Golf Australia  ×  Sota  ·  Participation Partnership

Building relationships
between rounds.

Turning the game's biggest-ever boom into golfers who keep playing, keep belonging, and keep coming back.
Prepared for Golf Australia  ·  August 2026
Confidential
The 18th, East Course  ·  Royal Melbourne Golf Club

The people behind this.

Advisory board
Jason Eldering
PGA Professional. Chief executive across health and property.
Mark Harrison
CEO, Northern Texas PGA
Texas Golf Hall of Fame Inductee, 2026
Ian Roberts
GM, Singapore Island Country Club
International PGA Professional of the Year, 2025
David Stone
GM & Superintendent, Pymble Golf Club
NSWGCSA Superintendent of the Year, 2025
The team
Tom Mcpherson
CEO, Sota Platforms
Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs
Thomas Fu
COO, Sota Platforms
Australian Young Entrepreneur Award
Cuan Naidoo
Chief Product Officer, Sota Platforms
Three-times published research author, Griffith University
Already proven

Sota Platforms already runs at national scale.

Built and operated by us for over five years, in one of the most heavily regulated promotional categories in the country.
Members
600k+
Repeat participation
~90%
Invested in the platform
$25M+
Sales through the platform
$100M+
And the team that built it
In daily production
20 yrs
enterprise software, live
Clients delivered
35+
government & enterprise
Senior engineers
100%
in-house, no outsourcing
Security validated by
Deloitte + KPMG
independent cyber compliance
CBRE
Queensland Government
Deloitte
KPMG
Knight Frank
Oracle
Hyundai Engineering & Construction
Griffith University
Fully compliant infrastructure with a government-approved RNG, permits in every state, independently verified winners and prize delivery at scale.
Australian Loyalty Association
Winner, 2026 Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards, Best Use of Digital Technology, alongside Woolworths, Myer and Flybuys.
Where the game is today

Golf has never been bigger.
And most of it belongs nowhere.

More Australians play than at any point in history. You built that. The hardest part is already done.
Year on year
+5.2%
Social vs club growth
3.8×
And the game reaches far beyond the people who play
2.8Mreached by the Australian Open, up 48%
1.4Mwatched the final round
1Mwatched the Australian PGA final round
100k+through the gate at Royal Melbourne, four days
Millions already play, and millions more already care. Most of them don’t have a place to call home.
EST. 2M+ FOLLOW 3.5M PLAY 477,220 MEMBERS
Each ring is the population added on top of the one inside it.
Sources · Golf Australia, 2024/25 Golf Participation Report · Golf Australia, Big Swings 2026–2030 · Nine Network and 9Now, December 2025 · Crown Australian Open, Royal Melbourne, December 2025
What's missing

Centralised identity. Centralised scoring.
But engagement is still fragmented.

GOLF ID
Who they are. A ten-digit ID that stays with a golfer for life, wherever they play.
Centralised ✓
Connect
How they play. National handicapping, scores and competitions across 1,900+ golf clubs and venues.
Centralised ✓
Engagement
Why they keep coming back. One-off promotions, club-by-club efforts, campaigns that come and go.
Fragmented
Engagement is what’s left: no shared program, nowhere it lives, no way to measure it.
And in your own words: “While participation numbers are encouraging, converting these new entrants into on-course golfers remains one of the sport’s most pressing opportunities.”
The answer

Think Qantas Frequent Flyer.
For golf.

One national program, run under your banner, that gives every golfer and every golf fan a reason to keep taking part.
Bring everyone in
One place any golfer or fan can join, with or without a GOLF ID. Players link theirs, and the rest get one as they progress.
Every club takes part
Golfers earn at any club, venue or event that participates. Each club keeps its own identity and its own members.
You own it
The members, the data and the brand sit with Golf Australia. We build it, run it and keep it compliant.
Qantas Loyalty is now one of the most valuable parts of the airline. The program became worth more than the thing it was built to support.
Prediction game · closes Sunday
Who wins the
Australian Open?
Free to enter. +2 entries if you pick the winner.
9:41
Golf Australia3 entries
Golf identity
Sam Whitfield
4021 8847 66
Handicap5.6
Since2026
Rounds14
3
Draw entries
1
Win to claim
This week's draw
A dream golf escape
Every round = more entries
A new driver
Instant win · ready to claim
Your status
Two rounds
from Gold.
Silver14 of 16 rounds
EntrySilverGoldPlatinum
Double entries on every round
Members-only draws
Gold: guest passes and event access
Gold unlocks
A dream golf escape
Your rewards
2,480 points.
3 entries earned.
Weekly instant win3 of a kind wins
Three of a kind
A dozen Pro V1s
Drag to scratch
Your golf, this month
4 rounds played.
Royal Pines · 18 holes
Saturday
+3
Instant win
A new driver
Won
Brought a mate
Jack joined
+2
Open prediction game
Round three
+1
Picked for you
Because you’ve
played 14 rounds.
Visit Victoria
Golf destination
Play the Bellarine
Two nights, two courses, 500 bonus points.
TaylorMade
15% off a new set
14 rounds this year, and your clubs are six seasons old.
Double points at Yarra Bend
Public course, 20 minutes away, tee times free Saturday.
Discover Eastwood Golf Club
Quiet midweek and taking new members. You’ve never played it.
Every offer is picked from how you actually play.
Where you've played
23 courses.
4 states.
Royal Melbourne2026
Kingston Heath2026
Victoria2025
New South Wales2025
Cape Wickham2025
+
The Sandbelt5 / 8
Australia's Top 10012 / 100
Every state and territory4 / 8
This is interactive
How people get in

Somewhere to belong, long before they join a club.

Your own goal is to connect people as they follow, learn and play. Three different ways in, and today none of them lead anywhere.
AT EVERY STAGE · FOLLOW · LEARN · PLAY CONNECTFOSTERNURTURE Prospective golfer In golf’s orbit, not on the platform 3.5M PLAY TODAY, TARGET NUMBER 1M eGolfer Spend ~$0–$250 a year eGolfer+ Spend ~$1,000 a year Club member Spend ~$3,000 a year
Free to join
eGolfer
Prediction games, beginner challenges, a first round. A bucket of balls and a green fee or two.
The club earnsGreen fees and range time
The social membership
eGolfer+
Now buying equipment, taking lessons and paying for range, simulator and course time.
The club earnsEquipment, lessons and simulator hours
The destination
Club member
A GOLF ID, a home club and a subscription. Club fees alone run $650 regional to $3,500+ metro.
The club earnsMember fees, comps and food and beverage
Conservative by design · Australians spend $10.3B a year on golf across 3.5 million players, about $2,900 each (AGIC / SGS Economics, Community Benefits of Golf in Australia, 2023) · club members spend four to five times a non-member (R&A UK, US NGF).
What it looks like for one golferExample

In January, Sarah didn't play golf.
By December, she'd joined a club.

Not a golfer
January
Doesn't play, never has. Watches the back nine with mates because it happens to be on.
Follow
February
Joins the prediction game during the tournament. No clubs needed. Wins a voucher, and becomes an eGolfer.
Learn
April
A come-and-try challenge gets her to a driving range for the first time in her life.
Play
July
First nine holes at twilight. She gets hooked. Scratches a virtual card, wins a sleeve of balls, books the next round.
Play
September
Back most fortnights. A women's social round and her first nine-hole competition, both rewarded.
Play
November
Playing most weeks. Keeps a streak going, and books the simulator when it rains.
Belong
December
Playing 18 holes most weekends at a public facility. Hooked on golf for 12 months and primed to join a local club.
NOT A GOLFER eGolfer FROM FEBRUARY · ONE IDENTITY eGolfer+ Club member JAN FEB DEC
Twelve months, one identity, and a brand new club member who had never played. That's not moving golfers around. That's making one.
Bigger than the players

From armchair fan to full member.
And worth more to every partner.

Following has never been something anyone could join. Now it is, and every person it captures is exactly the known audience GOLF360 was built to monetise.
The fan
Watches every major, never played.
Prediction games, player stories, rewards for following.
The spectator
Buys tickets to the Open.
Ticket-linked rewards, event-day wins, money-can’t-buy access.
The starter
Wants to get into it.
Beginner challenges, first-round rewards, a friendly way in.
The social player
Plays now and then.
Every round earns, every win pulls the next visit forward.
The full member
Plays every week.
Recognition, streaks and member moments that make the club worth more.
Friends & family
Comes along for the day.
Bring-a-mate rewards and junior pathways, a reason to join in.
Formula 1
826Mfans, up 90 million in one year
1 in 4became fans through a product made for non-fans
41%women, fastest growth aged 16 to 24
$3.65Brevenue, up from $2.0B in 2019
Your partners stop
being seen. They start
being wanted.
Every draw and instant win becomes partner inventory you own, running all year rather than for one weekend. People get emotionally invested in a prize long before they win it, and they notice whose name is on it.
What you care about

Your three pillars in Big Swings 2026–2030,
and exactly how Sota helps.

Your pillar
How Sota helps
Connect
1 million more people, learning, playing and following
Everyone who takes part becomes an eGolfer, linked to their GOLF ID the moment they have one. Your connect number moves with every round, every entry and every prediction.
Belong
100% feel they belong, particularly women and families
Weekly reasons to play, win and be recognised, tailored to women, families and juniors. Belonging you can finally measure in return visits.
Evolve
All 1,800+ facilities, modernised
Every golf facility and club plugs into a ready-made rewards program. No build for them, modern overnight, consistent across the country.
The destination is already written down. This is the engine that gets you there.
Where this goes next

Golf has been here before.

Membership is back to where it was in 1998. What happened after 1998 is the reason this matters now.
350k 400k 450k 500k TWENTY YEARS OF DECLINE · MORE THAN 100,000 MEMBERS LOST IF NOTHING CHANGES 1998 · ~500,000 MEMBERS 2018 · 383,613 TODAY · 477,220 1998 2018 2025 2030
Clubs didn't lose those members because people stopped liking golf. They lost them when the money got tight. The key is having a pipeline deep enough to backfill when golf turns down again.
The numbers, measured against Big Swings
Clubs / courses on the platform
👆
New eGolfers on the platform / yr
Four years to 2030, of the 3.5M who play
Go on to a paid membership (incl. eGolfer+)
Full club membership or the paid eGolfer+ tier
What the platform adds per golfer / yr
On top of what they already spend
  • Golf already adds ~200,000 participants a year, uncounted.
  • Paid members blended at $1,200/yr: 90% on eGolfer+ at ~$1,000, 10% in a club at ~$3,000.
  • The other 900,000 count only the $150 the platform adds, not the ~$2,900 a year they already spend.
Connect · people connected by 2030
Belong · taking part every month
the ones who stay and come back
Evolve · facilities live
of 1,800+, running a modern program
Total value to the game, per year
new memberswider golf economy
The commercial model

What it earns you, every year.

Carried from the previous slide — clubs on the platform — people connected by 2030 — on a paid membership (incl. eGolfer+ subscription)
What it generates for Golf Australia, every year
eGolfer+ subscriptions— paid members from the previous slide, at $20 a month—
Sponsorship opportunities— golfers, each worth $10 to partners a year—
Club platform fee— clubs on the platform × $5,000 a year—
Verified transaction fees5% of — a year
— of 1,800 facilities live, so — of the 1.48M sit at a live club → — of them upload receipts (40%) → $600 each a year—
Affiliation on full club members— of those paid members go on to a full club membership, at $32.27 each a year—
Total new revenue, a year—
The investment

What it costs to run, and what you keep.

Every year, on the numbers from the previous slide
Total new revenueEverything the platform generates for Golf Australia—
Licence$30,000 a month · hosting, compliance, the draw engine and the team that runs it—
Usage fee10% of the new revenue only—
Net to Golf Australia, a year—
Integration · one-off, and outside the numbers above
Option one
$200k–$350k
Paid up front
Scoped to the first wave. The usage fee stays at 10% from day one.
Option two · we share the risk
$100k then 15%
Instead of paying it up front
A smaller upfront commitment. Usage runs at 15% until the integration cost is met out of revenue that actually arrives, then drops to 10% for good. We mitigate the risk.
How the partnership works

You govern it. We run it. Partners fund it.

Four parties, and none of them is doing another’s job. Partners fund the value, we build and operate, you hold the identity and the authority, and the golfers and clubs are who it all exists for.
Who contributes what
Partners
Benefits, experiences,
rewards and reach
Sota
Platform, creative,
digital and operations
Golf Australia
Identity, endorsement,
channels and scorecard
Golfers + clubs
Participation, feedback,
progression and value
How it gets delivered
Phase one · 6 to 12 weeks
Integrate
and roll out
We connect to GOLF ID and Connect, design the mechanics with your team, and prove the model on a controlled first wave.
→
Phase two
Hit the 1M target
by 2030
Open to every affiliated club and venue, with partners onboard, and measured against Big Swings.
→
Phase three
Change
the game
Full handover. We run the engine, you own the game.
You stay the governing body. We stay the engine room. Commercial structure follows the pilot scope, delivery support and value created.
Technical integration

Proven at scale.

Motor Culture Australia
Running on the Sota platform
Motor Culture Australia
$100M+generated on platform 600,000members ~90%repeat customers
Winner, 2026 Asia Pacific Loyalty Award · Featured on 9 News and the Today Show
Volunteer Rescue Association
Emergency services
Rescue App™
An incident platform used every day for live rescue operations by the Volunteer Rescue Association.
Queensland Government
Government
State Library of QLD
A digital archives platform in daily use at the State Library of Queensland, delivered to government security and procurement standards.
CBREKnight FrankHyundai Engineering & Construction
Enterprise
Property & construction
High-scale platforms in day-to-day commercial use at some of Australia's largest property and construction groups.
Griffith UniversityLG
Applied R&D
Griffith + LG
Industry Collaborator of the Year and a world-first interactive 10K video wall, an LG international case study.
Cuan, our Chief Product Officer, is a three-times published research author with Griffith University.
“
The service from the team is impeccable, and so are the response times. They are always ready to help.
Eric DavidMarketing Manager QLD, CBRE
CBRE
“
Exceptional service. The team consistently went above and beyond and ensured all deliverables were on time.
Dan McKillopDevelopment Manager, Trenert
Trenert
“
Their innovative products have provided us with the latest in quality software and hardware.
John FitzgeraldOperations Manager, Billbergia
Billbergia
Everyone on this project already builds and supports production systems for the clients above.
Hamilton Island Golf Club  ·  Bernard O’Keefe, CC BY 3.0
The ask

Integrate it. Roll it out.
Own the audience.

eGOLFERS 477k MEMBERS EST. 2M+ FOLLOW 3.5M PLAY
Growing the game. Connecting more golfers, engaging more people, every year.
Millions already play and follow.
Let's give them somewhere to belong.
Thomas Fu
SOTA Platforms
thomasfu@sotaplatforms.com
Tom Mcpherson
SOTA Platforms
tommcpherson@sotaplatforms.com
Golf AustraliaGolf AustraliaParticipation Partnership
Sota PlatformsSota Platforms
📱
Golf Australia × Sota

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Private and confidential
Prepared for Golf Australia