Attracting and Retaining New Members at UK Clubs

[Duncan Cheslett]

My club's annual report has just been published and it makes interesting reading to someone new to the world of golf clubs but an old hand at running small businesses.

Basically, the club is doing OK compared to many; operating at around break-even level. All the talk in the report however, is about the need to cut costs in the face of the current economic climate, and the threat of redundancy hovers over the heads of the greens and house staff.

While fully appreciative of the need to keep a tight rein on costs, as a natural salesman I am minded to look at the situation from the other angle, however. Our membership currently numbers 375, with a maximum allowed under the constitution of 450. Every additional member we attract contributes £850 per year without adding meaningfully to the cost base. Increasing the membership to 400 would put the club comfortably into profit without having to compromise on course maintenance or clubhouse facilities.

Clearly though, increasing the membership from 375 to 400 is not as simple as atrracting 25 new members. Every year members leave. Assuming for the sake of simplicity that the average golf club member sticks around for 19 years, we need to attract 20 new members a year just to stand still. In times of economic hardship the rate of members quitting will obviously increase, and I have anecdotal evidence of several long-term members having to give up their membership this year due to financial constraints.

So, how to attract 50 new members to a golf club? One a week...

One thing that struck me when I was considering joining a club last year was just how bad golf clubs in general are at selling memberships.  I made enquiries at many local clubs and the response from most was rather pathetic. Yet I know that all these clubs are struggling to fill their membership lists!  All my commercial instincts tell me that there is a good market out there for golf club membership, but that it is just not being worked in an effective and professional manner by the vast majority of traditional clubs.

The benefits of club membership over a nomadic or Society golfing existance are many and clear; less than £20 per week buys you unlimited access to a good course, the opportunity to play in competions several times a week, and a whole new world of regular playing (and drinking!) buddies.  Yet I believe that over 50% of 'golfers' do not belong to a local club.

For me, the big obstacle for many years was the commitment - in terms of both money and time. Signing up for 12 months and parting with the thick end of a thousand quid for something which I didn't know I was going to able to make full benefit of - or even like - prevented me from becoming a club golfer for a long time. I know I'm not alone. These objections could so easily be overcome however, by the club offering a 'trial membership' of 3 months for a one-off payment of say £195 (£15 per week).

This 3-month period is more than enough for the new member to become hooked and then sign up fully. It is also enough time for the new member to feel isolated, ignored, and as a consequence walk away - very possibly giving up on the idea of joining a golf club at all...

...which brings me to member retention.

I played a very interesting round the other day with a couple of younger guys at our club. Both had been around the place since they were kids and both told similar stories.

They had seen numerous people join the club and then leave after the first year simply because they were not the outgoing, confident, gregarious type who make themselves known in the bar. The club had failed to embrace them and make them feel wanted.
This is a big business mistake, one which I am sure all clubs are guilty of to some extent.

This problem is often put down to 'cliqueishness'; I disagree. The fact is that most clubs are run by the outgoing, confident, gregarious types who make themselves known in the bar. That unfortunately, is the natural order of things. These guys though, often fail to understand that many people are just not like them, and instead are either a little shy or simply want to get on with playing golf in their own quiet way, while feeling an important part of the club.

Having just emerged from my first three months as a golf club member, I really think that clubs would be well advised to work harder at drawing new members in to the fold. I've fitted in well, but I'm not the shy quiet type. If I was, I'm not sure that I'd be feeling as comfortable about renewing my membership next month.

I'd be very interested to know whether other clubs work any harder at attracting and retaining new members. I'm surprised for instance, that we don't have a committee devoted to the job. We seem to have a committee for everything else!

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Duncan - Theres not much to argue about in your post, again its a numbers game, 375 seems very low, in raw terms you need about 30 members to pay for a member of staff, in bleak times cost reduction is the only way, after that its once a week mowing, after that its sheep on farways and members taking turns. The clubhouse needs to reduce hours to 1 person per job rather than double shifting.

Retaining membershp is not easy, you can be doing everything right and still lose. With so many clubs having no joinng fee ts hard to keep members as other clubs jossle for the business, ' easy in, easy out'. If you have charged someone a join fee they dont wanna lose it, so I think having a joining fee is a key factor in retention.

The clubs best shop window is the course itself, but a good website is important and when someone pitches up a friendly pro and cheery members.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Adrian,

I agree that 375 members is on the low side, which is why I'm surprised that greater efforts are not being made in an organised fashion to attract new members, and then to make them feel welcome. We have a lot of golf clubs in our area (south Manchester/north Cheshire), the vast majority of which are traditional clubs set up in the early years of the last century. Most have a problem with low membership - even the most prestigious places mention potential vacancies on their websites. At all but a handful of clubs joining fees have vanished.

Yet nowhere do I see imaginative or innovative marketing of club membership. In any other area of business an enquiry from a potential new customer is followed up by a salesperson whose job it is to 'close' the deal. Make an email enquiry to a golf club about becoming a member and the most you are likely to receive in return is a PDF file of an application form asking for a proposer and seconder! It's almost as if they operate a 'Sales Prevention' department'!

I suspect that a lot of this is rooted in the fairly recent past when most clubs had waiting lists and joining fees. The idea that members have now to be fought for has clearly not sunk in.

At Reddish Vale we are blessed with arguably the finest course in the area. Visitors are amazed at the beauty of the property and the quality of the golf in such apparently unpromising urban surroundings. Selling unlimited access to such a course in a highly populated area for only £850 pa should be simple - yet just isn't happening. I intend to do something about it.

Any ideas?


PS I agree about the joining fee. My plan would be to introduce one as soon as membership was approaching capacity.

[Jon Wiggett]

Duncan,

the answer is quite simple. You need to find out what potential new members want and then offer that. The difficulty is getting the existing membership to accept this and stay. The problem is that because you have a fixed price for membership which includes everything most members will resist increases to both membership fees and numbers of members. This is because they see no advantages to either increasing as their membership fee costs go neither up nor down.

It would be easier to persuade members if their fees were based on the actual cost of running the club. This would mean that if the club cost £320K to run in a year the £850 fee would cover it. Letting in an extra 25 members would reduce this by £50 per member. Seeing this direct benefit members are more likely to accept different types of membership offers.

Maybe you should look at monthly payment schemes. Reductions for paying in advance or part member fees part green fee offers.

Traditional member clubs are struggling but this is often due to their unwillingness to move with the times on membership structure.

Jon

[Duncan Cheslett]

It would be easier to persuade members if their fees were based on the actual cost of running the club. This would mean that if the club cost £320K to run in a year the £850 fee would cover it. Letting in an extra 25 members would reduce this by £50 per member. Seeing this direct benefit members are more likely to accept different types of membership offers.

I agree. The object of a members club is presumably to break even with a small surplus - not to make big profits to please shareholders.  Therefore an increase in membership should be reflected in a lower annual subscription and/or in better facilities. Either way, the existing membership should benefit from having more members. In the long term of course, existing members have to realise that unless new members are continually attracted, welcomed, and retained, the club will die.

Traditional member clubs are struggling but this is often due to their unwillingness to move with the times on membership structure.

Agreed. I also believe that there is a whole demographic of relatively young golfers out there for whom traditional club membership has little obvious appeal. Enticing these players to give it a try is, I think, key to solving the long-term membership problem

[Jon Wiggett]

One thing that clubs might think of would be to pool together and get a collective membership. It could work that each member pays £x and has the requirement to play an even amount of golf on all courses over the space of the year. This would give golfers a chance to play different courses without having to pay more than a standard membership fee. Here in the Highlands quite a few clubs have a reciprocal agreement with a few other clubs in the area allowing members 4 or 5 green fees at the other clubs.

Jon

[Adrian_Stiff]

Duncan - I just looked at Reddish Vale's website and I do not think there is enough information on the course. If I was wanting to play in Cheshire there is not enough to wet my appetite from their website.

I think its important to have nice pictures of the course, if those are the best then its not much of a course but, you and Sean have posted better pics than that so we know different.

[Niall C]

Duncan - I just looked at Reddish Vale's website and I do not think there is enough information on the course. If I was wanting to play in Cheshire there is not enough to wet my appetite from their website.

I think its important to have nice pictures of the course, if those are the best then its not much of a course but, you and Sean have posted better pics than that so we know different.

Adrian,

Spot on, and not just for prospective members but also visitors as well. Hire Aidan Bradly and you're off to a flyer. If you can't get Aidan then certainly get a professional photographer. I'm constantly amazed at clubs who try to sell themselves by pushing forward their clubhouses.

Niall

[Adrian_Stiff]

Yes Nial, Aidan's photography brings out the very best.