Virgin Golf by Ernie Els × Virgin Active

Chapter one

The member.

Padel proved it: give members a game and the courts fill at R400 an hour. Golf is the bigger game, with the older, wealthier member, and it has nowhere to go in winter or after dark.

The Point already has a simulator, and members use it. This is the rest of the chain, on one platform, with one name on the door.

623,000 members walk past the bay.On every visit. It sells itself.
139,000 handicapped golfers in South Africa.Affluent, loyal, idle from May to August. Most are your members already.
A game the whole family plays.Four in a bay, an hour, R100 each. Nine holes at Pebble Beach.
A reason not to cancel.A golf add-on on the bill is a member who stays.

The offer

We bring the bays. You bring the members.

A ten-year exclusive concession. Get Lucky Golf buys, installs and runs the bays. RMB finances them. Virgin Active provides the room and the members, and takes 20% of everything the bays earn.

Virgin Active

Puts in

Two bays (60 m²) in 70 clubs, one bay (30 m²) in 60 smaller clubs, inside planned refurbishments. Booking in the Virgin Active app. Marketing to members. Ten-year exclusive.

Gets out

R37 million a year at maturity. No capital, no operating risk. A golf add-on on the member bill. Ernie Els on the door. First call on the UK, Italy, Australia and Asia.

Get Lucky Golf

Puts in

The bays, the equity, Golfzon, the Ernie Els brand, coaching, leagues, the insured shot, and a golf host in every Collection club. We run it.

Gets out

An operating business of 200 bays, and the reference case for the rest of the Virgin Active group.

RMB

Puts in

Asset finance for the equipment, drawn in three phases, secured over the bays and the concession.

Gets out

A financed order the bays repay from bookings. Virgin Active never carries the debt.

Two terms are yours to negotiate.

We open at 20% of bay revenue, with Virgin Active building the shell inside its refurbishments. Both posts move. A bigger share, or us building the shell, still works for us and for RMB. We would rather fit the deal than hold a number.

20%

Virgin Active's share

Of all bay revenue. Movable.

Shell

Built by Virgin Active

Walls, floor, power. We fit out from the wall in. Movable.

The numbers

What a zone earns the club it sits in.

We plan on five booked hours a day at R360 an hour in a metro club. That is padel pricing, and half the hours Golfzon's own venues run. A Collection bay does six hours at R520.

On top: a R299 a month golf add-on, leagues, corporate evenings, coaching, and the insured shot.

A Collection or flagship club

Two Signature bays

Floor: about 60 m²
Hours a day, each bay: 6.0
Bay revenue a year: R2.8m

R540K

a year to Virgin Active

A metro club

Two Play bays

Floor: about 60 m²
Hours a day, each bay: 5.0
Bay revenue a year: R1.8m

R345K

a year to Virgin Active

A smaller club

One bay

Floor: about 30 m²
Hours a day: 4.5 to 5.0
Bay revenue a year: R0.6m to R0.9m

R120K+

a year to Virgin Active

The chain

R37 million a year, for space you are refurbishing anyway.

Three phases, 2027 to 2029. Fully ramped by 2031. Virgin Active's share is paid monthly from the first booking.

Quiet

R27m

3.5 hours a bay a day

The plan

R37m

5.1 hours a bay a day

Busy

R46m

6.3 hours a bay a day

Virgin Active's income in 2031 at three levels of use. Every level services RMB.

Year	Bays live	Clubs	Bay revenue	To Virgin Active
2027 phase one, from mid-year	40	20	R15m	R2.9m
2028 phase two	140	70	R67m	R13.0m
2029 phase three	200	130	R140m	R27.0m
2030	200	130	R181m	R35.2m
2031 fully ramped	200	130	R191m	R37.2m

Ex VAT. Bay revenue is hire, add-ons, leagues and the insured shot. A bay reaches full use in its third year. Full model under NDA.

The zone

Two bays in a club. One in the smaller clubs.

Golfzon: the world's largest simulator platform and the official simulator of the U.S. Open. One platform across the chain, so Sandton plays Umhlanga on the same course on the same night.

Phase 1 · 2027

40bays

20 Collection and flagship clubs, two bays each. Johannesburg first.

Phase 2 · 2028

100bays

50 metro clubs, two bays each.

Phase 3 · 2029

60bays

60 smaller clubs, one bay each. Botswana and Namibia included.

Booked like padel

In the Virgin Active app, by the hour. Members pay the member rate. Non-members pay full rate and meet the club.

A golf add‑on on the bill

R299 a month: an hour included, member rates, leagues. Billed and shared by Virgin Active.

Leagues and coaching

Chain-wide leagues. Leadbetter coaching in the practice bays. A pro in every Collection club.

The insured shot

Get Lucky's product, indoors: R50 for a swing at R25,000, insured by Santam.

What we need from Virgin Active

A room in the refurb plan60 m² for two bays, 30 m² for one, 3.2 m ceiling. Walls, floor, power.
A Johannesburg flagship firstTwo Signature bays as the reference zone, before the PGA Show in January.
Booking and billingBays in your app. The add-on on the member account.
Heads of terms this quarterShare, shell, term, exclusivity. Then RMB draws phase one.

Chapter two

The group.

One brand, eight countries. The same zone goes from Cape Town to London, Milan, Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok. Ernie has won in every one of those markets.

South Africa proves the numbers. Each territory is Virgin Active's own decision.

Territory	Clubs	Bays	When
Southern Africa	136	200	2027–29
United Kingdom	32	~65	2029–30
Italy	33	~65	2029–30
Australia	11	~25	2030–31
Singapore and Thailand	14	~30	2030–31
The group	~230	~385	2027–31

Virgin Active's published club counts, March 2026. Two bays a club assumed outside South Africa.

Who we are

Get Lucky Golf Club.

South Africa's insured hole-in-one challenge: a swing at a par-3 for up to R1,000,000, live at 30 courses, underwritten and sponsored by Santam. Ernie Els is our founding partner. Virgin Golf is the concept we are proposing: your brand, our bays.

Partner courses

10K

Paid entries

R9M

Santam sponsorship

Majors on the door

Ernie Els

Four majors, two U.S. OpensFormer world number one. Hall of Fame. 70-plus wins.
A name in every Virgin Active marketTwo Opens in Britain, three Heineken Classics in Australia, courses across Asia.
South Africa's golferEvery member already knows the name on the door.

The people you would deal with

Operators, who have done it before.

Johannes le RouxFounder & MD

Built The Duchess with AB InBev and RMB. Leads Get Lucky Golf.

Willie RossChief Financial Officer

Partner at Bellair Road, R5 billion under management. Harvard MBA. Owns the numbers and the RMB facility.

Andrew DavenportFounder & Marketing

Fifteen years in beverage and entertainment brands. Runs partnerships and brand.

Prizes underwritten by Santam. Equipment financed with RMB. Bays by Golfzon, in 13,000 venues worldwide.

Timeline

Proposal to first bay in nine months.

Book the meeting

Q4 2026Virgin Active, Cape TownThis proposal. Heads of terms.
Oct 2026Golfzon HQ, VirginiaPricing and reference designs.
Dec 2026RMB phase oneFacility drawn. Order placed.
Jan 2027PGA Show, OrlandoThe Virgin Active reference zone on the Golfzon stand.
Mid 2027First flagship, JohannesburgTwo bays open. Then 19 more flagship clubs.
2028–29The chain160 more bays, 110 clubs. Then the group.

200 bays. 130 clubs. Ernie on the door. Let's meet in Cape Town.

An hour with the Virgin Active leadership this quarter. The founders and Ernie will bring the reference design, the Golfzon pricing and the full model.

Start the conversation +27 60 961 5091

Johannes le Roux · johannes@getluckygolfclub.com · Cape Town