Membership downsides

I am now in my 11th month of my first year of golf course membership. With the new year approaching I'm looking at new options for next year and wondered if the things I have issue with are wide spread or only found at some clubs. I love my home course it's a real challenge (if a little too much so at times) and is always in great condition (when open), the added benefit of being able to play another 8 or so courses around the country is brilliant for me as I travel with work. The problems come from my membership. I'm a 5 day member. Being self employed and playing other sport at weekends in the summer combined with affordability lead me down this route. I got a good deal on monthly payments when joining (a deal that will not be repeated next year resulting in a 25% increase). During the summer months I was pretty happy, the only thing missing was being able to find other people to play with at the club. At the times I was playing as weekday players tend to be dominated by seniors, ladies and fixed groups. Come winter however I find myself hardly playing. The course is often closed as a river runs through it but the staff do everything they can to keep it open and there is another local course I can use as a member. The problem comes when I can't actually get any tee times. Tuesdays are booked out by seniors, Thursdays by ladies and Wednesdays can be busy with societies when you're only really looking at 3 hours of usable tee times a day this makes it very restricted indeed. I did contact the club with my issues wondering if I could play twilight weekends when the course is quiet. I was very curtly told no. As I'm not sure I'm getting value for money each month I'm looking at 7 day memberships at cheaper courses or flexible membership options. To get value for money I would aim to play at least 4 times a month on average. How do other courses handle this? Is it a common problem or am I pretty rare being a non-senior, non-lady weekday player who wants to play all year?

Playing as often as you membership is best option, I would suggest looking around your local area at what other clubs offer, you will find seniors tend to play a lot in the week, but ladies vary from club to club depending on amount of ladies there are, many clubs now have ladies that work and therefore play mostly at week ends but the more affluent the club the more likely it will be busy in the week. A 7 day membership is best option for opportunity. I think clubs should be doing more at the moment to keep members and encourage new ones. Even summer membership options from March to October would be great and greater discounts for couples/joint memberships. Take a good look around and barter if you can. Do you not wish to play with seniors or ladies? The club I had membership with the majority of members would be happy to play alongside anyone as long as not in certain competitions, the pro knows the members well & would put people in touch with each other to arrange games/playing partners.

a club nr me ,, worsley golf club (manchester ) do a low user ,, its £100 +£50 bar , then £15 around in the week (joe public £30) and weekend is £20 (joe public £35 ) been looking at it myself but you need to be doing around 20 rounds to make it worth it ,, 5 day menbership is £720 , 7 day £900,,

David when I went to part time working I had exactly the same issues, and when I virtually retired (Not quite) it was still the same either play with the seniors or play on your own. It's difficult to get games when you partners are all still working. As for value for money the question to ask is "What am I getting for my money" I worked out that to break even you need to play 38 rounds give or take otherwise paying a green fee especially with the deals on TTD and TT.com. Monday to Friday prices are very cheap and most clubs are pleased to see you.