Inside GreatLIFE's Fitness ESOP: Nick Ovenden on Employee Ownership and the Golf-and-Fitness Model

How do you solve succession at a thriving, founder-led fitness business without selling to private equity and possibly losing the culture? GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness chose a fitness ESOP. In his first HALO Talks conversation, GreatLIFE president Nick Ovenden joins Pete Moore to explain why the company went 100 percent employee-owned, how a golf, fitness, and bowling model keeps attrition low, and why GreatLIFE refuses to take online signups.

If you operate a multi-activity club, think about your own exit, or invest in the HALO (Health, Active Lifestyle, Outdoors) sector, this episode is a candid look at succession planning, member retention, and building an ownership culture. Listen above, or read the recap below.

The accidental golf course that started it all

GreatLIFE is about 12 years old, and its origin story is almost an accident. The founder co-signed a note on a golf course, and when the bank called, he had a choice: take it over or write a big check. He took it over, ran it for about a year, and then came across a combined golf-and-fitness concept on a flight. Ovenden, a family friend who was living in Minneapolis and working in the fitness industry, came home to Sioux Falls over a Christmas break, met with the team, and moved back two months later to build the fitness side.

Twelve years on, Ovenden says GreatLIFE has grown from zero memberships to roughly 40,000 across Sioux Falls and a 90-mile radius, with six golf courses, 19 fitness centers, and a bowling alley.

One community, three simple membership tiers

Rather than copy the traditional golf-course pricing maze of weekday, senior, and dozens of other tiers, GreatLIFE built its memberships around a value proposition and kept them simple. There are three tiers (single, couple, and family), each available as either Fitness Plus or Golf and Fitness Plus, with a few recovery add-ons at select locations. On top of that sits a community-partner program with roughly 75 member benefits at local establishments. The goal, Ovenden says, is to make membership feel like joining one community rather than buying a product.

Why GreatLIFE will not take an online signup

In a market where everyone else is racing to digital self-serve, GreatLIFE deliberately does not offer online signups. The reason is consultative: the team wants to ask what a prospect is actually looking for, walk them through the full menu of options, and stay with them as their needs change over time. If GreatLIFE does not offer what someone wants, the team will connect them to another local operator. As Ovenden frames it, doing right by a prospect at the start tends to bring them into the GreatLIFE community eventually.

More to do means lower attrition

Tying golf, fitness, and bowling together gives members more reasons to stay engaged, which shows up in the numbers Ovenden shared. He put GreatLIFE's annual member attrition at roughly 30 percent, with team-member attrition around 24.5 percent, both stronger than typical for the industry. Multi-generational activities are a big part of that. As he put it, when people sweat together, "titles kind of go out the window," and the same dynamic plays out in a golf cart or at the bowling alley.

Why GreatLIFE chose an ESOP for succession

The heart of the episode is succession. GreatLIFE's founder is in his late 70s, and the company spent five or six years weighing options that included venture capital and outside buyers before landing on an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The deciding factor was legacy. The founder had previously owned franchises in food and beverage, sold them, and watched the culture and the people who built them get left behind. An ESOP let him get paid, stay involved (he still has offices two doors down from Ovenden), and preserve the culture for the long term. Eligibility is straightforward: employees who are at least 18, have been on the team for a year, and work 1,000 hours in a year begin receiving shares the following year.

How an ESOP is financed, in plain terms

In a typical ESOP, the owner is effectively borrowing against the business in a tax-advantaged structure, and employees hold the common stock beneath a layer of debt. As that debt is paid down, the employees own progressively more of the company. The financing can come from an outside lender or from a seller note held by the owner. 

"Team member owned," shouted from the mountaintops

GreatLIFE did not keep the transition quiet. Ovenden says the company "shouted it from the mountaintops," putting "team member owned" on vehicles and doors. The message reinforces a culture the team already had: act like you own the place, because now you do. On transparency, GreatLIFE shares the full financial picture with its leaders rather than handing managers a member count and a revenue line while hiding the P&L. If you hold someone accountable for a P&L, Pete noted, they should get to see the whole thing.

Decisions under employee ownership

A natural question with an ESOP is how decisions get made when there is no single owner chasing a quick sale. GreatLIFE answers to a five-person board, and major moves (entering a new market, building a large facility, or any spend above a set threshold) go to the board. Day to day, the org chart and the way the company innovates have stayed largely the same. The guiding principle, Ovenden says, is experience first: get the member experience and the behaviors right, and a stronger long-term valuation follows. That stands in contrast to the short-term, buy-cut-and-flip private equity playbook Pete described, where short-sighted decisions get paid for later.

Developing people (and warning future gym owners)

With about 40 trainers and nearly 200 group fitness classes a week (averaging 26 to 27 attendees per class), GreatLIFE treats trainers as experience-creators and community-builders, not just instructors. Ovenden also makes a point of educating team members who dream of opening their own gym about everything that comes with ownership, from back-end operations to the realities of running a business, so they make that decision with eyes open rather than learning the hard way.

Key takeaways for HALO operators and investors

1. A multi-activity model lowers attrition. Golf, fitness, and bowling give members many reasons to stay connected as their lives change.
2. Simplicity converts. Three clean tiers and consultative, in-person onboarding can beat a complex pricing menu and online self-serve.
3. An ESOP can solve succession while protecting culture. It pays the founder, keeps ownership local, and rewards the team long term.
4. Transparency builds an ownership mentality. Sharing the full P&L with leaders makes accountability real.
5. Coopetition is a retention tool. Referring a poor-fit prospect to another local operator builds trust and long-term community.
6. Ownership reframes the time horizon. Employee owners optimize for experience and durable value, not a quick flip.

In their words

On culture across activities: when people sweat together, "titles kind of go out the window."

On educating aspiring gym owners: GreatLIFE wants them to understand the business "before they make that decision and not afterwards."

Chapters

• 00:00 Meet Nick Ovenden and GreatLIFE
• 00:58 The accidental golf course and the golf-and-fitness concept
• 03:00 Coming home to Sioux Falls to build the fitness side
• 05:46 Keeping memberships simple: three tiers, one community
• 07:03 Coexisting with other operators and referring members out
• 08:44 Why more activities means lower attrition
• 09:45 The numbers: roughly 30% member and 24.5% team attrition
• 10:06 Why GreatLIFE chose an ESOP for succession
• 12:59 How an ESOP is financed (Pete's explainer)
• 14:00 "Team member owned": telling members and staff
• 15:02 Transparency and sharing the P&L with leaders
• 16:16 Educating trainers before they open their own gym
• 17:29 Training, kids programs, and 200 group fitness classes a week
• 20:53 Decision-making under employee ownership: the board
• 22:17 Long-term value versus the short-term PE playbook
• 24:05 Closing thoughts

About Nick Ovenden and GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness

Nick Ovenden is president of GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota company built around golf, fitness, and healthy lifestyles. A Sioux Falls native and Augustana University graduate, he worked at Life Time Fitness in the Twin Cities before joining GreatLIFE as director of fitness and nutrition in early 2014, becoming president in 2019. GreatLIFE was founded by Tom Walsh Sr., who remains CEO, and transitioned to 100 percent employee ownership through an ESOP in 2025.

Resources mentioned

• GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness: https://joingreatlife.com
• Integrity Square: https://www.integritysq.com
• Promotion Vault: https://www.promotionvault.com
• HigherDose: https://www.higherdose.com

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Listen and connect

Listen to the full episode of HALO Talks above, then subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you do not miss the next conversation. If you are building, buying, or selling in the HALO sector, connect with the team at Integrity Square at integritysq.com.