From GCMA Partner Club Benchmarking EMEA
Every golf club spends money maintaining its course. Course maintenance is one of the largest single expense lines on most operating budgets, and how much of a club’s revenue it consumes says more about that club’s financial health than almost any other number Club Benchmarking EMEA tracks on the Profit & Loss Account. Across 263 recent club-year records, that one ratio splits clubs into two distinct financial realities and the fifteen points separating clubs at the 25th and 75th percentiles show up on the course long before they show up on the balance sheet.
Two Revenue Lines Carry the Course
Club Benchmarking EMEA’s research has consistently found that nearly the entire weight of a golf club’s operating budget rests on two revenue lines: subscriptions and green fees. Food and beverage rarely helps carry that load given that 62% of clubs break even or run at a deficit for their Food & Beverage operation, but that’s a whole other story. That leaves subscription and green fee revenue to set the real ceiling on what a club can spend keeping its golf course in the high standard condition that members expect.
High Spenders vs. Stretchers
Club Benchmarking EMEA tracks course maintenance expense (CME) as a percentage of subscription and green fee revenue (SGR) to measure that ceiling in practice and it splits clubs into two camps. High Spenders keep CME to a low share of SGR. That’s not because they spend less on the course; many spend considerably more in absolute terms than Stretchers do. It’s because their revenue base is large enough to absorb the cost without squeezing the rest of the budget.
Stretchers sit at the other end. A larger share of a smaller revenue base goes toward the course, even when the amount spent is lower. The label ‘Stretchers’ isn’t a verdict on commitment to the course, it’s a measure of financial capacity. Stretchers are leaving less money available to run all other operations in a typical golf club.
The Data
Combining full-year data across 263 club-year records, the median club puts 45% of SGR into CME. The top quartile, High Spenders, hold that ratio to 38% or below. The bottom quartile, Stretchers, run at 53% or higher. At least fifteen points separate the clubs with real financial breathing room from the clubs under genuine strain to keep the course up to standard.
| 38% High Spenders (25th pct.) | 45% Median | 53% Stretchers (75th pct.) |
CME = course maintenance expense. SGR = subscription and green fee revenue. High Spenders and Stretchers are defined as the 25th and 75th percentile of CME as a % of SGR, sorted low to high, across the combined data sample.
What the Gap Means
A 15-point gap is the difference between a club funding the experience members expect and a club fighting to keep pace with it. Clubs at the Stretcher end aren’t choosing to under-invest in the course, there’s simply less revenue to draw from for other areas of the club, course maintenance takes a larger bite of what’s there. Closing that gap starts with the same two levers driving it in the first place, subscription revenue and green fee revenue, not further cuts to the maintenance budget.
More to Come
This 15-point gap is just the headline number. Further correlations will be shared in future data insights, including how this ratio relates to annual subscriptions, entrance fee structure, and F&B economics, plus more.
Benchmark Your Club
Where does your club fall on this curve, closer to 38%, 45%, or 53% and above? What does that mean for your club?
Get in touch for a complimentary high level confidential analysis on your club’s numbers:
James Burns – [email protected]
John McCormack – [email protected]
www.clubbenchmarking.eu
By Mark Shanley
