Membership-only Golf Course Cash Flow Forecast

Description
A golf course that drives revenue off memberships rather than course fees has very specific assumptions and logic that you won't know unless you've talked to actual operators. I have and this template is based off an actual model that was used to get one of these endeavors started.


The first thing to note is that these memberships are not exactly like subscriptions. The way to forecast how many members you have over time is with a simple data entry section that lets the user define a maximum member limit and the percentage of that limit achieved over time. 


Here are the main drivers of this model and what you should know. Not every membership golf course works exactly the same, but these are good places to start when trying to figure out what the course will cost and how much revenue you will get from your membership base:


1. There is a limit to memberships and these are bought and sold by members over time.
2. Usually there is a large one-time fee to get in and once you are in, the only way out is to sell your membership (but you have to sell it to someone else and the golf course usually takes a cut of this fee (around 50% is normal)
 2a. Example: You buy a membership slot for $60,000 and then in 4 years you sell your membership to Person A. Person A pays you $60,000 for the spot, but the golf course takes $30,000 of that.
3. Each memberhsip also requires the member to pay a monthly fee4. Additional revenue sources include food and beverage as well as special events
5. There can also be an on-going course improvement fee charged to members
6. The amount each member is charged as a one-time fee and the monthly fee / maintenance fee will be some function of the total startup costs / construction / on-going maintenance requirements. This is what the model will help you determine.


The Excel template has inputs for all the above factors and has an option for two membership types.


The model also has inputs for the capital and land expenditures at launch and per hole as well as a separate capex schedule for greater flexibility in the startup cost inputs. There is also a section to account for general operating expenses that can be adjusted yearly.


Final outputs include a 5 year monthly and annual Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement as well as a DCF Analysis for the project as a whole and any investors / operators if this is a joint venture.


There are plenty of visualizations as well as an Annual Executive Summary and monthly and annual pro forma detail tabs that display how all the assumptions flow together in order to reach down to EBITDA and cash flow.


If you want to show the effects of an exit, that valuation is driven off a trailing 12-month EBITDA multiple (from the defined exit month) that the user can define.

This template is also included in two bundles:
- All Models Bundle: https://www.eloquens.com/tool/P8Y4TX4v/finance/financial-forecasting-models/financial-models-120-useful-and-usable-logic
- Industry-Specific Financial Models Bundle: https://www.eloquens.com/tool/lrNGt2jL/strategy/business-plans/business-sector-bundle-35-bottom-up-financial-models