How do you develop a golf club website that balances tradition with a modern, user-focused experience?

Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club

Website Design, Development

Background

Founded in 1908, Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club is one of the finest and most-loved clubs in North Staffordshire. Offering an 18-hole parkland course set among mature woodlands, societies and golf days, as well as exceptional dining and event experiences, the golf club promises a premier golfing experience, memorable golf days and warm hospitality.

Young child being shown how to correctly hold the golf club by male instructor with baseball cap on, both smiling

The aim

Golf clubs are under increasing pressure to be profitable, and with members wanting membership rates to stay the same, leadership teams need to put all their efforts into winning new members. A website that’s underperforming, where contact submissions are lost, causes a huge problem.

The existing Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club website no longer represented the club in the way it deserved and wasn’t supporting the long-term goal of increasing club members. While the course and facilities continued to impress, the digital experience told a different story.

The whole site was unresponsive. On some pages, the main menu disappeared completely, causing rage clicks and poor user experience. The site was constantly crashing, due to multiple plugins conflicting with each other and no support package provided.

For new visitors, the first impression felt dated and unclear. Important information about memberships, visiting and facilities wasn’t always easy to find and there wasn’t much guidance on what to do next. And for the team at Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club, updating the site was time-consuming, which made it harder to keep content fresh and relevant.

The golf club needed a website that could actively support membership growth, improve the visitor experience and act as a reliable day-to-day tool.The existing website no longer represented the club in the way it deserves. While the course and facilities continued to impress, the digital experience told a different story.

Designing the website

Prospective members, visiting golfers and existing members all have different needs, so the design needed to guide each of them clearly without adding complexity.

We restructured the site to create more intuitive journeys, helping users find what they need quickly and naturally. Membership is now easier to explore, visiting information is more accessible and key actions are clearer at every stage.

Visually, the direction balances modern design with the character of the club. Clean layouts, embedded videos and a refined colour palette work together to create a more engaging and professional first impression. The end results is a golf club website design that better reflects the quality of the course and the overall experience.

Golf green with two players and a golf caddy in the centre, with one getting ready to play

Building the website

Alongside the design, we focused on building a platform that would be reliable, flexible and easy to manage. We had to consider condensing a significant amount of information into a structure that still feels approachable and visually engaging. With a lot of practical content like membership details, course information, club news and events, the build focused on organising the content clearly in the CMS. The user-friendly CMS also gives the team full control over their content. This allows them to update pages, share news and keep the site current without relying on developers.

Rather than relying on heavy animation or trend-driven interactions, the approach focused on clean layouts, thoughtful interaction and subtle visual elements. This website was about building something modern that still felt comfortable for a traditional audience – not something flashy.

Testimonial

"The team delivered everything when they said they would, which made a big difference for us, and the end result feels like a proper step forward for the club. It finally feels like the website matches the standard of the club itself.”

Richard Beech,
Manager, Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club

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