Four years ago we kicked-off GenYgolf with a FB post ... no one joined up.
The goal was simple: Can we get more people playing golf?
The concept was scribbled on a post-it note. It read as follows:
See if we can administer handicaps
Organise a few events at courses we'd love to play
Try and negotiate 4 course discounts
Get 50 members in the first year
Give golfers some flexibility and choice
Create a lively and less 'old school' golf experience
Most of all, we wanted to create a golf community that was relaxed, where we didn't feel out of place or embarrassed. A club that encouraged mateship linked by the game of golf.
So off we went, spritely and excited!
Our first event was solid, which was a pleasant surprise considering we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Thirty players attended the Dunes, everyone got a free hat ... no one joined up.
We were now "golf event specialists" and pumped for our second event. We went hard and even spent money on advertising. It took us 100 hours to organise the event. This was going to be HUGE ... the official launch of GenYgolf ... seven golfers rocked up, six of them were our mates.
Again no one joined up and we had just put on Australia’s (the world’s?!) smallest publicly advertised golf event Shattered.
We brainstormed... "What if we got a partner course on board?" The first phone call was to an industry stalwart and his response was "in all my years in the game, this is by far the stupidest idea I've ever heard". He said he’d "eat his hat if we were still around in three months time, it was a resounding no and we should quit now!" Brutal!
It was probably time to pull the pin, but for some reason we couldn't do it. We kept plugging away, hosting stupidly small events. We kept posting on social media, we kept calling clubs.
Slowly a few members started to join. Some members even offered to help us out. To this day they are still helping out, they are the lifeblood of the club.
Thousands of hours planning, performing admin tasks, discussing ideas, testing ideas, making phone calls, answering inquiries, organising events, responding to feedback, submitting rounds, setting up partnerships, calculating scores, creating a website, posting on social media... all while managing full-time jobs, relationships, families and everything else life threw our way.
It was tough. On many occasions it nearly broke us. At times we struggled to see the point of it all.
Someone asked us the other day: "Why'd you guys keep going? The answer was simple: "Passion." This was our passion project, we were doing something we truly loved for members that we genuinely cared for.
When you love and believe in something, it stops feeling like work after a while.
Our vision was simple and hasn't changed since the day we launched. It's to grow the game of golf and to provide our members with amazing benefits.
We wanted to take this opportunity to reflect and thank our members, partners, sponsors, advocates and the golf industry in general.
A few highlights during the journey:
The most premium partners and free rounds of any social golf club, by a mile!
Over 100 events a year with 80+ attendees at most events.
Reaching 1.4 million unique visitors (14 million impressions) on social media since 2014.
10,000+ rounds submitted since we launched.
2000+ members since we launched (& growing rapidly!).
Referred over 500 members to our partner golf clubs (traditional memberships) and have generated over $3,000,000 of new revenue for Australia's golf industry.
The privilege to serve Australia's greatest members and work with the most passionate and dedicated team in golf.
If this story speaks to you get in touch.
Everyone is welcome!
We’re proud of the past and we’re pumped for the future.
Cheers
Ali Terai
Club President and Founder