Membership

We all know that club membership is falling, which is due in the main to the economy and people having to watch their money. The biggest outlay each year for many is the annual club subs', even though payments can now be spread. Joining fees are vanishing as more and more clubs fight to catch as many new members as possible, in an ever increasing decline of numbers. More and more players are deciding to pay and play and look at being more nomadic, by playing different courses.

There are obviously still some members clubs, where numbers are not falling, and these clubs are beginning to stand out condition wise in comparison to many other clubs. Falling membership means reduced revenues, which in turn means reduced green keeping staff, and falling standards in course conditions etc. It wasn't too long ago that it was almost impossible to get a game on some courses, as they made sure their own membership could get on before allowing visitors. Times have changed which means that an upside of the membership issue, is that its now fairly easy to get onto many courses that you struggled to play before. So in this respect the downturn is a good thing for nomadic golfers, but will this have an impact on conditions in the long term, or is this just a blip and will membership at clubs rise again and stabalise.

I appreciate that things vary in different regions and areas, and some clubs are using new schemes to attract membership, but on the whole things look fairly bleak with a lot of clubs having financial problems.

Hard to disagree with anything you've written there Doc - yet strangely, things (seem to be) fine with my own club. In fact recently, they have decided that the club had TOO many members and have been having a clamp down on corporate membership (particularly where it didn't always seem totally above board i.e. just a bunch of mates clubbing together to get cheap membership). Once they had pruned some of this membership down they announced just a few spaces left which have since been filled so we are now in the position of having a waiting list! Don't know if this also means there will be a joining fee reintroduced. As far as I know it's now one of very few clubs in the area with a waiting list (with the exception of the really exclusive courses obviously)

Davie it seems to be a different picture depending upon what area you live in. I spoke to a mate at the weekend who said his club were asking members to contribute an extra £500 next year, as a one-off payment. He doesn't think this will go down too well with many. There's also a couple of clubs close to me where there's still a waiting list to get in, but they're members clubs and a bit exclusive at £1,200 joining fee and £1,200 annual membership fee. These sort of places are usually affluent and exclusive and members tend to like the kudos of being part of an elite group. I even thought about going myself to one of them, because the course is superb.

We have people on this board, who enjoy great golf at high prices, but mainly down south, where there is little cheap competition in the area etc. Obviously some great clubs in Scotland where prices can be high because of the clubs history, but there's also some fantastic clubs where its cheap to be a member. many players this year haven't been able to play as much as they usually do, due to weather and course conditions. many of this players will see that there costs per round have increased because of this, and feel that they haven't had there money's worth this year. Green keeping staff at my club are flat-out at the moment trying to compete with the elements, so conditions are fairly soggy. The club should have closed more than it has, but finances dictate that its been kept open when it shouldn't have been. Mrs Doc is joining another local club next year, because the ladies section have walked en-masse due to poor facilities. This means she'll be doing a 5-day membership elsewhere, whilst I keep my 7-day where I am, and a 'country membership' in Yorkshire. So 3 club subs' to pay next year. I estimate that my golf this year has curtailed due to conditions and weather, to the extent that I've lost around 30-rounds, which has increased my costs per round pro-rata. If we have another year of dire weather with no summer, I will probably turn into a nomad myself, and pay and play.

Clubs cannot survive on pay and play fees, because they need to budget, and if playing numbers fall, they'll have to offer reduced green fees to attract visitors and societies. So its a catch 22 position for many clubs I'm afraid

Doc - that's one of the main reasons LordPutt and I are seriously considering retiring to Scotland in 3 years' time! That, and the property prices compared with London

Two golf courses where I play, surrounding a 200 bedroom hotel. New General Manager appointed two weeks ago and he spoke at last weeks AGM. Obviously with a remit to increase income he plans to do so on three fronts. Increased membership, increased use by hotel guests and more corporate use.

Plans in the pipeline to alter 3 or 4 holes to give increased carry over existing lakes to create more 'signature' holes. "The type of risk or reward hole that excites the corporate member on his day off" was his quote.

Promised no increase on our £1,000 annual fees for 2013 due in April with the same 20% 'early bird' dicount available if paid by 31st January. What will happen the following year who knows.

BlueCoverman wrote:Two golf courses where I play, surrounding a 200 bedroom hotel. New General Manager appointed two weeks ago and he spoke at last weeks AGM. Obviously with a remit to increase income he plans to do so on three fronts. Increased membership, increased use by hotel guests and more corporate use.

Plans in the pipeline to alter 3 or 4 holes to give increased carry over existing lakes to create more 'signature' holes. "The type of risk or reward hole that excites the corporate member on his day off" was his quote.

Promised no increase on our £1,000 annual fees for 2013 due in April with the same 20% 'early bird' dicount available if paid by 31st January. What will happen the following year who knows.

BC that sounds ominous as members will struggle playing when they want to play. Tee times given over to hotel guests for an hour or 2 morning and afternoon. Weekend hotel and golf deals and corporate membership. Yes keeping the annual subs at the present level, but not giving the members the same as they've gotten in the past. Over the road from me, we have a De Vere hotel and championship course, where most of the members left and came to us because they were having to book a tee time at least a week in advance. hotel guests, corporate deals, visiting society deals, 1 hour given over to hotel guests in the morning and 2-hours given over in the afternoons. They usually have 2 courses at De Vere, but this place only has the one so loads of problems. The seniors walked out and were followed by the ladies because of it. They are so desperate for members that they introduced the De Vere points system, whereby you pay around £300 for so many points and can play at any De Vere venue and have points knocked off every time you play. So good luck with that mate because I can see a lot of disgruntled members leaving

Fortunately the golf club has always had a good working relationship with the hotel management Doc. Helped by having two courses we have the tee on the 'main' course up to 11.00am on Saturday and Sunday mornings and hotel guests who want an early game play on the lesser course. Admittedly if you want a game on a Saturday afternoon it can be extremely busy.

However, we are a bit out in the sticks and there are lots of times especially in the week where you can be out there practically on your own. I think that most of the members recognize that the facilities are not utilized anywhere near to their full potential and it is only reasonable for the owner to want to make more of his asset. It may well be that some members will leave but I think most will stay and see what transpires.

£4 million was spent on refurbishing the hotel last year and a really nice job was done. Now that it is the turn of the golf courses to receive some significant investment I think that can only be good news for us members in the long run.

BC that sounds like it could be a win-win in that case, if there's plenty of capacity.

It would be really interesting to find out how many of us are nomads or thinking about it. I'm really in 2 minds just now as I spend most weekends in Yorkshire playing my away course, and only really get to play my home course through the week on evenings. Toying with the idea of a pay and play at home next season

Perfectly understand the attractions of nomadic golf but not for me. I like having an 'official' handicap and I enjoy playing in club competitions. I also like the flexibility to just turn up for the swindles and getting a game with different people.

I'm similar to BCM in my reasons for wanting to stay a member. I was a nomad for many years and it was mostly laziness that stopped me looking for a club. Once I made the plunge I wouldn't change it now

The only thing that may change my mind would be if my personal financial circumstances changed - my current club is TBH over priced and I'd much rather (financially) be at a cheaper club - but having experienced a few away day this last year I realize why I pay so much - in fact it spoils me for other tracks (apart from the totally elite of course)

While I can still afford it, I'll stay where I am - if ever money gets tight(er) then I'll have to reconsider

My reasons for being a member are also similar to BCM and Davie.

Being a member is significantly more expensive for me. I reckon I will play 35 rounds at my club this year, which works out at £40 a round. This doesn't include summer evenings where I might pop down and play 9 holes if I get out of work early (as I work in central London this doesn't happen very often), or the time I spend at the short game practice area (not very much time!).

In the current environment, I could get a visitors green fee for £25-35 a round at pretty much all the local courses, including my own! So I'm probably paying an extra £300 over the course of the year.

The problem of course is that if you go nomad your availability to play private courses is limited. Most private courses are members and guests only at weekends, unless you want to play late afternoons (fine in summer). So you end up playing weekend golf on public courses, jam-packed with hackers and enduring 5 hour rounds on poorly conditioned courses. The green keepers do their best, but the volume of traffic and attitude of players towards maintaining the course means that they are always going to struggle.

So on that basis I will continue to be spoilt and pay over the odds to be a member of a private club where I can always get a tee time, is immaculately looked after and is good enough to host Open qualifying and various other professional tournaments. The only downside for my club is that the practice ground is 600 yards from the club house, so I probably spend an extra £100 a year at the local driving range.

'practice ground 600 yards from the club house'?...just a drive and a flick for our old friend Mav

Ray I understand what you're saying, and suspect that you are in an area where you need to travel to get on a decent track. If I were to go nomad I could play quite a few decent courses all within half hour, as we have plenty of clubs locally, all doing their best to poach new members. Another thing I've noticed in my area, is members joining and using a DD to pay their subs, and if they decide to walk elsewhere they just cancel the DD. So some of them of them use this method to get cheap golf for a month and then cancel it. I know one bloke who knew he was going to be on holiday for a month, and played golf every day before cancelling his DD when he went back to work. His golf must have cost him around 50p per round. I know that the club are within their rights to go after these characters, as there's something within the contract about it, but they never do.

I think our membership numbers have remained fairly steady, with some leaving and new people joining each year. Our memberships range from Bronze - £175 p.a. and green fees of £16/20 (midweek/weekend), to Platinum - £985 and no green fees. In between this range we have Silver, Weekday Gold, and Gold, so most people's lifestyles/income are catered for. We still have joining fees £120 - £500 depending on which level you join at. I guess there may be deals to be done on this.

We have 4 loops of 9, which you can mix and match, so there's always a bit of variety, and makes it easy to get on just to play 9 holes for a reduced green fee if you prefer.

We have a good short game practice area, and the facilities are used most weekends by either County or England coaching at youth level, so this also bring in extra revenue. I have noticed an increase in Societies over the last few seasons, but, at the end of the day, it is a business. On a few occasions they have had a Society and Club Comp at the same time, so there will be a few hours when other members can't get on, but in fairness this is a rare occurance. The course is owned by 2 brothers, who's family previously farmed the land. They are very approachable, and accessible to the members.

It seems as though the Ladies section has increased since I first joined, not sure if this is a sign of ladies of a certain age having more disposable income than their predecessors?

LadyPutt wrote:Doc - that's one of the main reasons LordPutt and I are seriously considering retiring to Scotland in 3 years' time! That, and the property prices compared with London

I am quite envious of people in Sutherland, you can join Brora for £350 a year... granted the weather isn't ideal that far north but it is a coastal links so probably only closes for frost and snow in the heart of winter. I pay double that in Central Scotland and my course is nice and drys quickly, but they still have a joining fee in place (spread over 3 years these days). From what I have seen up here, some courses are dropping their entry fee, but very few have modern/more diverse membership offers like the pay as you play tokens you get at some courses down south.

The deals that Scottish golfers get are just unreal. I understand that membership at Carnoustie is only £400 per year. I guess if you are a member at a famous course where tourists are happy to pay up to £200 green fee, your membership is subsidised by these visitors... one fourball of American tourists = lots of income!

Doc, I actually live in an area with a lots of golf courses: a dozen within a 10 minute drive. If I expanded that to a 30 min drive I could probably choose from 40 courses. That's probably why visitors green fees are all so low, but it is interesting to see how membership is still pricey.

I get St.Andrews for £360 +125 Club fees, This includes Old, New , Castle, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove 9 Hole + if I want to play Kingsbarns it's £25 a round.

You won't get a 9 hole course in a field for that round here SR...

I can understand why Golf is still seen as elitist in England Blue, one of the reasons I've never moved down.

That only goes to reiterate why I'm going to retire to Scotland!

super_realist wrote:I get St.Andrews for £360 +125 Club fees, This includes Old, New , Castle, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove 9 Hole + if I want to play Kingsbarns it's £25 a round.

My bar bill is more than that!

And that's just for the weekend!

I think my club would be wise to diversify. If they put the sprinkler system on for an hour or so, we could have a nice lake that covers 7,000 acres in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The club shop could hire out boats and pedalos and belly board for when the wind picks up.

Weather is atrocious down here as well today Doc, have we already had our last game in 2012 I wonder?

Must be worse over in Essex than here west of London, Blue

Cold, but bright today. Course is on temps today which is unusual for them but we still have a Stableford comp scheduled for tomorrow (though it's been demoted to a NQ) - probably means they can use frost greens if necessary

Sounds like it Davie, torrential rain and high winds here today and road blocked by fallen tree. Winter league scheduled for us on Sunday, must be doubtful to say the least...

BlueCoverman wrote:Sounds like it Davie, torrential rain and high winds here today and road blocked by fallen tree. Winter league scheduled for us on Sunday, must be doubtful to say the least...

Ben Ainslee is the only bloke getting any practice in at our place

Don't make him angry Doc, or you'll never get rid of him

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Don't make him angry Doc, or you'll never get rid of him

It's taken a while but I'm getting to him at last!