The Gender Pipeline dimension of your GMLB report examines the female share of your active membership and what it reveals about the club's long-term recruitment base. It is the sixth and final dimension of the GMLB Full Membership Assessment.
Golf clubs have access to a significantly underrepresented pool of potential members in the female population. A club where women represent a small fraction of active members — and an even smaller fraction of the women most likely to join and stay for the long term — is drawing from a narrower pool than the market offers. The Gender Pipeline dimension measures that gap and what it means for the club's future.
Overall female share
Your report shows the proportion of active members who are female, compared to the benchmark across clubs in the GMLB dataset.
Female membership share
2 percentage points above the benchmark average. Female share is in a healthy position relative to comparable clubs.
A 17% female share is slightly above benchmark, but the overall figure is only part of the story. The more significant indicator is how the female membership is distributed across age groups — and in particular, whether there is a meaningful pipeline of women in the prime joining ages who are likely to become long-term members.
The pipeline age gap
The report segments the female membership by age group. The most analytically significant band is 18–55: women in this age range are most likely to join a club and build a decade or more of membership. A club with a strong pipeline in this band has a self-renewing foundation for its female membership. A club where this band is thin is dependent on its existing older female members without a clear pipeline to replace them.
More than one in four members is a woman in the prime pipeline age band.
23 percentage points below benchmark. Only one in twenty-five members is a woman in the pipeline age band.
A 4% share of female members aged 18–55 — against a benchmark of 27% — indicates that this club's female membership is heavily weighted toward older age groups, with very little of the forward pipeline that would sustain it over time. Combined with the age concentration shown in the Demographic Sustainability dimension, this amplifies the long-term recruitment challenge: the club is recruiting from a narrow base on both the age and gender dimensions simultaneously.
Replacement ratio for female members
Your report also shows the female-specific replacement ratio — the number of female joiners per female leaver in the analysis period. A ratio of 1.0× indicates the club is replacing female members at exactly the rate it is losing them. A ratio below 1.0× indicates that the female membership is declining; above 1.0× indicates growth.
A replacement ratio of 1.0× for female members means the female membership is stable in absolute terms — but it is not growing, and it is not replenishing the pipeline gap. At current rates, the thin 18–55 cohort will not replace the existing older female members as they naturally leave over time. The structural position of the female membership — low share, older age profile, no pipeline growth — is one of the clearest forward risks in the report.
The risk rating
The Gender Pipeline risk rating reflects the overall female share relative to benchmark, the pipeline age gap in the 18–55 band, and whether the female replacement ratio indicates the gap is narrowing or holding steady.
A Strong rating indicates a female share at or above benchmark, a meaningful 18–55 pipeline, and a replacement ratio indicating growth.
A Moderate-Elevated or High rating — which applies when the female share is well below benchmark, the 18–55 cohort is thin, and the replacement ratio is at or below 1.0× — indicates that the club is not tapping into a significant pool of potential long-term members. This is both a missed opportunity and a structural vulnerability, given that the clubs growing most sustainably in the GMLB dataset are typically those with a broader and more balanced membership base.
The Gender Pipeline is the sixth and final dimension of the GMLB Full Membership Assessment. Together, the six dimensions provide a complete picture of where your membership stands today and where it is heading.