PGA Members are doing far more than coaching golfers and running shops. Across the industry, they are leading clubs, growing memberships, improving customer experience and proving that PGA expertise is central to golf’s commercial, cultural and strategic future. Take the example of Langland Bay’s Director of Golf Andrew Minty.
All around the world, PGA Members are shaping how golf clubs think, grow and compete. They are leading teams, building membership strategies, developing visitor experiences, improving retention, opening the game to new audiences and making commercially astute decisions that influence every part of a club’s operation. In many cases, they are not simply supporting the business of golf – they are directing it.
At Langland Bay, Director of Golf Andrew Minty offers a compelling example of that broader impact. His work shows how PGA expertise can combine coaching knowledge, operational leadership, customer service, marketing awareness and community-building to deliver tangible results. Membership growth, a thriving ladies’ section, stronger junior participation, smarter waiting-list management and repeat visitor business have all been shaped by a PGA Member taking a strategic view and helping to define where the game goes next.
Pictured: Director of Golf and PGA Member Andrew Minty
Turning participation ideas into membership growth
One of the initiatives in conjunction with Wales Golf was called New2Golf, This worked really well and our professional team got heavily involved in it. We received funding for six block lessons, something as primitive as that, and we ended up filling six groups straightaway.
We didn't charge for the initial lessons. The funding covered the pros’ fees and then the team had continuation lessons off the back of the initiative. We offered a temporary membership for those who were up to a standard to play the course as a taster to join, and we gained a lot of members from that.
How we built Wales’ largest ladies’ section
Over the years those people have become more integrated in the membership and it was from those initiatives that we've now got the largest ladies’ section of any club in Wales. Indeed, we have done for the last 11 years.
The catalyst was New2Golf and then it was word of mouth and really getting the pro, and myself as a PGA Member, to get that integration into membership – that was really key.
We gathered a list of lady members who would buddy up with the new golfers and take them out on the course to not make it really nerve-wracking.
The temporary membership for three months was £90. It was predominantly evening golf, and the members loved it so much then we just got them into a membership straightaway, but the catalyst was that New2Golf coaching scheme.
We have now got 146 lady members. It's always been a large membership but this is the biggest we have had. We did a similar campaign a few years ago for juniors, where we gave some free lessons and really integrated them, and our junior membership went from the late 40s to having 98 junior members.
One of our unique selling points is that we are a family-friendly club, especially with the ladies' section, and we just welcome everyone with open arms. There were a lot of different buddy schemes, social events and rules evenings and so on just to get them involved with the membership, introduce them to new people and they play a loop of five holes and it would gradually build from there. One of our ladies was on the New2Golf scheme and within four years she became one of our Lady Captains.
We also had groups for men’s over 55 as a new category which was very successful.
Keeping future members engaged before they join
We first had a waiting list just before Covid and, like most clubs afterwards, it grew enormously. We've got around 160 on it at the moment.
There are a few incentives we have undertaken for when people are on the waiting list. Like most clubs, we have got some white space on our tee sheets, predominantly of an evening. We hadn’t had a twilight membership before, but we opened up 30 spaces for those on the waiting list membership and they are able to pay a reduced green free. So, while they're waiting, they can be involved and playing the course and can then transfer when a space becomes available. We include them in our newsletters and send correspondence out to them. We don't bombard them but we will show them what is just around the corner when they become a member.
We get a few emails back asking about different aspects of the club like our reciprocals and members' benefits and discounts. They know that we're always adding that value to the membership, and that's what they're going to have when a place becomes available. We are a James Braid course so you get access to other Braid courses and members think it's great. They can also play local venues and ones further afield once a week as a member.
South Wales is a very competitive area for golf and there are a lot of golfers on our waiting list that we know have joined other clubs just as an interim to getting in here. As long as we keep that constant contact with them and offer them different things, that definitely works.
Customer experience that turns visitors into repeat business
Some clubs don't have membership prices on their website but we believe there's no point in hiding it. It's not a secret and it just provides someone with the option to look elsewhere. We have also got a joining fee and that can be paid over three years.
For our golf societies, we send them three or four emails during the process including a digital visitors’ guide packed with information about the course, the club, directions and where everything is when they arrive. When they arrive they get a planner and tee bag as well as a flyer which will have similar information to the visitors guide but it enables the shop to add the door codes for the day and any additional information and bounce back offers.
For the individual players, we give them something as a keepsake. As far as correspondence is concerned, we don't email them that regularly, maybe four times a year, advertising our open events and again with a bounce-back offer. We can track all the open rates and we generally try to work on 40 per cent of our business as repeat business. We've got some loyal customers and loyal groups who come back to us.
