Does Your Golf Club Offer A Senior Membership?

Research from GolfSupport.com reveals that 80% of golf clubs do not include a reduced-price senior membership

Does Your Golf Club Offer A Senior Membership?

• Leicester has the highest proportion of golf clubs offering seniors membership discounts/incentives – 41.7%
• London has the lowest proportion of golf clubs offering seniors membership discounts/incentives – 6.8%
• Our own survey revealed: over 90% of seniors believe that they should get some sort of incentive or discount on golf club membership fees

With a variety of efforts to make golf more accessible and affordable to the younger generations, it seems that golf clubs have ironically forgotten about the older generation in doing so.

In the sense that, they are being left out from special membership discounts/incentives. Research commissioned by GolfSupport.com reveals that over 80% of golf clubs do not include seniors in their membership prices.

Related: Are golf clubs welcoming to women and juniors?

In total 244 Golf Clubs were carefully reviewed in 15 different towns and cities across the UK: Leicester, Manchester, Oxford, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds, Southampton, Birmingham, Glasgow, Coventry, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Bristol and London.

London was found to have the lowest proportion of golf clubs having senior membership discounts/incentives, with only 6.8%. Above London were Bristol and Cambridge with 7.1% and 9.1% respectively.

With 41.7%, Leicester had the highest proportion of golf clubs offering membership discounts/incentives exclusively for seniors.

Other notable towns and cities with a high proportion of golf clubs offering seniors membership discounts/incentives included Manchester (36.8%) and Oxford (35.7%).

Related: What makes a good golf club member?

A nationwide survey also conducted by GolfSupport.com, which received a respectable 520 responses, found that 92% of seniors believe they should get some sort of incentive or discount on golf club membership fees.

Mick (68) from Coventry said: “I love watching golf and it’s a fascination which I only developed when I retired three years ago.I have been keen to transition my sofa enthusiasm onto an actual golf course regularly. I have kept my eye on the membership prices of those golf clubs accessible to me but unfortunately their rates have consistently remained too high for me to be tempted. It’s a huge shame they don’t offer any discounted rates for seniors like they do with other age categories”.

Reginald (73) from Bristol said: “I used to be part of a golf club in Bristol up until my late 50’s but due to numerous commitments constraining my time, I couldn’t justify renewing. I am in my 70’s now and with more time than ever, I have been looking to re-join a golf club. Prices in comparison to when I was a member in the past are significantly higher, hence I am finding it difficult to convince myself to join. I personally believe that golf clubs should be making more of an effort to offer discounts and incentives entirely for seniors. It will not only ease my intention to join but also other seniors facing the same dilemma”.

Related: How do I get a golf handicap?

Gary Swift from GolfSupport.com commented: “Seniors have always been the backbone of golf thus the findings of this research come as a genuine shock to me. With the golfing industry unilaterally determined to engage and appeal more to the younger generations, golf clubs have seemingly forgotten to pay equal attention to the older generation. With so many discounts, incentives, deals and offers available to the younger generations - one would expect the same for seniors”.

There is some positive news, 18.4% of the reviewed golf clubs have implemented seniors within their pricing structure. Despite being in the minority of golf clubs, to their credit, they have managed to provide attractive and competitive membership offers for seniors.