How to Get a New Website Approved by Your Golf Club Committee

Understand what you are actually asking for

A club committee is a group of volunteers, usually experienced, usually cautious, and personally answerable to the membership for spending members' money. Several of them approved the current website. At least one will believe a member could do it for nothing.

That is not obstruction. It is the job. Your proposal has to survive people who are protecting the club's cash, and the way to do that is to make doing nothing look like the expensive option.

Lead with lost revenue, not design

"The website looks dated" is an opinion, and any committee member can hold the opposite one for free. Replace it with numbers the club already has.

Work out three figures before you write anything:

• Visitor rounds you could be missing. If the club takes, say, 15 visitor bookings a week online and the site is hard to use on a phone, a realistic improvement of even 10% is 1.5 rounds a week. Multiply by your green fee and by 40 playable weeks. That is a real number with the club's own data behind it.
• Membership conversion. How many people started a membership enquiry last year and how many joined? If the joining form is a Word document, some of that gap is the form. One extra member a year at your annual fee is often a meaningful share of the project cost. Our guide to increasing golf club membership shows where that journey commonly breaks.
• Society and function enquiries. How many come through the site versus the phone? Clubs are often surprised by how few arrive online, and that is the number that pays for a rebuild fastest.

Now the proposal reads: "this project costs £X and here are three revenue lines it affects", not "our website is ugly".

Answer "what happens if we do nothing"

Every committee asks it, usually last, and an unprepared answer sinks the proposal. Prepare it:

• Visitors keep going to clubs that are easier to find and book.
• The joining process keeps losing people who had decided to join.
• The problem gets more expensive as the gap widens.

Keep it factual. Committees dislike being frightened, and they dislike vagueness even more. If search visibility is part of the problem, use the checks in our guide to why your golf club is not showing up on Google.

Bring one page, not twenty

The single most useful thing you can do is put the whole case on one side of A4. Committee packs are read the night before, quickly, often on a phone.

A one-page structure that works:

• What we are proposing - one sentence.
• Why now - two or three bullets, led by revenue.
• What it costs - total, plus any ongoing monthly cost, stated plainly.
• What we get - five bullets maximum.
• Timeline - with the season marked, so nobody worries about a launch during competition weeks.
• What happens if we do not proceed.
• The ask - approve, approve in principle, or approve a first phase.

Everything else - quotes, concepts and references - goes in an appendix nobody has to read.

Time it to the money, not to your enthusiasm

Many UK clubs set the following season's budget in the autumn, ahead of the AGM and subscription year. A proposal in September or October can become a planned budget line. The same proposal in April may be an unplanned expense competing with in-season priorities.

If you have missed the window, ask for approval in principle now and the spend in the new financial year. Committees find it much easier to agree to something that costs nothing this year.

Handle the three objections you will probably get

"A member can do it for free."

Do not dismiss this. Volunteer-run sites often work fine. The honest counter is about continuity and time: what happens when that member is away, gets bored or resigns, and who is responsible when the booking journey breaks on a Saturday morning? Frame it as risk, not quality.

"We only redid it three years ago."

The relevant question is not age but performance. Bring the numbers: how the club ranks for local searches, how many taps a visitor booking takes on a phone, and how many membership enquiries the site produced last year. Data ends this objection quickly.

"Can we not just do the cheap bits?"

Often yes, and saying so builds enormous credibility. Offer a phased option: fix the booking journey and joining process first, redesign later. A committee that approves a small first phase and sees a result has a clearer reason to approve the second phase.

Get one person on side before the meeting

Proposals pass when someone other than the proposer speaks for them. Find the committee member most likely to care - often whoever handles marketing, membership or finance - and walk them through it a week before. Ask what will get asked. Change the paper accordingly.

A proposal that arrives cold to eight people gets deferred. A proposal one member has already challenged and accepted gets discussed.

Ask for a decision, not a discussion

End the paper with a specific ask and an option list. "We recommend option B" is easier to approve than "what does everyone think?" Give a date by which a decision is needed, tied to something real such as the start of the season or a supplier's quote validity.

If the answer is no, ask what evidence would change it. That turns a rejection into a defined next step, and it is often the fastest route to a yes six months later.

A one-page template you can copy

Proposal: club website redesign

What: Replace the club website with a mobile-first site built around visitor booking and membership enquiries.

Why now: Visitor bookings through the site are flat while green-fee demand locally is not. The joining process requires a downloadable form, which we believe is costing us enquiries. Autumn is when we set next season's budget.

Cost: £X one-off, £Y per month for hosting and support.

What we get: A faster booking journey, membership applications online, better visibility in local searches, club-controlled content and mobile-first design.

Timeline: Three to four weeks, launching before the season starts.

If we do nothing: We continue to lose visitor rounds to clubs that are easier to find and book, and the gap widens.

The ask: Approve £X from the 2027 budget, or approve phase one (£Z) now.

FAQ

How much should a golf club website cost in the UK?

A professionally designed UK golf club website typically costs around £3,500-£5,000, depending on size and whether membership and society enquiries are handled online. Compare the booking journey, membership forms, mobile design, ongoing support and ownership rather than headline price alone.

Who normally approves a golf club website project?

Usually the main committee or board, often on a recommendation from a marketing or house sub-committee. At proprietary clubs it is the owner or general manager, which is a much shorter route.

When is the best time to propose a project to a golf club committee?

Autumn is often best, ahead of the budget being set for the next subscription year. Spring proposals may compete with in-season priorities.

What if the committee says no?

Ask what evidence would change the decision, then get it. A phased first step is usually the way back in.

Should we get three quotes?

Many clubs require it, and it is sensible. Compare what is included rather than headline price: booking journey, membership forms, mobile design, ongoing support and who owns the site afterwards.