friendly golf clubs

Hi All

my first post as I'm new to golf.

il start by saying i began playing golf around a year ago but stopped after a few weeks of sun..

i decided to take it up once again and as i didn't want to hold people up i took my time hitting the driving range and a few 9 hole par 3s after getting back into it i decided to go back to my local council course sutton park in hull.

what a great bunch of friendly people ended up playing back 9 with a few older guys and enjoyed the company even had a few drinks in the clubhouse and was welcomed warmly however this is were the good news ends

after this and a few other rounds i and a few friends decided to play a few more courses namely kp club Yorkshire after our round we entered the clubhouse and was the only people at the bar the barmaid was busy talking to another guy at the table and ignored us totally about 5 minutes later another guy walked up and was serves immediatly on first name terms we waited again and was ignored ...

again the same thing happend eventully i asked to be served and was however we decided we would never return to the club.

a few weeks passed and we visited Willow valley Brighouse Yorkshire good course and nice people around the place however the staff were again very rude and seemed to treat us with little respect

after this and a few other courses we visited we started to ask the question are we doing something wrong ? we wore correct attire we don't slow play we are not loud .....we don't use foul language , we repair our marks on course and treat everyone with respect ?

now we are looking to become members of a club and sutton is looking good to us not due to the course but the staff and warm welcome we recived

maybe clubs should look at this as clubs seem to want members but not strangers ...come on clubs look at every stranger as a new potential member

anyone had this or disagree ?

David,

It's the age we live in, and sadly golf clubs are not immune.

I joined two local clubs and these are my experiences:

Club A:

I joined on the strict understanding that I be allowed to hit practice irons on the course when the course was empty. Rights revoked within six weeks of me paying my sub. Refund requested. Request ignored.

Club B:

Numerous traumas include:-

(a) The greenkeeper informing me at 6am that because I was playing so early I must be a non-paying cheat.

(b) The Secretary telephoning me five days after I had joined and informing me that I had not paid. The money had left my account and was in his (which he admitted later that day) but his bank statement was not up to date.

(c) A member over one hundred yards away screaming "Divot, divot!" after he saw me hack six inches off the top off long rough and not replace it. Apparently non-seeded grass toppings can magically grow if replaced. Or so he stated in other words.

(d) Being reprimanded for chipping on a designated chipping area as my back foot was outside the white posts.

(e) Receiving abuse from the green's official after I complained to the club's secretary over the frequent unnecessary course closures.

There were ar least half a dozen other similar incidents within my first three months of membership.

I then joined local club St. Idloes and found everyone to be completely opposite, they were all welcoming and friendly.

So, it's not so much aggressive etc. local golfers, but simply that different attitudes exist within different clubs. As in all businesses, attitudes are generally set from the top and filter down and people of that ilk are attracted to each other.

So my advice is 'shop around.' There are some really nice golfers out there. You'll eventually find them - likely huddled together in some nearby little club. Good luck.

P.S. Still a computer glitch on this site which often prevents a post being amended without deleting it first and then editing in 'Word' as part of a 'cut and paste' operation.

"As in all businesses, attitudes are generally set from the top and filter down and people of that ilk are attracted to each other."

What a superb quote and how very, very true.

Join your municipal course Dave, you'll enjoy playing rounds with great people rather than the alternative.

I have to add my two pennyworth. I pitched up at Whitewebbs GC probably to closest to me. I was on my own, three guys in front of me at the first tee offered to let me play off first, but I declined saying that i would probably hold them up. So off they went, I followed managing to par the first short hole in 3. When I got to the next tee there were two of them waiting as one had to go back to the yard. Anyway they invited to join them they were two of the greenkeepers and one member of the club thanks to Nick, Dave and Ken for a very pleasant and friendly round

Whilst I promise that I’m not trying to reopen a previous debate about the merits of membership vs. nomadic golf, like David above, I have struggled to find a club within a reasonable travelling distance of where I live (in Sheffield) that I’d be prepared to entrust with the bulk of my annual playing budget in order to secure a full membership there.

The problem with golf clubs is that, like atoms, they are subject to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle. In other words, you can’t join yourself to one without potentially affecting the very nature of that club. That is why some clubs are very suspicious of and sometimes hostile to visitors in case they might ever desire to become members - and they are very keen to carefully vet potential new members, in case they pose any threat to the existing status quo that reigns within the club and makes it what it is. Anyone wishing to join a club and yet still exercise some freedom of expression and individuality – like our good friend, Ivan, with his practice iron shots, is unlikely to be welcomed with open arms.

To use an implausible & over-simplistic car-related analogy, though many of us dream about becoming a member of the “Ferrari 458” golf club, the cost is prohibitive and the number of vehicles for sale is very limited. So, most of us have to settle for becoming a member of the “BMW club” with its inflated on the road costs and unashamedly high opinion of itself – or the “Skoda Superb” club, with its lower cost and potentially greater availability to those who wish to buy a car, but which is looked down upon by BMW owners. Being a member of the BMW club makes for a great driving experience but does make driving far more expensive that it needs to be and can (but not always, he says quickly, to avoid creating too much offence) result in poor driver behaviour which can sometimes offend the majority of other road users. On the other hand, being a member of the Skoda club can lead to a greater likelihood of having to drive alongside other road-users who don’t know or follow all of the Highway Code – and while it is a car, driving one doesn’t make you feel the same way as driving a BMW.

So, what to do?

Well, at the risk of opening up that previous debate, you don’t have to buy a car – you can just hire one for the day. And if I can’t afford to hire a BMW on any particular weekend, I can always go to the Teeofftimes Car Clearance Warehouse to pick something else – An Audi, perhaps, or even a Ford. No, I won’t get the “customer service” that I’d expect as a full member of the BMW club, which is one of the few perks of paying for such an expensive and exclusive car ownership deal, but neither will I face the large initial outlay for the vehicle or the ongoing annual cost of keeping the BMW on the road. If I join a local “Car Hirers’ cooperative” (AKA a Golfing Society) – and I can get to drive a BMW far more cheaply alongside other like-minded car-enthusiasts, who aren’t as bothered about where I live, what my job is or which important people do I know - (as long as it’s at a time when other BMW owners don’t want to take their cars out for a spin, of course!)

So, my message to David is, don’t feel as though you have to own a car in order to enjoy driving one. Here endeth the analogy. (Disclaimer - Other cars besides BMWs and Skodas are available for purchase and many BMW drivers are actually quite nice to know!)

Thanks all for your comments ..everyone very true

Now I feel a little guilty as we drove up to Doncaster today and played Thornhurst golf club and what a great bunch of guys down there so for the future of my golf I shall be a hire car driver and if I choose a club once I am at an acceptable level thornhurst will be a thought