New membership categories? Shorter formats? Golf clubs are being encouraged by England Golf chief Jeremy Tomlinson to look at their models to see what works best
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
Be open minded on membership options and formats of play. That’s the advice given to golf clubs by England Golf’s Jeremy Tomlinson.
The governing body’s chief executive exhorted clubs to look at their demographics, consider the profile of their golfers, and look to the future to find plans that can work for as many people as possible.
“This is something I would always encourage golf clubs to do – to be able to look at ‘where are we going to be in five years’ time? What are our trends?” he said.
“Is our membership continually getting older, or are we able to bring people in at different levels? I would encourage every golf club to do this analysis.
“Of course, depending upon where the club is, what their current state of membership is, they are going to have different ideas and different thoughts on where they need to go.”
Asked whether clubs needed to embrace membership options that suited a wider variety of players, or introduce formats outside of the traditional 18-holes, Tomlinson added: “I do think we have to be very careful to think one size fits all. These are lessons we must learn from the past.
“Before the pandemic, there was 10 years of diminishing golf club membership and I think that was because there had been such a lull with regards to creative thinking.”
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He continued: “We’re not a regulatory body. We’re a governing body and we genuinely want to be able to promote golf in its best light.
“To be able to do that, I encourage golf clubs to look at how people can digest golf. We own the National Golf Centre – we own Woodhall Spa – and we nurture our membership and we’re very proud of that.
“But we also nurture variations on that membership – how we can inspire people to want to come in and start playing the game of golf and how they can do that in different ways.
“That will start with, perhaps, 9 or 12-hole competitions. What’s the best introduction before that? What does it look like? Is it being on the Academy and just hitting golf balls?
“So I very much encourage golf clubs to look your model, look at the value proposition. Whether it’s male, female, working people, non-working people – what is your age demographic?
“Inclusivity is a word that some people use as a throwaway line. Inclusivity also has commerciality to it.
“If you are able to be as inclusive as possible and give an equality of opportunity, you widen the parameters with regards to how you can take care of your golf club from a sustainability base and certainly financially.”
Tomlinson said the process “has to work for the golf club”, but also said they should be brave as he noted the significant age gap between that of an average member and an iGolfer.
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“It’s researching the demographic – who is it you’re looking to appeal to – and then coming up with different plans that work for different people,” he explained.
“It has to work for the golf club. If you have a full member who comes in and wants to pay a chunk of money to be able to play whenever they want, all year round, then that is the ideal scenario because, obviously, every golf club is a business in its own right and needs to be sustainable. I really understand that.
“It is a matter, though, of being brave and having that understanding to go, ‘we must think of something different, because we want to go after that demographic, as opposed to having an average age of 57 or 58.
“How do we get closer to that iGolf age of 42? There are different pressures at different ages we all endure as humans.
“I genuinely think it is coming up with that correct value proposition and that’s tough but I always encourage golf clubs to try and be as open minded as they can be.”
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
Get involved in the debate. To join the GCMA, click here, or to organise a call with a member of the GCMA team, just complete this form and we’ll be in touch!
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