Beginner Golf Is Not a Recruitment Funnel

Some clubs see beginner programmes as a short-term recruitment tool or temporary vanity project. Why that matters and why it's bad for the game.

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This week I resigned my membership at a golf club. My wife resigned at the same time.

No drama. No fallout. Just a quiet realisation that the club and I had opposing views on beginner golf, and that's fine.

I'm passionate about getting more people into golf. As a new member I got involved with an active ladies beginner group from week two of their initial six week programme. Good people, doing something worthwhile.

Genuinely enthusiastic women, improving week after week, turning up consistently. Exactly the kind of people the game needs more of. A second group of eight to ten ladies was already signed up to follow them.

The club's view, when it came down to it, was a fixed horizon. The current group would complete their initial programme and move into a further six weeks under Operation 36. The second group would follow. Beyond that, closed. No more ladies. No juniors. No wider rollout. Convert four or five to full members and call it done. The club had the facilities that could be used without impacting tee times for members and visitors, they just decided not to use them commercially or strategically for new golfers.

I understand the commercial logic. I just don't share it. To me it's a regressive attitude, and one so fundamentally incompatible with everything I believe about golf that my only option was to resign my membership.

Beginner golf isn't a recruitment funnel. It's a pipeline for the whole game. Every club that treats it as a one-time exercise and closes the door afterwards is making a choice, and that choice has consequences for participation, for diversity, and for the long-term health of golf in this country.

Golf clubs have a responsibility to give back to the sport that sustains them. Not vanity projects of limited scope designed to tick a very narrow box. The ones that will be future success stories are those making genuine, ongoing investment in bringing new people into the game. Not the ones fighting their overdrafts for survival.

Of course members clubs should be run for their members. I understand that. But most members clubs have ageing demographics, and that's exactly why beginners are so crucial to their future. I've seen parents and grandparents out on the course with their kids and grandkids, and they are genuinely the happiest golfers you'll ever see. For me that's golf in its purest form. It never fails to put a smile on my face, even on a bad round.

There's a programme called Operation 36 that I think is excellent for beginners. The concept is simple. Start at 25 yards and work outward, playing a 9 hole par 4 format, which is where the 36 comes from. It removes the intimidation, builds confidence through achievable targets, and keeps people coming back. I'm not affiliated, I earn nothing from saying it. I just think it works and more clubs should treat it as a permanent community fixture, not a short-term initiative.

ChippedIn exists because I believe golf is better when more people play it. That means beginners matter. Not as a conversion target. As golfers.

If you're a club thinking seriously about beginner development and want a conversation about what a genuine long-term programme looks like, get in touch.