Membership Analysis and Strategies (original article over 10 years ago)

Treat Members Like Customers!

Golf club board members, bankers, and partnership investors are not likely experienced golf course business people. With all their best intentions and efforts, the road to the eleventh hour is almost guaranteed without our kind of experience guiding operations. Every so often, a golf club needs a jolt of reality to get back on track. Sometimes the way back is so simple!

A golf club membership list is a customer list. Collectively, the membership will respond to their club as they would toward any business "Give me Value and Service and I will be back!"

There are member management strategies that have shown to be successful. Successful meaning improved member participation. It's still all about business - nothing new, really!

In simple terms, you do business where you feel you receive value. The same goes for your club members, whether private, or semi-private.

There are ways to recover member loyalty and participation that can build on itself. These are based on every day principles we have observed successfully for almost fifty years in golf.

Call me: 941.739.3990, or write: mike@golfmak.com.

OBSERVATIONS: The membership at private or semi-private clubs will always develop habits that can be defined and studied. Some are good, some are not. Here's a case study (one of mine):

"I was reviewing a private golf club and learned what brands of beer they sold. Later out on the course I noticed empty beer cans in waste pails - brands not sold in the clubhouse (Yah!, I look for that stuff.). In this instance, I'm watching a private golf club in financial trouble while its members are bringing their own beer onto the golf course. I later learned this 'habit' has been common for years at this club.

Astoundingly, I observed the men's club treasurer with a can of beer in the cup holder of his golf cart. A brand not sold in the clubhouse!"

Turnover. It tells a lot about a membership. We look at membership turnover and after adjusting for natural attrition, we look for reasons and trends that might identify why.

Is there a solution at your club? We have strategies to recapture loyalty, participation and even restore a full membership roster.

Call: 941.739.3990, or write: mike@golfmak.com..