Measuring Discounts
There are different ideas about discounting golf. One formula we have regularly used is to measure you average green fee (total green fee dollars divided by your rounds of golf). To do this you need to exclude any member rounds and any employee rounds. Those calculations are good to do as well, just for a different reason.
How Much Discount Is Too Much?
In our financial and business reviews that we do for golf course operators this number plays a key role. The bench mark that we use is 65% to 70% of the golf course’s rack rate.
What You Should Do
If your golf course is below 65% the first place you should look is at your lowest price rates (Twilight, Super Twilight and the like). Another place to look (if you have them) is at your Senior rates. Start trying to close gap between all discounted rates and your top-line (rack) rate.
Other things to look is all your discounts… $5 off, 2 for 1, 4 for 3 and all the like. Eliminating some of the discounts won’t likely hurt your bottom line and will increase your average rate per round. Last month we wrote a blog on some other ways to look at discounting. You can read it here.
If you need a different pair of eyes (or two) to help analyze your business, here’s a brief look at what we do!
We, Jeff and Tara Ciecko of CK Golf write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other an Industry Blog where we comment on general business and internet marketing best practices, sales strategies and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf for 10 years and provide business services to the golf and other industries. As of August 2016 our life and our business is ‘location independent’. Our 19th Hole Blog is about the places we visit and the things we do. If you have any questions or comments, or happen to be in the same location as us please reach out and contact us anytime.
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