Golf Simulator Profits - Buying Time

When investing in a golf simulator, it is important to consider the market it is aimed at. Obviously, you would consider golfers to be the primary customer, but that is not necessarily the case.
If your simulator has been installed in a golf club, and you are offering players the opportunity to book hourly sessions to play 9 holes for example, you may find that the simulator does not attract a great deal of use in the summer months as golfers would rather be on the course. Similarly, if your golf simulator has been installed in fitness facility, you may find that users prefer shorter bookings to coincide with other health and fitness equipment on offer, and that your customers are not primarily golfers.
Pricing structures should be carefully considered against the demographic of customers. The pricing structure should also be regularly monitored to achieve the highest throughput possible. As an example, Cowlens Golf have put together a sample of charging packages to demonstrate this.

Example 1: Golf Club
30 minutes play from 7am-10am £15-£18
30 minutes play from 6pm - 9pm £15-£18
1 hour pre booked slots 10am-6pm £20-£25
30 mins Professional Coaching Monday to Friday £30-£50

Example 2: Fitness Centre
30 minutes play from 7am-10pm £15-£18
1 hour pre booked play from 7am-10pm £20-£25
3 half hour Professional Coaching sessions £150

Example 3: Sports Bar / Indoor Golf Facility
10 minutes play (Nearest the Pin/Longest Drive) from 11am-11pm £6

20 minutes play (Nearest the Pin/Longest Drive) from 11am-11pm £9

30 minutes play (Nearest the Pin/Longest Drive) from 11am-11pm £12

1 hour pre booked slots off peak £20

1 hour pre booked slots peak £25

2 hours pre booked groups of 4-6 players £20 per player

Example 4: Bowling Alley / Arcade

10 minutes turn up and play (Nearest the Pin/Longest Drive) from 10am-10pm £6

30 minutes pre-booked from 9am-11am £15

30 minutes pre-booked from 6pm-10pm £15

These pricing structures are simply examples that show various pricing structures that can be designed to match the type of custom expected at various points of the day and maximise the use and profits that can be gained from the simulator. Actual pricing structures can only be properly tuned once demand for the simulator has been monitored over time.

Can you Profit from a Golf Simulator?

Let's be honest. Companies all over the world demonstrate the great opportunities and profit gains that can be made from golf simulators. Are the figures realistic? Some say yes, some say no. But the hard facts are purely in defining the difference between the two opposing ends of the scale.
Let's start with the failed ventures and discuss how they possibly could have failed.
To begin with, the golf simulator projects that have failed will be mainly down to three factors. First of all, the investment has been to high to achieve the anticipated return on investment. Secondly, the investment has most probably been incorporated into a loan that attracts interest, and thirdly, the investor has not researched market potential.
It all sounds so simple, but in fact it is all so true. Golf simulators are a niche market. Success is not a free ticket. Investors need to understand that the simulators do not guarantee a constant throughput of trade.
Cowlens Golf has undertaken several months of study to examine these pitfalls to try to establish the difference between a winning market and a failing one. The differences are stark, but obvious. Let's start with investment...

Investing in a golf simulator is not cheap. Nearly all golf simulators require a significant outlay, and at the same time, they also require maintenance to ensure that they perform correctly. A large investment requires an equally fast return. Therefore, approaching the simulator market this way requires a huge investment on advertising and cost benefit campaigns to encourage further business. An alternative approach is to minimalise investment and lower your risk through profit share. Examine a full investment risk and potential return against low risk investment and decide what is right for you.

Secondly, lets look at loans. Consider your loan. It nearly is impossible to offset loan interest against hire time and gain profit. Your profit margins will be minimal if not insignificant. You will therefore need to spend serious time establishing a realistic price point per hour and identifying guaranteed usage to cover costs. Loan investments will generally be successful if you can establish a facility operating three or more machines with 3-5 hours on each system per day. It really is entirely your choice. If anyone would like to understand potential ROI, please email Rachel at info@cowlens.co.uk

Finally, what about research? A profitable business model does not rely solely on the simulator. Create an environment that suits and pleases the customer to encourages a stable throughput of custom. A typical example of throughput failure can be seen in British public houses. Licencing laws in public houses has changed to 24 hours after Landlords and Pub-Co companies pushed for it. The result? Landlords and area managers failed to utilise the opportunity. Now, customers are more staggered, pubs are more empty, and trade is going down. The point here is that a fluid flow of custom is important, not the hours of operation. A successful facility manager will understand how to anticipate when demand is high and when it is low. There is little point in being open 24-7 unless facility use is guaranteed. Buy free knowledge from local golf clubs, leisure centres and health clubs. Understand how the local demographic works, take time to consider where your advantages lie and apply them to your business model.

I will talk about all three of these aspects in greater detail in future blogs. Please feel free to comment on this post. If you have any questions, please raise them on this blog, or send us a message on our contact form at www.cowlens.co.uk

Is Change on the Horizon for Golf Simulation?

In  the last few years, we have seen golf simulator technology changing in leaps and bounds. Camera technology is now becoming the norm and less accurate infra red technology is soon to be redundant. Computer power has also improved over recent years, but for some reason, whilst many mainstream gaming companies are wasting no time in unleashing the latest impressive graphics on new releases, it doesn't seem to be the case for golf simulators. When playing on a golf simulator, you cannot help but think that graphical improvements have been left in the dark, maybe for a little too long. Cowlens Golf is keeping a very close eye on this, and we are looking at some incredible graphical developments that will bring amazing realism to the golf simulator market. Much that it is guaranteed that such developments will feed into the market place, we still believe that measurement accuracy remains paramount. The marriage between accuracy and realism is just around the corner. Keep an eye on our blog for updates!