Data-driven leadership reaches beyond the club’s finances. The most important club facet is the membership experience, and very few businesses have as much insight on their customers as private clubs. There is significant room for advancement in data-driven insight that can flow from analyzing the
As we prepared for 2021, the first COVID-19 vaccines were being administered, there were high hopes of a 70% vaccination rate by late spring, and we forecasted that the nation would be well on its way back to “normal.” The optimistic view was by the
Just three years ago, many golf and country clubs were in dire need of members, golf play was down, millennials were never going to join clubs and oldsters were leaving. Then from a health care crisis, people found clubs—not clubs as maybe they once were
As “life as normal” continues to change meaning since the pandemic’s onset, so do the trends that shape how individuals behave and make decisions. The last two years have put many plans on hold while rapidly introducing new ways to approach daily routines, whether via
In the late 1990s, golf experienced booming levels of participation following Tiger Woods’ 1996 PGA debut and electrifying performances in the years that followed. The industry blossomed with the population, peaking at 30 million golfers in 2003. The housing collapse in 2006 and subsequent economic
The resurgence of golf play during the pandemic is by now old news. Rounds are up. Off-course golf activity is up. Avid golfers, casual golfers, new golfers—everyone is getting in on the fun. This is happening after a nearly two-decade-long period of sluggishness. The National
A great golf program does three things: generates excitement, sustains interest and appeals to all ages and skill levels. Most golf programs at private clubs struggle to achieve all three, but one area in which most clubs could improve is youth programming. Throughout the years,
Golf is evolving. It always has been. But throughout this change the game has always relied on one constant: The fundamental human craving to be outdoors in a beautiful landscape. Add a club, a ball, some friends—that is the essence of the game. No more.
Since Oakland Hills Country Club (OHCC) in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., opened its Donald Ross-designed South Course in 1918, its members have enjoyed the prestige that accompanies hosting championship golf, including six U.S. Open Championships, two U.S. Senior Opens, the U.S. Women’s Amateur, two U.S. Men’s
In August and September 2021, McMahon Group conducted a Pulse Survey of 261 private club leaders on the topic of golf.