GreatLIFE Golf Merger Creates a New Top Player in Golf
GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness merged with Brown Golf on September 1, 2022 to create one of the largest golf holding and management entities in the country.
Post-merger, GreatLIFE Golf’s portfolio will include fifty-three golf courses and five gyms located in nine states under the GreatLIFE Golf brand. In addition, GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness of South Dakota, which is a lifestyle brand, will continue to operate under the GreatLIFE umbrella with seven golf facilities, ten affiliate golf courses, twenty gyms and one bowling center.
Hole 3: Canyon Farms Golf Club, Lenexa Kansas
John Brown, co-founder and CEO of Brown Golf, will assume the role of GreatLIFE Golf CEO
John Brown, co-founder and CEO of Brown Golf, will assume the role of GreatLIFE Golf CEO, with Jason Harshbarger, co-owner and CFO of Brown Golf, assuming the role of GreatLIFE Golf CFO. Collectively, the GreatLIFE brand will represent seventy golf courses, twenty-five gyms and one bowling center.
Early in discussions, the two organizations discovered a shared culture of innovation.
”Both our organizations have thrived the last several years,” said John Brown, future CEO of GreatLIFE Golf. “We did not accept status quo. We’ve both pushed ourselves to invent better solutions – solutions that are better for our customers, and our bottom line.”
Jason Harshbarger, co-owner and CFO of Brown Golf, will assume the role of GreatLIFE Golf CFO
Challenging the norm will remain a key focus for GreatLIFE Golf as they pursue further growth.
“GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness and Brown Golf is a partnership for the future,” said Rick Farrant, Founder of GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness. “Brown Golf has the infrastructure for success and GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness has created a great brand and portfolio that we look forward to carrying forward via this merger under the GreatLIFE name. Now, we want to expand our portfolio and help more courses realize their potential.”
Golf courses have been closing faster than opening. According to a study from the National Golf Foundation, over 450 courses have closed in the past three years. GreatLIFE Golf is on a mission to turn the tide.
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“As golf owners and operators, we knew the problems facing golf courses, so we set out to solve them,” said Brown. “By building our own proprietary booking engine and technology solution GolfBack (www.GolfBackSolutions.com), we have given course owners and operators back their brand, their direct traffic, their profitability and their rounds of golf. The GreatLIFE Golf company will be fully supported by GolfBack’s technology delivering data collection, automated marketing, dynamic pricing and much more.”
When asked what is next for the organization, Brown said the company will have two equally important goals.
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“First, growing the company’s management platform and portfolio with our current teams and partnerships. Delivering integrity, transparency, and innovation, while understanding the impact our client courses have on their communities. Second, acquiring new golf courses. We want to find the right properties to join our network of club’s and we are excited this merger has escalated our ability to do so.”
Hole 18: Canyon Farms Golf Club, Lenexa Kansas
GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness was founded in 1984 in Topeka, Kansas and includes branches in Utah, Missouri, Kansas, and South Dakota.
Brown Golf was founded in 2011 in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Brown owns and manages courses in Vermont, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri.
