Oxfordshire Golf subscription business sees huge surge in membership

Published by

Nicky Godding

Golf subscription business PlayMoreGolf, which has its headquarters at Bloxham, has seen a huge surge in memberships since lockdown.

With players under lockdown, clubs and courses closed, and all play stopped for golfers amid COVID-19, the head office of Oxfordshire-based start-up PlayMoreGolf were unsure how their business would hold.

But, when the PM announced that golf is back in play on 10th May (may be enjoyed alone, with one person from a different household or up to three others from within a household group), PlayMoreGolf received an average increase of 1481% in daily enquires from customers with no signs of that slowing. In just a week PlayMoreGolf’s website traffic also saw an increase of a staggering 589%.

Via a smart phone app and online platform, PlayMoreGolf says it is offering the first flexible golf membership linking individual golf clubs across the UK under one membership.

The business was launched in 2016 by the team who launched and ran The De Vere Club. PlayMoreGolf has 9,000 members and more than 250 golf club partners. It also partners Golf England and Golf Wales and since its launch has helped players and their clubs enjoy more than 183,000 rounds of golf to date.

Alastair Sinclair, CEO, PlayMoreGolf, “Golf has been perceived for too long as an elite sport played by the privileged and beyond the means of many. Our aim has been to debunk this myth and make the sport more accessible and address the problem of the average traditional golf member being in their mid 60s. Flexible membership recognises the demands of modern lifestyles, bringing golfers with an average age of 43 years of age back to the sport and making it more affordable and accessible. Combining up to date technology and online account management, we are bringing golf to a wider market who may have considered previously the sport inaccessible, but now also safe amid Covid 19.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.