After a poor start, 2016 seemed to behave itself, so it’s fair to say that everyone is hoping for more of the same in 2017.  Last year will be year that is remembered as the year when membership and revenues stabilised.  While that was positive for clubs, it was also very positive for courses.  After six years of falling membership it was a relief for the industry and the recovery has started.

On course, 2016 had a very slow start with record rain-fall levels meaning that there was no play until late February.  After that though the season got underway pretty quickly, and the mild weather in the past three months has allowed clubs to catch up on the slow start.

The signs from clubs and courses are that they have moved from neutral to positive, with almost everyone driving on with their development plans.  Fota Island Academy have launched a new membership scheme which transforms the previous model, Lee Valley invested heavily in machinery and course inputs, as did many other clubs.  Cobh led the way with nine hole open competitions and Skibbereen offered an innovative pay and pay membership option.  Castlemartyr face into the new year after adding over 100 new Continue reading →