INSIGHT | SETTING GREEN FEES
More than just a number
Too high and visitors can stay away. Too low and members can get upset. What goes into setting a green fee price?
HOW much is too much? What is the value of experience? There are few subjects trickier for a golf club than setting an appropriate green fee price.
Go too high and golfers can stay away, or you can face criticism you are exploiting your customer base. Go too low, and members can get their backs up as precious tee times are bagged by bargain hunters.
So what goes into setting a fee that meets such a difficult balance?
For PGA-qualified Tim Gilpin, recently appointed account manager for the Midlands and North region for consultancy firm Accountancy Matters, prices are far more than just a number.
They set the tone for the whole club. And getting them wrong can have significant consequences on the bottom line.
Having spent a quarter of a century in the industry at clubs like Tenby, La Moye, Mottram Hall and Beau Desert, he has seen what works at private and proprietary clubs.
“It’s important to get it right and more technical than you might think,” he said. “Some clubs treat it too much as if they’re just chucking a number out there. But you’re trying to get the right number of visitors paying the right amount of money.
“If you do that right, your member experience will be at the right level, and you also have the right availability for visitors. It’s a really fine balance.”
So how do you manage to square the scales and keep your members happy while maximising revenue opportunity? Gilpin reveals a quartet of things to consider.
What are your competitors doing?
You’ve got to look at your competitors. One of my first bosses used to say, ‘we’re not the only airline going to Dublin’. It’s true.
It’s like pricing your beer or your wine, you’ve got to look at what they’re doing but then you’ve got to look underneath that price and see what you’re offering.
Visitor experience is not a gimmick
Experience counts. I talk about that happening right from the gates of the driveway – even how you present the hedgerow along the driveway. All those things add into the experience.
We know people aren’t so critical of price then because the experience overtakes that. People will spend a lot of money, and never complain about it, if their enjoyment level is right.
But provide a bad experience and, all of a sudden, something becomes very expensive. That’s why experience and enjoyment, coinciding with the right price, is key.
Occupancy is vital
Think of it like bedrooms at hotels. You’re trying to utilise occupancy. Whatever you have available throughout the week for your members is first and foremost.
Then what’s left, or secondary, is for visitors. But is that at the right times? Just because they are a visitor doesn’t mean they’re all going to come and play at 4pm on Monday afternoon. So you can’t give them 4pm on a Monday afternoon because very few will want to play then. There’s a balance there.
You may also consider fluctuations in pricing – giving deals on three and fourballs. Sometimes, I will see members’ clubs that have the same price whether it’s a one, two, three or fourball.
That’s nuts because, in theory, it’s a tee time. Do you really want one or twoballs? You want threes and fours because they’re going to spend more time in the bar. Your total income now from one tee time is higher.
But consider what lower prices mean for your club
There are golf clubs that are looking to fill more areas through cheaper pricing – going back to the Monday afternoon. If that’s your type of golf club, and it fits your identity, you need expertise to help with that and get the right price.
Once you start giving lower prices, you’ve got to look at how that affects your business. Is there more wear and tear on the golf course? Does that increase the maintenance costs?
The more you consider this subject and the more you start unwrapping – layer by layer – you’ll see it becomes much more than just sticking a price tag on a round of golf.
Tim Gilpin is Midlands/North Account Manager for Accountancy Matters. He has spent 25 years working in the golf, leisure, and hospitality sectors
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