Why golf club members should embrace visitors

Here at Golfshake we hear a lot about golf club members being annoyed by the presence of visitors and societies at their courses. For many of you it can be a source of frustration, especially if you are a member at a resort course with hotel attached.

While I can understand this, I take a slightly different stance. I believe that visitors should be embraced.

Now before you start choking on your Corn Flakes, bear with me while I try to explain what I see as the benefits of welcoming visitors to your course. I am a member at Dunston Hall Golf Club on the outskirts of Norwich. 

Why is there tension between golf club members and visitors?

Like several other clubs in the area (Barnham Broom, Sprowston Manor, Heacham Manor, Wensum Valley), it is a resort course. When you join such a golf club you have to accept that there may be occasions when you are going to struggle to get the tee times you want, especially at weekends and Monday mornings. 

The thing is that hotel guests on golf breaks are as much a part of the lifeblood of your club as the members who pay their annual subscriptions. My annual subs cost me well under £1,000 and I reckon that represents pretty good value for money. I know full well that if it were not for the hotel guests who play my course then I would be paying a great deal more. And my argument is a simple one - if you join a resort course then you are surely aware of the fact that there are going to be occasions when you are going to struggle to get on the course. If that is an issue for you then I suggest you find another golf club.

The likes of Barnham Broom and Wensum Valley have two 18-hole courses so their members are far more likely to be able to play whenever they want. 

I am lucky. I have retired from full-time work and that means that I simply avoid playing golf at the weekend and on Monday mornings.

What visitors bring to golf clubs

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Remember too that visitors will be spending money behind the bar at your club, thus helping to balance the books. They will also frequent the golf shop.

Let me ask you a question: do you go on regular golf breaks in this country? 

I had two society weekends in 2025 and already have two more in the diary for 2026. Each of these will involve a minimum of 16 golfers. On one of them we will be playing 18 holes of golf on a Sunday afternoon and a further 18 holes on a Monday morning. We will be eating dinner and breakfast, probably drinking too much alcohol and staying overnight. The other break sees us playing on a Wednesday and a Thursday.

Now do you think that at either of these breaks we will be a giving a single thought to the men and women who are members at those courses? Of course not. And will those same members be cursing us because we have taken so many tee times? Of course they will. Will they be accusing us all of taking too long to play 18 holes? Probably.

Visitors bring significant revenue to golf clubs

But we will be pouring thousands of pounds into the coffers of both courses. I should also point out that these are venues we have visited before. We are returning because we were actually made to feel welcome and because we all feel that they represent value for money. We have also sung the praises of both venues to fellow golfers and surely that can only be a good thing.

If you have a steady flow of visitors to your golf club, whether or not it is a resort course, then I believe you should embrace them, make them feel welcome and count your blessings that they are spending money and helping to keep your own green fees down.

There is something else that is worth considering. Everybody has to start somewhere. Each and every one of us was a visitor at some point in our lives. If you treat your visitors with respect there is every chance that they will want to come back and join your club as a member.