Sean & Mark - If you just say it costs £600,000 to run the course and you do 30,000 rounds of golf you basically need to average £20 per round.... The average member plays 40 times per year, lets say its £800 per year for convienence, lets say they have 600 members thats £480,000. You have 6000 rounds you need to sale at £20 to make up the £120,000 deficit, if you let these go for inside £20 you are not going to balance the books, if you let these go for £15 because thats market price the reality is the membership is too expensive at £800. Not all members play 40 times, some play 60 and are happy some play 25 and in tight times it gets to the stage the member considers a cheaper alternative. This is a situataion clubs have gotten into by creating cheaper ways to play the course. You can analyse a space or gap in the tee times and say a £1 is better than nothing, but you will go bust in the long term. You have to keep margins up or the phone will ring and "my mate dave played the other day for £15, there are 8 of us, can we play?" We call it MAKING THE MIX....you are giving the person the ingredients to make the problem for you. Basically as soon as you discount inside your PPR (price per round x 30,000 = cost to run) it's a problem. Most clubs dont even know their PPR.
Money spent in the pro shop in the UK is usually not the clubs, its the pro's. Any club that 'gets um in' on the basis that they will spend good money on drink and food is dreaming, theres virtually no profit in it. Cost of the beer, staff, tax, there is very little left.
I am not talking even about making profit, its hard to break even.