Golf clubs in Wales are bucking international trends, with roughly a third of the country's clubs increasing membership, according to the latest Wales Golf Clubs Survey.
Golf clubs in Wales are bucking international trends, with roughly a third of the country's clubs increasing membership, according to the latest Wales Golf Clubs Survey.
The 2018 Wales Golf Clubs Survey shows that clubs in Wales can roughly be divided into three; one third of clubs have seen their membership increase, one third have seen it fall, and the final third have seen it stay fairly consistent. It also shows that there are some clear answers to the problem of reversing trends and increasing membership as nine out of ten of the clubs with increasing membership are also seeing an increasing number of visitors.
"Those figures are encouraging as it shows there is a return on our efforts and the advice we give to our member clubs," said Wales Golf chief executive Richard Dixon."When you drill down into the detail, there are clear reasons for those differences. Many more clubs now offer family membership, New2Golf, a junior academy and calendar, engage with a business support scheme, run community events, use promotional materials and hold new member induction."
The survey revealed that the vast majority of club members are over the age of 45, with only four clubs having more members below the age of 45 than above it.
As well as looking into the demographic of club golfers, the survey also investigated how clubs communicate with their members. Websites and social media are the most common ways of communicating with members, but there is still a fifth of clubs which do not use social media. The number of clubs offering online tee-time booking has increased from 65% to 71%, which is certainly progress in the right direction.
There was a clear correlation between a rise in membership and a rise in visitor rounds; Nine out of ten clubs who increased membership also increased visitor numbers. What is really positive though is that less than a fifth of clubs surveyed have seen a decrease in the number of visitor rounds, with more than half of all clubs now offering a nine-hole option for visitors.
The survey also looked into equality, in terms of both gender and disability. Around two-thirds of the clubs surveyed give male and female members equal access to the course, whilst there are really encouraging developments for disability golf; 83% of clubs are now aware of the Modified Rules for Golfers with Disabilities, compared to 53% in the last Clubs Survey.
To find out more about the report, please visit Walesgolf.org
