Buying a golf course is a difficult task. You must search for golf courses for sale, evaluate the pricing, location, connections, and playing season – and that’s only the beginning. It can help if you also consider what work the course might require in the future and any prospective modifications.
But you can’t merely set yourself up for success by purchasing your course. Being a golf course owner takes a lot of hard work and business knowledge. It can help if you were prepared to:
- Keep the holes and the remainder of the course in good condition.
- Operate a clubhouse.
- Make major upgrades.
- Construct golf programs.
- Recruit and manage staff
- Organize competitions.
The more golf expertise you have, the easier it will be to make judgments that maintain your course entertaining for customers. At the same time, business abilities will help with the vital management components. To ensure you’re ready, keep reading to find out what to expect when you eventually make that course purchase.
Everyday Activities
Your golf course’s daily operations will be determined by the seasons you are open for business. During the golf season, you’ll concentrate on essential maintenance to keep things operating smoothly, such as proper watering and mowing courses and fixing broken equipment.
On the customer service front, you’ll assist golfers in need and collect course fees.
When there is less business, or your course is unavailable to golfers, your off-season is ideal for more intense operations such as non-emergency repairs and more substantial routine maintenance duties. This is also an excellent opportunity to focus on capital upgrades.
Profit, Expenses, and Income
Course fees will be your most important source of money, accounting for a sizable amount of your total earnings. There are many ways to make money, like selling equipment, renting golf carts and other pieces of equipment, offering instruction, and selling food and refreshments. If your clubhouse contains a restaurant, you may expect to make money from it.
Your recurring costs will include course and facility upkeep and personnel compensation.
When it comes to putting your golf course for sale, profit is challenging to work with. There’s a chance you paid less for your golf course when you acquired it than it would have sold for years ago. Over 4000 new golf courses entered the market between 1986 and 2005, resulting in an oversupply in a now falling industry.
Important Business Steps
Aside from creating a business strategy, you should also:
- Create a formal company entity so that you are not personally accountable if a lawsuit is filed against your course.
- To maintain a professional financial presence and keep your funds structured, open a company bank account and set up adequate business accounting.
- Obtain the appropriate golf course permits and licenses to prevent potential penalties and other legal difficulties. When you buy a course, you’ll need a certificate of occupancy to prove that it complies with all construction requirements, zoning laws, and government restrictions.
- Understand your brand to represent your company to the public properly.
- All relevant federal and state taxes are listed in the registration.
- Have enough company insurance for both workers’ compensation and property protection.
- Maintain an active digital presence by using a solid business website and social media.
Many of these components are likely to be present when acquiring an existing golf course. However, because it will be your duty to manage them, you should know what is already in place, what is essential to be updated, and what business issues you may anticipate handling.
Putting Together an Employee Team
Due to many duties on a golf course for sale, you will want a skilled crew. The average number of course maintenance personnel is 17, including year-round employees, seasonal employees, and independent contractors. These people will look after your course so that golfers may enjoy it.
Additional staff will be required in addition to course maintenance. These employees will be in charge of collecting course fees, aiding clients with memberships, teaching lessons, and doing other duties at your clubhouse and restaurant.
When you buy an existing course, you won’t have to construct your team from the beginning.
Nonetheless, you should grasp the scale of the staff required to keep your course running effectively, get to know the team members, and assess how the payroll expenditure fits into your entire operating budget.
Golf Course Marketing Strategies to Boost Revenue
Claiming and improving your local business listings is probably one of the simplest and quickest methods to boost the visibility your golf course receives online. Google My Business, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and more sites have listings. Many local company entries have incorrect website URLs, out-of-date photographs, outdated phone numbers, incorrect locations, and many other errors. Once you have authority over the information that shows on these online business listings, you can enhance them with extra details, updated photographs, and by selecting the right “category” that your firm belongs under. Choosing the correct categories will help your company show prominently on these platforms, introducing your course to more golfers as they conduct research.
