Youth & adult sports training

Books and taxes for junior golf academies.

Simulator bay time billed by the hour, PGA Junior League team fees collected apart from regular lessons, a trade-in credit on last year's junior clubs, and a summer camp that fills every bay you have. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
JulyExample month
$13,000
what you made

July came in at $13,000. Summer camp filled every bay, so I kept camp income apart from your regular lesson packages and PGA Junior League fees.

  • Junior camp sign-upsCamp and clinic fees
  • PGA Junior League team feesJunior league fees
  • Range ball restockRange supplies
  • Junior club order, pro shopPro shop inventory
  • Instructor pay, JulyCoach and instructor pay
Money in$51,000
Money out$38,000
Set aside for taxes$2,900
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

A junior golf academy's books go wrong in the same handful of spots.

A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your academy rents simulator bays by the hour, sells junior clubs with a trade-in credit built in, and charges separately for a competitive league team. When the books do not know that, you cannot tell whether bay time or lessons are actually what's paying the bills.

  1. 1

    Simulator bay rental and coached lessons blur together

    A family renting a bay to practice on their own pays a flat hourly rate, while a coached lesson using the same bay costs several times more. Deposited into one bucket, you cannot see whether bay time or instruction is actually driving revenue.

    What we doKeeps bay rental income separate from coached lesson income, so each can be measured against what it costs to run.
  2. 2

    Club trade-ins get treated as a straight discount instead of a real transaction

    A family trading in last year's junior clubs for credit toward a new set is really two transactions, a sale and a purchase of used inventory, but it often gets logged as one discounted sale with the trade-in's value lost entirely.

    What we doBooks the trade-in as its own inventory purchase and the new set as a full sale, so both sides of the transaction are accounted for correctly.
  3. 3

    PGA Junior League team fees get mixed with regular lesson packages

    A junior league team fee covers uniforms, league registration, and match-day coaching, a very different cost structure than a weekly private lesson, but both often land in one lesson-income line.

    What we doKeeps league team fees in their own category, so you can see whether the team program is covering its own costs.
  4. 4

    Range balls and dispenser upkeep get treated as one steady supply cost

    Range balls wear out and need regular replacement, but a full dispenser machine repair or a ball washer replacement is a much bigger, less frequent cost that gets lost when it's filed the same way.

    What we doKeeps routine range ball costs apart from bigger equipment repairs, so a large repair doesn't distort a normal month.
  5. 5

    A launch monitor purchase gets filed as a software expense

    A TrackMan or similar launch monitor system can cost tens of thousands of dollars, with a data subscription layered on top, but the hardware often gets lumped in with the ongoing software fee.

    What we doSplits the hardware purchase from the data subscription, logging the equipment separately so it gets written off right.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a junior golf academy.

Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Lesson feesPrivate and group instruction, paid by the visit or the package.
  • Simulator bay rentalsHourly bay time booked without a coach.
  • Junior league feesPGA Junior League and similar team program fees.
  • Camp and clinic feesSummer camps and school-break clinics.
  • Pro shop salesClubs, balls, and gear sold at the counter, net of trade-in credits.

Money out

  • Coach and instructor payTeaching staff, kept apart from your own draw.
  • Launch monitor and data subscriptionsTrackMan or similar hardware and its ongoing data service.
  • Range suppliesRange balls and routine dispenser upkeep.
  • Pro shop inventoryNew and trade-in clubs bought for resale.
  • Facility rent or mortgageThe building or bay space you operate in.
  • InsuranceGeneral liability coverage for the facility.

What we watch for you

  • Bay utilization

    How much of your rentable bay hours are actually booked each month.

  • League team margin

    What league team fees bring in against uniforms and match-day coaching cost.

  • Trade-in turnover

    How much traded-in inventory is sitting versus getting resold.

  • The set-aside

    What lesson and pro shop income actually owe, tracked monthly so April is already planned for.

Ask Gus

Things junior golf academy owners ask Gus.

Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.

We take a family's old junior clubs as a $100 trade-in toward a new $400 set. How does that get booked?

I log the trade-in as inventory you bought for $100 and the new set as a full $400 sale, so both sides show up honestly instead of looking like one $300 discounted sale.

Our PGA Junior League team costs more to run than regular lessons bring in per kid. Is that actually true?

I keep league fees and their costs separate from regular lessons, so we can actually check that instead of guessing. Send me a season's worth of numbers and I'll have a clear answer.

Bought a TrackMan system for $18,000 plus a monthly data fee. How should that split?

I keep the hardware and the data subscription as two separate costs, so the machine itself still gets its shot at being written off in full.

The tax side

The tax side of a junior golf academy.

Most of what trips up this business is separating equipment from software and treating trade-ins as the two transactions they really are.

What your return has to get right

Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.

  • Launch monitors and simulator equipmentA TrackMan or similar system can usually be written off the year you buy it, separate from its data subscription. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent, permanent, for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
  • Instructor worker classificationAn instructor who teaches your bay hours on your schedule is usually an employee, not a contractor, even part time.
  • Sales tax on club and gear salesClubs and gear sold at the pro shop are usually taxable, even where lesson fees often are not. Rules vary by state, so Gus keeps that income separate to make the split easy.
  • The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when lesson, league, and pro shop income are booked to the right categories.

Deductions junior golf academies miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Range balls and ball dispenser parts
  • Launch monitor data subscriptions
  • Simulator screen and projector repair
  • Junior clubs bought for resale
  • Uniforms with your logo
  • PGA Junior League registration fees
  • Website and booking software
  • Liability insurance
  • First aid supplies
  • Coaching certification fees
  • Storage for pro shop inventory
  • Signage and scoreboards

General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.

All year, not just April

A junior golf academy's year, kept every month.

Summer camp fills every bay, but indoor simulators keep winter lessons going too. Your taxes come on a fixed schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    Plan the year

    Last year's return gets started, the instructor 1099 list is ready, and a monthly set-aside is running before league season fills the bays.

  2. April

    Filed. Done.

    Your return is filed and signed, right as PGA Junior League season starts filling bays.

  3. July

    Halfway check

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer camp enrollment changed the number.

  4. October

    Before winter lessons

    Before winter simulator lessons ramp up, Gus looks at equipment and pro shop inventory worth planning before December.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.

Book a call
  • Monthly bookkeeping

    Every transaction sorted into categories set up for junior golf academies. You never categorize a thing.

  • An accountant checks every transaction

    Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.

  • Your business tax return, filed

    Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.

  • The monthly number

    What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.

  • Your own bookkeeper

    A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.

  • On your books all year

    Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.

  • Cancel any time

    No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.

Straight answers

Questions junior golf academy owners ask first.

Can Gus handle a club trade-in as its own transaction?

Yes. He books the trade-in as inventory purchased and the new set as a full sale, so both sides of the deal show up correctly instead of looking like one discounted purchase.

We run PGA Junior League as a separate program from regular lessons. Does that change the books?

It changes where the money goes, not what you do. Gus keeps league fees and their costs apart from lesson income, so you can see whether the team program is covering itself.

We book simulator time through an app. Do I have to change anything?

Nothing changes there. Gus reads what actually lands in your bank account, and if a bay booking payout is unclear, he checks with you once and keeps that answer on file.

Do I write off a launch monitor all at once?

Often the hardware can be, separate from the ongoing data subscription. Gus splits the two and the accountant decides on the equipment write-off with your whole year in view.

Our books have never really separated bay rentals from lessons. Can that be fixed now?

Yes. Send over your bank statements, and Gus sorts through them and sets up categories that separate bay time, lessons, league fees, and pro shop sales going forward.

Is a real accountant checking my books?

Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.

What does it cost, and can I cancel?

It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.

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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for

Book a call

Pick a time. That's the whole signup.

Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.

  • $197 a month to start
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever