Dibden Golf Centre Annual Report
1st April 2023 – 31st March
2024
Contents
2. Contents
3. Who are Mytime Active?
4. What are we aiming to achieve?
5. Financial income
6. KPIs
7. What have we done?
8. Looking forward
Who are Mytime Active?
We are a social enterprise on a mission to improve wellbeing within our staff, our members, and our surrounding community. We want people to get more out of life by socializing, being active and eating healthier to not only improve their physical health but their mental wellbeing.
As an independent charity we reinvest our profit back into achieving our goals. Here at Dibden that is to create a golf centre that can be a hub for the local community, not just for golfers but anyone regardless of age or ability, to offer a wide range of facilities from the driving range to the clubhouse to encourage users of all backgrounds.
Mytime Active currently operate a 30 year contract with the New Forest District Council for the management of Dibden Golf Centre. Over the previous years a strong working relationship has been built between the two parties, Mytime Active is committed to continue this working relationship and achieving our goals.
What are we aiming to achieve?
1. Increase golf participation by 10% to 600 by March ’25 – short term goal
2. Increase junior golf participation by 10% to 20 members March ’25 – short term goal
3. Increase employee engagement from 33 to 50 by March’25 – short term goal
4. Improve the wellbeing of our communities by making our personal wellbeing factor (PWF) 5% greater than the local community
5. Deliver a sustainable EBITDA at 25%
Financial Income
Although the effects of the Covid – 19 pandemic are
slowly disappearing the landscape of the business as a whole is
still feeling the effects of the changes.
Membership
Membership income has seen an increase to a more pre-covid level, the introduction of a 21-30 membership has seen an increased participation from a younger demographic.
Green Fees & Societies
Green fees & society income is down compared to the last financial year. This is due to several factors. Firstly, due to a very poor winter weather wise, we unfortunately had to close the course for a high number of days, and this meant we couldn’t accommodate any societies or casual green fee payers over the winter period. This also affected our ability to get the course ready for the season as the greenkeepers were unable to get machinery out onto much of the course to carry out essential work, reducing the number of green fee visitors.
The increased membership also means there is less tee time space available during peak times, this will also have a negative impact on the green fees and societies.
F&B
Food and Beverage income has increased from last year and very close to pre-covid levels. The introduction of Sky Sports into the clubhouse has seen an increase in usage and the younger demographic of members attracted has also helped the increase of income. Due to only having two full-time chefs from the Covid constraints our kitchen hours are limited so this is an area we look to change to increase revenue and increase the number of events we host.
Driving Range
Driving range income is up and we fully expect this to continue after the pro shop refurbishment and new ball machine, new balls and the introduction of some new range mats which has increased customer experience.
Overall, there is a positive trend across the site, although there is room for improvement and Mytime Active will continue to strive for improvement.
Please see below for key expenditure areas:
Staffing
Mytime Active has always been very proud of the staff retention at Dibden which remains at 98%. We believe that staff are a huge part of the friendly and welcoming environment we are trying to create. The staffing costs have increased this year which is due to longer opening hours (we have returned to normal following shorter hours during the pandemic) and the pro shop re-opening and becoming separate to the clubhouse has meant more staff are required day to day, but this has improved customer experience dramatically, and this remains in budget.
Repair & Maintenance (R&M)
These costs have increased from last year as we have refurbished the pro shop, which included a new range ball dispenser, an extensive service and repair of all greenkeeping equipment following a very tough winter period has also increased these costs. New kitchen equipment such as a new griddle and maintenance to the walk in fridge are essential to keep F&B income.
Energy
Energy costs have decreased slightly this year but that is purely down to the fact the site has been closed due to poor weather conditions a number of days this year, although the clubhouse and pro shop is open as much as possible to offer F&B and driving range, when the golf course is closed the hours are reduced to save these energy costs and staffing costs, Energy costs are still high and Mytime Active and looking for ways to save in this area, such as replacing lights with LED as and they need replacing.
Please see below for total income and expenditure:
A profitable year overall but we are now in a prime position to capitalise on the increase membership and usage.
KPIs – Roundage
The table below shows the roundage for 22/23 season
The table below shows roundage for 23/24 season
The increase in membership this year has seen a bigger usage in the summer months, but the rapid drop off from August to November is a cause for concern. This winter we have just had was an extreme case, but the future growth of Dibden Golf Centre heavily relies on our ability to sustain wet weather. Mytime will continue to assess and implement course plans with the overall view to make the course more playable and durable during wetter weather.
KPIs Membership
A huge goal for Mytime is to increase the membership at Dibden Golf Centre, although numbers are almost fully recovered from the pandemic the total still hasn’t reached its previous peak of 565 with currently 510 members.
The site is targeting 600 members by March ‘25, to achieve this target we monitor monthly targets on how many new memberships received and how many calls/meetings have been taken during each month.
As the same with the roundage above an issue we have faced is a number of members who cancel monthly payments when it gets to the end of summer or as the weather starts to turn, as shown in the table below.
Setting monthly targets allows us to monitor the busiest months for new members and to track all renewals and cancellations. Our follow up emails and surveys have found the main reason for cancellations and members not renewing there membership is down to course condition.
Thanks to our staff and business values of “show passion, own it and one team” and our centralised marketing, we haven’t had an issue with attracting members. Our challenge at Dibden is retaining these members for long periods and keeping them renewing their membership year after year. Together with an improved customer experience teamed with our five-year plan going forward we feel we can achieve this.
What have we done?
Pro shop refurbishment and re-opening, including a partnership with Aces an indoor golf studio – This will improve customer service and enjoyment, many positive comments about the shop opening and offers us a potential added income with more retail opportunities. The indoor golf studio partnership with Aces adds another service to the site and is a key factor when attracting new and junior golfers.
New range ball machine installation – again this improves customer enjoyment and makes the whole service quicker and easier to use. This will also open the opportunity to open the range later to increase revenue.
New kitchen grill – following our asset management plan the kitchen grill was needed to maintain F&B business and the new kitchen layout makes kitchen work much more efficient.
Windows replaced in the function room – Blown windows in the function room have been replaced this will improve customer enjoyment as it will retain heat better in the colder months and stop moisture within the function room.
Redecoration of bar and function room – Events are a big part of the revenue for the clubhouse and redecoration is part of a bigger plan to host more events throughout the year.
Bunker renovations continue (golf course) – bunker renovations continue from last year; four more bunkers are identified as worse and either removed or renovated.
All greenkeeping machinery serviced (golf course) – aligned with our asset management plan all the greenkeeping machinery has had an in-depth service from our greenkeepers to identify which are worth repairing and which machines are higher priority for replacement.
Drainage pipes found and cleared (golf course) – following a tough winter the greenkeeping staff have found existing drainage and cleared as much as possible to help clear the water, this project will be ongoing into this winter.
Purchase of a new greens mower and bunker bike – The bunker bike will help maintain the bunkers and prepare them daily whilst saving greenkeepers valuable time, the new greens mower will help maintain the quality of the greens and having 27 holes on site will help the greenkeeping time cut more often.
Looking forward
The sites long term goals remain the same, which is to be financially stable and generate an EBITDA of 25%, to ensure users are satisfied with the service and to become an integral part of the local community to help with the areas wellbeing. These are the overall benchmarks we aim to achieve in five years’ time.
To ensure our long-term goals are met we have identified a number of short term goals to achieve this:
· Membership growth and retention – aiming for 600 members and 75% of these members to return for 3 or more years
· Service utilization – to see an increased number of users from tee times to events
· Food & Beverage performance – increasing customer satisfaction from casual clubhouse users to societies and events
· Junior golf development – see an increase in junior golfer users across all services
· Investment schedule – identify key areas to invest in to achieve our goals
Increased customer service and ease of use and navigation of the site and services will always be a goal for Mytime, through market research of our members, users and the local community we will identify how we can achieve this and all of our short term goals.