R&A boss says golf clubs are missing out on 5 million customers

Martin Slumbers has delivered his most vocal assessment on the club golf scene since taking over as the R&A chief executive five years ago. Picture: Getty Images

In his most vocal assessment of the club scene since taking over the R&A reins from Peter Dawson five years ago, Slumbers pulled no punches as he reflected on dwindling membership and course closures.

"If you were to say that my first five years was the commercial side of the business, The Open and what we've done with that, I think the next phase will be much more about participation," he said in a media briefing in St Andrews.

"But we have to change. Grassroots is going to struggle unless the game changes. If you look at the traditional way of looking at the health of golf in GB&I, the traditional way is the number of golf club members. That's about a million golfers.

"But, if you look at, how many people consume golf, so 18-hole golf, 9-hole golf, driving ranges, par-3 courses, adventure golf, TopGolf, all of those aspects, that group of people is 10.2 million people in GB&I.

"There's only two sports in GB&I that have more people who participate in it if you look at golf that way. That is swimming and the gym. That's it. That's 18 per cent of the GB&I adults

"It is also a group that is much more diverse. It is also a group that is much younger. Now, let's say, because we're all a bit cynical, half of them don't think they're playing golf. That's still five million versus one million.

"Now, the question is why aren't those five million joining golf clubs? I would argue it's because the golf clubs are not providing a product those five million people want to buy."

According to Slumbers, golf clubs should be looking at successful family golf centres like Wellsgreen in Fife to see how they can make their own facilities more appealling. "Go there on any day of the week, they're full," he said.

A number of golf clubs in Scotland have been forced to close in recent years due to dwindling memberships while five of Glasgow's six municipal courses are facing the same fate due to budget cuts.

"Many of those municipal golf courses are providing traditional type of play, but it's pressure pressure from councils that is driving the Glasgow issue," added Slumbers.

"But I'm a massive optimist and, if the game can truly think about the product that's being delivered by golf clubs, there is a market five times the size of existing membership today that is more diverse and it's younger.

"And that's our opportunity. And we have to break down the traditional barriers to be able to embrace it. You go to clubs which deliver non-traditional forms of the game, they're busy. And I think that's a lesson for all of us who love this game."

Does he think there are too many golf clubs? "I think there are probably too many delivering exactly the same product," he replied to that. "Golf has got to evolve.

"And it's not evolving in terms of price. It's evolving in terms of the product that it delivers in the clubs, because I absolutely believe there's a market there, and that's why there's a lot of people actually watching golf.

"I think if you go into clubs that are very family orientated, have fitness, have creches, have coffee shops, have wi-fi, have no dress code, have a short par-3 golf course, have a short 9-hole golf course, pitch and putt, those are the ones that are going to succeed.

"There are more golfers in GB&I who play that are not members of golf clubs than members. It moves around a bit, but it's somewhere around two to three times.

"I think if I was a businessman at a club, I'd want to embrace more of those people who come play at my course more often, especially as most of them play at a group of three or four courses only.

"The game needs to really reach out to those people because they're the ones playing golf in the current way, and I think we're witnessing that, and I'm not frightened about telling any club that.

"In the world we live in now, people want choice. Time is a key part of it, choice is another part."