I am thinking of joining a golf club to try and play more golf and also to help me improve my handicap.

With the current money climate you would think clubs would be desparate to gain new members but it does not seem to be the case.

I would love to join a club and be able to play regular golf but clubs still want joining fees and high yearly membership fees that the average person just cannot justify paying.

The best price i can find is my local muni course at over £400 but then your missing out on the social side of the club away from the course.

Dont you think clubs should drop the joining fee and give some sort of incentive for new members more so the ones that cannot play more than 3 or 4 times a week?

Couldn't agree more. I would love to get membership somewhere local to me in Belfast but some of the joining fees just make it impossible. There is a club just down the road from my house called Balmoral. The £900 a year fees I could just about justify but it is the 3 years fees as the joining fee that makes it impossible - £2700. Sorry, but even if I had £2700 to hand over I don't think it would be the easiest job in the world to convince my wife that as well a forking out about £80 for the fees, her new car was going to have to wait because of the joining fee.

I personally think any club asking for a joining fee at the moment is taking the mick.  With the rise in pay and plays and the economy the way it is, you would think they would just be happy to get the membership fees in.   

You'll have to shop around as some clubs are offerring deals or have removed joining fees for a short period.  The problem you will have is you will want to join a good club (obviously) and as they will know they are a good club they can afford to leave the joining fees in place.  It's worth asking if they will split the cost over a few years.  Most will go for this as it guarantees you as a member for more than one year as well as them getting their joining fees (obviously if you leave you will have to pay any outstanding joining fee you owed)

The last thing you want to do is to join a club because it is cheap and not enjoy playing the course or quickly get bored of it, so choose carefully. 

If the prices were lower more people would join and there would be a knock on effect for members at the clubs included the clubs themselves.

Instead of being a paying guest all the people that become members will have a better understanding about course etiquette they will feel they are part of a club and treat the course and its members correctly.

This i think will also stop slow play as you will have more of an understanding about golf itself.

Got to be in the best interests of the clubs in the long run.

The problem i have Chris is that i more than likely would not play more than 2 times a week so i could not justify the expense so i have to carry on being a paying guest or use my local muni i cant win really.

 I couldn't agree more. There are certain clubs that can command the joining fee (I'd bet my bottom dollar that these clubs would be 'too exclusive' for my liking anyway...always check out the course first, it's got to have the right balance of challenge and variety so that you don;'y get bored with it) but the majority of clubs are struggling financially, and this majority will get bigger: you've only got to look at the offers clubs are giving: eg Willow Valley (where the NE qualifier was held a couple of weeks ago) is offering membership £50 p mth...great value. I played there on a Sat aft a few mths back for £14, it used to be £40 a couple of yrs back. So it does depend on where you live and how far you're prepared to travel and it's always worth negotaiting...what's the worst that can happen? If they say no you wont be seeing them again anyway.

 I'd personally stay away from a Muni, not for snobby reasons but the overall condition of the course, the tee time availability and inevitable waiting, especially when golf is on the telly which brings out the masses of hackers.

Where do you live Jason and which is your nearest course?

TheLyth

Hi Dave i live in Derby my nearest is brailsford gc but there are a few courses near me but the way things are today i dont really want to be paying out a great deal of money.

I understand courses have to try and keep out undesirables so to speek but not all high handicap golfers on a budget are like this as you probably well know.

Deals always depend on demand.

Here in Leeds we have 4 Muni's, 3 Pay & Plays and numerous Private Clubs so there is competition for Members, so a number of Clubs offer No Joining Fee. But you will pay from £750 per year at most Clubs.

For you in Derby, it seems that there is not a lot of competition for Members so you may have to pay a Joining Fee. Pastures GC offer £100 JF and £324 fees paid over 10 months. Its only a 9holer but that is possibly your best Deal. Just ask around.

TheLyth

I have recently joined a course near me(yesterday - wahoo ). Noth Hants GC.

I had to pay a joining fee and it certainly isnt cheap on a yearly basis. I was more than happy with this as to me it was a sign that the club is run properly, aren't in financial trouble themselves, and are looking for members that will be there for the longterm and not just after a bargian.

However, that is what i was looking for in a club and each to their own.

Cheers David ive tried lots of clubs around derby but not pastures and its only up the road from me. I didnt think of it as i havnt played it before and they dont seem to advertise themselves. I will check it out many thanks.

Hi Oli, Northant sure does look like a nice club to play whenever I have been past it!

I am a member of the bargain hunters Im afraid and ended up joining Sherfield Oaks. This is part of the Crown Network of golf and has over 30 courses. For my membership I can play at any of these 30 clubs free of charge during the week (and after 1pm at weekends!) and have the choice of two courses where I joined.

Full membership there is around £1200 a year. With regards to the joining fee, there is usually room for movement (and in fact mine was dropped completely!)

Jason,

If you're not restricted on what time you play, see what is on offer for twilight golf at some of these private clubs.  I'm working in Newbury at the moment and playing Donnington Grove and Donnington Valley (only 5 minutes apart but two very different courses) after work for just £15 and £14 respectively, an absolute bargain.  For the number of times I play there (and the fact that I will only be able to do this for another couple of weeks) it was cheaper for me to pay as I went rather than join.  Some clubs even offer lower rate membership with restriced tee times (5 day membership, ect)

Hi Chris not a bad idea think the best thing is to be a bit cheaky and see what there willing to offer.

Looked at 9 hole courses they are cheaper but when busy can see there being a lot of waiting to actually tee off and for greens to clear as two different sets of players playing the same hole just different tee off points.

Better of at an 18 hole course i think.

I tapped out a forum post on this topic a few weeks ago, but I deleted it because I couldn't word it in an uninflammatory way (and I didn't want an argument).

Basically my view is that unless you are going to play the same course all the time, and play a lot, there is no way you could make a financial argument for joining a members' club which charges the sort of money mentioned above.

You could make a golfing argument...or an everybody deserves a luxury or two argument...but it won't make sense from a purely financial perspective.

My membership fee was £25 at my local muni.  The course is pretty good but the drawback with it is how busy it gets.  My £25 only pays for the handicap an a very small reduction in green fees.  I'm happy with my choice, though, because I have only played 37 times since October 2009 and a good proportion of those rounds (maybe 40%?) were away from home, in different towns, with friends and relatives.

Most if not all of those 'away' courses were a real treat and only cost in the region of £25, a price I rarely pay for a green fee normally.  Rounds at Lullingstone Park, Austin Lodge and Nizels are my luxury - rounds at 'home' for £10 are my bread and butter. 

I joined the Belfry on a restricted tee time membership.  I get to play the PGA and the Derby 7 days a week for £650 per year, with the only restriction being I have to tee off after 3:00pm in the summer and 11:00am in the winter.  I can play outside those times for a reduced green fee.  Given that I wanted to play most of my golf mid-week after work or Friday afternoons, this suited me down to the ground. 

Jason

I am not sure if it is true but heard that Mickleover are not charging a joining fee at the moment.

The other good deals that are about are with direct-teetimes.co.uk, four of us played St Thomas's Priory in Rugely the other week for £6.00 each.

Dennis,

 I used to be a member of Sherfield Oaks myself and the crown network in general do offer excellent value for money.

As with golf in general it appeals to all types and all standards and it is good that there are a ragne of golf clubs to cater for peoples needs, whether it be financial decision as Martin mentioned, golfing decision, social decision or any other motive.

Not everyone will be attracted by the same club or decide on the same criteria.

Chris Perry's mention of dusk membership is a good option and i know some of my local courses offer good deals on these terms. Some local course have also introduced age realted discounts.

A friend of mine has just joined a crown golf course(oak Park) with no joining fee for a bargain price of £40 per month. This offer applies to anyone under the age of 30.

I've considered joining a club many times, but I like to travel round and would get bored being tied to a club. I play 2/3 times per week (midweek mornings) and must've have played on a dozen different courses this year. Trying Woodham Golf and Country Club - which is another new one for me tomorrow.

Most clubs in my area (Tyneside/Durham) have dropped their joining fees and charge between £400 and £600 for an annual membership which can be paid monthly. Like I say I've been tempted but would find it too restrictive.

Jason, come over to Notts.  My club Oakmere almost permanently waves the joining fee and the annual rates are reasonable if you are going to be playing twice a week.

There is a little clutch of decent courses just North of Nottingham (Mapperley, Springwater, Ramsdale, Rufford and Oakmere) so the memberships are reasonably competitive and I think most of them you can spread the cost by Direct Debit.

Interesting thread but as ever supply and demand rule, this is also dependant on where you are in the Country. n 18 Hole full size course local to me with all the facilities is advertising on local radio £275.00 Fees P.A. NO JOINING FEE. Thats in South Warwickshire. Followin another unacceptably slow round yesterday I'm going to check out this course. It's about 15 years old and 6 minutes drive only.

for that sort of money i wouldnt expect much tbh

Dennis Have you not heard the county is in the deepest ever ressecion, and grass still grows.

it does bob but unfortunately it also needs:

cutting

reseeding

maintenance

and for 275 a year you cant expect too much can you?

Which course is that Bob?

I personally think any club asking for a joining fee at the moment is taking the mick.

Chris, I don't personally agree with this as if it is a well established club & it is run well & they are meeting their yearly quota of members then why should they? If they were to all drop their joining on fees then you would get anybody & everybody wanting to join. Although the interview process might put some people off.

I think if you were to have joined a club which was purley a 'members' club you would appreciate the social side of it.

Have football clubs reduced their season ticket prices this year or the price of a burger etc??

If you feel that a joining on fee is out of order then the club probably isn't right for you in the first place.

John.

"Have football clubs reduced their season ticket prices this year"

Yes John, the vast majority have.  Only two premiership clubs held their prices, the rest reduced them. 

The country is in recession and people are looking to cut back on luxuries.  If I were faced with a choice between two courses that I enjoyed playing equally with similar membership fees but one had a joining fee, it very likely would sway me.  Given the rise of pay and play courses, membership, on the whole, is falling and clubs are desperatly trying to keep membership up; even your club waived the membership fee for the next 40 new members this year.  I know what you are saying about 'anyone and everyone wanting to join', but surely this is a good position for the club to be in as they can pick and choose their members.  The ability to pay a joining fee does not make you right for the club, just as the inability to pay it does not make you wrong for it. 

I just feel that joining fees are putting off and even preventing prosepctive members and given the current financial climate it could harm the clubs in the long run.  I appreciate that if you have made up your mind that you definitely want to join a certain club then you will grin and bear it, but it could scare people off before they have even had a look at it. 

Golf Clubs need a flow of money, or a Bank Account with a lot of money in it.

If the membership are not willing to spend money in the Clubhouse, they need to get Income from somewhere else. Either taking more Visitors or charging an Entrance Fee. I remember a story from years ago when most Clubs had a Waiting List of a couple of years and the yearly Fees were about £350. One Club used to get many visitors and on most days the course saw more of them than Members. Anyway a few of these members were upset that they didn't have the course to themselves (that is what they thought it should be like with only 350 members) so they asked the Committe to ban all visitors. The answer they got was "if all visitors were banned then the yearly Fees would be over £1000". Needles to say Visitors were still allowed.

TheLyth

I agree if there were 2 clubs with similar facilites etc then you would probably go for the one without a fee. My club offers the facility to pay the joining fee over 4 years so it's not a huge intial outlay.

"Given the rise of pay and play courses, membership, on the whole, is falling and clubs are desperatly trying to keep membership up"

Most clubs within a 10mile radius of mine all have waiting lists?

Is that fact or assumption? My club waived the joining for for 40 members only & that was to generate funds to pay for more green staff, not to clear debts etc.

Turning up at a pay & play course these days is a lottery, you never know what to expect & what conditions your going to receive. This is what puts me off & if I have to pay a joining fee to give me peace of mind then I don't mind doing that.

I agree joining fees are off putting but it depends on if your getting value for money.

Hi John dont think you can use football clubs as an example really as my local team has 20 000 season ticket holders and at home games fills the ground thats over 32 000 people.

Chris is right in what he said a lot of football clubs have lowered there season ticket prices but i can tell you one thing that they dont do and that is charge people a joining fee. As for the price of a burger thats not what the topic is about has the club your a member of lowered the price of its food and beer ?

I understand that current members probably dont want the fees dropping as this will encourage as you put it anybody and everybody to want to join but just because some people are not as wealthy as others does not mean that they have no golf etiquette or manners on or off the course.

I got the declining membership thing from a report in TG where the rise in pay and play was attrinuted by the clubs to the fall in membership. 

There are varying levels of pay and play John, and many members courses allow pay and play now.  The courses I play down in Newbury, Donnington Grove and Donnigton Valley are opposite ends of the spectrum.  Donny Grove is aimed at societies and has regular amateur comps so is usually in great condition but can be expensive to play due to the need for upkeep.  Donny Valley is only 5 minutes up the road but loses much trade due to having Grove so close.  It is predominantly a members course but is very welcoming and friendly.  Because the course is quiet (due to it's neighbour) it is very well kept.  There is also the local muni in the middle of the racecourse, but I've been told it's very 'flag in a field' and rough and ready. 

You can find some good pay and plays, but I appreciate that it is more of a lottery than you would have at your course. 

Jason,

My comments were refering to Chris's comments about people being in a recession & cutting back on luxuries. To me spending £00's on a season ticket & then on average £5-£6 on refreshments at the game class as luxuries.

This is where I was making my comparisons.

If you add up the cost of a season ticket (obviousley the team you support will make a difference) , refreshments, programmes, shirts etc over the course of a year it's probably not far off a joining fee & green fees??

I agree money doesn't buy etiqutte or manners but a joining fee will deter the football shirt, jean wearing 4 ball who turn up at the muni & hack it to pieces from joining a club. 

Golf has changed over the years and although the number of Players has increased, "Official Numbers" have dropped. This is because more and more Golfers are not Members of a Club.

You used to need a Hcp to join a Private Club, so the Muni Clubs had a licence to print money. Some bright spark saw this and the Pay & Play arrived. Today there are a large number of 'Nomad' Golfers who enjoy a Social round and are not bothered about competitive golf.

So today, each of us can play our Golf in an enviroment that we wish to.

TheLyth

Hi John i understand what your saying about how people turn up to play and ruin everyones round by slow play and hacking up the course and i think the muni clubs themselves need to be a bit stricker with the dress code think every one has a pair of trousers and a smart tshirt they can put on.

I had a football season ticket until this season and i decided to spend the money on a golf membership but up till now i have not found one that is value for money or if it is cheap it is a 9 hole course and i didnt want to go down that road as when i have played them you tend to be waiting to take your turn to tee off all the time as there are 2 groups playing to the same hole all the time.

David - do you also think that societies play their part?  Are there more now?

If you are a society member you can play competitive golf and get a handicap, of sorts, whilst playing different courses and enjoying the social aspect.  Additionally, societies are free to run their own handicapping system and attack or even expel bandits.

Martin,

I think that the make up of Societies may have changed. Most used to be a group of Golfers who got together (usually work places), but they were already Members of a Club. They were then able to allow the odd Non-Golfer in too. Today they are mostly made up of people who are not members of a Club, some people joining to get a Hcp.

TheLyth

I also think that the advent of the Internet and sites like this have opened up Golf to many people who wouldn't have 'joined in' years ago. Years ago a guy playing at a Leeds Muni would never have 'hooked up' with guys playing in Wakefield and Sheffield, like they do today.

TheLyth

Just thought I'd throw in my observations of club memberships in the brief time that I've been playing.

I recently joined a Crown Golf club close to my home (Oak Park in Crondall) and it has everything that I was looking for in a club.  Not too expensive, close to home, great but challenging courses (A 9 and an 18 hole), good practice facilities, a course that would help me improve (grrr!, that 18 hole is a toughie!) a thriving social side and a good mix of people that seem very friendly.  The major plus point for me is that I am able to pay for my golf monthly and still have all the member benefits.

I too gave up a football season ticket to concentrate on playing more golf to try and improve (plus I've become disillusioned with football recently).  Although, I dont get out to play more than 1 or 2 times a week if I'm lucky, I feel as if I am getting good value for money.  Football was costing me about £1000 a year all in including train travel, beer, beer and more beer etc. The golf costs are about the same - just drinking less beer in the club house (well, at the moment)

Before I thought about joining a club, I thought that in the current financial climate, clubs would be lowering or removing their joining fee's (I think Crown Golf have dropped there joining fees...but they aren't huge like private members clubs can be!). One private club local to me was prepared to reduce the joining fee from £800 to £400 but not drop it altogether if 2 of us joined.  In the end I decided not to go with that club for different reasons and not just because they wanted a joining fee.

I really do think its horses for courses with golf memberships, if you want beautifully kept courses and exlcusivity, it all comes at a price and its only fair to pay for it.  It'a all about choice and what you can afford at the end of the day.

Hi Matt do you know if there is a network like crown golf for the midlands as looking at the website most of the courses are down south.

Is anyone put off joining a club because they are afraid that every competition will be won by a handicap bandit?

thought this forum was about prices clubs charge for membership nothing to do with handicaps.

Why is it most of these forums go off the subject that they was set up for?

The whole subject drifted onto why you would and wouldn't join a club, so I think it's a valid question Jason (although tenuous!).  I know that I wouldn't want to join one of the clubs Dave Ley is a member of when 40% of the competitors in the big annual comp came in with 40+ points and 8 players came in with over 50! 

And yes, most topics drift off on this forum as the discussion progresses

Neither would I Chris.  One of my friends was moaning to me just yesterday about paying £1,800 a year to be in a club where he couldn't possibly win a competition.

Hi, Apologies for thread hijacking But iam also thinkking of joining a club and wondered what current club members would look for and ask when speaking to different clubs as there are a large number around me and not long living there i don't know the differences between them that well.

Ta

Martin,

You make a valid point here, and one should have a look at the Fixture List and Comp results before making the decision to join a Club.

At Horsforth, we have a Club Comp almost every week-end and a Mid-week one on numerous occasions. The Club also have a Rabbits Section that has its own agenda. We also have a Seniors Section too but I'm a couple of years from that.

For me, as a low Hcp'er I will play in Division One of all Medals and Stablefords and most of our Open Comps are Match-Play with qualifying to get in, with a max 18 Hcp put on them. Then I can play in the Scratch Team or The Nett Team. The argument that High Hcps win everything can be countered by the fact that they have no chance with the Scratch Events, which carry more prestige and money than the other Events at most Clubs. Also through the Club I get the chance to play many other Courses, simply because I am a Member, courses like Sandmoor, Scarcroft, Pannal, Fulford, The Glen, Gosforth, West Byfleet, Chilwell Manor and Crans-sur-Sierre to name just a few.

We have a large Practice Ground, a Chipping Green, Putting Green and Driving Net. The only down side is that the course gets very wet in winter and we have to use Fairway Mats but you can't have everything. Or if you can it comes at a price.

TheLyth

Some good stuff here,

From my own experience this is the second year I took membership at a different club, Last year I was a member at Thorney Golf Club near West Drayton/Hillingdon. The course was good but eventually felt it was too short and the back nine was quite straight forward with only the 18th hole that was a challenge. The other thing was that the club has stated that they were going to have a ranger around the course to make sure there was no slow play, instead this never happened and started becoming a problem over the weekends and peak day.

This year I joined Stockley Park GC in West Drayton near Heathrow. Although a good course, I do not feel that the younger generation respect the etiquette. I say this because recently there have been players who will make noises knowing you are about to tee off or even whilst putting. I have complained at the club but nothing seems being done about this. Another problem at this course is slow play. Again you would think they have a ranger out and about, but it’s the same as Thorney, no ranger to sort this out. You will be playing behind a slow four player, and they would not let you pass no mater what even if you are a three or two player.

So therefore, my conclusion is next year to try and Join Burham Beaches Private club, which has £2000 joining fees and £1100 a year fees. Yes expensive but the course maintains a good reputation.