I love this time of year. Sure, the new year is always exciting but I enjoy treating the Club Study findings as a journal to look back on. It makes me appreciate the wide range of topics we cover. In July 2025 we will be celebrating five years since Club Study's inception. We're very grateful for all of you that have stuck with us, filled out each, or most, of the surveys and sent in questions for us to include every other week. I was always hopeful the stream of inquiries would evolve and never dry up. We've gotten to a point where there are perennial questions and topics but there are still new and interesting queries coming in all the time. Alright, let's get to what you're here for, the recap! Here are our top 10 topics in data from 2024...
Club Surveys - If you want progress, feedback is imperative. The market is flooded with new tools to measure performance and we are noticing an increase in surveying within clubs. There has been a shift in the frequency...
...while clubs and courses get more creative with who, what and when they are sending them too. We now know the flaws in an annual issue; recency bias and long, exhaustive questioning to name a couple, and so it makes sense to tighten them up and get them out more often allowing for more expedient change and improvement.
9. Curling Dilemmas - It has long been part of the fabric within many clubs around the country but for those keeping tabs on curling over the last decade, you will have seen more clubs discontinue it than install any new sheets. There is an open Forum post on this topic that you are welcome to chime in on, here is a comment from it...
I had chats with a few clubs this year facing tough decisions on large capital items within their curling operation that were hard to justify. All too often the curling membership of a club is unto itself, not having many members that take part in other areas of the club. Combine that will a very small fiscal contribution to any given club's operating line and questions start to rise. Some clubs are still committed to curling long term and some have decided to transform that space into another activity....
Are we in the midst of a domino-falling trend? It's likely too early to say that but it will be interesting to see if more changes are to come.
8. Sustainability - Energy consumption is likely a bigger trend in Europe than here in Canada but we are seeing many clubs taking actions to become more energy conscience by supplying EV charging stations, a change to LED lighting and adding water refill stations in the clubhouse and on golf courses...
7. Capital (generating, saving & spending) - The majority of my talks with GM's lately start with projects they have on the go. It's like they're part time Project Managers. Selfishly, I want to chat service and hospitality as I think that's more important but physical changes to the footprint of a club are essential and take a lot of time to plan and execute.
So how is capital saving and spending evolving. Here are a few numbers...
The two biggest golf course reno items are irrigation and bunkers. I would like try and gather more on how many have undergone these changes in the new year to substantiate this but it dominated conversations we were having in 2024.
Some other tidbits on capital? More are using levies or dues to bolster their intake. Here is how many and what that number is...
6. Future Concerns - Perhaps this one isn't well suited on this list as upon quick glance I doubt it would actually switch much from year-to-year, but what would we have if we didn't have things to worry about?
I do enjoy watching how clubs find new and creative ways to limit these concerns. It's not easy to introduce increased pricing to members or balance an employee's expectation for wage increases while justifying it to your stakeholders. Access has remained a huge challenge. Lottery systems for bookings seem to be the new normal and I bet when we ask about rounds played in a week they will match or exceed 2023's mark.
Clubs are a lot more fiscally responsible than they were decades ago and as demand starts to work it's way back down, how are you going to remain among the top hospitality experiences that your area has to offer? 5. Pickleball - This new activity continuous to climb in North America. 15% have permanent courts while quite a few more use have gotten creative with areas of the club to set up courts in quick fashion.
This may not seem like a large number but keep in mind not every club has racquet sports and City, Yacht and Golf Clubs make up a large portion of this landscape. With all of the chatter we want to dive in a little deeper. Here is what we found...
4. F&B Subsidization - It's long been thought by Club Management that the F&B operation is not a profit-centre though up until recently it was a tough sell to a House Committee or Board. Emerging industry data however, is compelling and has helped educate boards, getting them off management's back when a negative bottom-line comes in. Take a look at how much the average club will subsidize in 2025...
We believe there is an important caveat to this change in thinking. It turns out the industry is really poor at selling. We know because we test this. Golf merch, memberships, beverages, desserts, you name it. The Industry Average for sales in 2024 with clubs 59club works with is 36% and clubs we don't work with is 25%. I can't help but wonder how much less this subsidization would be if we could double these numbers or even surpass 50%!
3. Rising Costs / Rising Prices - Many clubs (especially semi-privates) will look at the CPI when determining how much to increase dues. Let's see how that has compared over the last 3 years...
2024 (approx)= 3.2%
2023 = 3.9%
2022 = 6.8%
Accumulated avg of 13.9% over a 3 year run or 4.6% per year. Obviously 2022 was off the charts and in fact the highest we had seen in 40 years. For some comparison and context, from 2010 - 2020 the avg CPI was 1.6% per year (3x less!).
The avg operational dues increases from 2022-2024 wasn't too far off the national CPI...
How is it shaping up for 2025 you ask? Not much of a let up. There are many clubs that are wisely making up for lost time and a lack of increases as well. Anecdotally, there aren't many clubs that will have escaped a 10% increase in a single year over the last five years...
Dues aside, we have taken a look at some staple items within a club to see where increases were experienced and will continue to do so as we get into the new year so stay tuned...
2. Member Attrition (or lack thereof) - Trying to keep attrition low is usually top of mind and annual good practice among Club Managers but it's provided some unique challenges in their own right over the past year.
Member turnover is healthy. Keeping that wait-list churning provides consistent capital to flow in via entrance fees. Pending members that joined these wait-lists may not stick around as their wait-time has only increased recently.
Also, tee time restrictions and access remains a challenge because clubs are so well subscribed which leaves members questioning guest play, with little regard for it's importance for how much revenue that actually brings in...
It's easy to label demand as the cause when wait-lists are so prevalent but with attrition so low, clubs are forced to be more engaged with their wait-lists and in many cases we've seen them leveraging their position. Leading to our #1 topic for 2024.
1. Waiting Lists - This first graphic below was from early in the year but that number has kept at 60%+ for a few years now...
Now, there are a handful (roughly 25%) that changed their cap number in light of increased activity and limited access but that cap number wasn't rooted in much of a formula at that time anyways as many weren't that close to it. Trial memberships have essentially dried up. What's more is how wait-lists have evolved in a short time frame relatively. It was not uncommon for wait-lists to remain dormant in previous years, as in no dialogue or communication to see if the prospective member's interest was still there. Less than 20% had a wait-list prior to the pandemic and the wait for those that did was quite pro-longed so it wasn't as big of a deal. Clubs have mandated a deposit to join their wait-list and that number rose throughout the year...
How else are clubs leveraging their strong position? Well, why not be selective with new member application criteria when replacing exiting members? Great idea...
Perhaps a good opener for 2025 is, how many clubs do you think will have a wait-list come 2026? After all, it's fun to throw some projection or guess out there. I'll start and take it one step further (peering into my crystal ball), in one year's time I believe less than 50% will have a wait-list, in two year's less than 40, and then we will level out in three years with less than 30% having a wait-list in Canada. What do you think?
Thanks for checking out our 2024 Year in Review and remember to forward us your industry questions anytime - ryan@clubstudy, no topic is too far-fetched.
All the best in 2025!
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