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Connecting Golfers outside of the game

Golf is more than just a game, it's about the social aspect of membership clubs and mutual interactions. How can we bring value off the course?

The UK is considered one of the most popular countries to play golf and the stats clearly show that this narrative is compelling. Traditionally, golf is considered a gentlemen's game with the older generation taking the lead. Now however, more young people are getting involved in the game of golf and beginning to join clubs around the country.


How is Golf changing?


Golf membership in the UK is growing at a rate of 13.9% per year. This is promising for golf clubs after a disruptive 2020 hit by the global pandemic that lead to a disruption of all social activity. Today, the UK accounts for almost half of all golf rounds played in Europe after a booming 2022/23 season.


More younger people are getting involved and the most popular golf demographic is 25-34 age bracket. As before, men are 3 times more likely to play golf regularly than women and 1 in 20 people plan to play golf monthly in 2024.


However, there is an issue. There is a high disparity between rounds played and memberships purchased. Why could that be?


The Missed Opportunity

Increasing fees at 90% of UK golf clubs mean that membership rates are sub-optimal and a lot of people are reluctant to join. They may play once in a while but not commit to joining a club for the longer term. This presents a missed opportunity for clubs since there is a clear demand to play golf, but this demand is not fulfilled duly.


Since most of the members are in the 25-34 age cohort, it represents a fairly young demographic that is tech savvy and most likely have numerous social accounts and use their mobile phones regularly. This is where golf clubs can connect them, within their own custom application that addresses the regular needs of its members and learns the preferences of its users.


Data


Do you know what your users want? Not if you don't have the data or at some point, they told you. If an app is done well and managed expertly, then golf clubs can get real-time insights into what areas of the membership package they enjoy most and what really motivates them to be at the club. Frankly, the more data you have on your members, the more value you can bring to them and that means that they will seldom leave the club.


Moreover, people than receive tailored service enjoy their experience much more and share it with their friends, who in turn, may join too. It's difficult and expensive to give tailored service manually, but with an app system, it is possible to learn and optimise for every user.


Engagement

Outside of the club, how do members engage with the club? They may see some posts on social media, but that is very generic and limited in features. A custom app service that is regularly monitored and actively run allows for 24/7 engagement with the club and this builds a brand. A brand is inherently more valuable!


Raising engagement with gamification features, actual and relevant content stimulates the user to proactively use the app more often and get accustomed to the clubs technology creating a habit.


Club ROI


The most important ROI that cannot be quantified is the brand value that increases when there is a custom service being regularly used and keeps users engaged anytime, anywhere. Something that can be indirectly measured is the data on user preferences and leverage this to double down on features that users love and remove ones that users use little.


A direct ROI would be the membership rate increase and a cancellation decrease (which may be more important) as well as an upsell of useful and relevant products or services to interested users.

Power in Numbers

Over 737,000

UK Golf Club Members

1 in 20 People

Plan to play Golf monthly

Age 25-34

Most popular age bracket

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