Links Golf Club Wants 100,000 Members
Links Golf Club has a unique take on building a golf club.
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Today At A Glance:
LinksDAO has rebranded to Links Golf Club. And the company has high ambitions of building a world-class golf club. They hope to have ten owned and operated golf courses by 2030 — and eventually have 100k members. Today’s newsletter breaks it down.
Read Time: 6 minutes.
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Hey Golfers —
In November of 2021 — Sotheby’s auction listed an original copy of the United States Constitution. A group of people then had an idea — why not try to crowdfund the purchase of the original copy?
In turn — ConstitutionDAO was formed. Over 17,000 people pledged money to ultimately raise $47 million. The group lost the auction to billionaire Kenneth Griffin.
Two paragraphs in — you might be thinking. What does this have to do with golf? Just hang with me.
Even though ConstitutionDAO lost the auction, it inspired Mike Dudas. Mike tweeted that he wanted to purchase a Top 100 golf course via a DAO — think of a DAO as crowdfunding.
I was following the action in late 2021 — there was skepticism. A Top 100 golf course is a bold claim. How many are for sale or would even sell?
The Golf Digest Top 100 list includes courses like Pine Valley, Augusta, Pebble Beach, and Pacific Dunes. Of the Top 100 in America, 15 are public. The rest are private. It seemed like a tall task.
After Mike’s tweet went viral — a group got together in a group chat on Twitter. The idea had some juice. They called it LinksDAO.
Just two weeks later — LinksDAO raised $11 million through two memberships.
Leisure Member
Global Member
Here is where it gets a little complicated — the memberships are in the form of NFTs — think digital asset. To purchase the NFT, a person needed to buy it via Ether, a cryptocurrency. The NFT is traded on the market and fluctuates in price.
The Leisure Membership was $680, and the Global Membership was $2,730 when the memberships were initially released in January 2022.
Looking back, it was remarkable that LinksDAO went from concept to launching memberships in two weeks to raise $11 million. Think of a traditional private golf club announcing its design, architect, and future open date. And then raising $11 million in initiation fees in two weeks. It just doesn’t happen.
After the $11 million raise — LinksDAO quickly formed partnerships with several companies to offer member benefits. Members didn’t have a golf course yet, but they were seeing some value in discounts with golf companies.
In May 2022, LinksDAO announced a seed round investment — Callaway was an investor. Links declined to comment on the amount of money raised in the seed round or the amount Callaway committed as an investment. But it is notable that Callaway invested, and the deal was important enough for CEO Chip Brewer to be involved. Five months after launch — LinksDAO had received investment money from one of the major players in golf. Again — that stuff just doesn’t happen.
And 2023 has been a big year for LinksDAO.
Re-branded to Links Golf Club
Purchased their first golf course
The re-branding was done for a few reasons. But most importantly — Links wants to be a Golf Club. And they have high ambitions.
To be an NFT member — it took 27 steps for the money to go to your checking account to purchase the NFT. As part of the re-brand, Links Golf Club has introduced memberships where you can pay with a credit card. Links Golf Club doesn’t plan to introduce more or dilute the NFT membership. Their focus is on driving memberships via a more traditional method — fiat currency.
And they want to have 100,000 members.
Below are the membership prices.
Starter — $99 per year
Player — $499 per year
Pro — $1,499 per year
The Player and Pro memberships provide access to hundreds of golf courses worldwide.
Player — Access to over 800 golf courses
Pro — Access to over 1,300 golf courses
In March of 2023 — Links Golf Club purchased its first golf course in Scotland. Spey Bey was listed for sale last February for $900,000. There were twelve bids for the property, and two of the bids were nearly identical to Links. But Links Golf Club ultimately won.
While Spey Bey is not a Top 100 golf course — it looks incredible. Twelve holes are featured on the ocean. It is a true links test.
Links Golf Club is working with Clayton, DeVries, and Pont (CDP) to renovate the golf course. They will make it a fully reversible routing and work on some green sites. Renovations are planned to begin this fall.
Pro Members receive an overseas membership to Spey Bey.
Links Golf Club isn’t done purchasing golf courses. They plan on owning and operating ten golf courses by 2030.
They have evaluated over 100 golf courses and done deep due diligence on 15 golf courses in the United States. Links has partnered with Kemper to find its first golf course in the United States.
Links Golf Club is focusing on three areas in the U.S. for its next purchase.
Pacific Northwest
Midwest
Southeast
But they have three options for its first course in the U.S.
Purchase existing golf course with minimal renovations needed
Purchase existing golf course with ample renovations needed
Purchase land, design, and develop a golf course
The last option is time-consuming and can be expensive. Last year, I wrote a piece on Red Feather in Lubbock, Texas. They are spending $11 million to build their world-class golf course. And that doesn’t include the clubhouse or the lodging.
The real estate market in golf is tough right now. There isn’t much on the market, and it is expensive. Links is also quasi-competing for properties with legacy golf club owners and operators.
Here’s my take on Links Golf Club.
In the last decade or so — there has been a shift in how you build and grow businesses. And a lot of it has to do with community. Links has executed incredibly well on building a thriving community. And that is why they have had success thus far.
When golf courses fail — it is usually for several reasons — mismanagement of cash, overspending on equipment, losing money on F&B, etc. But you rarely see a golf course fail when it has built a great community. And that is what this is all about. Building a community of golfers to provide access to hundreds of golf courses worldwide.
And Links Golf Club isn’t this mythical business floating in the air. They have ten full-time employees working in the company. While it may be different than a traditional golf club — that is perfectly okay. Let’s get more people playing the game.
Have yourself a great Monday. With the holiday next Monday — I will be coming to you in two weeks!
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Jared... I think it's great that somebody finally found an exceptable way to allow willing players the opportunity to play more courses they wouldn't normally have access to. Mind you it comes w/cost that probably compares to joining a local club w/active PGA Pro who is willing to help a member play a course w/reciprocal rights. Many are not but if you think of it that was always the best way to get to play a course you always wanted. Now, who knows what the list of Links courses includes & they are likely to increase the list - why wouldn't a course, public or private want to make the Tee available for add'l revenue. Yes, there will likely be those not interested but if you are an avid player this route may just put you in touch w/a full member of that sought after course & voila, you're in. It's great news in terms of people helping people grow the game...
Now, one last thing - any time I see a newsletter start to talk about free vs. paid subscriber I roll my eyes & think, well it was only a matter of time. Good ideas ultimately start to look even better when there is a revenue stream. The problem I have with that sequence of events is that there will always be those who can't afford or just won't pay & that is always a negative. There is never enough quality information available to educate people. That is where the deficit lies, when people don't have access to quality information they just don't become better educated w/out it. What would education be like if every written word was behind a paywall???
I hope you consider it seriously, maybe just look at another pr different business model.....