Demographics
- 88% male: Age 34-44 = 20.8%, 45-54 = 29.6%, 55+ = 34.8%
- 89.8% with household income over $75,000: 48.7% exceed $150,000
Playing Habits
- 88% have played six years or more, with 51.9% playing 25 or more rounds per year
- 53.6% play most of their rounds at private or upper tier municipal courses, with 84.3% spending over $250 per annum on greens fees (24% spend over $1,500 per annum)
- 48% break 90 in an average round (versus 28% of U.S. golfers)
Improvement
- Golf focus is recreation/social along with self-improvement, employing GolfTEC to improve their consistency and lower their handicap
- 61.3% have taken six or more GolfTEC lessons (versus U.S. estimate of under two per year at all other competitive locations)
- Improvement priorities reflect the more sophisticated nature of avid players: irons/approach shot, short game, and driving
Lifestyle
- Golf web usage high, with 35.5% booking tee times online, 37.2% booking lessons online, and 22.1% using the web for game tracking or handicap management
- Lifestyle purchases index 200+ for luxury brands across all categories of consumables and major purchases (food /beverage /alcohol to apparel, home furnishings, electronics, and automobiles)
Sources: GolfTEC 2007 Segmentation Analysis, GolfTEC 2008 Game Component Value Survey, Buxton 2005 Customer ID Analysis, Golf 20/20 NGF Analysis
EXPANSION PROFILES: TARGET MARKET SEGMENTS
Target: M.O.S. (More of the Same Current Clients)
- U.S. activation-ready market (20% of core golfers earning $75,000+ actively seeking to improve) is 1.8 million players: These golfers account for 87% of all rounds played and all golf spending
- Potential is additional 1.6 million clients served by approximately 325 locations
- Active leads database growing by over 25% per year the last two years
- Women represent an emerging group with a high projected index of lessons taken to rounds played
Target: Retired/Semi-Retired Baby Boomers
- One in five Americans will be a baby boomer in 2025
- Estimated 3,000,000–4,000,000 golfers added in U.S. by 2025, leading to an increase of 150 million rounds played per year (to a total of up to 650 million): Nine million Baby Boomers account for 75–100 million of these incremental rounds
- Playing frequency per golfer projected to double from 30s/40s to 60s/70s: Current retired baby boomers playing average of 29 rounds annually, nearly double that of non-retired boomers
- Significant percent of currently non-avid golfers plan to play again in retirement/semi-retirement years
Target: Aspiring Newcomers
- 1.1 million new golfers age 30+ each year (replace attrition/mortality of affluent, avid players)
- Income and leisure profiles align with current GolfTEC clients, with 510,000 middle-aged newcomers (40-59) representing greatest potential for lessons
- Group represents improvement potential over two to five years as golfer retention rates 40% higher at $100,000 household income than under $50,000
Target: International
- Global estimate of 600–650 Improvement Centers (same format only), with 325 in United States, 50 in Canada, 12 in Mexico
- Remaining 250 include 105 locations projected in fifteen markets:
Sources: National Golf Foundation (2005-2008 industry studies), Golf 20/20 NGF Analysis, Golf Research Group
