JournalAnalysis
How to increase golf club membership, and why retention matters more.
Almost every new member in German clubs is matched by one who leaves. When and why members go, and how a club turns new members into members who stay.
Why isn’t recruiting new members enough?
Because organized golf in Germany loses roughly as many members each year as it gains: for 2019, statistics from the DGV (German Golf Association) show 49,152 new golfers, while 48,715 golfers left in the same year. A club that only recruits new members is mostly refilling what it loses elsewhere.
The starting position is good. As of September 30, 2025, 695,617 golfers were registered in DGV clubs (in German), 8,909 more than a year earlier, an increase of 1.3 percent (DGV announcement of January 21, 2026, accessed September 13, 2026). According to the DGV, this growth is driven by 19- to 40-year-olds, who grew above average in every subgroup.
But the net gain of almost 9,000 is the balance of two much larger flows. In its policy paper on the general challenges facing golf, the DGV writes that around 50,000 people become organized golfers every year, and that losses are at the same level (accessed September 13, 2026). Prof. Rüdiger Falk gives concrete figures for 2019 in the German trade magazine golfmanager: 49,152 new golfers, 48,715 exits, a net gain of 437 (golfmanager 3/2021, accessed September 13, 2026). He chose 2019 deliberately, because he considered the pandemic year 2020 not representative enough. Think of a leaking bucket: a lot flows in at the top, and almost as much runs out at the bottom. That is why every member who stays is worth as much as a newly recruited one.
When do new members leave their golf club?
Mostly in the first four years: according to a DGV analysis, more than three quarters of all new golfers leave during this period, and year four is considered the decision year, when 35 percent of new golfers leave their club. Prof. Rüdiger Falk reported this in 2021 in the trade magazine golfmanager, based on DGV analyses of German clubs.
The figures appear in Falk’s golfmanager article “Onboarding: Winning and Retaining Golf Members” (translated from German; accessed September 13, 2026). He compares year four to working life, where people also decide after a few years whether to stay. He also cites an analysis of DGV memberships from 2008 to 2013, which found that it is mainly new members who give up in their first four years. His conclusion: new golfers should “learn the ropes” as quickly and systematically as possible, meaning the club’s routines, people, and customs.
The fact that the analysis goes back several years does not make it worthless. The pattern is stable: according to a second golfmanager analysis, the exit rate from 2012 to 2016 was a constant 7 to 8 percent of the previous year’s membership, and in 2019 new entries and exits were almost level again. Another figure from Falk’s article stands out: only 19.3 percent of golf facilities use statistical analyses that show when members are likely to leave. How a club can set this up is explained further down.
Why do golfers leave their club?
Club managers often cite relocation, illness, and age, but according to golfmanager that does not explain the high number of exits, because it is mainly new members who leave. Surveys also show that golfers are less willing to commit to a club, and that for a growing share of them, club life is no longer a reason to be a member.
The managers' assumptions come from in-depth interviews cited in the onboarding article: many saw regional mobility, illness, and age as the main factors. The authors counter that the DGV analysis shows mainly new members in their first four years among those leaving. In their view, it is unlikely that new golfers, who are often younger, leave mostly for health or age reasons.
The clearest figures come from a survey of golfers without a club membership, which golfmanager evaluates in the analysis “Leaving the Golf Club: Causes, Scale, and Influence” (translated from German; accessed September 13, 2026). Asked why they did not want a club membership, only 6 percent answered “I don’t want to commit” in 2010. By 2016, it was 20 percent. The answer “Club life doesn’t interest me” rose from 10 to 19 percent over the same period.
The same analysis shows that in 2013, about two thirds of exits came from the age group of roughly 20 to 50.
Put these older findings next to the current DGV announcement and a tension emerges. Today, 19- to 40-year-olds are driving growth. But this is also the age group that was least willing to commit in the surveys and that used to account for most exits. That is my conclusion from two sets of data, not a new measurement. For clubs, it means that the group joining right now needs a different start than the members who joined 20 years ago.
This fits an assessment in the DGV policy paper: the German public still sees clubs as conservative, and to outsiders they appear closed off.
To be fair, there is also a counterpoint. The German golf market report of 2016 (Golfmarktbericht) stated that German golf has “more of a member retention problem than a member recruitment problem” (translated from German). The golfmanager analysis warns against reading this too simply: a large share of exits is probably driven by cost and time, and can therefore only be influenced to a limited extent. The author explicitly labels his estimate as speculative. For a club, the answer is not retention instead of recruitment, but both. The share of exits that can be influenced lies mainly in the first years.
How does a golf club win members who stay?
By planning golf membership marketing as a chain rather than a campaign: recruitment, onboarding in year one, retention in years two and three, the decision year four, and win-back after someone leaves. Each phase needs its own measures, and most of them cost attention more than advertising budget.
The overview links each phase to what the data shows and to what a club can actually do:
| Phase | What the data shows | What the club can do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Recruitment before joining | 2019: 49,152 new golfers, 48,715 exits (DGV); growth in 2025 is driven by 19- to 40-year-olds | Be visible where beginners search: Google, AI answers, a clear beginner page with prices |
| 2 · Onboarding Year 1 | New golfers should “learn the ropes” quickly; 16.3% of clubs offer group training for beginners (golfmanager 3/2021) | A dedicated contact person, beginner rounds, matching playing partners, fast replies to inquiries |
| 3 · Retention Years 2–3 | “Club life doesn’t interest me”: 10% (2010) → 19% (2016) among golfers without a club | Make club life easy to access: short after-work formats, open tournaments, groups by playing ability |
| 4 · Decision Year 4 | 35% of new golfers leave their club in year four (DGV, cited in golfmanager 3/2021) | Talk to members personally before renewal, offer suitable membership models |
| 5 · Win-back after leaving | “I don’t want to commit”: 6% (2010) → 20% (2016) among golfers without a club | With their consent, keep inviting former members: green fee offers, events, an easy way back |
Sources: DGV announcement of January 21, 2026, and DGV policy paper on golf.de; golfmanager 3/2021 “Onboarding: Winning and Retaining Golf Members” (R. Falk) and “Leaving the Golf Club,” all accessed September 13, 2026. The measures column is my own assessment as a consultant.
I know the onboarding phase from my own experience. I’ve been playing since 2016, and in my first year of membership my home club north of Hamburg gave me very good offers. That is a strong start. The more interesting question for any club is what happens next, when the introductory offers expire and the new member becomes an ordinary one.
Falk names a lever most clubs barely use: group training. New golfers who train with like-minded people meet their first playing partners along the way. According to the study, only 16.3 percent of golf clubs offer group training for prospects and new golfers. I described how wide the gap between the beginner course and the club already is in the article on the Platzreife (Germany’s golf proficiency certificate) and the path into a club.
My advice: plan recruitment and retention with the same care. A taster course campaign only really pays off once it is clear who will look after the new members in their first year. I describe what this looks like as a system, from visibility to retention, on the page about marketing for golf clubs.
What should a golf club measure about its members?
The most important golf club retention metric is how many members of each joining year are still there after one, two, three, and four years. Any club can build this analysis from its membership records, and it shows in which phase of the chain most members are lost.
golfmanager recommends an early warning system for this: only once a club sees where and when exits pile up, and which types of golfers are affected, can it take targeted action (onboarding article, accessed September 13, 2026). Many facilities are close: 77.8 percent already ask members why they are leaving, and about half hold exit interviews. Falk notes that these conversations only happen once the decision has been made. In practice, three things are enough for the step before that: count new members per year, record for each joining year how many are still members after each year, and ask for the reason whenever someone leaves.
A quick calculation shows why this pays off. Take a club with 800 members and the exit rate of 7 to 8 percent that golfmanager found for 2012 to 2016. That means 56 to 64 exits a year, and just as many new members to recruit simply to keep the number level. Every member who stays because of targeted outreach in year four is one you don’t have to win again. Your own club’s numbers may differ, which is exactly why your own analysis is worth doing.
The same discipline applies to recruitment. Don’t just measure which channel brings inquiries, but which one brings members who are still playing three years later. How many people in Germany play golf outside clubs, and where they search today, is covered in the articles on distance membership (Fernmitgliedschaft) and on the Hamburg golf market.
Methodology
How to read these numbers
All sources are public and were accessed on September 13, 2026. The data dates differ, so each figure is shown with its year.
- 695,617 Golfers in DGV clubs (as of September 30, 2025) DGV press release of January 21, 2026, on golf.de, including +8,909 memberships (+1.3%) and 19- to 40-year-olds as the growth driver
- 49,152 · 48,715 New golfers and exits in 2019 DGV statistics, cited by Prof. Rüdiger Falk in golfmanager 3/2021; the order of magnitude of “around 50,000 in and out” also appears in the undated DGV policy paper on golf.de
- >¾ · 35% Exits in the first four years · in year four DGV analyses, cited in golfmanager 3/2021 (“Onboarding” article), which also cites an analysis of DGV memberships from 2008 to 2013. A second golfmanager analysis presents the figures as a share of exits (“almost 80% of exits in the first four years”); the direction is the same in both readings
- 7–8% Exit rate relative to the previous year’s membership (2012–2016) golfmanager, “Leaving the Golf Club: Causes, Scale, and Influence,” which is also the source of the 2010/2016 survey figures
- 19.3 · 77.8 · 16.3% Facilities with exit analyses · that ask for reasons for leaving · with group training for new golfers empirical study among golf managers in Germany, cited in golfmanager 3/2021 (R. Falk)
Frequently asked questions
Winning and keeping members: quick answers.
How do I find new members for my golf club?+
Where beginners search today: on Google, in AI answers, and through clear beginner offers such as a taster course or the Platzreife (Germany’s golf proficiency certificate) that are easy to book directly. Just as important is a fast, personal reply to every inquiry. And from day one, measure which channel brings members who are still there after four years.
How can a golf club attract younger members?+
According to the DGV (German Golf Association), 19- to 40-year-olds are currently the growth engine of golf in Germany. A club reaches them through digital channels, flexible membership models, and formats that fit a busy life, such as short after-work rounds. The key is to connect them with playing partners in their first year, because new members are the ones most likely to leave a club.
What makes a golf club attractive to beginners?+
A low-barrier start: clear prices on the website, rental clubs, dedicated contact people, and rounds with other beginners. According to the DGV, the German public still often sees clubs as conservative and closed off. A club that shows its club life openly works directly against that image.
How many members do golf clubs in Germany lose each year?+
The DGV puts annual losses at roughly the same level as new entries, around 50,000 people. An analysis in the German trade magazine golfmanager found a constant exit rate of 7 to 8 percent of the previous year’s membership from 2012 to 2016. For 2019, DGV statistics show 49,152 new golfers and 48,715 exits.
For club operators
Winning members is marketing. So is keeping them.
I build the whole chain for golf clubs: visibility with beginners, a booking path that reliably captures inquiries, and retention you can measure. The Golf Marketing Check shows where your club stands today.
The step before: Platzreife, costs, and why so many never make it into a club.