The Big-Time Advantages of Local Synergies Between Golf Courses – Clustering (Ep.33)
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From a Player’s Perspective
The advantages for golfers when multiple golf courses team up is obvious. We get more holes to play golf on for our money.
What’s really cool is that when one course is closed for business because of a tournament or course maintenance procedure, we’ve got other options. Not only that, golf is just more fun when you have more variety…otherwise it’s just too easy right?
From an Employee’s Perspective
Local clusters of golf courses are a marvelous thing for employees. First, there’s not nearly the “glass ceiling” effect from a career standpoint as compared to working at a stand alone facility. This means more options, more diversity and more upward mobility.
At a stand alone club, if you’re working under a career general manager, you’ll probably never become the general manager yourself.
As a result, multiple golf courses grouped in synergistic clusters are able to recruit stronger talent and retain staff longer than single clubs ever could.
From an Owner/Operator’s Perspective
Beyond the 2 big reasons listed above, owners reap the biggest rewards from golf course clustering under centralized management.
When it comes to buying products and supplies, clustered golf courses represent a much larger book of business, and therefore can negotiate advantageous contracts and pricing.
Additionally, there are often opportunities to share supplies and equipment between facilities. For example, 5-6 golf courses could easily share a greens aerator, golf carts for events, or even key staff members as needed.
There are enormous opportunities for economies of scale and cost containment under the right circumstances – even beyond the tremendous scale that can be achieved through a proficient golf management company.
