
Essential Things For Your Golf Club to Get Right in 2025
It's that time of year. Some of you may already have received your 2025 subscription demand, while the rest of us will be "looking forward" to the inevitable increase over the next couple of months.
Many club golfers will sit down and ask themselves if they want to cough up the amount asked of them, or whether the time might be right to join a new club or perhaps even become a nomadic golfer.
So what do golf clubs need to be doing to keep our business in 2025?
Explanation
I don’t know any golf club member who does not expect to be paying more. It has become a fact of life. If you are a member of a golf club that reduces your subscription this year then please let us all in on the secret. But I want my club to tell me why my subs are going up and I am sorry, but "rising costs" just doesn’t cut the mustard. Let us know what those rising costs are. If my fees are going up by more than the rate of inflation then I want a detailed explanation as to where my money is going to be spent.
(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)
Clubhouse
I want my club to offer me food and drink that is competitively priced. I have a friend who is a member of a Norfolk golf club that charges its member more than £7 for a pint of beer. In any world, that is simply outrageous and cannot possibly be justified. I should point out that we are talking about a resort course with a hotel attached and that means anybody staying on a golf break is going to spend a fortune behind the bar.
I also want the clubhouse to be clean, the staff to be warm and friendly and the food to be freshly prepared, using local ingredients. I do not want to hear the pinging of a microwave from the kitchen.
Pro Shop
For starters, I want to know that the pro will rememberer my name. I am also looking for a well-stocked shop with clubs and balls offered at competitive prices and a pro who is open to a bit of bartering. I also want him or her to greet visitors with a smile and make them feel that they are welcome.
Practice Facilities
If your club has a driving range, are there plans to introduce Trackman technology? Are the mats fits for purpose? Are the golf balls fit for purpose? Does the practice putting green accurately reflect the surfaces you are going to experience on the course? Is there a proper short-game area? If not, does the club have plans to build one?
Website
First impressions are important. And for many golfers, that means the club’s website. You will know by now that I have a bee in my bonnet about shockingly-bad websites that look like they have been designed and maintained by Noah from his ark. It is 2025. There is absolutely no excuse for a clunky website. And there simply has to be a flyover of all 18 holes - somebody in the club will have a drone. If they don’t, hiring one is as cheap as chips.
Social Media
Most golf club members now use the likes of Facebook, Instagram, X et al as a matter of course. Some golf clubs have finally cottoned on to this. I want my 2025 golf club to know exactly how best to keep me updated (they only have to ask). I will even settle for email. For the record, my golf club hits the mark on this front. But it remains an exception. We live in a digital world - golf clubs need to reflect that.
Maintenance
All golf club members want to know what plans are in place for the course. Are they planning new tees? Will there be fresh sand in the bunkers? What maintenance programmes are in place for 2025?
Opening Time
I am a realist. I am a member of a resort course and I accept that there are going to be occasions when I may struggle to get a tee time because they have been given to hotel guests. Those guests pay a decent amount of money to stay and play - and they are essential because, without them, our subscriptions would increase. What is your club doing to encourage visitors? Does it make them feel welcome and offer them "golfer-friendly" tee times? Members and visitors can and should live in harmony.
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