# Centurion Golf Club



## gripitripit (Apr 18, 2013)

I have just read the article about the soon to be open exclusive members only club. 
Is it just me but do the owners seem a tad elitist with the "if you looking to pay Â£600-Â£700 we are not the club for you. 
Â£4500 joining fee and Â£2500 a year. 

Dunno about you guys but if I could afford it I think I would put my money in an established club.


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## cookelad (Apr 18, 2013)

I see Mike H has put a quote on the home page!

Course looks good (sunny day rule) the price itself isn't "that" high considering the statement in the OP! I think it is just that statement that comes across very poorly!


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## USER1999 (Apr 18, 2013)

A friend of mine works on the ground staff there. He helped landscape it. It's very nice apparently. There will be plenty of people rich enough to join there. 

Just not me!

Another friend has corporate membership there though, so I might get an invitation.


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## Biggleswade Blue (Apr 18, 2013)

They keep calling me to try and get me to go for an open day.  Very tempted to wait until its open, then squeeze a free round out of them!  I wonder how far I'd get?  Car Park?  Clubhouse?  1st tee?  1st green?


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## stevie_r (Apr 18, 2013)

The website does have some utter cobblers and wild-assed assumptions on it.


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## scratch (Apr 18, 2013)

Just peeped at the website, has a real look of East Sussex/The Oxfordshire about it. Both those clubs opened in a big megabucks fanfare yet are now no more expensive than anywhere else in the region.

Time will tell.....


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## Biggleswade Blue (Apr 18, 2013)

stevie_r said:



			The website does have some utter cobblers and wild-assed assumptions on it.
		
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I especially like "Ideally located to the west of St Albans..."

​That rather depends on where you live.  It's not ideal of you live to the east of St Albans, or in Dubai for example.
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## Whee (Jun 12, 2013)

Not long now until this beauty opens up.

I've just been informed by e-mail that as an 'associate of our good friends' - that CGC would live to invite me for a private tour of the facilities during my next visit to the UK.

Very good of them. However, if it doesn't include the privilege of hacking their fairways to pieces, I think i'll be giving it a miss!


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## garyinderry (Jun 12, 2013)

I much prefer traditional wanky to this self styled wanky!


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## jp5 (Jun 12, 2013)

It does look a stunning course, that's what money buys you apparently!


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## BoadieBroadus (Jun 12, 2013)

it does look great, but i'm still sceptical that the demand for this sort of facility really exists to make it financially viable. brocket hall isn't that far from centurion is it?

and about a zillion other clubs at a fifth of the price.

my concern is that it would attract the flashiest, brashest set of members in the area with an enormous sense of entitlement.


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## MikeH (Jun 12, 2013)

I went there last year and was very impresssed with the layout of the course (I'd certainly stand by my quote that they have used on the website) and the quality of the facilities they are putting in is outstanding

It's in a different league to the Oxfordshire and ESN.

I only walked the course and putted on a few greens but would say it'll will be on a par, if not better, than The Grove/Bearwood Lakes 

The club set-up is obvioulsy very exclusive but with limited memberships you're never going to be complaining about getting a tee time or long rounds (unless you want them to take a long time!)

there's nothing really like it in the area - you have to go all the way round to Bearwood/The Wisley/Queenwood to find something of this ilk

the scary thing is there are a lot of people who live in the SE who wont have to think twice about the fees


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## Foxholer (Jun 12, 2013)

BoadieBroadus said:



			my concern is that it would attract the flashiest, brashest set of members in the area with an enormous sense of entitlement.
		
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Well, that at least gets rid of them from everywhere else!


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## stevie_r (Jun 12, 2013)

For a club trying to pitch itself at the elite end of the market the website is absolutely appalling:

'Very shortly, a new and exciting 18 hole golf course will be unveiled to the west of St Albans and to the rest of the world' - appalling use of English.

'The private Centurion Club is located near St Albans and features what will become a world-renowned golf course' - Crystal ball? I think those that play it will be the judge of that.

'Each hole is unique' - really?  Difficult to tell by the hole by hole guide as you have only bothered to put 4 of the holes on it.  They don't look very unique TBH, Teeing areas, greens, fairways, hazards, that sort of stuff.

The clubhouse probably is unique, they don't have one, it's a 'club building'.

Centurion Membership - the opening blurb on this ie a quick run down on what a centurion actually is, is lifted word for word from that definitive reference work Wikipedia.  How bone idle is that?

For what they will probably be charging and for the class of member they wish to attract you think they could have put some effort in.


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## HickoryShaft (Jun 12, 2013)

It's going to be very interesting to see how they get on with running the club & if the membership does cover the costs etc.

You certainly have to be bold in today's market and although its out of my league I think they have a strong business model and it could work if they get the club and course right. 

You never know it may become a modern classic.

However as was said in the article, there are recent examples of where the same model did not work and being too exclusive meant that the income was unable to keep up with members expectation of the club then it comes tumbling down as a business.

As Mike points out there are plenty of people in that neck of the woods that will happilly pay for that sort of exclusivity and have the money to do so.

On balance I think it has a good chance of making it (if you check my fantasy league team position you will know my predictions are somewhat questionable!!)


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## jp5 (Jun 12, 2013)

stevie_r said:



			'Each hole is unique' - really?  Difficult to tell by the hole by hole guide as you have only bothered to put 4 of the holes on it.  They don't look very unique TBH, Teeing areas, greens, fairways, hazards, that sort of stuff.
		
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There's an idea, a course with 18 holes with are exactly identical! Wonder if your score would improve over the round.


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## Deleted Member 1156 (Jun 12, 2013)

I'll wait 3 years then play it on the Â£20 twilight rate when that has been introduced


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## paddyc (Jun 12, 2013)

gripitripit said:



			I have just read the article about the soon to be open exclusive members only club. 
Is it just me but do the owners seem a tad elitist with the "if you looking to pay Â£600-Â£700 we are not the club for you. 
Â£4500 joining fee and Â£2500 a year. 

Dunno about you guys but if I could afford it I think I would put my money in an established club.
		
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Woburn - not too far up the road"ideally located" 3 fantastic very established 18 hole courses. joining fee Â£7000 I think, annual subs Â£3000.
I know which one i would choose.if you can afford Â£4500 joining fee what's an extra two and half grand or Â£500 a year.


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## PieMan (Jun 12, 2013)

Would like to play it. However if money was no object then I would join West Herts (sorry Murph!) and then treat myself to 2 or 3 rounds at The Grove every month.


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## fundy (Jun 12, 2013)

PieMan said:



			Would like to play it. However if money was no object then I would join West Herts (sorry Murph!) and then treat myself to 2 or 3 rounds at The Grove every month.
		
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think Id happily settle at Brocket Hall in the money no object category round there (still makes my eyes water when I see what Dad pays though lol)


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## USER1999 (Jun 12, 2013)

The guy paying for centurion is minted, and he probably doesn't need it to succeed as a business, as it's more of a hobby.


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## USER1999 (Jun 12, 2013)

PieMan said:



			Would like to play it. However if money was no object then I would join West Herts (sorry Murph!) and then treat myself to 2 or 3 rounds at The Grove every month.
		
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You would need to be proposed by someone.........


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## stevie_r (Jun 12, 2013)

Once my investments finally pay out then I'll be talking to the nice people at Archerfield, I like the cut of their jib.



I call them investments it's obviously just a two quid punt on the Euromillions really.


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## patricks148 (Jun 12, 2013)

I used to live in St Albans and used to go mountain Biking along an old bridle path that went though where this course has now been built.

Over the space of a couple of years the ground level was raised about 50-70 feet buy using it as a dump! there was all sorts of stuff going in there, medical waste domestic rubbish, all sorts!!! 

you would never know by the pictures..

I did't really play golf when i lived down there but i remember a club built at the back of Wheathampstead and owned by a Japanees bank, and thay ran along sim lines, there was talk of that being closed when we moved back to Inverness, interested if this thing flys!!


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## Foxholer (Jun 12, 2013)

patricks148 said:



			Over the space of a couple of years the ground level was raised about 50-70 feet buy using it as a dump! there was all sorts of stuff going in there, medical waste domestic rubbish, all sorts!!! 

you would never know by the pictures..
		
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This, or similar, seems to be the way courses are developed these days.

I certainly know one that actually made a profit from the development - with most of the old Wembley Stadium under its rolling 'dunes'!


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