The Annual Golf Club Software Report 2026 · Part 1 of 4
What clubs run
What 2,154 UK club websites show about booking, membership, marketing and search, nation by nation, and a 15-question check of your own.
Where clubs are now
What managers say
In a 2025 survey of 134 club managers in the UK and Ireland, run by 5 industry bodies, two thirds said they were looking at other software providers. Membership software scored worst, accounting and reporting best, and putting in a new system took most of a year. The survey was developed with Golf Genius, a supplier, so read it as a strong signal rather than a census.
So we made our own census. A club’s website is the one part of its software anyone can see, and it shows a lot: how visitors book, how members log in, how someone joins, and what tracks them while they do.
Websites
What club websites run on
Almost a third of club websites run on WordPress, and nearly as many are built on the platform of a club system, the same company that runs the tee sheet or the membership. Counting WordPress underneath every group, 935 of 2,154 (43%) run on it.
1,198 of 2,154 (56%) credit a web builder or agency in the footer, which tells you how many clubs rely on someone outside the club to change their own website.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 31%30%32%32%40% | 6664601444121 |
| A club system’s own platform | 29%31%23%17%38% | 6164701042220 |
| A golf-specialist web builder | 14%13%20%18%0% | 30919888230 |
| Wix or Squarespace | 7%7%6%14%6% | 14810027183 |
| Another general platform | 6%6%5%4%9% | 129982155 |
| No platform visible | 13%13%14%14%8% | 28620460184 |
- 43%43%39%54%53%935 of 2,154 664 of 1,530 175 of 444 68 of 127 28 of 53 run on WordPress, counting it underneath every group
- 56%56%57%48%43%1,198 of 2,154 861 of 1,530 253 of 444 61 of 127 23 of 53 credit a web builder or agency in the footer
What to take from it
A website on a club system’s platform is convenient: booking and member pages sit in one place. It also ties the website to that contract, so a change of system can mean a new website too. Ask before you sign what happens to the website, its pages and its address if you leave.
Booking
Booking and member systems
Of the 2,154 club websites we read, 1,514 (70%) take visitor tee times online. 3 systems take most of those bookings: BRS, intelligentgolf and Club Systems, 1,240 of the 1,514 (82%) between them.
Members and visitors often book on different systems. Of the 881 websites where both can be named, 148 (17%) run them apart, most often visitors on BRS with members on Club Systems.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| BRS | 38%33%48%60%73% | 5783681255332 |
| intelligentgolf | 28%34%11%11%11% | 42338028105 |
| Club Systems (ClubV1) | 16%16%19%10%2% | 2391785191 |
| Another booking system | 13%13%13%16%14% | 19914435146 |
| Golfmanager | 1%2%0%0%0% | 2121000 |
| Lightspeed (Chronogolf) | 1%1%1%0%0% | 1311200 |
| A national union’s booking page | 1%0%5%0%0% | 1301300 |
| GolfNow | 1%1%0%2%0% | 107120 |
Golf Genius takes 7 and TeeItUp 7; on 4 we could not see the provider.
- 74% UK407 of 549 of clubs whose website is built by intelligentgolf or Club Systems, and that take tee times online, take them through that same company’s booking system
- 74%76%73%64%75%1,602 of 2,154 1,159 of 1,530 322 of 444 81 of 127 40 of 53 show a member login link
- 70% UK1,115 of 1,602 of those member logins show which system they belong to
- 4%4%5%6%13%92 of 2,154 58 of 1,530 20 of 444 7 of 127 7 of 53 put a live booking widget on the homepage itself
- 2%2%4%0%2%50 of 2,154 31 of 1,530 18 of 444 0 of 127 1 of 53 link a club app in an app store
What to take from it
Two systems for members and visitors is common and can work well. The question is whether they share information, so a visitor who books three times is recognised, and a new member’s details reach every system without retyping.
Where a club published it clearly enough to record, on 266 of 2,154 websites, the lowest adult weekday visitor green fee had a median of £35.
Membership
The membership journey
We found a membership page or section on 1,892 of the 2,154 club websites. What happens next varies a great deal. Of those 1,892 pages, 398 (21%) let someone apply online; many more ask for a form to be downloaded and posted, or send people to a general contact page or an email address.
1,319 of 1,892 (70%) show membership prices on the page or in a linked PDF, which is good news: people who can see the price before they ask are further along when they do.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry form only | 22%26%12%14%14% | 41434845156 |
| Online application form | 21%20%23%25%20% | 39827290279 |
| Downloadable application form | 19%18%22%20%25% | 367248862211 |
| Email address or phone number only | 18%20%16%14%16% | 35026662157 |
| A link to the general contact page | 18%15%26%26%25% | 346209982811 |
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | 80%80%78%82%86% | 1,5161,0902998938 |
| Intermediate or under-30 | 42%43%40%45%34% | 7995821534915 |
| Five-day or weekday | 42%47%30%29%48% | 7986321133221 |
| Social or non-playing | 34%33%33%42%36% | 6354471264616 |
| Flexible or points-based | 28%31%18%20%9% | 52142768224 |
| Family | 25%25%26%20%20% | 477345101229 |
| Distance or country | 24%20%30%37%36% | 4452741154016 |
- 39%43%27%35%20%730 of 1,892 581 of 1,356 102 of 383 38 of 109 9 of 44 of membership pages carry an enquiry form
- 33%36%26%20%18%625 of 1,892 494 of 1,356 101 of 383 22 of 109 8 of 44 of membership pages mention a joining fee
- 16%17%16%6%9%300 of 1,892 230 of 1,356 60 of 383 6 of 109 4 of 44 mention a waiting list
- 6%7%3%10%0%114 of 1,892 92 of 1,356 11 of 383 11 of 109 0 of 44 offer a trial or taster membership
- 48%50%38%44%too few586 of 1,218 504 of 1,008 44 of 115 32 of 72 6 of 23 of society pages carry an enquiry form
- 36%38%29%25%too few428 of 1,205 356 of 948 48 of 164 18 of 73 6 of 20 of events pages carry an enquiry form
What to take from it
Every step between “I’m interested” and a conversation loses people. An enquiry form on the membership page, a clear price, and a named person who replies the same day do more than any campaign. Whatever system you choose, check that an enquiry lands somewhere it will be seen and followed up.
Marketing technology
Marketing, consent and privacy
Almost half the club websites we read show no analytics or tag manager at all: 1,060 of 2,154 (49%). Unless something loads later that we couldn’t see, those clubs can’t tell how many people visit, where they come from or which pages lead to an enquiry.
Where tracking is present, consent often lags behind it. Of the 943 websites with tracking, 578 (61%) show no cookie consent tool. Of the 1,190 forms we could inspect, only 170 (14%) link to a privacy notice.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| No analytics or tag manager at all | 49%49%49%56%57% | 1,0607432167130 |
| Google Analytics 4 or Tag Manager | 39%43%32%32%23% | 8506561414112 |
| A cookie consent tool | 34%38%23%18%21% | 7245871032311 |
| The Meta pixel | 12%13%11%9%2% | 26320347121 |
| An email marketing tool | 4%4%3%3%4% | 86651542 |
| A CRM tag | 3%4%2%0%2% | 6354801 |
| A chat widget | 2%2%2%2%0% | 4030820 |
Tags loaded later by Tag Manager cannot be seen, so the tool figures are floors.
- 26%30%13%32%too few322 of 1,233 267 of 902 33 of 251 19 of 59 3 of 21 of clubs with an enquiry form show a marketing consent tickbox
- 7%8%5%6%4%150 of 2,154 118 of 1,530 23 of 444 7 of 127 2 of 53 show a newsletter sign-up form
- 770007 of 2,154 7 of 1,530 0 of 444 0 of 127 0 of 53 had an AI-led chat widget; 5 of those are Capture Concierge, which Albatross makes
- 1%1%2%1%0%27 of 2,154 18 of 1,530 8 of 444 1 of 127 0 of 53 show a WhatsApp link or button
What to take from it
You don’t need much: analytics you can read, a consent tool that works, a privacy notice linked from every form, and an unticked box for marketing email. Together they let a club see what works and follow up with the people who asked to hear from it.
Search
Search and AI readiness
Search engines and AI assistants read a website much as we did. Nearly every club website is served securely and works on a phone. Fewer give machines the structured information that helps them answer a golfer’s question accurately: 932 of 2,154 (43%) carry schema.org markup, and 99 of 2,154 (5%) use the GolfCourse type.
294 of 2,154 (14%) block at least one AI crawler in robots.txt, often through a default setting nobody chose. That can keep a club out of the answers people now ask assistants for.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| Served over HTTPS | 97%97%99%99%96% | 2,1001,48244112651 |
| Set up for phones (viewport tag) | 99%99%98%99%100% | 2,1261,51043712653 |
| Publish a sitemap | 71%74%59%78%68% | 1,5361,1392639836 |
| Open Graph share tags | 50%51%45%58%51% | 1,0747741997427 |
| schema.org markup | 43%44%37%55%49% | 9326711657026 |
| Block at least one AI crawler | 14%17%6%3%9% | 2942572845 |
| The GolfCourse schema type | 5%5%3%6%11% | 99711576 |
What to take from it
Ask whoever runs your website two questions: does robots.txt block AI assistants, and do our pages carry structured data for the course, opening times and prices? Both are small changes, and both decide whether an assistant can answer a golfer’s question with your club’s own facts.
Freshness
Site age and social
Most clubs link their social channels: 1,789 of 2,154 (83%) link at least one. Facebook leads by a distance, and 1,140 of 2,154 (53%) link both Facebook and Instagram.
News is harder to keep up. 699 of 2,154 (32%) show a dated news or blog item, and on 476 of those 699 (68%) the newest is more than a year old. Only 223 of 2,154 (10%) show an item from the last 12 months.
| Answer | Share | Club websites |
|---|---|---|
| 80%81%72%83%92% | 1,7131,23931910649 | |
| 55%60%38%59%51% | 1,1859161677527 | |
| X (Twitter) | 50%52%41%56%45% | 1,0737981807124 |
| A link to YouTube | 14%14%15%9%19% | 303215661210 |
| 9%10%7%5%8% | 1911483364 | |
| TikTok | 4%4%2%6%2% | 84651171 |
- 17%15%25%13%8%365 of 2,154 231 of 1,530 113 of 444 17 of 127 4 of 53 show no social link at all
- 5%5%5%4%4%113 of 2,154 84 of 1,530 22 of 444 5 of 127 2 of 53 show a footer copyright year of 2023 or earlier. Many footers print the current year automatically, so this is a floor
- 18%22%6%15%6%380 of 2,154 332 of 1,530 26 of 444 19 of 127 3 of 53 already had a Christmas or festive page live in late October
- 19%22%12%13%19%410 of 2,154 331 of 1,530 53 of 444 16 of 127 10 of 53 link a gift voucher or online shop
What to take from it
An old news item on the homepage tells a prospective member the club is quiet, even when it isn’t. If nobody has time to post, take the news section off the homepage, or show the next three events instead. Fresh, dated pages also help search engines and AI assistants trust what they read.
Nation by nation
The census, side by side
England has 1,530 of the club websites we read, Scotland 444, Wales 127 and Northern Ireland 53. The same questions for each.
| Club websites that | UK | England | Scotland | Wales | N. Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take visitor tee times online | 70%1,514 of 2,154 | 73% | 59% | 69% | 83% |
| Of those, book through BRS, intelligentgolf or Club Systems | 82%1,240 of 1,514 | 83% | 78% | 82% | 86% |
| Show a member login link | 74%1,602 of 2,154 | 76% | 73% | 64% | 75% |
| Membership page offers an online application | 21%398 of 1,892 | 20% | 23% | 25% | 20% |
| Membership page carries an enquiry form | 39%730 of 1,892 | 43% | 27% | 35% | 20% |
| Show membership prices | 70%1,319 of 1,892 | 68% | 73% | 79% | 66% |
| Google Analytics 4 or Tag Manager | 39%850 of 2,154 | 43% | 32% | 32% | 23% |
| No analytics or tag manager at all | 49%1,060 of 2,154 | 49% | 49% | 56% | 57% |
| A cookie consent tool | 34%724 of 2,154 | 38% | 23% | 18% | 21% |
| Of sites with tracking, no consent tool seen | 61%578 of 943 | 59% | 66% | 79% | too few |
| A CRM tag | 3%63 of 2,154 | 4% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
| schema.org markup | 43%932 of 2,154 | 44% | 37% | 55% | 49% |
| Block at least one AI crawler | 14%294 of 2,154 | 17% | 6% | 3% | 9% |
| Link at least one social channel | 83%1,789 of 2,154 | 85% | 75% | 87% | 92% |
| A dated news item from the last 12 months | 10%223 of 2,154 | 11% | 9% | 13% | 2% |
Each share is of the club websites in that nation, or of the base the row names. A nation with fewer than 30 club websites in a base reads “too few”. Tools loaded later by Tag Manager cannot be seen, so the technology rows are floors.
Self-check
How does your club compare?
15 questions about your own website, each beside what the UK club websites in the census show. A typical UK club website scores about 6. “Not sure” is a fair answer, and a useful one to take to whoever runs your website.
More free reports
Also from Albatross.
Want a second pair of eyes?
A Club Growth Review looks at your website, enquiries and systems with you. It is a good place to start.