"Flexible membership is just cheap golf"

It's a common phrase that we hear from people within the golf industry when we start to tell them who we are and what we do. And yes, if you take the headline price of a flexible membership, usually priced around a third of a full 7 day membership, you can understand why that opinion might be formed.

However when you start to look at a tee sheet from a yield per round point of view, it is clear to see that there is significantly more value in a flexible membership than you first realised. This is an important metric that we use with our partner clubs during annual reviews and subsequent quarterly reviews, incorporating a reporting suite that we’ve built based on their feedback. Using the figures in the reporting suite we are able to demonstrate to them the yield specific to their club or even regionally or nationally.

Let’s have a look at a comparison of different player types and how much they yield per round. For this example we have used three different player types and used a national average for the figures quoted.

Green Fee Player – We have seen a consistent increase in green fees over the past couple of years as more and more golfers played the game and space on tee sheets was harder to come by. If you were to take an average rack rate green fee of £30, a twilight rate of £20 and maybe a small discount on green fees on a short lead in time, this will average out at about £25 per round.

7 day member – Take an average membership price of £1000 for a 7 day membership and consider that this member is probably going to play on 40 weekends of a year and maybe play another 20 rounds of midweek golf, taking them to a total of 60 rounds a year. This member is likely to play the majority of those rounds of golf before midday and more than likely between the hours of 0700 and 1000. Based on this logic they will be yielding out at about £16 per round.

Flexible points-based member – We know that the sweet spot for a flexible membership price point is around a third of a 7 day membership price, so for this example we will use our £350 price point. We know that on average a flexible member plays around 10 – 12 rounds of golf a year, plays 65% of their golf in the PM and around 70% midweek. Therefore, if they were to play 12 rounds at 1300 on a weekday they would be averaging out at £29 per round of golf.

When comparing the three different types of golfers it is clear to see that round for round a flexible member is going to produce a far better yield and will also play the majority of golf in what will be the quieter tee times.

If you would like to find out more about the yield of player types on your tee sheet or explore how we can help you attract some high yielding golfers to your course then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

To find out more about introducing a flexible golf membership at your club, visit playmore.golf/club-partner or download our club brochure