Club Membership - Whats the way forward?

What do you think, if anything, clubs can do to increase memberships?

I have just been looking on the website of my local course (although never played there) and its going to set me back the best part of £1200 for a 7 day membership when I play the majority of my golf at weekends.

Granted if I play once a weekend every weekend during the year I would save £800 in freen fee's but surely they need to look at other options to increase membership numbers.

I know you dont just pay your membership for the golf, but the tournaments, social side ect but surely there is time for a change and maybe room or movement for a more attractive option for those in a position such as myself?

£23 per week is very cheap to play golf seven days a week.

Don't forget the long summer evenings where you can take advantage of playhing.

In my opinion nomads pay more per year than members.

John

With a young family playing through the week may happen once or twice a year at best.

I fully agree that if you can play 7 days a week then this is the best way to do it.

Its a supply and demand thing Matt. Up here in the Northeast you could get in an 18 hole club for less than £600 for a full, 7 day, membership. Over in the Northwest you would pay more but further north it comes in a lot cheaper. In a most cases a lot of the clubs are doing all sorts of deals, deferred joining fees, 7 day winter memberships etc.

I'd hazard a guess you are either in an area that sustains high membership fees or you're aiming for a more exclusive club.

At the end of the day clubs charge the going rate for the market in the area they're in.

On the face of it John's statement about club golf would appear to make sense.  However, during an extensive costing exercise I did last year things aren't quite as clear cut as you would imagine.  To try and get a bit of a comparison I asked another member to cost their club membership to see the difference.  Amazingly the costs per round were almost identical to the penny.  It included travel, equipment, tuition and almost everything but beer and food.  However what may have skewed the results was that I, unlike him, travelled a huge amount for my rounds.  We both played about 60 rounds but the difference is I played 36 different courses, 15 of which were new.

So it's horses for courses rreally.  As a nomad I love playing new venues and having lots of tight arsed yorkshire financially astute golfing buddies it actually only worked out at £19.60 a round - including prize money.

I feel I get the best of both worlds. I pay £630 per year for De Vere 5 day membership. But I also like to play in open comps at courses all over northern England. Usually averaging £15 per comp. I play approxamately  20 opens per year in individual and pairs comps. And average 2 rounds per week at my home course, all for less than £1000 a year.

Bargain !!!

De Vere would probably suit me down to the ground, however my nearest is over an hour away

Matt, you are speaking as though you are the only persaon who has to go to work.

I have been a member of a golf club throughout my life, wherever I lived. and strange as it may be to you, I also had to work, and in my case I was often away for three weeks at a time driving to the Middle East.

Being a member is the only way to have a correct and recognised handicap.

Yes I could easily join one of these 5000 yard plus courses and get a shiny handicap, probably of single figures, but I would only be deluding myself.

Tim, you cannot play down this neck of the woods for £19 per round, not even on a weekday.

i would have to agree with matt, 90% of people play at weekends as work and family, i know its cost a lot of money to keep golf clubs going but the end of the day people are not full of money, i like to lay diffrent places when i do get out i even paid for the golf shake handicap so i can get on my local course to play it as it wants silly money to join and even a round on a weekend is £40 not paying that unless you use tee times lol, i played alderley edge golf club on sunday and playing with a member was only £15 not bad 

Sorry John.

Its not strange for me to know you work, nor anyone else or that matter. Just giving my own position. I generally work from around 9am right through to 11pm with varied journey times so no I cant fit it in through the week.

If you have made your past or current membership work for you then great. It doesnt for me, hense the post.

Im only suggesting that if clubs were to find something in the middle then they might be able to attract more members.

I was paying over £1200 a year & travelling a 10mile round trip to get to the course. Over my 5 years there the course deteriorated& the journey up the M5 was getting a drag, especially on a Friday afternoon.

I decided to leave this year & have joined a course just over a mile away & paid £300 which covers Sept to April (after that it will be £650 per year). In just under 2 months I have managed to play at least 3 times a week, light nights etc (albeit sometimes I only manage to get 13 holes in it's still cheaper than paying to go up the driving range)

So my cost per round compared to last year will dramtically drop. Would be interesting Tim to do the exercise you mention based on my costs?

I could not go back to being a nomad golfer as I love competition golf & playing from the competition tees & having an EGU handicap. I don't think you can describe the excitement / nerves on medal days when every shot counts & 1 mistake could undo 17 holes of good golf!

Adrian

Does your de Vere membership give you a CONGU handicap?

I'm paying £800 per year for full 7 day membership at a club with two courses.  I can also play the old course (about 4 miles up the road) for £10 per round.  I play my home course at least once per week, sometimes 2 rounds a day.  In the summer I probably get 3 or 4 rounds per week in. 

I'm also considering taking up an offer through work to join The Bristol on a 5 day membership for £265 per year as it only takes 10 minutes to get there, it's a decent course and I can play with a couple of friends from work once a week for the equivalent of £5 per round

I think that the Crown Golf format is probably the best balance for those that like the variety as a member can play any of the other courses in the group for gree mid-week (though I realise that doesn't help those who work late).  If you live in the area with a large concentration of them then it works

James. Yes I have a congu handicap,I am not on the new points system (although, even on that you can have a congu HC ). That enables me to play in club open comps all round uk. They can be found on golfempire.co.uk.

think r b looking at a membership next yr at  WORSLEY GOLF CLUB , this yr it was £795 for 6day ,or £890 for 7day , think r go with the 6day , or its £35 a round in the week £40 at weekends , its like 5mimz  from me ,i,v come from racing motorbike for 18yrs so this is a cheap sport 4 me

Colin,

My last club got loads of members complaining when they allowed societies on the course (only in the week were they allowed) as the standard of play / etiquette was awful. I'm not saying that's what all societies are like but the one's that visited our course were.

So although the club may need the money from the societies in the short term the long term effect is that they upset the members & as a result leave the club for somewhere else. My view is if the club is short of money then they need to organise events for the members / guests to bring extra income in.

Most Golf Clubs have two sides to them, Playing & Social.

The Playing side brings in the membership fee only and is the bigger percentage of most Clubs.

The Social side is the area where Clubs struggle. One guy boasted to me that he had been a Member of a Club for three years and had never been in the Clubhouse in that time. Boasted! He is the type of guy Golf Clubs don't want.

Some Clubs tried a 'Bar Levi' on its Fees, others offered a 'Bar Card' that give the Member 15% off Bar Prices 

A Golf Club offers us a Service at a Price. We then can pay it or not.  Non Members should not start dictating what they think that Club should charge.

TheLyth

Colin,

But this extra income has to come from non-members and this is where it is difficult.

Not necessarily, my old club used to arrange golf days where members paid to enter or bbq days where members could invite guests. All of this generated extra income for the club.

Colin,

I think it is only the real prestigious courses or courses that are not struggling for new members that can warrant a joining fee these days. At my last club I paid £1000 to join & I didn't mind as the club at the time was one of the best in the midlands. 5 years on & the course fell well below standards & the green fees were in excess of £1200 pa, hence to say they have now sacked the greenkeeper as it was down to poor maintenance, so I decided to leave.

My new club I didn't have to pay to join, & if I had to pay I think in these current economic conditions if it had been anymore than £500 I would have looked elsewhere.

People just can't afford to pay the astronomic joining fees these days, it doesn't mean that they wouldn't be loyal to the club (I paid £1000 & left!). We just want value for money & for members suggestions listened to.

Matt

Is £1,200 the annual subscription or does it include an element of joining fee?  It seems a bit steep.  The average in my area for a good private members club is in the region of £950 per year.  Only the top few clubs in the area are charging £1,100 or £1,200.

I spent 12 years as the treasurer of our club and spent more hours than I care to remember researching, analysing & debating different membership options.  I'm in a similar situation to you.  Rarely do I play during the week and get nowhere near averaging even one round per week over a year.  However, I know that golf club finances just don't make it possible to offer 'weekend' membership.

One thing I would say is that being a member of a private members club can't really be compared to just turning up somewhere to pay a green fee and go out to play.  In my case, that is just as well becuase if I were to analyse my cost per round I would give up my membership immediately!

As you rightly say you have to factor in the opportunity to play competiitve golf in club competitions and represent the club in matches.  Also, I like the fact that I never have to book a tee time and can pretty much guarantee that if I'm not fixed up, whenever I want to play I am able to get a game.  For me, the club is also a social venue where I can drop in and have a pint or two with my fellow members after work.

On the issue of enrty fees you have to remember that in most private members club you become a shareolder on joining and are enttitled to a share of the club's assets on the winding up or sale of the club.  Even a fairly average private members club would be vauled at a figure in excess of £2 - £3m assuming they are own the land on which the course is built. Granted, rarely do clubs liquidate but it does happen from time to time.

Richard,

West Bowling, nr Bradford closed a few years ago and most members got around £35,000. I think they had to be current Full Members who had paid an Entrance Fee or had been a member over 10yrs(?).

The possibility of paying Yearly Membership Fees over 10/12 months has saved many golfers from leaving their Clubs.

TheLyth

Matt,

I have a lot of sympathy with you, I am in the exact same situation. Trying to find the right balance between family/work/golf (or wish it was golf, family work... in that order) is very difficult.

The cost of being a member around my area (Sussex / Surrey) is usually at least £800 a year even though there is a plethora of courses around here.

Recently Reigate Hill have started offering "flexible membership". You buy credits at the start of the year and use these to play. You save on standard green fees but don't have to commit to full membership. You cannot enter trophy competitions (ok, you have to save something for full members) but you can get a proper hcp and play monthly medal / stableford. I can also play other courses as I am not financially tied in to Reigate.

I managed to get another 7 people from work to join up as well, for which the club gave us a small bonus on our bar cards - great attitude.

This has worked reasonably well for me this year although I haven't played as much as I would have liked due to work travel commitments. I have come across a little bit of an atitude from a few members towards flexible members but in general I am treated equally.

I wish more clubs would come up with inventice and flexible schemese like this. I believe it is working well at Reigate Hill who have attracted quite a large new membership.

£800 a year is very cheap golf.

I am pleased that the proper clubs have not had to fall into this grab money at every opportunity lark, which has spolied many a good club.

I am a member of one such club that is only money orientated and then wonders why they have a problem getting full members to stay for more than a year.

i upset the management at a recent meeting when I was attempting to introduce a method to keep 2 balls and 3/4 balls apart, but they were not interested and did not like my comment that the club was not a proper golf club in the truest meaning of the word and until they are prepared to make it a club then they will suffer membership problems.

It is a shame because the course is amongst the best of the new courses that have been built in the last thirty years.

Golf at Goodwood have a membership scheme as follows

£250 yearly fee to include no tokens (basically allows you to recieve a handicap and play in all comps)

Tokens can then be purchased at different rates depending on the amount purchased, varying from £3 to £5 per token.

These tokens can then be used against rounds on either of their 2 courses, one of which is ranked in the top 100 and doesnt accept societies.

The number of tokens needed depends on peak, mid and off time slots.

Golf at Goodwood is a fantastic club and the clubhouse (kennels) is second to none.

This system means you can play less or more depending on your needs. To play 3 times a week would still end up costing around £1000 per year, but not if you didnt play as much.

I enjoy playing new courses but will still have a home course that is fantastic but not costing me the earth, once my membership goes through.

A great flexible way to try and update the outdated falling membership problem that so many courses have.

I had to pay a joining fee to join Minchinhampton that was equivalent to one full year's membership (about £800) but I am allowed to spread it over the first three years.  I get two courses 7 days a week and as you can only book every other tee time in advance you can turn up cold and normally get out within 30 minutes or so

I get 15% off in the bar, the food is fantastic and as it's only open to members and visiting golfers it doesn't get rammed (though it is reasonably busy most days).  The range is also only open to members and visiting golfers so doesn't get too busy, is quite cheap and you can play off the grass.  There's also a pretty good short game practice area with large putting green, bunkers and chipping area which are all free

There's plenty of comps which range from the board trophies to the informal Saturday 'pound in the pot' roll up.  They also have comps that visitors can play in for a small fee (£15-£20) which are well supported as they are cheaper than the green fees

I think the biggest thing Minch does is the dirt cheap membership for kids.  Unders 12's is £43 per year for full 7 day, rising to £91 for under 18's.  The place always has loads of kids around and in the summer holidays the parents drop them off in the morning and pick them up after work.  They are well behaved and most of them are pretty good.  They also charge just £91 for anyone under 29 and in full time education which means many of the local colleges and unis use the course as their home for their club.  Kids and students don't pay a joining fee

The real bad thing about a joining fee is for guys who have to move around the country for their job. Two years here, a year there and then somewhere different. They are made to become nomades, so lose out on Club Golf.

When I first moved 'home' to Leeds and looked for a Club, £720pa (no JF)  was the best on offer, so I even thought of keeping my £520pa Filey membership and travelling the 120mile round trip for golf. My daughter wanted to play too and because the Fees for her in Leeds were so low, the package in Leeds was better. I also had the choice to join a Muni in Leeds for £63pa (no golf fees) then only pay £265pa at Filey as a 'Country member'.

TheLyth