TheSocialGolfer.com – Golfers Survey 2015…

In January, we issued the TSG Golfers Survey questionnaire, asking you to give us your views on the website, what we were getting right and what we were getting wrong. Your thoughts on how we can improve and your opinions on the golf industry as a whole.

We are very grateful to all those that took part, there were more than 130 respondents, 71% PRO members and 29% FREE members. 90% were male golfers with 10% of views coming from the ladies.

TSG Golfers Survey - Regions

TSG Golfers Survey – Regions

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – The Numbers….

Ok, lets start with the basics and the demographics of TSG:

– 84% of members are over 45

– 55% live in London or the South, 15% in the East, 7% in North West, 5.4% in the Midlands

– 56% of you have been playing for 5 years or more, 19% 1-4 years and 20% can’t remember!

– Over 67% of you play once a week or more!

– 63% of you DON’T belong to a golf club

– 64% DON’T belong to a golf society

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – Your Game….

Nearly half claimed that ‘Time’ was the biggest factor to you playing more but the weather also plays a big part in things, with over 20% saying it affected them playing more often.

– 3 out of 10 of you play off a handicap of 10-18

– 4 out 10 of you are playing off a handicap of between 19-24

– Only 9% of you have a Handicap below 10

TSGers Preferred Golf Ball

TSGers Preferred Golf Ball

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – The Brands….

The most popular make of clubs within the TSG community was Callaway with 16.8%, closely followed by Ping with 16.4%, once again closely followed by TaylorMade.

– Fourth was Cobra, fifth was Mizuno and the rest was spread across a plethora of brands

When it came to choosing your golf balls, Srixon (25%) and Titleist (24%) were the clear favourites making up nearly half the survey results. However, Callaway put up a fight with 11% of you preferring this ball.

However, most amusing was that over 10% played with whatever was in your bag!!

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – Travel….

With more and more golfers looking to take advantage of both cheaper air travel and an influx of golf travel operators entering the market, many of you are now taking more of your golfers currency further afield but just how often are you taking time out to take a golf trip?

– 38% of you are now taking a golf break each year

– 27% of you are taking 2 or more trips a year

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – Media….

Whilst we are always working hard to grow the community on your behalf, its interesting to see how loyal members are and whether they visit any other websites?

– 77% of you have been a TSGer for a year or more

– 84% of don’t belong to any other golf community

– 9 out of 10 members use social media

– 37% of you have a facebook account, 19% use LinkedIn,  18% use Twitter, 7% G+, 5% use instagram

Golfers Survey - How are your treated by Golf Clubs

How are your treated by Golf Clubs?

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – Golf Clubs….

We asked you a number of questions in our Golfers Survey about your views on golf Clubs and the golf industry as a whole. When asked why you wouldn’t join a golf club?

– 30% of you said you like playing different courses

– 38% of said there was no need as you play ‘society/social’ golf

– Over 16% of you said golf club membership was too expensive

Asked what would MAKE you join a golf club?

– 18% said to play in competitions and another 18% said to play close to home

– 15% said improved flexible membership options

– Only 15% commented to access a CONGU handicap certificate

– Finally, 12% of you said if there was a good social calendar!

However, most importantly we asked you how you were treated by Golf Clubs as either non-members or Pay ‘n Players, as you went around the county.

– The good news is that over 40% of TSGers said they were treated ‘quite well’

– However, another 40% could only muster an’OK’

Most worryingly, 3% of you said you were treated ‘badly or very ‘badly’ by clubs – who are these clubs we wonder. In a age of ‘customer reviews’ and ‘testimonials’, why would any club treat visitors poorly!

Golfers Survey - How do you rate the atmosphere with TSG

How do you rate the atmosphere within TSG?

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – TSG….

Here’s the bit we were worried about, but we should never have had such reservations. Not only did you give us here at TSG HQ a glowing report, you also were prepared to be quoted.

– More than 60% felt TSG was a place to meet new golfers and organise your golf

– 21% saw us a place to share your passion and improve your golf

– 17% saw us as place to keep scores and read course reviews

– 86% of you felt the cost of being a Pro members was fair or superb value

There was no one area of the site that was used anymore than another with the Handicap Tracker, Course Reviews and the Games Calender the most popular. More stats:

– Over 50% of you ‘claim’ to have posted a game but 34% said there were plenty anyway but surprising over 15% of you ‘didn’t know you could’. However, 6% were honest enough to admit, you were ‘Too shy’.

– Nearly 6 out of 10 have used the Handicap tracker (What are the other 4 doing it?!)

– But again 17% ‘didn’t know you could’

– 8/10 of you rated monthly Newsletter as Interesting, Valuable or that you ‘Loved it!’

– However, more than 50% said they hadn’t read the TSG Newsblog or more worryingly, didn’t know there was one. Lets hope the fact we have now added this to the front page and the Members page this will now change.

TheSocialGolfer.com Golfers Survey – And finally….

We invited you to tell us how YOU would describe TSG to your friends:

– Overwhelmingly 91% of you described the site as ‘Friendly’, ‘Welcoming’ and ‘Good Fun’. Which is very humbling.

70% gave us a scored of 8/10 or better.

We are very grateful to everyone that took the time to give us there views. We are very pleased that you gave us such a high overall approval rating but we also note there is still room to improve the service we provide.

However, we’ll leave the final say to you the members:

“Place to meet different people, play different courses – a must for all golfers!”

“An ideal way to meet new people, play different courses and enjoy more golf”

“A great place to socialise, meet new people in a non-cliquey environment”

“A well organised and friendly way to join or organise golf games especially for non club members”

“A friendly golfing hub”

“As far as I am aware there is nothing else like it!!”

By Ian Mullins