Golf Business Advisory Services

It was a pleasure today to meet with Jason Foxman, GM of the newly opened Swing City Golf at Norwest Business Park in Sydney. Driven by Inrange® Golf the facility showcases how golf can be the centre of fun with great tech for the serious and not serious golfer and other relevant activities for a wide market. Congratulations to James Cooper and Mulpha, bring on the next one!

Thrilled to assist Golf Australia with its 2022/23 Golf Participation Report as Australian golf shows continued growth. Key findings below and full report here : https://lnkd.in/eN_AzQ-V

A busy few weeks coming up as David Burton and I begin 2 new strategic plans in Qld and NSW and present member survey results to 2 other clubs who are midway through our planning process. Staff and member workshops, then Board workshops to wrap up the day today and next week. With a big slide deck to work through, we look forward to going on the journey and transferring our knowledge to our clients, giving them all the support required in the development of well founded, market aware, member connected, and asset focused strategic plans.

CAPITAL PROJECTS – JUST A FEW BOTTOM-LINE RECOMMENDATIONS: * If you do not already have in place a meaningful professional Capital Reserve Plan / Fund — immediately take the steps to get this done. Make very sure you retain the verifiable professional expertise of a firm that specializes in the unique needs of private clubs. A professionally prepared Capital Reserve Study serves as a great leadership tool in maintaining the club in pristine appearance and working order without the need for large assessments for unanticipated needs. * Cash IS king. Do not forget it. Debt, therefore, is an enemy to either be defeated or avoided. If your club has onerous debt — make it a priority to defeat it. Ahead of schedule. Going forward — avoid it. A club culture of just “kicking the can down the road” and tying the hands of future BOD’s and management is folly. * As much as possible ─ stay away from allowing members to pay any capital assessment on terms. It is a mistake to assume that all those paying on terms will still belong to the club years in the future. Trust me, you will be absorbing negative hits due to unrealized income. (BTW — attaching higher interest rates on those taking terms will NEVER offset lost revenue if they are no longer members. No — it won’t.) * Your price of admission to the dance (Initiation Fee) should be payable in full and be routinely adjusted upward as much as acceptable while still reflecting market value in the mind of potential new members. * Initiation and transfer fees income should be 100% applied to any combination of three buckets: (#1) Striking death blows to any onerous debt. (#2) Avoiding debt altogether by properly contributing to a solid Capital Reserve Plan. (#3) Paying substantial amounts of cash to board approved necessary capital improvements. * Initiation and transfer fees income should never be allowed to subsidize or ‘prop up’ club operations. This is what dues are for. * To allow initiation or transfer fees to be co-mingled with club operations would be a capital offense. *** Feel free to share any insights you might like to add in order to help our peers.) (Expanded upon in detail pages 55-63 in The ABC's of Plutonium Private Club Leadership.)

Some interesting research regarding dress codes released by David Lorentz of the National Golf Foundation. We are certainly seeing movement towards continued appropriate relaxation here in Australia. https://lnkd.in/ebQESZ-j