I am writing to you with regards to the year ahead, but before doing so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2021.

2021 will see our highest ever usage as a club which is quite remarkable when you consider the closure at the beginning of the year. This year the club hosted 90,000 rounds of golf across both golf courses, an average of 10,000 rounds per month. By comparison, in 2019 we hosted 75,000 rounds across 12 months an average of 6,250 per month. This gives a great insight into just how much member’s playing habits have changed, in particular as we now have less members as a club than we did in 2019. Of course, this has led to great pressure on the tee sheets, a challenge facing a number of clubs up and down the country and we will continue to listen to feedback and remain fluid as we try to improve the member experience.

We have had a waiting list in operation for the past three years and towards the latter part of this year, the decision was taken to further reduce the amount of playing members. We have not taken any new members over the past few months and we have no plans to change this until at least the beginning of the 2022 season and longer days, at the earliest. We now have over 200 people waiting to join Golf At Goodwood and when appropriate, we will return to our one in, one out policy.

Pre-agreed corporate golf events made for a challenging end to the season as we had to deliver essentially 12 months of events in a short window of time, soon after the restrictions were lifted. We know the impact this has had on the tee sheets and we are very grateful to the membership for being understanding of the difficult situation the club found itself in. As we look to 2022, corporate golf and hotel golf will continue to be reduced, with us having a far more structured approach, giving as much availability to the members as possible.

Despite all of the above, Rob, Simon and their teams delivered arguably the best conditioned courses we have seen at Goodwood and even now, at the end of the year, we are fortunate to be playing on immaculate surfaces given the conditions we face. We would like to thank the Agronomy team for their dedication and forward thinking which has allowed Golf At Goodwood to play so incredibly well this year.

Many will have noticed that we did not run our “Autumn Top Up Bundles” this year. With the membership year changing for everyone throughout Covid, we took the decision to delay, meaning that we will be introducing “Spring Top Up Bundles” in 2022. More information will be shared on this nearer the time.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank you for the continued support of Golf At Goodwood and wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Best Wishes,

Gary Beves,

Golf At Goodwood General Manager