Membership fees might be on the rise but Premium Credit’s 2025-26 Membership Survey reveals that golfers are overwhelmingly planning to renew their subscriptions.
Membership subscriptions may be continuing to increase, but the golfers paying those fees say they are still receiving good value.
Despite annual fee increases averaging between three and seven per cent, Premium Credit’s Membership Survey 2025-26 reveals that renewal intentions remain strong – with 73 per cent of those surveyed rating their club as offering excellent or good value and more than nine out of 10 indicating they intend to renew.
Premium Credit, a GCMA Premium Business Partner providing golf fees finance for clubs and members, work with around 550 golf clubs and around 30,000 members use their product.
Speaking on the latest episode of GCMA Insights on the Golf Club Talk UK podcast, Paul Shields, National Sales Manager at Premium Credit, compared golfers’ commitment to their club memberships with football supporters’ commitment to their season tickets.
“One thing I’ve found over the 10 years of working for Premium Credit – working in football season ticket membership and golf membership – is the levels of default are very low and that is irrespective of the wider economy,” he explained.
“I think probably the likelihood is you have members that would rather let their rent or their mortgages fall behind in preference to their golf membership being rescinded, or their season ticket for their football club being rescinded.
“Golfers are very keen, and they want to keep maintaining and retaining their membership with their golf clubs.”
Darren Wood, GCMA Partnership Manager, said golfers were “finding real value” in being a member, and were buying into explanations over cost increases where there was “clear communication”.
He said: “It’s really interesting that we’re putting these fees up in line with inflation and increasing costs, but we’re also adding a little bit more on at times to be able to reinvest back into the golf club and UK membership seem to be buying into that to some extent.
“When we’re showing some clear communication about what that percentage increase is for, and some of it is quite obviously the operating costs going up, people are used to that from their own cost of living at home so they see it, they empathise with it, and they can see reinvestment back into the golf course and the facilities they are a member of.
“It’s really interesting that everything is going up, but membership is bucking the trend of ‘well, the first thing to go is your golf membership’. It’s really not. They’re actually finding real value in being a member.”
Shields said the survey results showed there was a lot of strength right now in golf club memberships.
“I think the key thing is, even though membership prices are going up, people are still feeling they’re getting good value from those memberships.
“The expectation of those members to stay at that golf club for the foreseeable future is high among a lot of those that completed the survey.”
He added: “I think it [the survey] demonstrates there’s a lot of strength within the world of golf clubs and their memberships and I think it’s only going to continue to grow and become more successful over the coming years.”
Listen to the full episode here:
Key takeaways
- Renewal intentions remain strong: More than nine out of 10 golfers surveyed intend to renew despite rising membership fees.
- Members still see value: Some 73 per cent rate their club as offering good or excellent value.
- Clear communication helps explain increases: Showing how fees cover operating costs and fund improvements helps members understand what they are paying for.
