Since 1987 over 400 new courses have been built and at present, supply of golf courses by far exceeds demand.

The UK alone has more golf courses, 3,000+, than any other country in Europe. In fact, it has more courses than France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Portugal put together. To compound the problem even further, applications and waiting lists for golf club memberships are dwindling.

A recent report issued by Mintel showed that there are currently 1.34 million golf club members in the UK and Ireland. However, 4 times as many golfers play at least once a month on a “pay and play” basis.

This suggests that there are well over 5 million regular golfers who are not members of a golf club and also reflects the current interest in the game following Europe’s win over the U.S in September’s Ryder Cup.

Douglas King, Head of Sales & Marketing

"The Mintel report emphasises the important role of the municipal and pay and play courses. It also highlights opportunities for private and proprietary membership clubs to capitalise on casual green fee income, especially during off peak periods.It also seems apparent that there is a demand for more casual golf facilities, people are put off by huge joining fees and traditional golf club entrance restrictions. This will therefore open additional revenue opportunities for mainstream golf clubs that wish to capitalise on this huge interest in golf. Schemes such as a tiered structure for green fees with reduced rates at off peak times for example, would likely be of interest to non club golfers"

From that perspective, the future outlook for UK Golf Clubs is extremely promising. The question the Golf Clubs need to ask themselves is how do they harness this untapped market and why are these regular golfers not buying traditional golf club memberships.