The Club Company Supplants Crown Golf as UK’s Biggest Golf Club Operator

Changes are afoot in the golf club industry as The Club Company has become the UK’s biggest golf club operator following the previous largest operator, Crown Golf, selling six of its 15 clubs.

The Club Company, which runs 15 golf clubs, takes the top spot as Crown Golf continues its plans to transform from “a purely golf course operating business into a property development company”. The sale means that Crown Golf is not even the second largest operator now, that gong going instead to Mytime Active, which currently runs 14 clubs.

Crown Golf CEO Stephen Towers told The Golf Business: “The sale of these courses is the culmination of a strategic restructure, which allows us to focus investment on core sites with both golf and leisure, as well as development opportunities.

“We have greatly enjoyed being custodians of these clubs, and are very pleased to have found a buyer who is committed to the game of golf, and to taking the clubs on the next stage of their golfing journey.”

Over the last eight years, The Club Company has moved on a whopping sixteen clubs, going from a collection of 25 to just nine.

The six most recent sales have been bought by charity Get Golfing CIO, which now has a total of eight golf clubs under its wing following the acquisition of seven new clubs during the coronavirus pandemic, most recently Warley Park Golf Club. 

Get Golfing CIO was established in 2018 and aims to get more people playing the game, particularly by promoting its role as part of a healthy lifestyle.

The six clubs which have been purchased by Get Golfing CIO comprise Oak Park Golf Club, Hampton Palace Golf Club, Pyrford Golf Club, Mill Green Golf Club, The Bristol Golf Club and Sherfield Oaks Golf Club. These clubs, which are a mixture of freehold and leasehold properties, hail from counties spanning Surrey to South Gloucestershire to Hampshire.