While the VAT refunds are proving a wonderful but once only source of additional income for many golf clubs, imagine what it could be like if your club received a five figure amount every year, writes Charles de Haan
Corrstown GC near Dublin has an EPoS based lottery system that’s going to generate around €35,000 in its first year of electronic (instead of manual) operation. And even though it’s only two euros to enter a line of numbers each week, back in March one lucky member waltzed off with €12,500.
Club lotteries usually involve a number of members dedicating time and effort to managing everything from the banking to the draw itself, often in combination with the club’s administrative team, and for years Corrstown GC was no exception to this way of doing things.
Thanks to the MHS Group who designed and installed their EPoS system, the club can now sit back and let it work out all the winning lines of random numbers, leaving its organisers to draw out the winners on a Sunday evening, and the office to e-mail every member and tell them all about it on Monday morning.
Another major challenge of these club lotteries is attracting large numbers of members to get involved. By comparison Corrstown GC now has 40% of its 740-strong membership playing its weekly lottery. While many pop in weekly to select their numbers and pay for a ticket at the bar, by automating it a member doesn’t have to be physically there to enter the lottery; their chosen numbers are entered every week.
As Corrstown’s manager Michele Jeanes explains, potentially it’s the club’s bottom line that will really feel the benefit: “We’re comfortably heading towards a figure of €35,000 for the club this year, largely thanks to the way our lottery’s now been set up on our MHS Group EPoS system.”
“It’s eliminated the need for a large Lotto committee and apart from doing the results e-mail on Monday morning with a standard reminder about joining, there’s nothing else we need to do. The additional income has meant we’ve redecorated the bar and dining room, installed electric gates and improved the flower beds around the clubhouse. That in turn shows everyone what we can do for them for as little as just €2 a week per member.
“All I have to do is then make sure that everyone knows the results on the Monday morning. In turn, more and more members ‘get’ the idea of the lottery, and so it achieves a kind of virtuous circle.”
Michele summarises: “As a direct result of MHS Group’s input, our new EPoS-based lottery’s not only saving a lot of people valuable time, it’s generating additional income for the club and giving our members a major extra service.”
“Given that it’s just a matter of installing the MHS Group’s EPoS and membership system, and how easy it is to run, I think every golf club should be doing this.”
The full case study is available from http://mhsystems.co.uk/systems/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/MHS-Group-Corrstown-GC-lottery-feature-August-2017-FINAL.pdf
Corrstown Golf Club http://www.corrstowngolfclub.com/