Disruption of Country Clubs? A Look at the Changing Landscape Through Golf
I’ve been getting a lot of unique pitches lately…
Mainly around disrupting country clubs/golf.
This is worth a deeper dive 👇
History of Country Clubs
Country clubs originated in Scotland and first appeared in the US in the early 1880s; when a group of wealthy men opened The Country Club in Boston.
A country club was an upscale, exclusive club for the wealthy with plenty of land for multiple sporting activities that their private “cottages” couldn’t accommodate.
The concept took off rapidly, and by the late 1880s, the popularity of country clubs was booming in America:
1929 — 4,500 country clubs across the US
1960s — 3,300
1990s — 5,000
2024 — 8,800 as of January
IbisWorld predicts that the number of country clubs will start growing again by 2028, as growth has been stagnant recently.
Country Club Data
On average, country clubs have around 432 members each, which means there are approximately 10 million people with country club memberships nationwide.
The pandemic shot this to new heights: ⛳
End of 2019 — 25% of country clubs with golf courses had waitlists with median initiation fees of $29,000
Start of 2024 — 49% have waitlists with median initiation fees of $50,000
Why the rise?
It’s mainly around diluting the value of current country club members (you can’t have lower initiation fees for new members).
A comparison sometimes used is shares in public companies…
If you bought a share of Amazon in 1997 and all the money Amazon has made has gone to growing the company, and a new person comes off the street and wants to buy a share of Amazon at the same price, the current owners of that stock are going to have an issue with that.
It works the same way in country clubs—new members pay more for a “country club” that has increased in value.
This was the idea NFTs/Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) were trying to help commoditize, by the way…
How it worked was that the value of your membership went up over time, and so if you ever decided to leave, you could sell your NFT, handing over ownership to a new member (at an increased price).
It makes a ton of sense — but these models didn’t get off the ground as the process around them was complicated.
New Country Club Players
Traditionally, a country club’s image of exclusivity and networking looked like men doing business while lunching at the club or playing a round of golf.
Today, this has changed significantly. Professional women and young urban creatives are also looking for a place to socialize, network, and relax.
One of the first places we saw this change was in merchandising.
Apparel
Golf clothing brand Malbon turned heads when pro golfer Jason Day showed up to the Masters wearing the vest on the right.
Augusta officials ultimately asked him to take it off…
But common observations were: 🏌🏿
Why were LIV golfers allowed to wear their team logos?
Why were players like Sergio Garcia allowed to have their clothes littered with ads?
Golf has become popular among younger generations and new demographics — this brings new innovations and customs.
Many other apparel brands have popped up as well to challenge traditional brands including Swag Golf, Bad Birdie, Bogey Bros, and Eastside Golf.
Alternative Golf Events
We’ve seen an influx of new concepts that appeal to younger crowds and the non-traditional golfer scene.
For example…
Did you know that more viewers consumed non-traditional golf content on YouTube this year than all of professional golf combined?
Some stats to back this: 📊
PGA Tour: 1.3 million YouTube subscribers, 85,000 average views, 34 engagements per video.
GoodGood: 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, 545,000 average views, 717 engagements per video.
This has led to further innovations…
Alternative events launching across golf (via Old Tom Capital): 🏌🏽♂️
• TGL: TOUR players, indoor arena, SIM technology, launching in Jan 2025
• Grass League: High stakes par 3 golf league. Already 10 franchise teams across the US. Good players, under the lights, streamed on YouTube.
• Good Good Desert Open: Was the first of what we expect to be many live tournaments produced by Good Good. Amplified by a partnership with NBC Sports and streamed on both YouTube and Peacock
• Creator Classic: PGA TOUR collaboration with golf influencers.
• Fling Golf has its league on ESPN as well.
There are many other golf events/leagues coming to the market as well, most aggregating content creators/influencers and focusing on alternative formats (short courses, par 3s, putting, 9 hole matches, etc.)
A lot of competition as the market heats up…
Looking Ahead
Country Clubs helped popularize golf to a unique, usually wealthy audience.
Now, alternative versions of golf, such as TopGolf, par 3, and miniature golf (fueled by social media), are helping extend the game in never-before-seen ways.
What a fun (and opportunistic) time to be in sports as it fragments, innovates, and helps fuel the future!
Country Clubs Extending Wider
Community/Country Clubs will continue to be appealing, as the social aspect and business that can be conducted in them are usually well worth the cost.
Leaving you with this…
We built our “country club for sports founders,” and three months after launching, the Profluence+ Community has reached 400 members.
The beautiful part — there’s no initiation fee and the monthly cost is only $50.
All new members, up to 450, will be grandfathered into these prices for life before a bump in pricing (the stock is rising thanks to strong early believers).
Podcasts 🎙
Insightful guests this past week:
Nick Venson - Founder, Swag Golf (listen here)
One of the fastest-growing apparel and equipment companies in golf, Nick highlights the growth and learning lessons as the game evolves.
Sukemasa Kabayama - Co-Founder, Uplift Labs (listen here)
Previously the head of Tesla in Japan, it was an interesting convo about why Masa identified sports as an opportunity and how they’re using 3D analysis tech.
I appreciate you reading today!
Community, Community, Community will be a big theme over the next decade as social media fragments into niche pockets (as AI content will make it more noisy).
Peace,
AP 👋
As someone who loves golf, this was a fascinating and informative read. Thank you!