Running the Thame Valley Golf Club in a Professional Way - Assignment Example

Business Plan for Running the Thame Valley Golf Club in a professional way Introduction: This business Plan is prepared for Mr. Jason Smithy owner of Thame Valley Golf Club. Mr. Smithy is running a gold course since 1997. He wants to lease the PGA pro business to Professional who can build and run the show on his behalf. I have the opportunity of studying the details of the project and submitting my following Business Plan. First I will give a brief structure of the present scenario, then I will give my analysis of the present situation. I will follow it up with my business plan to make it as per the expectation of Mr. Smithy. Mission Statement of the Business Plan For any business Plan there should be a mission statement. Mission Statement of the Business Plan: First and foremost I would like to state the Mission Statement of our Business Plan. The Mission Statement of Thame Valley Golf Club should be to make it a professional Golf Club, making it a profitable one utilizing all its facilities to the maximum capacity. Objectives: 1. Making it a Professional Golf Club 2. Making it a Profitable one 3. Utilizing it strengths to the fullest extent 4. Minimizing the impact of its weaknesses by converting it to strength to the extent possible. Assessment of the present scenario: I will give my assessment of the present scenario internal and external: Surroundings: Thame valley golf club is situated in Oxfordshire, approximately 4 miles north of Thame Town centre. It consists of a par 36 full-length 9-hole course. The course is situated 10 miles north east of the city of oxford and 4 miles north of Thame town centre, Alysbury is about 10 miles away and High Wycombe is around 2 miles to the southeast. Motorway access is reasonably good as the M40 is only 5 miles away and M4 is around 25 miles away. The course is currently of 9 holes but land is available to build a further 9 holes in the future. There is only one set of Tees for the course. There is a practice putting green adjacent to the clubhouse and a large teaching and practice area. No PGA professional has been in place. Hence lessons have not been promoted. A local PGA Pro is running on ad hoc basis. The arrangement with the local PGA Pro is terminated with a mutually agreed settlement. At present a small shop selling regular day-to-day items and accessories is run by the owner's daughter. A new shop will be established near the test tee, where there exists an outbuilding, which will be made secured now. The Pro has to make the interiors of the shop. Facilities available: Male Female changing and shower rooms. Administrative offices Cafeteria style eating area Golf shop Current shop membership, Membership and Green Fees. The membership is growing steadily. Currently the membership stands at 419 comprising 196 men, 22 women, 99 seniors (Male), 19 seniors (Female) and 11 juniors. The owner targets to increase the membership to 700 with Men Ladies and juniors as main target group. The cost of the membership is as follows: Entrance Fee 175 Adult yearly subscription 385 Senior Yearly subscription 225 Junior 85 Social 15 Visitor 9 midweek ,, 12 a weekends ,, With members 8 The no. of round played by visitors averages at 35 and that of 30 rounds by members. Target round for visitors doubled at 50 rounds. External: Surroundings: There are 8 primary schools, 2 secondary comprehensives, several colleges and Oxford University in the surrounding. There are also two leisure centres and 3 private health clubs within 10 miles surroundings. Until recently there were 2 golf shops but due to fierce competition one of them has shut down. Competition: There are two more golf clubs in the surroundings: 1. The Old Established Private Members Club There is the St. Annes club, which is a private club situates around 9 miles from Aylasbury. It is a 103 years old club. This as professionally designed reputed golf club. It has a small practice area used by the professional for teaching. There is a small shop but is not well stocked. The club has waiting list from aspiring members. The free structure Entrance Fee 600 Yearly subscription 595 Junior 60 2. The New Member's club: The Lincoln is a modern members club with superb catering facilities. Presently a group who owns several clubs runs it. It has a drawback; it does not have a practice facility. The management group is active marketing strategies. It has 900 members. It offers society packages. Its fee structure is as follows: Type 1 Entrance Fee 100 Yearly subscription 100 Playing fee 10 per round Type 2 Entrance Fee 250 Yearly subscription 200 Playing fee 6 Type 3 Entrance Fee 800 Yearly Fee 600 Playing Fee nil Juniors 150 per annum Municipal Course: The local municipal course does not charge any membership fee, nor pro-shop and no practice facility. The fees are kept at 6 per adult, 4 for senior and 2,50 for juniors. This not well maintained but is always busy and popular with the beginners. Now I will make the SWOT analysis of the establishment. STRENGTH: The biggest strength of Thames Valley Golf Club is its location. It is only 4 miles away from Thames town, 10 miles away from oxford town, 10 miles away from Alysbury, making it ideally located place for the residents of all the three places. Its location of merely 5 miles from M40 and 25 miles away from M4 gives it a good location for people from other places. Its proximity to 8 primary schools and two secondary comprehensive schools, several colleges and Oxford University gives it a unique position to make it a training centre for beginners. According to Experian there are 61,335 people within a 20-minute radius of the golf club. The geo-demographic groups as given by the consultants: Symbol of success 40% Suburban comfort 18% Rural Isolation 13% Happy families 12% We can see from the geo-demographic group classification, there is enough potential of the Thames Valley Golf Club to achieve its management's target of membership. Its area to be able to be converted to an 18-hole course is another strength. Availability of a practice putting green adjacent to the clubhouse and a large teaching/practice area is its strength. Its management of single owned Jason Smithy is another strength. It makes its break even point much smaller compared to the course run by the group, which is perceived as its biggest competitor. Being a family business it becomes a top light company i.e. ownership overheads will be much less. WEAKNESS: The main weakness we find it in the managements lack of professionalism and expertise. There may be a problem of injection of new finance required for renovation and additional facilities also. OPPORTUNITIES: The opportunities perceived are the geo-demographic location of the club. There exists opportunity to convert a large section of the population to members. THREAT: Threats lies with the competitor The New Members Club, which is run by a group, who also run some other golf clubs. It is expected that they have the proper expertise as well as financial support to pose a big threat to Thames Valley Golf Club. There is also threat from 2 local authority run leisure centres and 3 private health clubs in the vicinity. Now here is my analysis in figures: A. The managements target of achieving a membership of 700 is achievable quite easily if we consider the geo-demographic group classification of the nearby localities. I have given some suggestion of bringing some members from the Lincoln club and from the municipal course B. The Golf Shop's earning can be increased by stocking it properly and the additional membership / visitors will bring more business C. Tuition: Tuition will be one of the main profit-earning center for the initial years. A details strategy of tuition plan is enclosed. D. Repairs and custom fit: Can be added as a new source of business, which will enhance the bottom line. E. Trolley and Buggy HIRE; this is one more area to be harnessed properly. F. IT: It is a good proposal to add IT facilities, which will help the new generation business professionals in touch with their activities while enjoying their leisure Now let's put them into figures: The fees structure of the two main clubs is: I am excluding the old club, as there is no competition from that club. The members of that club have some snobbery values, which we cannot provide. Thames valley Lincoln Entrance Fee 175 Type 1 Type 2 Type3 100, 250 800 Annual subscription adults 385 100 200 600 Playing fee nil 10 6 nil Annual subscription Junior 85 Annual subscription senior 225 Social 15 Visitors 9 weekdays, 12 weekends By comparison I find that the Lincoln has given different choices for different kind of members. Beginners and casual people can become members by just paying 200 for one year. I suggest Thame valley club can introduce two types of members, Temporary and permanent. Temporary members can be offered same 100 as entrance fee and 100 as annual fee. This will bring a new segment of price conscious members. By calling them temporary members and making them apply every year for new membership will help two ways: 1) Additional entrance fee every year. 2) Maintaining Brand or image value. By making the privileges available to them something less than the permanent members, we will create an environment of eagerness among them, who subsequently will become serious player and shall opt for permanent membership. The availability of a full time PGA Pro for training will give the necessary image build up. Present Earnings from Membership Fees: Men 196 X 385 = 75460 Women 22 X 385 = 8470 Seniors (Male) 99 X 225 =22275 Seniors (Female) 91 X 225 = 20475 Juniors 11 X 85 = 935 Total = 127615 As the owner wants to increase the membership to 700, they have to increase the membership by 700 - 419 = 281 Initially I would like to convert the visitors to temporary members, which presently covers approximately 25 rounds per day. By giving them added advantage of membership and decrease of playing charges from present 12 to 8, I expect to bring additional membership of 25 X 7 =175 members. By assuming; each of these members playing at least one round in a week. The annual revenue will thus be increased by 175 X 200 = 35000 (Inclusive entrance fee and annual membership fee) I will expect of increase of membership of another 100 members by adding value to the club as proposed. The value addition proposed: 1. Appointment of the Pro PGA for any help to members and enhance the brand image of the club 2. Professionalism in Management with the addition of Pro. 3. The well stocked store 4. Tuition to beginners, group lessons to students 5. Tournaments 6. Repair and custom Fit Services 7. Payment facilities by debit and credit card 8. Enhanced Trolley and Buggy hiring services. Additional sources of earnings: 1. As given earlier increase in earning from membership by new marketing methodology 2. Earning from Tuition, specially targeting youths of nearby schools and colleges with group enrollment and training facilities, which is not available from other establishments, except the municipality golf course. By this marketing tactic a large chunk of the user of municipality golf course can be diverted without reducing the brand value of the present establishment, offering them temporary membership or special temporary packages. 3. By increasing the opening hours also will enhance the utilization factor of the course, thus increasing the revenue. 4. The well-stocked store with golf items, apparels, cafeteria will add the revenue generation. Expenses envisaged for renovation: 1. The interior of the storeroom to be renovated. There will be expenses for stocks. 2. For converting to an 18-hole golf course there will be requirement of lots of additional funding, hence this can be done after one year of operation. 3. Investment in new equipments like Trolley and Buggy Financial working of the Professionals: The below mentioned is the projected sales value of different items of the golf shop for the year ahead. Projection has been taken on the assumption that utilization of the course will be doubled over the year. I have discounted the fact there was a general growth in sales during last 2 years. As the sale will increase over the year. I have increased by 50% Item Sales Value in Mark up Value of the Mark up in Men's clothing and shoes 190492.5 65% 123820 Hardware 9742.5 23% 55140 Golf Balls 24525 32% 7848 Accessories and gift items 12150 76% 9234 Bags and hold alls 22162.5 38% 8421 Confectionary & Drinks 10822.5 60% 6493 Trolleys 3675 36% 1323 Ladies Clothing and Shoes 11542.5 48% 5540 Total 217819 Conclusion: I find that there is a great prospect of converting this golf club into a financially successful one. Initially there needs some induction of finance, which can be taken from bank by mortgage. I will bring the necessary manpower, trained staff and give training to new staff. I also will bring the required finance for stocking the shop and for interiors of the shop. The basic need of the club is professional management, brand image, and professional pragmatic marketing. I personally feel that I can bring those ingredients to your organization. We can jointly make it a much more profitable one by utilizing its resources and infrastructure in better way. As given above I have worked out the profitability from the shop, which will take care of the retainer's fees to be paid to you and the expenses of the staff I will hire. I have given brief outline of the marketing strategy. I will make a plan and execute the plan to achieve our objectives. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to present you my proposal. Read More