Launching a Flexible Membership in Winter, the winning approach for those winter golfers

Many clubs have tried to combat those quieter months by launching their own discounted winter membership offer.  If you are one of these clubs, have you ever considered launching a more strategic, valuable flexible golf membership category instead?

Here at PlayMoreGolf we believe this is the best option, driving sales through a flexible membership category whilst appealing with lower costs for the golfer to play.  The category also offers the flexibility to play in the summer months when the costs are higher.

But what are the main benefits of the flexible membership over a Winter membership?

Let's explore these further:

• Means you don’t have to drop the price of your existing membership categories
• Encourages members to remain at the club throughout the year, not just for the 3-4 months of winter
• Gives people a reason to upgrade into full membership if they run out of points
• Offers the customer great value, even when the course is closed (as the points are only used when a golfer plays)
• Encourages a high retention rate – 83% of flexible members renew, whereas most ‘winter only’ members won’t renew due to the price hike come March
• Yielded Revenue, Winter membership gives golfers the opportunity to play lots of golf at a cheap price, whereas, a flexi membership ensures the club receive the revenue they want per round.

Having a member use their points over a year enables you to build a longer-term relationship, with more touch points allowing you to promote the club and bring in extra revenue from other areas of the club.

Many golfers do purchase the winter membership but find they don’t utilise the membership as much as they would like, making the customer unlikely to renew.  With flexi membership if they do not use points in the winter, they still have the option of playing in the summer months but paying a higher point premium to use these when demand for tee times are high.

Two clubs who launched their flexible membership category in autumn/winter, experienced great success with their membership uptake. The figures can be seen below, Birstall Golf Club specifically found nearly one in three enquiries ended up taking a Flexible Golf Membership.

Let us squash 3 flexible golf membership myths.

Wortley GC: Nov ‘18 – Feb ‘19

Enquiries – 215

Members – 30

Revenue - £9k

After 12 months total revenue: £30k

Birstall GC: Oct ’18 – Feb ‘19

Enquiries – 147

Members – 44

Revenue - £12k

After 12 months total revenue: £36k

Discover our partner success stories here.

You can see that launching the flexible membership in winter drives revenue for the club, but also ensures that everything is in place when the golfing season goes into full swing in Spring.

Want to maximise your clubs potential?

Flexible membership gives you the ability to maximise your tee-sheets, not only in the winter, but throughout the year.  Giving you the control to offer a point system that is appealing for quieter times throughout the year but also for flexible members to pay a premium using more points when choosing to play at those times where demand is high. Speak with a member of our Sales Team to find out more about a PlayMoreGolf Flexible Membership. 

Now that’s more like it.