2024 - Club Memberships & Season Passes

[DougE]

Matt, I don't understand how this can possibly be profitable. How does any golf course worth playing survive with a $400 two-season pass fee? Our morning foursome rate on a weekend is nearly $500 for one single foursome, for one single round!

I am intimately familiar with the costs to run a high-end golf course efficiently, and they are not cheap. I review the P&L reports at ours regularly. In our manager's meetings we go over them line by line to see where we may be able to save a few more bucks. It seems like a part of every meeting. Granted, we are considered a top-tiered facility and want to continue to bolster that image. However, even if we cut out all the things that got us to that level and simply ran a decently-conditioned, customer-friendly course, I don't see where we could save enough to be profitable at all. I can't comprehend how any place can make a profit with those types of membership offerings. Is the $400 membership deal only limited to just a few pass holders? And by a few, I mean like 10 or 15. How large is the staff? What does it cost to play a round there on a weekend morning with a cart?

I'd guess we employ somewhere between 40 and 50 people in-season, about 9 or 10 of which are full-time, salaried positions. Our cart guys, starters and rangers, etc. work for minimum wage, $15 an hour. In-season, we are typically paying a various number of people from 5am, until dark or later, by the time all carts are cleaned and put away. Pro Shop is open until all golfers are off the course and an hour before the first tee time. Greenskeeping/maintenance crew guys are there daily from very early until 4 or 5. All very similar to most courses, top-tiered, or just okay. I won't include dog tracks and cow pastures, because I don't believe your home course is at that level based on what you have described.

Payroll alone at our course is over a million and a half dollars/yr, not including payroll taxes. And none of that includes the restaurant bar or waitstaff. Chemicals, fertilizers, sod, seed, etc. can cost upwards of 1/2 million a year. Capital expenses, property taxes, insurance, utilities, cart fleet, blah blah blah, it adds up to so much more. Yes, we are profitable, but at the end of the day, are not making millions of dollars in profit for the private owner of our course.

No matter what, as already stated by BK, you have a great deal. Yet, some things aren't adding up. There's a part to this story I feel, is missing. I'd love to see the P&L for this course to see how they can pull this off. And, even if they double the price next year, jump on it if you get the chance. Hell, even if they quintuple it!

[MattF]

Doug, they limited the membership to about 500 or so for this round of passes.

I believe they can get away with it because they get a lot of play, being one of the better courses in the area and they have what is known as the best pro shop in NEO.

People come from all around Ohio just to shop at the pro shop.

Rack rate for a weekend is $60 riding before 11am. $49.50 after 11am.

That's all I know of the deal but I can tell you that the course is doing well and they're not losing money.

[DougE]

Wow, 500 passes!!? I'd love to get a look at their P+L sheet to see how that's done.

If that's the case, the weekend mornings must be somewhat taken up by players paying basically nothing to play, shutting out so many who aren't pass holders, who are willing to pay $60.

Doing simple math, with the first tee time around 6:30am, until 11am-ish, assuming 8 minute intervals (we are at 10 min. intervals), a full tee sheet would bring in around $8000 for the period. That's $16,000 per good weather weekend, IN THEORY. However, assuming pass-holders take up the majority of those tee times, that number drops drastically. With 500 pass holders, I would not be surprised if 80-90% of the weekend morning tee times were taken up by pass holders, since over that 3 1/2 hour period there are only openings available for about 100 players. Consequently, instead of $16000 revenue, we are talking a mere $1600-$3200 total revenue for the weekend mornings. Over the course of a season (not an entire year), that averages out to about $10,000 revenue a month with pass holders, x 7 months, or $70K, vs. non-passholders at $64K revenue per month times 7 months= $448,000 for weekend morning tee times. I don't get the logic of offering $400 2-year passes, when looking at the potential without having passes used on morning weekends. If it's a sought after course, why would management give it away at prime time?

Or, is the $400 2-year pass not open to morning weekend play? That would make a lot more sense, though still a fantastic deal. Personally, I'd jump at a $400 two-year deal to play after 4pm midweek only, and still feel like I was stealing.

I know, I'm beating a dead horse here, I am just so baffled by how this pass can be offered by a reasonably well-conditioned, sought out facility.

[MattF]

Or, is the $400 2-year pass not open to morning weekend play? That would make a lot more sense, though still a fantastic deal. Personally, I'd jump at a $400 two-year deal to play after 4pm midweek only, and still feel like I was stealing.

As a member, I can only book a tee time 3 days in advance. The public can book 10 days out.

I can book for any time during the week but weekends and public holidays, I can't book until after 11am.

For me, that's quite OK. I'd prefer to play after 11 on a Sunday because I can have an easy morning and still be home well before 6.

[GBOGEY]

Matt, I don't understand how this can possibly be profitable. How does any golf course worth playing survive with a $400 two-season pass fee? Our morning foursome rate on a weekend is nearly $500 for one single foursome, for one single round!

My guess is that the pro shop guy at Matt's club works for free golf whereas the Worthington Pro Shop guy makes big bucks both from the course and from pushing Titleist.

[bkuehn1952.2]

My guess is that the pro shop guy at Matt's club works for free golf whereas the Worthington Pro Shop guy makes big bucks both from the course and from pushing Titleist.

Yes, the $1,000,000 General Manager at Worthington. Of course, he is the stick that stirs the drink.

[bkuehn1952.2]

Year before COVID, a club in our area did something like Matt's course. They sold a 2-year annual pass for $200. I think they did it again the next year. A couple of my thoughts were:

a. the course was not especially walker friendly so the course may have anticipated a lot of cart revenue
b. They may have been looking to get a lot of people familiar with the course. Then revert back to more realistic pricing over time. They certainly got A LOT of people out there playing.
c. The owners may have expected much larger food & beverage sales from the constantly busy course.

The course is still there. I don't think they went bankrupt but the place was sold at least once. They seem to be doing well now.

[DougE]

Or, is the $400 2-year pass not open to morning weekend play? That would make a lot more sense, though still a fantastic deal. Personally, I'd jump at a $400 two-year deal to play after 4pm midweek only, and still feel like I was stealing.

As a member, I can only book a tee time 3 days in advance. The public can book 10 days out.

I can book for any time during the week but weekends and public holidays, I can't book until after 11am.

Well this explains a little bit. Actually, the first point explains a lot. Huge difference if pass holders are only able to fill up unused tee sheet inventory. No wonder the best tee times aren't full with non-paying pass holders. Thanks for clarifying.

And a side note for @bkuehn1952.2 and @GBOGEY . I don't work at Worthington. I work at P.B.Dye Golf Club, but the humor in your posts was still appreciated .