Golf keeps adding players, but not all of them are worth the same. A lifetime-value model shows how a golfer's economic worth compounds, or evaporates, depending on what happens after the first round. Golf's participation numbers have risen for six straight years. The National Golf

Golf capital creates value through five channels: real estate, membership, hospitality and tourism, licensing, and technology. Which channel captures the return depends largely on who controls the underlying land. Golf courses are expensive to build, and what capital can do with the land underneath it varies by place: buy it

How golf's most recognizable holes turn attention into hospitality, media, merchandise, and pricing power, and where the value actually gets captured. An iconic golf hole does something for a course that ordinary architecture can't. TPC Sawgrass's 17th, a nerve-wracking shot to a green

What four deals taught us and the broader shift to golf as an institutional asset class. Welcome to Perfect Putt, a newsletter covering the business and economics of the golf industry. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe to join 12,000+ readers who follow how capital flows through golf.

Caddie programs are expanding beyond the private clubs that sustained them for generations. The operating model behind them has not kept pace. A club can recruit, train, schedule, supervise, and price a caddie's work without technically employing or paying the person doing it. That arrangement has survived largely

Japan’s golf-membership market shows what has to be true for access to behave like a financial asset, what happens when that structure breaks, and which of those conditions exist in the U.S. private-club market today. In February 1990, a membership at Koganei Country Club outside Tokyo

Marquee architects have long played a role in how golf communities are designed, positioned and sold. How much economic value their names create, and where that value ultimately shows up, is harder to measure. Welcome to Perfect Putt, a newsletter covering the business and economics of the golf industry. If

Club fitting is priced and organized like a specialty retail service. Its underlying economics look more like a distribution channel: the point where customer acquisition, equipment purchasing, retailer strategy, and manufacturer distribution converge in a single appointment. Equipment manufacturers once competed primarily by building better clubs. Increasingly, they compete by

Golf outings convert uncertain demand into guaranteed revenue months before a tee shot is hit. Most courses still price them as if they were selling volume. Welcome to Perfect Putt, a newsletter covering the business and economics of the golf industry. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe to join