To survive, every club needs to have a strong plan that reflects member exceptions.
Charles Darwin—of the famed process of Natural Selection, which basically says that only the strong survive—died in 1882. Had Charlie been strong enough to make it another six years, he would have lived to hear about the founding of the first golf club in the United States, St. Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, N.Y.
From that humble beginning in 1888, less than 50 years later there were 4,400 private golf clubs in the U.S. Though most might find it hard to believe, that’s still the number of private golf clubs in the market today. Despite the normal ebb and flow of the economy and competition from other forms of sports and recreation, private golf clubs have had a pretty good run for the past 120 years.
And it’s a safe bet that they will be around for the next 120 years, too. But today, a lot of people are concerned about the near-term outlook for any number of private golf clubs throughout the market.
Golf Digest ran a very good series of articles about private clubs in its October issue. The lead feature asked the question: “Is This the Time to Join a Private Club?” Another article was titled, “How To Fix Private Clubs.” I can tell you that a lot of my friends and fellow club members read the issue, and felt all points made were spot on. Of course, most also felt that our own clubs were doing just fine.
The competition that today’s private golf clubs are faced with is unprecedented: the proliferation of high-quality, upscale daily-fee clubs; time pressures of dual-income families; adults’ time demands for their kids’ sports schedules; a weak economy; the rising costs of private club membership; money in general; and so on.
None of these competitive pressures are going to change or go away. It’s the Darwinian Age for not only private golf clubs, but for all golf clubs. But this column is about private clubs, so I’ll try to simplify what is a fairly complex issue as best I can.
Member perspective: Boil it all down and the premise for joining a private club comes down to two basic elements: camaraderie (I want to play golf, hang out, and have fun with my buddies—and keep my family engaged with the club, too) and convenience (I want my club to be nearby and available to play at a moment’s notice, so I don’t have to decide a week in advance where I am going to play and then drag my clubs around with me).
Club perspective: First, never forget it’s about the money, so run your club as a business. The days of simply increasing dues every year and/or asking for large-scale assessments on a regular basis are over. Be fiscally responsible and share that philosophy, and the results, with your members. Second, have a plan. Long-range or near-term, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. Every club needs to have a plan that reflects member expectations for the nature, look, and feel of the property. Develop the plan, execute it, and update members as often as necessary on the progress you are making.
The number of private golf clubs in the U.S. peaked at about 4,900 back in 1988. There have been, and will continue to be, private clubs that go away for any number of reasons. Today’s market conditions and demographics suggest that more are at risk than ever before.
Yours doesn’t have to be one of them, if you continue to address and serve member expectations. You may not look like the club you were 10, 20 or 30 years ago. But take comfort in the fact that St. Andrews in Yonkers doesn’t, either.
Darwin was right—don’t lose sight of it.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.