Rethinking Membership

London Golf Club has never had as many members as in 2022.

A strategy which started before the pandemic has increased member play from 35% to 65%, while the number of corporate rounds per year has halved to about 4,000. 

The key to retaining these members, says Ben Stimson, the club’s Director of Golf, is adding value – including offering options such as family membership which extends beyond a player’s household to relatives such as grandparents, uncles/aunts and cousins.

“Family membership has been really successful,” he explains. “It has only been existing members adding it, so they can play with their sibling or grandparent for example. We haven’t marketed it externally.

“At most clubs, family membership is just for the core nucleus or same household, but we wanted to be more flexible. It has all the same benefits with full playing privileges on both courses. It works out a lot cheaper than individual membership.”

The Kent venue, which hosted the 2021 Cazoo Classic on the DP World Tour, has also appointed a dedicated executive to take care of its 615 members.

“The business has evolved significantly over the past three years,” continues Stimson. “Right now we’re not looking for more members as we’ve been inundated. We’re just focusing on looking after the existing ones, so when it comes to renewals in March, people think ‘I need to be a member’.

“We’re doing lots of things that makes them feel valued, such as having dedicated tee time slots for members, enhancing the competitions calendar and offering better prizes.

“We also do regular reciprocal visits to other clubs, and our membership executive plays golf once a week with different members to get their feedback and find out what people want.”

At Diamond Country Club in Austria, an influx of young families to the area has prompted a new approach to attracting beginner and casual golfers.

In 2021, the venue - host of Austria’s national Open since 2010 – launched a ‘€1 a day’ offer, where non-members can play its 9-hole Park Course and use the driving range on a flexible, relatively inexpensive basis.

So far 150 people have signed up to the deal, which is paid either monthly (€30) or annually (€365). In the last 12 months 40 of those have upgraded to become full members of Diamond Country Club.

“It broadens the spectrum of people who visit the club and gets more people into the game,” explains Christian Guzy Jnr. “Thanks to improved public transport links to Vienna, which is now just 20 minutes away, there are many young families moving here. It’s a sector we really want to target in the coming years.

“Golf can be a tough sport when you first start playing. With the option of an affordable, public course, it gives them a chance to reach a point where they want to play regularly and then hopefully become a full member.

“We want to tempt people here, then keep them around and ensure they are not scared when the first option they see to play regularly is around €2,000.”

The Park Course has seen around 3,000 rounds from non-members since it opened two years ago, and averaged 450-500 rounds per month in the summer of 2022 – an increase of around 25% compared to the two previous summers.

It is also a younger demographic taking advantage of the ‘€1 a day’ offer, with 40% aged 30-40 compared to 9% of existing members in that age range.

“We’ve had a very positive response,” adds the venue’s General Manager, Stephan Vogl. “People are surprised that it’s possible to play golf at this rate.

“We also recently held an open day where we had 50 to 60 families – around 300 people – come along. Of course, it depends on whether a person or family is motivated to play, but there are plenty of things we can control to give the best chance of that happening.”