The latest GCMA Insights podcast on Golf Club Talk UK explores why membership numbers alone do not define a club’s success.
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
For many managers, this might be the golf club utopia. A full membership, a waiting list, and a joining fee in place. But is this the be-all and end-all?
Speaking on the latest episode of GCMA Insights on the Golf Club Talk UK podcast, host Leighton Walker was joined by GCMA Partnership Manager Darren Wood and Paul Shields, Premium Credit’s National Sales Manager, to discuss golf club membership, member retention and how clubs can prepare for the future.
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They looked at Premium Credit’s 2025-26 membership survey, which revealed that golf club membership remains strong despite a background of rising annual subscriptions.
The trio also considered whether a full membership book necessarily represents success, discussing how clubs can use the current strength of the market to plan for the future.
“I think every general manager I ever speak to, if they’ve got a full membership and they’ve got a waiting list, that’s something they’re very keen to explain,” Shields told the podcast.
“You can understand why – especially when that golf club wasn’t full up, they’ve managed to fill it up, and they’ve got a waiting list.
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“So every golf club wants that, but there are lots of other different measures and markers I think they should be considering. Not the membership, but the happiness of those members.
“The only way to try and really get to the root of that is to do various surveys on their membership to find out how happy they are.
“There are different golf clubs. If you’re a membership golf club, there isn’t necessarily the profit and loss that you really have a consideration to. That’s not so important, but if you’re a commercial golf club then you may well want to try and ensure that every single touchpoint with every single member is making a significant amount of profit.
“There are very different considerations there and I think the key thing is each golf club is going to be different: the ownership, the membership, the style of that golf club is going to be different. It’s just tailoring each particular golf club to ensure you are giving the best level of service to the members that you do have.”
Wood said success also depended on generating enough surplus to reinvest and safeguard the club for future generations.
He explained: “If your membership numbers are pretty healthy and you are able to put a joining fee back onto membership at the golf club, I think that also creates a little bit of FOMO – a little fear of missing out.
“If you advertise it’s the last few places remaining, from next year we’ll be adding a joining fee, I think you tend to see an influx of enquiries of people fearing missing out on their space.”
He added: “But I think if you take a membership number to one side, if your club financially is operating and able to meet the operating cost, and able to make some level of surplus to reinvest back into all areas of the golf club, or even put money aside for capital expenditure in the future, I think you’re operating successfully.
“If you’re only just making ends meet, so to speak, and just meeting your operating costs, members are generally happy, I think you’re in quite a tricky position if anything changes in future years.
“I think you need to consider other potential revenue streams at the golf club just to try and make sure that you’re creating some surplus.
“As Paul said, it’s not about the bottom line for a membership golf club, but it should be about safeguarding the future and future generations. You want to be able to make sure that you can keep updating things, you can keep improving things, and you can’t do that if you’re just making ends meet as an operator.”
Walker, meanwhile, said the strength of the membership market gave clubs an opportunity to be proactive and look ahead.
“If there’s one thing we should be doing from this position of strength at the moment, it’s looking forward and perhaps saying, ‘look, it might not always be exactly like this. Times might get a bit tougher. What should we be doing now to get ahead of the game?’
“And I call it being proactive, not reactive, because we don’t want to get two years down the road and we’re trying to react to something that’s now out of our control a little bit.
“So are we thinking about the member experience? What are we doing in terms of retention and engagement of members? But also, are we providing the best possible facilities and ensuring they’re coming to a place that’s comfortable and welcoming?
“Alongside that assessing, are we at the right membership model? Are we looking at the right picture for our members? Do we need to be a bit more creative, more flexible?
“We should certainly be asking those questions as well.”
Main image produced using generative AI.
Listen to the full episode here:
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
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