New ideas around memberships in light of recent survey

In light of new SKY survey on decliing golf memberships, ive asked myself what is stopping me committing to a club and becoming a member.

1) cost of membership - playing 3 times a month on average im sort of in that bracket where i pay £15 £20 per round currently , estimate around £60 a month ,so under what you'd expect to pay per month for membership. Also for any reason i cant play (injury or weather) i dont have to still pay for not playing golf that month or however long that may be.

2) Course choice - i like to play different courses so why cant local clubs offer a grouped membership say for the 4 closest courses to me, split the membership cost between them and you get to chose which course you play each time out of the four. Gives you more choice and if one course is closed etc you cn just play another out of the 4.

3) Slow play - I see the way to rectify the slow play we have on the courses we play is for the guys in the pro shop etc to remind everyone to let quicker players through or smaller groups. Also for the tee times to be stricter, as ive turned up many a time to play at say 11:32 and have waited for the time to come only to find a four ball teeing off dead at 11:32! I just think a gentle reminder to all before their round would be benificial to all.

Any other ideas? Nick

Good points there, Nick.

I've just moved to a new area and looking for a club to join for the new year. I've come across a club that is under the Crown Golf group of clubs and they offer a really innovative membership that is designed to be quite flexible. Essentially you pay a reduced fee and have a certain number of credits that you exchange for tee times. Peak tee times take more credits, and quiet times are less. You can then buy credit packages if you find you're using more up.

I think the entry level is £295 up front with 250 credits, and some time slots are only 1 or 5 credits, while others are 125. Called Freedom membership and something I'll be looking in to for sure

Hi Adam, sounds like a good idea to me. How many clubs does it give you access to and are they local to you?

Nick I'll disagree with you about club membership. I play in Peterborough and pay about 65 a month at the club. Its more than just the rounds I play, I can practice anytime I want, can walk on and play 9 on my own if its quiet. That's the value of memberships as well as club competitions that accurately show you your handicap. I play golf and strive to get better and its playing off medal tees that does this. Course choice would be nice but could be tricky if they have comps on same days. Your point about slow play is strange as I don't come across the issue where your allocated slot is taken by someone else, that's poor by the staff. Slow play is a curse but blame the pros as they take 5 hours for a two ball even with spotters

I'm all for club membership as well, my membership fee is £69 per month. I play plenty of social golf, mainly at weekends, members only before 11am (you can't book a tee time before 11am so just turn up). I enter all the comps and also put my name down for all the club matches which are home or away. Also the club has reciprocal arrangements with at least 1 other local club plus is also part of the Smartgolfer network which allows members 2 free rounds at about 28 courses per year. Discount loyalty scheme for the shop and bar as well. Unfortunately slow play is a major problem when the course is busy, 4 1/2 hours for a 3ball on my last round, no real solution as how to speed things up.

Club membership works great for people who are in full time employment and therefore restricted in availability. If you are retired or work shifts etc then any of the online tee time bookers will work for you.

Bob, if you're retired wouldn't it be so much cheaper to be a club member rather than a nomadic golfer?

I suppose it's down to the amount of golf you play every week/month. If you play 2 rounds a week in spring/summer and 1 round every week/every other week in Autumn/Winter Golf club member would be the most cost effective solution. Only play one or twice a month being a nomadic golfer would be a better choice.

Queens Park Crewe we have a choice first you can pay full membership about £360 or pay £60 to be a member and for that you get a handicap and pay green fee every time you play ,this works for me as i can only play once a week so i enter most comps if no comp we play other local courses from £12 to £20 .

Currently considering the membership route too and agree with Nick's idea. I am however, very restricted as am out the country 3 months out of 4. Would love to be a member for both the social and competitions in the month I am back but am struggling to find anything that offers any sort of value in the Wiltshire area.

The Crown Golf clubs golf credits solution would be perfect, hope a golf club manager in the Wiltshire area is reading this!

Hi Nick, I'm not 100% sure but I think there are 20 clubs or so under Crown Golf and any membership gives a certain number of rounds at other clubs during the year. Most are south east I think but they have courses dotted around England. Worth checking out their website and a route other clubs should consider

Adrian Fallon, I understand what you are saying but, getting a midweek game with members under 70 is not easy. I will be 70 one day but I want to play golf not have a day out in the country. I know that's a sweeping statement but just try it at you club or intended club.

Flexibility on the way membership is offered is the way forward. my last club was only about £100.00 PA extra to be a 7 day member. Where as I think it should be at least 25%b cheaper to establish some sort of framework. On another note if I fancied a Sunday evening knock I had to pay full visitors rates when the course was almost deserted. All of this make little sense.

My Club is based at a Municipal course - Mowsbury, which will be run by Fusion Lifestyle from the end of January 2014. Club Membership is therefore seperate from green fees, and costs just under £60 (slightly more for women because the Ladies have higher County fees and LGU). That covers England Golf and County affiliation fees, insurance and Medal entry fees (for 3 medals per month from March to November inclusive). Other comps involve fees of £3.50 to cover cost of trophies.

Benefits of Membership include:- A County Card for £10 which gives reduced price golf at over 1100 courses which is only available to Club Members. Competitions at your home club, but also an official handicap to let you enter Open competitions at other clubs, which are some of the best priced events, and usually include food and prizes. The usual Social events, which Club Committees arrange for their members, and the benefits of having a large pool of golfers to arrange to play with. At my Club - On Captains Day and Club Championships (2 days) green fees are not payable, so Membership includes 3 weekend rounds of golf which would normally cost £23 per round.

Green fees last year were £562 for a full 7 day card (under £47 per month), £435 for 5 day (£36.25 per month). For £220, you can get 12 round vouchers to use at any time, and Club Membership, so £160 for 12 rounds which could all be at weekends. Individual greens fees are £23 for weekends and £18 during the week.

All of this seems to indicate that around 2 weekend rounds per month makes it worthwhile joining our Club, but I fully understand when people say they want to play different courses. That's where England Golf and the Counties are trying to help by promoting the County Card as giving the best value golf. I used mine at Redlibbetts in Surrey, and my round was cheaper than my 2 friends who used a 2 for 1 voucher.

A number of Clubs in our County (Bedfordshire) do have reciprocal arrangements with a varying number of other Clubs, but all are finding that you have to limit how many times visitors play, otherwise some Clubs will feel they are losing out on the deal.

The "slow round" problem is one which I think many clubs suffer from, especially when it comes to official competitions. My Club some years ago got a reputation for Medal rounds taking 5 hours, and apparently, this cost us Members, who joined other clubs, only to find they have the same problems. We have never found a solution, although our Comps Section this year 'warned' a number of players about their slow play - to what effect I am unaware.

Bob Freeman, I understand exactly what you mean regarding midweek golf. When I do play midweek golf I do have to plan carefully to avoid playing behind a large group of seniors. We can't book tee times before 11am so it is pot luck but it just about works most of the time

Some good posts in favour of and not of membership. Terry your deal sounds good and isnt that far from me being in Stotfold herts. Could well be an option for next year i reckon.

As for slow play, there seems to be an overiding thought that there isnt much we can do about it really apart from play only when the weather is crap! And gladly this country provides us with many of these opportunities to play a round in crappy weather!

Terry Gardner, £160 / 12 = £13.33 per round and would be enough for a lot of people add to that the £60.00 membership and County Card and it still works out at £18.33. You could effectively play 12 rounds at your home course and use you club card to play elsewhere at very much reduced rates. I wish that was available close to me, I could make that work.