Clubs could go further and look to offer deals on secondary memberships. Alyth Golf Club near Blairgowrie in Perthshire has teamed up with nearby Strathmore Golf Centre to offer members at each the opportunity to join the other for a reduced rate as a secondary member. Conditions, in terms of entering club competitions and the like, apply but it generates revenue that would not otherwise have been forthcoming.

Clubs can also work together to promote their local area. The existence of one golf course, even if well marketed, is unlikely to draw