By Rachel Carter | Sr. Director of Membership | National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA)
Dear NGCOA community,
As your membership director, I spend a lot of time listening — to your questions, your business challenges, your clever ideas, and those moments of “does anyone else deal with this?” that spark some of our best conversations. Looking back on 2025, one thing is unmistakably clear: our NGCOA community showed up for each other this year.
Whether you were troubleshooting software glitches, navigating local regulations, fighting crabgrass, managing chargebacks, or asking how to get dog walkers off your fairways, you came together in exactly the way a trade association is supposed to function — peers helping peers, generously and honestly.
A Strengthened Membership Engine Behind the Scenes
This year was also a milestone in how we, as an association, and as a membership department support you. After two and a half years of rebuilding our membership strategy, 2025 was when everything began to “click.” Our shift to regional account managers is proving to be one of the smartest structural changes we’ve made. You now have a dedicated Director of Membership who understands your regional environment — and we’ve already seen the impact in retention, engagement, and member satisfaction.
Direct outreach to both existing members and prospective owners/operators, continued to be our highest-value tool for association growth this past year. Phone calls, one-on-one check-ins, ambassador introductions, and in-market conversations consistently outperformed every digital tactic we tested.
Our Municipal Operators Community was another shining success — an advisory council, virtual meetups, and the municipal benchmark study created real momentum. If you’re a muni operator and not yet plugged in… trust me, you’ll want to be.
What You Talked About in 2025
Our member discussion boards were busier than ever, and the thousands of comments reveal what operators are wrestling with daily:
- Technology dominated the year — POS challenges, scheduling apps, GPS carts, storm-warning systems, backups for when tech fails, and cybersecurity questions.
- Operational and revenue concerns were front and center — chargebacks, credit card surcharges, cart-fee structures, range-ball strategy, point-of-sale backups, and cost management.
- Labor and workplace issues kept surfacing — GM and superintendent salaries, safety training, gratuities, legacy planning, and family-business dynamics.
- Culture and customer behavior proved as tricky as ever — from homeowners using fairways as sidewalks to winter recreation, drone use, and liability for simulators.
- And of course, agronomy never takes a year off — equipment questions, maintenance strategies, and seasonal frustrations were steady conversation drivers.
The diversity and sincerity of these conversations are what make NGCOA special. You don’t hesitate to ask, and you certainly don’t hesitate to help your fellow members.
What We Learned
Your discussions reinforced what you value most as a member and we will use this insight as we prioritize member services in the next year.
- Members want clarity and connection — not clutter.
- Peer-to-peer support remains our most valuable asset.
- Advocacy continues to be one of NGCOA’s strongest differentiators.
- Technology guidance is becoming a top need, and our association executive leaders are working on ways to support you in the year ahead.
Most importantly, we’ll continue to listen — because everything we build is shaped by what you’re experiencing in real time.
Thank you for leaning into this community, for showing up for each other, and for helping us make NGCOA stronger every single day. I can’t wait to see the conversations you bring forward in 2026. If you’re not yet a member of NGCOA, let’s change that in 2026 so you can also immerse yourself in the countless business-boosting opportunities → ngcoa.org/join.
Warm regards,
Rachel Carter
Senior Director of Membership
National Golf Course Owners Association
