Responses to the 2023 Members’ Survey

Dear Fellow Burleigh Golf Club Member,

Thank you to all those Members who recently provided feedback to the Club via the 2023 Members’ Survey. Of the 1,124 Members emailed, a very pleasing number of 675 responded which is an exceptional response rate of 60%. A good survey response rate is around 30%, with an excellent response rate at 50% or higher. Our Members’ response rate of 60% is incredibly pleasing. It is also worth noting that the average time taken by Members to complete the survey was  11minutes:23seconds.

Detailed below is the result on each of the questions asked within this 2023 Members’ Survey, together with some accompanying notes.

Q1 – Net Promoter Score

The initial question of the survey was the “Net Promoter Score” (NPS) rating by Members. That is, “How likely is it that you would recommend Burleigh Golf Club to a friend or colleague?”. This term and measure is a widely used metric that is used by survey companies to measure the satisfaction and loyalty of customers or, in our case Members, to a company’s (or Club’s) performance and product. You may have previously been asked the NPS question by other companies that you interact with. It has become a key reference point for businesses aiming to improve their customer experience and is a ranking from -100 to +100. It is also good measure of how a company is improving year on year.

The following is a scale of the range of possible ratings and how a particular rating should be viewed.

Members rated Burleigh Golf Club a very pleasing 67, at the high end of “Great”, and verging on “Excellent”, with 481 of 675 respondents providing a recommendation ranking of 9 or 10. Thank you to our passionate Members for this wonderful report card. Clearly, the vast majority of members who responded are very happy with the Club and Golf Course.

Of our respondents, 32 or 5% were “Detractors”, 162 or 24% were “Passives” and remarkable 481 or 71% were “Promoters”. It is wonderful to see so many Members valuing their membership experience at Burleigh Golf Club.

Survey Respondents:

Q2 – Gender

Of those Members who responded to the Survey, 81.3% were male and 18.7% were female; with females responding slightly less than their proportion of 20.4%.

Q3 – Response rate by age bracket

Members over 60 years of age represent 55.4% of the Club and comprised 63.3% of respondents.

Generally, the older the member age bracket, the more they were inclined to responded to the survey.

Q4 – What is your Membership type?

Generally, the higher the membership category, the more members responded by category.

• Full Members represented 38.7% of members but comprised 44.2% of respondents.
• 6 Day Members represented 34.9% of members but comprised 39.1% of respondents.
• Limited Members represented 16.9% of members but comprised 10.9% of respondents.

Q5 – Response rate by duration of membership

Generally, the newer the member, the less inclined they were to respond to the survey.

• Those who have been members for less than 2 years represented 17.9% of the membership but made up 14.8% of respondents.
• Those who have been members for more than 20 years represented 18.1% of the membership but made up 21.9% of respondents.

Q6 – I believe my membership is good value for money.

Pleasingly, 92.6% of Members responded positively to this question, with greater than 1 in 4 members selecting “strongly agree”.

Q7 – How important are the following in motivating you to be a member at Burleigh Golf Club?

• Fun, enjoyment & social was the only area where “extremely important” outranked “important”, with a very high positive response by 88.8%
• Personal Challenge rated the strongest “important” response.
• A very low rating was given to the importance of Business Networking.
• Relaxation & Outdoor Natural Environment received the highest positive response.

Q8 – How do you rate the following facets of the golf course?

Q 9 – Course Improvement Works. In recent years we have commenced course improvement works in September as this is the best time of the year for turf regrowth. The works extend for approximately 4 months. The remainder of the year has minimal work occurring on the course. Do you support this method?

• 98.2% of respondents agree with the timing of our course works program

Q10 – Capital Spending Priorities.  Over the last five years the Club has undertaken a significant amount of course works (bunkers, paths, tee works, practice range etc), and a number of clubhouse improvements (air conditioning, balcony furniture, CCTV etc). Approximately 70% of our capital spend has been on the golf course, with 30% within the Clubhouse. Do you support this prioritisation?

• 94.3% of respondents agree with the prioritisation of capital spending on the golf course, while still maintaining and improving the clubhouse product

Q11 – Clubhouse Appearance.  Would you like to see the appearance of the Clubhouse refreshed, such as new furniture and carpet at a spend of approximately $200K?

• 55.6% of respondents did not want to see this as a current capital priority.
• The survey structure also enabled us to segment responses by gender, age, membership type etc. Across all segmentations, the No response was always greater than the Yes.

Q12 – Practice Facilities. How often do you use the practice facilities of the Club (putting green, practice range, chipping green, practice bunker green)?

• 61.1% of respondents use the practice facilities weekly, or more often.
• When segmenting by age, this increased dramatically to almost 80% of respondents aged 30 years or younger using the practice facilities weekly, or more often.
• Respondents aged 31 to 45 use these facilities the least, with 53.7% using them weekly, or more often.

Q13 – What percentage of your golf is played at Burleigh Golf Club?

• 70.8% of members play greater than 90% of their golf at Burleigh Gold Club, with 88.6% playing greater than 3 rounds out of every 4 at Burleigh.
• This is a strong representation of play at Burleigh given our number of Country Members and other members who live away from the Gold Coast periodically.

Q14 – Land Lease Fund. The current balance of rental income we received from leasing land beside the 10^th fairway to RetireAustralia in 2018 is $2.71 million and is referred to as the “Land Lease Fund” (LLF).  Per the approval given by Members when the fund was originally established and the subsequent Charter established for the LLF, the fund’s purpose is to:.

• firstly, maintain the financial stability and strength of the Club into the future and
• secondly, acting prudently and responsibly, to release monies from the LLF for expenditure on improvements to the course and to the club in accordance with any approvals given by Members and when deemed appropriate to do so.

The Board does not view the Land Lease Fund as an asset where the funds are used to cover regular operating expenses at the club. However, when sufficient returns are generated by the fund in any one year, these returns may be used to help fund capital projects.  Do you support this approach?

• 96.1% of respondents agree that the Land Lease Fund should not be used to cover regular operating expenses, rather it is used to maintain the financial stability and strength of the Club into the future.

Q15 – Strategic Plan. One of the key objectives of the current Strategic Plan for the Club is “that we aim to be the best members’ golf club on the Gold Coast”. Which in effect means that we have the best course layout and presentation; coupled with the best clubhouse experience. Do you agree with this aim, recognising that there are certain cost implications that come with it?

• 87.3% of respondents agreed with this aim. Given the advances to our golf course, operational and financial performance, and improved corporate governance in recent years, a stronger response was anticipated.

Q16 – Membership Subscriptions

The Articles of the Club limit the annual subscription fee increase to a maximum of 5% annually unless a higher increase is approved by Members. Recently we have seen increasing operating costs requiring several local member clubs to increase their fees significantly:

• Coolangatta membership fee increases have been FY22 at 3%, FY23 at 12.5%, FY24 at 10%. The compounding effect is a 27.5% increase in 3 years, to a total of $1,500.50 for Full Membership (but subsidised by higher competition fee rates)

• Southport membership fee increases have been FY22 at 15%, FY23 at 5%, FY24 at 9.5%. The compounding effect is a 32.2% increase in 3 years, to a total of $3,104 for Full Membership
• A golf industry sample of 20 golf clubs across Australia with subscription levels under $2,500 p.a. increased their membership fees by 8% in FY22
• By comparison, Burleigh’s membership fee increases have been FY22 at 2%, FY23 at 5%, FY24 at 5%. The compounding effect is a 12.5% increase over 3 years, to a total of $2,154 for Full Membership fee for FY24

Our membership subscription rate increases have also fallen behind CPI, so the club’s purchasing power is reducing year on year.  The quality of our course and club facilities are directly related to the net cash generated by club operations and membership fee income.

Do you support a one-off fee adjustment in membership subscriptions to increase the club’s annual cash generation, and the resultant ability to accelerate and finance certain course and clubhouse improvements and services to members? (Note – any proposed increase above 5% would still need to be referred to Members for their approval)

• 58.6% of respondents did not agree with a one-off fee adjustment.
• Across each age bracket, younger members were more inclined to agree with the suggestion (those 45 years and under more inclined than those over 60 years of age), with respondents 30 years and under 66.7% in favour of increasing the fees to keep up with competitor golf clubs and the rate of inflation.

Q17 – Possible Fee Increase. If yes, how much of a once-off increase do you believe is appropriate given the quality of the course and facilities and the standards we are striving to achieve and to maintain? (choose the option you think most appropriate) (Again Please Note- any proposed increase above 5% would still need to be referred to Members for their approval)

• 36.9% of respondents agreed with one of the subscription increase rates listed.
• Again, this percentage increased as the age of the respondent decreased.
• 6 Day Members were less open to a fee increase, while Limited Members were more receptive.
• Male respondents were marginally more open to a fee increase than Women.

Q18 – New Membership Category. The Board actively manages the intake of new members to ensure that a waiting list for competition golf is infrequent. Given our current membership numbers, we are still able to have a significant number of visitors play each week (approx. 90 per week), and they book via the pro-shop 4 days after Members have been permitted to book. The Board is considering the benefits of a “6 Day Conditional” Membership which would have similar restrictions as the current “Full Conditional Membership” category. These Members could only book 5 days from the day of play for Sunday to Friday competitions, ensuring existing members would have 3 clear days to book in advance of this new category.

Are you supportive of the creation of this membership category?

• 58.9% of respondents agree with this suggestion.
• To introduce a “6 Day Conditional Membership” requires a motion to be passed by at least 75% of the votes cast by members at a General Meeting.

Q19 – Communication.  How satisfied are you with the quality and frequency of club communication to you regarding activities at the Club and course improvements?

• 86.7% of respondents responded positively to the quality and frequency of club communication.

Q20 – Communication Methods.  How important to you are the following methods of communication from Burleigh Golf Club?

Q21 – Gaming.  The course and clubhouse have seen significant improvements in recent years, and this has been primarily facilitated by the prioritisation of how the cash generated from the operations of the Club is spent. There is only so much cash available each year and due to this limitation, we have consciously invested very little in new gaming machines and the gaming product at the Club. Do you support the club ending the provision of gaming services, or would you prefer to see funds redirected to investing in our gaming product and the promotion of gaming?

• 82.1% of respondents would prefer to see the club exit gaming and maintain the capital spending prioritisation on the golf course.

Q22 – Have you had a golf lesson at Burleigh Golf Club in the last 12 months?

• 37% of respondents have had a golf lesson at Burleigh Golf Club in the last 12 months.

Q23 – Have you had a golf lesson away from Burleigh Golf Club in the last 12 months?

• Less than 1 in 5 respondents have had a golf lesson away from Burleigh Golf Club in the last 12 months.

There was also an opportunity for members to leave a comment about what would influence them to have a golf lesson at Burleigh Golf Club. The feedback will be provided to our Head Professional Matt McLean for his information.

Respondents were also able to leave a general comment at the end of the survey, and a comment relating to our all-important course condition. This feedback is presently being worked through for consideration.

Thank you to all those Members who took the time to complete the 2023 Member Survey. It is pleasing that so many members value their time spent at Burleigh Golf Club.

Kind regards,

Michael McMullen
President – Burleigh Golf Club