Golf: NZ clubs warned to keep finances in check

NZG chief executive Bill MacGowan. Photo / Greg Bowker

Golf clubs have been warned to brace themselves for the fallout from the economic recession despite new figures which show they are growing their membership.

New Zealand Golf (NZG) has been warning clubs for a year to modify their operations or risk financial ruin due to falling playing numbers and rising labour and course maintenance costs.

Club membership numbers have been in decline for the best part of a decade, but figures released today for the 2008 financial year buck that trend.

NZG's annual meeting in Wellington today was told that membership numbers had risen to 129,231, an increase of 5300, or just over four per cent, on the previous 12-month period.

NZG chief executive Bill MacGowan was wary of reading too much into the bare statistics, and instead cautioned clubs to expect the negative impact of the recession to begin striking home this year.

"The trick will be the next 12 months. It (recession) didn't kick in 2008, but it will this year."

No clubs have gone to the wall, but there is "a lot of rumour and a lot of speculation" that some are on the brink of collapse.

MacGowan said he recently attended a meeting of the and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland where those in attendance were told of a worrying trend in the United States, where more clubs are closing than opening.

"We tend to follow the States in most things and I think there will be a little drag (of time) before the economic impact here.

"Our challenge is going to be in another 12 months time, and there is no doubt it will be a challenge."

NZG last year estimated at least 60 per cent of New Zealand's 392 clubs were in financial difficulty.

It was so worried about the their short term future that it launched Golf Nation, an ambitious project aimed at helping clubs arrest then reverse falling membership numbers.

The scheme did not get off the ground due to club indifference, although some clubs adopted some of NZG's proposals where they saw a clear benefit to themselves.

"While Golf Nation didn't fly, clubs cherry picked some of our ideas," he said.

"So clubs who are doing spread payments and offering memberships, where your mate can also join for half price, are all starting to grow."

NZG is now going to repackage and relaunch Golf Nation in August-September.

"It will still offer membership benefits. It will be an off-course and on-course benefit for a member. It's all about increasing the membership value versus being a green fee player," MacGowan said.

"There will be a benefit for a golfer on-course at other courses but there will also be benefits for a golf club member off the course via retail discounts at various organisations."

MacGowan referred to the updated membership numbers as a blip, one accentuated by the fact the revised figure was an outcome of NZG's recently introduced club levies and billing cycles.

While the overall number of club members was healthy, MacGowan and others were alarmed at the fact that less than 2000 girls under the age of 20 were club members and there were only 1150 in the under-18 bracket.

"That has a whole lot of impact, not only for clubs. When we come to pick our international teams and high performance squads, we have such a hugely small base."

NZG is addressing the issue by launching initiatives to attract younger people to the game but MacGowan warned it would take a seismic shift in thinking from some clubs for those to succeed.

"We can do those initiatives but clubs have to accept young players. There are a number of golf clubs around the country which do not want junior players, which is really sad."

The only other issue of note to emerge from NZG's annual meeting was the life membership bestowed on long-time Bay of Plenty administrator Mike Alexander.

The NZG vice-president became the organisation's 27th life member, completing a personal trifecta after he was similarly honoured by the Bay of Plenty Golf Association and the Taupo Golf Club.

- NZPA