Golf Life Navigator Data: The Real Estate Factor in Membership Decisions

If you've ever wondered why a promising prospect went silent for six months, here's a likely explanation: they were house hunting.

According to Golf Life Navigator's 2025 Mid-Year Buying Trends Report, 80% of membership prospects are simultaneously searching for both a club and a home. That's not a typo. Eight out of ten people in your pipeline right now are juggling two of the biggest financial decisions of their lives at the same time.

And here's what makes this challenging: the average transition timeline is 13.5 months. That's over a year of research, comparing communities, touring properties, crunching numbers, and evaluating lifestyle options—often in an unfamiliar market.

Most clubs aren't equipped to stay engaged over that kind of timeline. A welcome email. A follow-up call. Maybe another touchpoint or two. Then silence.

Meanwhile, your prospect is still actively researching. They're also just looking at neighborhoods, school districts, and real estate agents. Club membership hasn't fallen off their radar. It's competing for attention with a dozen other decisions.

Why This Matters Even If You Don't Sell Real Estate

Here's where many clubs miss an opportunity.

When prospects are evaluating private club communities, they're trying to answer a fundamental question: What kind of community is this, really?

Are you a bundled community where real estate is tied directly to membership? Or do you have members who live outside your gates and commute in for golf, tennis, and dinner? These aren't small distinctions. They shape everything from initiation structures to the social dynamics a prospect can expect.

Yet most clubs don't make this clear on their websites or in their follow-up communications. Prospects are left to figure it out on their own—or worse, they assume your community works like the last one they visited.

You don't need real estate agents on staff to support this part of the journey. You need clarity. What does membership look like for someone buying inside the community versus outside it? What are the trade-offs? What should a prospect know before they make a real estate decision that's intertwined with their club decision?

Clubs that answer these questions proactively become trusted resources. Clubs that don't become one more option in an overwhelming search.

The 13-Month Problem

Let's be honest about what 13.5 months actually looks like for a membership director.

In month one, you send a warm welcome email and schedule a call. By month three, that prospect has moved down your priority list because new inquiries have come in. By month six, you've probably lost track of them entirely—unless you have a system that doesn't depend on memory and manual follow-up.

Most clubs don't.

The tools built into your club management software weren't designed for long-cycle prospect nurturing. They're built for member billing and tee time reservations. So membership directors end up managing prospects through spreadsheets, sticky notes, and good intentions.

That's not a criticism of your team. It's a recognition that a 13-month buying journey requires infrastructure most clubs simply don't have.

Marketing automation platforms like HubSpot exist precisely for this purpose: staying in front of prospects over time without requiring manual effort for every touchpoint. A prospect who downloaded your membership guide in January can receive a steady stream of relevant content—member stories, lifestyle updates, community insights—throughout their decision journey.

When they're finally ready to schedule a tour in October, they don't feel like they're meeting your club for the first time. They feel like they already know you.

What You Can Do Now

If 80% of your prospects are also house hunting, your marketing should acknowledge that reality. Here are five ways to start:

1. Clarify what kind of community you are—on your website and in every conversation. Are you a bundled community where home purchase includes membership? Do you welcome members who live outside your gates? What percentage of your current membership lives on-site versus off? Prospects are trying to answer these questions, and most club websites make them dig for it. Put this information front and center. It's not a detail—it's a deciding factor.
2. Create a "relocating to [your area]" resource page. You don't need to sell real estate to be helpful. Curate information about neighborhoods, school districts, healthcare options, and lifestyle considerations in your region. Link to local resources. Position your club as a guide to the broader community, not just a sales pitch for membership. When prospects are researching where to live, you want your club showing up as a trusted source.
3. Build a follow-up sequence that spans 12+ months. If your prospect nurturing ends after two or three touchpoints, you're abandoning leads right when they need you most. Map out a communication plan that delivers value over the full decision timeline—member stories, community updates, lifestyle content, event invitations. This doesn't require daily effort from your team if you use marketing automation tools like HubSpot to do the heavy lifting.
4. Segment your leads by where they are in the journey. A prospect who just discovered your club needs different information than someone who toured six months ago and is now under contract on a home. Your CRM should track these distinctions so you can send the right message at the right time. One-size-fits-all email blasts don't cut it over a 13-month decision cycle.
5. Ask the real estate question early—and use the answer. When a prospect inquires, find out whether they've already purchased in the area, are actively house hunting, or are still in early research. That single data point tells you how to prioritize follow-up and what content will actually be useful to them. It also signals that you understand their real situation—not just the membership part of it.

The clubs that thrive in the coming years won't be the ones with the most leads. They'll be the ones who understand that club membership and home buying are now a single decision—and build systems to support both.