U.S. Golf Industry Snapshot

Golf demand in the U.S. remains strong, with on-course participation at multi-year highs and total engagement boosted by simulators, indoor centers, and entertainment venues. National supply has stabilized near sixteen thousand courses across roughly fourteen thousand facilities, with about three-quarters of locations open to the public. That balance supports diverse operating models—from daily-fee and municipal courses to destination resorts and private clubs—with revenue streams built around memberships, daily play, carts, instruction, outings, and F&B. For a new or repositioned course, a clear plan that shows how rounds, pricing, and amenities work together is a core part of underwriting and partner conversations.

Your business plan should highlight realistic utilization of the tee sheet, membership mix, event strategy, and F&B capture rate so lenders can see how you will protect margins through seasonal swings and weather-driven volatility.

Closest industry classification: U.S. NAICS 713910, Golf Courses and Country Clubs, as defined in federal economic data resources such as the U.S. NAICS directory.

Get an SBA-style golf course business plan template you can edit today and send to lenders tomorrow.

What’s Inside Your Golf Course Business Plan Template

Instead of guessing what to include, you’ll follow a clear, lender-style structure that walks through your concept, market, operations, team, and numbers in a logical order.

1. Executive Summary

Open with a sharp overview of the golf course concept, location, and target players. Summarize your business model, funding requirement, and high-level financial expectations so decision-makers can grasp the opportunity in one page. The template prompts you to spell out the project stage, key milestones, and why now is the right time for this course in this market.

2. Products, Services & Amenities

Detail your revenue mix across memberships, daily-fee play, carts, range and practice facilities, instruction, outings and tournaments, pro shop sales, and food & beverage. You’ll describe the course style and difficulty, clubhouse amenities, practice areas, and any simulators or year-round offerings. The language is set up so lenders can clearly see how each amenity ties back to pricing, demand, and profitability.

3. Market & Competition

Explain your local and regional demand drivers, including population trends, income levels, tourism lift, and existing golf supply in your radius. The template guides you through a competitive scan of nearby courses, outlining strengths, gaps, and pricing lanes. You’ll position your golf course business plan template to show how your tee sheet, memberships, and amenities fit into what golfers and event planners are already buying.

4. Operations & Maintenance

Walk lenders through how the course will actually run day-to-day. Cover agronomy and maintenance standards, mowing and cultural practices, water and irrigation strategy, equipment fleet, agronomic staffing, and clubhouse/front-of-house operations. You’ll also map tee sheet management, pace-of-play goals, cart maintenance, and safety considerations so reviewers can see that the plan is grounded in real-world golf operations.

5. Marketing & Demand Generation

Outline how you’ll attract members, fill tee times, and book profitable outings. The template covers branding, website and tee-sheet integrations, local SEO, email and SMS campaigns, social media, hotel and resort tie-ins, and corporate or charity tournaments. It also prompts you to define introductory offers and launch campaigns so lenders can see the path from opening day to a stable base of repeat play.

6. Management Team & Staffing

Introduce ownership, the general manager, superintendent, head golf professional, and key department leads. You’ll map out a phased org chart that matches staffing to seasonality and expected rounds, including maintenance crews, pro shop staff, F&B teams, and admin support. This section helps you show that you have the right people and structure to protect the course condition, guest experience, and financial targets.

7. Financial Forecast & Funding

Tie everything together with a 3-year model that links rounds, membership tiers, carts, events, and F&B capture to revenue, operating costs, and cash flow. The template includes startup budgets, capital expenditures, and working-capital needs along with breakeven analysis and debt-service coverage. Wouldn’t it be easier to defend your numbers with a tested structure instead of starting from a blank spreadsheet?

Who This Plan Is For

This golf course business plan template is ideal for developers launching a new public or municipal course, private clubs and member-owned projects seeking capital improvements, resort operators adding golf to hospitality assets, and existing facilities that need a formal, lender-ready plan for refinancing, renovations, or ownership transitions.

Why This Template Works

Lenders and investors fund clarity, not guesswork. This golf course business plan template mirrors the structure underwriters expect, with realistic assumptions for utilization, labor, agronomy costs, capital equipment, and F&B margins. It saves you weeks of trial-and-error, compresses thousands of dollars of consulting into an affordable download, and helps you present a professional roadmap that makes it easier for decision-makers to say “yes.”

Frequently Asked Questions

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Helpful Reads

• Stop Wasting Time: Get the Business Plan That Actually Gets You Funded
• Mastering the Art of Business Planning: Latest Industry Insights

Ready to Open or Reposition Your Golf Course?

Every month you wait, competitors lock in the best locations, members, and outing relationships. This template compresses expert structure and lender expectations into a format you can customize fast.

Start with a data-driven, funding-ready golf course business plan template — download, edit, and share with lenders this week.

Last updated: 2025 by BPlanMaker.