Golf clubs across Sydney continue to flourish according to the 2019 Metropolitan Golf Report, compiled by HLB Mann Judd in consultation with Golf NSW.
The report, released this week, sampled some 92 clubs across the Sydney metropolitan area and looks at several areas, including business revenue, membership, staffing and administration, capital expenditure and participation levels.
Some of the key findings include:
- Revenue across the sector increased by 3.9% in 2018.
- 67% of clubs experienced revenue growth.
- 14% of clubs invested more than $1 million in capital expenditure in the last financial year, and as a percentage of total revenue is growing.
- Golfers played over 4 million competition rounds across NSW in 2018, a 2.6% growth on 2017.
- NIne-hole competition rounds grew by 20%
- Members like to support their club. Despite a small fall in overall membership, the average spend per playing member was over $550 for the year.
- Staff and admin wages were largely held in check, dropping by a tiny 0.47% overall as ground staff wages grew by about 6%.
The report also highlights some changing dynamics within the industry, in particular, the consolidation of operations within the club confines, including pro shop operations and the need for better management of internal streams of income, in particular, bar & restaurant sales as well as revenue from gaming.
Stuart Fraser, CEO of Golf NSW, praised the report and was thrilled GolfNSW were part of the project.
"The information in this report is critical to our clubs.
"This report gives clubs an idea of where they are at, and in terms of Golf NSW, it gives us a better understanding of where the industry is at also," Mr Fraser said.