Global Edition

UK golfers are ‘Secret Spenders‘

12.10am 16th July 2004 - Corporate

More than half of UK golfers keep how much they spend on golf a secret from their partners, according to an on-line poll conducted by Golfbidder, the official PGA Golf Exchange.
To coincide with the launch of the new PGA/Golfbidder Exchange Programme – a scheme specifically designed to make new golf gear more affordable by allowing golfers to offset the value of their old clubs against the cost of new – Golfbidder commissioned the research to find just how much strain the pursuit of golfers‘ passion puts on domestic purse-strings.
Golfbidder polled its 20,000 registered subscribers and found that as few as 12% of respondents came clean to their other half about every penny they spent on golf. A further 32% admitted that, despite their best efforts, their partners managed to keep fairly accurate tabs on what they were spending.
One in five (22%) of the respondents were proud to declare a successful degree of deception, ticking the box for ‘They think they know what I spend but it is not the full picture‘.
The most popular response, however, was from respondents who said they would ‘be in trouble‘ if their partners knew what they spent on the game.
Commenting on the results, Liam Robb, managing director of Golfbidder, said, “Golf is an expensive game and manufacturers are constantly developing new equipment to tempt us to spend more than we should. Golfbidder is determined to make the game more affordable for most golfers, by putting back into circulation the clubs that are discarded when golfers upgrade to the latest models.
“By our conservative calculations, the PGA/Golfbidder exchange programme could be worth £40 million to golfers across the UK, just by turning gear they‘ve bought in the past five years into spending power on new.‘
“For clubs we sell on Golfbidder, we pay an average of £200 for a set of irons, £100 for a driver and £30 for a putter. A single set of irons can fetch as much as £400 if they‘ve been kept well. People are often sitting on hundreds of pounds worth of equipment, without realising there’s a market for their old gear.‘
The PGA/Golfbidder Exchange Programme could not be more convenient. Golfers need only make a trip to their local pro to take advantage. There are already 1,000 PGA pro shops across the country signed up, with a further 500 expected to join within three months.
Golfbidder www.golfbidder.co.uk or call 020 8401 6900.

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