All issues
The Archive
Briefings on the business, money and trends behind premium pursuits. Every issue follows the same structure: the trend report, the numbers, the opportunity, quick hits, and the lighter side.
16 briefings
Saturday 29 August 2026Commercial TrendsTwo Private Clubs, No Sport in Sight, and Completely Opposite Business ModelsSoho House just agreed to a $2.7 billion take-private deal. 5 Hertford Street, harder to get into than almost anywhere in London, charges £1,800 a year. Same product, opposite businesses.4 min readRead Friday 28 August 2026Performance & GearGolf's Two Biggest Equipment Shifts Are Both About the Same Thing: Removing DoubtGoing into the 2026 season, every male player inside the world's top 10 uses a mallet putter. At the other end of the bag, the mini driver has gone from nostalgia item to tour staple in two seasons…4 min readRead Tuesday 25 August 2026Commercial TrendsThe Tell Was in the Car Park. No One Ever Built the Grandstands.Most major golf tournaments need weeks of visible construction. At The Cardinal at Saint John's Resort in Michigan, none of that happened. The empty car park turned out to be the most honest signal…4 min readRead Friday 21 August 2026Performance & GearIs the £300 Padel Racket Worth It? Almost Never.Padel is officially Britain's fastest-growing racket sport, and every UK retailer selling rackets has converged on the same warning for new players: a £250 racket will not make you a better player…4 min readRead Wednesday 19 August 2026Performance & GearYour Marathon PB Might Not Be Yours. It's the Shoe's.Since Kipchoge's 1:59:40, world records have fallen at a rate the sport had not seen in decades, and almost every athlete breaking them has been wearing a version of the same technology. Half a…4 min readRead Monday 17 August 2026Commercial TrendsPrivate Equity Just Bet Almost $1 Billion On Hyrox. It's Already Trying to Exit CrossFit.Two functional fitness formats built on nearly identical raw material are living through opposite decades. One is in exclusive talks with LVMH's private equity arm at close to a billion euros. The…4 min readRead Friday 14 August 2026Commercial TrendsYour Company Isn't Paying For Golf. It's Paying For You.A UK bank manager once tried to claim his golf club subscription as a business expense and lost, even though he didn't enjoy playing. That single tribunal case shaped how every UK company structures…4 min readRead Wednesday 12 August 2026Performance & GearGolf Just Rewrote Its Own Physics, and Nobody Agrees If That's GoodFrom January 2028, the golf ball every professional plays will be tested under stricter conditions and will fly measurably shorter. The fight over whether that saves the sport or ruins it has split…4 min readRead Monday 10 August 2026Commercial TrendsThe $6.8 Trillion Economy Nobody's Investing In CorrectlyThe global wellness economy hit $6.8 trillion in 2024, nearly four times the size of the entire pharmaceutical industry. The useful question isn't the headline number, it's where inside it the growth…3 min readRead Sunday 9 August 2026Commercial TrendsThe School That Wins on Saturday Wins on Open Day TooA rugby scholarship isn't really an act of generosity toward a talented 13-year-old. It's a school buying its own reputation ten years in advance, and the fee discount is simply what that costs.4 min readRead Sunday 9 August 2026Commercial TrendsHow a Modern Golf Club Actually Makes MoneyMost members never see the P&L. At a healthy private club, dues alone make up 50 to 60% of total revenue, and everything else exists mostly to justify charging those dues in the first place. The…3 min readRead Saturday 8 August 2026Places & EscapesThe Alpine Off-Season BetChamonix now generates as much as 40% of its lift revenue between May and October, in a business that used to shut its lifts the day the snow melted and wait five months for the next season to start.3 min readRead Tuesday 4 August 2026Commercial Trends8,000 New Padel Courts In One YearThere are now more than 58,000 padel courts worldwide, up from around 50,000 a year ago. Golf course supply, by comparison, has barely moved since the 1990s. Padel just built more new places to play…2 min readRead Saturday 1 August 2026Performance & GearPeak Equipment SaturationUnprecedented ball speed. AI-optimised face architecture. Zero-torque stroke stability. With the 2026 season winding down, the launch-monitor data has settled, and it is very clear what actually…3 min readRead Friday 31 July 2026Places & EscapesThe Short-Loop DividendThe best returns in leisure real estate are no longer on the 18th green. They sit in floodlit short loops, covered racquet courts, and the hospitality pavilions built around them.3 min readRead Monday 27 July 2026Commercial TrendsThe Great Club Roll-UpPrivate equity's $1.2B bet on converting championship golf courses into hyper-exclusive "membership-only" residential micro-estates.2 min readRead