Economic Model for Private Membership-only Golf Course

 I have done a golf course financial model in the past, but it was based off one-time course fee revenue (meaning a capacity model where you have one-time purchases to play holes and it is open to the public). This financial model was built after many requests to do a private golf course / club where you have a limited number of member 'seats' and those golfers pay a monthly fee as well as a few other caveats.

$125.00 USD

After purchase, the Excel template will be immediately available. This is also included in the industry-specific models and SaaS / Recurring Revenue models bundle.


private golf course

After talking to a few operators about this, I learned that the revenue logic has some nuance to it. The template gives clarity on the potential return on investment / IRR based on the cost and revenue assumptions.

In simple terms, the user can enter data about how much the course will cost to build (or acquire) and then based on membership fees, capacity assumptions, and costs, the model shows the resulting cash returned.

So, here is how most private courses do it:

  • Limited Member Spots (possibly junior members that have different costs / perks)
  • Each member pays a one-time fee to buy the 'seat'
  • The only way to get out is to sell your seat to somebody else and the course will often take a hefty percentage when you do sell the membership (40/50%).
  • The course collects monthly membership dues from each 'seat', there also might be an additional course improvement fund fee
  • Special events can exist and the model lets you define # of events per year, revenue per event, and cost per event over a 60 month timeline.
  • There is a food and beverage option where the inputs include the average spend per month per member and the gross profit margin expected to be earned on those sales.
  • On-going salaries, maintenance costs, other labor, and general operating costs are defined in a 5 year schedule.
  • There is a cost schedule for initial hole construction / land purchase / capital asset purchases. This does include depreciation and advanced logic for how much of the hole construction is depreciable (under normal circumstances you can't depreciate land, but if you are putting equipment / items in the land that have a useful life, those items are depreciable).
Output Reports:
  • Monthly/Annual Financial Statements
  • Monthly/Annual Pro Forma Detail
  • Annual Executive Summary
  • DCF Analysis, IRR, ROI, and NPV
  • Visualizations
Note, all the revenue assumptions for how much members are paying in fees and one-time sign-up fees can be edited on a monthly basis over a 60 month period.

There is an option to include an exit value at the defined end month of the forecast and that valuation is based on trailing 12-month EBITDA.

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