5 day tickets stopped

rapper

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Our club plays on a municipal course run by a Trust on behalf of the local council, we used to be able to have either a 5 day ticket or a seven day ticket, now without prior notice the 5 day ticket as been withdrawn and we can only buy a 7 day ticket, without them giving us any notice or reason.
As a senior I only play a couple of times midweek so I have had to stump up another 20 + % to play with our senior section,i find this very unprofessional and unfair.
Other then not to renew my membership can they be challenged on what they have done as being unfair and illegal or any other reasons?
Any advice would be most welcome
Thanks
 

HomerJSimpson

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Our club plays on a municipal course run by a Trust on behalf of the local council, we used to be able to have either a 5 day ticket or a seven day ticket, now without prior notice the 5 day ticket as been withdrawn and we can only buy a 7 day ticket, without them giving us any notice or reason.
As a senior I only play a couple of times midweek so I have had to stump up another 20 + % to play with our senior section,i find this very unprofessional and unfair.
Other then not to renew my membership can they be challenged on what they have done as being unfair and illegal or any other reasons?
Any advice would be most welcome
Thanks

My first thought, if it is run by a Trust (or any private company) is that they can do what they like in terms of membership. I am assuming you don't have any form of AGM or voting rights? All I can suggest is writing to the trust and the council and asking for an explanation but ultimately I fear it will fall on death ears
 

howbow88

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If enough of you feel the same way, then a group email/letter constructively highlighting your concerns is probably the way to go. Best of luck getting sorted.
 

Neilds

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Also, councils have lost loads of money due to COVID-19- business rates, council tax breaks, etc so will possibly be looking for easy ways to get a bit more money. You look like easy targets unfortunately
 

2blue

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I'm afraid Councils are really strapped for cash so just keeping a Muni going is a problem. There used to be 4 available in Leeds.... now just one 18 holes & a 9 holer. It's still cheap golf though on deteriorating courses.Where are you based?
 

Dibby

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Our club plays on a municipal course run by a Trust on behalf of the local council, we used to be able to have either a 5 day ticket or a seven day ticket, now without prior notice the 5 day ticket as been withdrawn and we can only buy a 7 day ticket, without them giving us any notice or reason.
As a senior I only play a couple of times midweek so I have had to stump up another 20 + % to play with our senior section,i find this very unprofessional and unfair.
Other then not to renew my membership can they be challenged on what they have done as being unfair and illegal or any other reasons?
Any advice would be most welcome
Thanks

How do you think the guys that work and can only play at weekends feel when they have to stump up for 7 days when they can usually only use 2?
I don't say that to invalidate your point, just that you'll have a hard time convincing people that "only" being able to play on 5 days out of the 7 you pay for is a hardship, when a lot will pay for 7 and only be able to use 2.
 

nickjdavis

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Our club plays on a municipal course run by a Trust on behalf of the local council, we used to be able to have either a 5 day ticket or a seven day ticket, now without prior notice the 5 day ticket as been withdrawn and we can only buy a 7 day ticket, without them giving us any notice or reason.
As a senior I only play a couple of times midweek so I have had to stump up another 20 + % to play with our senior section,i find this very unprofessional and unfair.
Other then not to renew my membership can they be challenged on what they have done as being unfair and illegal or any other reasons?
Any advice would be most welcome
Thanks

...as someone who is employed full time and can only play at weekends I find it unfair to have to pay for a 7 day membership when in reality I can only play 2 days a week.

oki...so Dibby beat me to it!!!!

(note to self...read entire thread before responding)
 

Robster59

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I'm with the above two. I pay full membership as I can only play weekends, and evenings during the summer. You now have the option to play any time you want.
As has been stated, councils are cash strapped and there are a lot of council owned golf courses closing so I guess they are doing this to try and get the funds to keep it running.
I'm not sure but I would guess your 7 day membership at this course is still cheaper than a similar membership at a private course.
 
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Lol. "Unfair and illegal".

I'm suspecting that this may be a wind-up post.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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We no longer offer 5-day membership and the numbers are dwindling - mostly for obvious and rather unavoidable age-related reasons - from 93 last year to 70 this year. But they remain an active and valued section of the membership contributing much to the health of the club.

It's a pity that as a full member only able to play weekends and summer weekday evenings I really don't know very many of them :)
 

Dibby

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I've advocated getting rid of 5 day memberships at our club altogether. Essentially what happens is some full members get to retirement age and drop to 5 day memberships. They then play more golf but for less money, it's not a sustainable model. The course costs just as much to set up on a weekday as it does on a weekend.

Its an interesting idea, I guess there is also the other side of the coin that weekends are prime time and usually easier to sell, so incentivising members to use off peak times allowing more weekend green fees and 7 day memberships to be sold might be better for the balance sheet. I assume clubs do analysis on this, and it would be individual depending on demographics. Of course there is also the appearance of fairness, especially as it is obvious that a 2 day weekend membership would be worth more than the difference between 5 and 7 day memberships, even though it provides less access to the course.
 

hovis

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Alot of clubs by me where offering 5 day membership before covid when they was trying to gain customers. Now it's a rush to play they're only offering 7 days. It seems they think "why offer a 5 day at £900 when we can demand £1200 for a 7 day."
Its a time of plenty for golf clubs at the minute. It will soon change and they'll be back to cap in hand begging for customers again. Like many businesses golf are definitely taking advantage of the current situation. If I was a business owner I guess I would do the same too
 

ScienceBoy

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5 day memberships should go.

In their place we need flexible memberships and full memberships only.

I think sufficient value can be found from the two solutions working together. If someone only wishes to play a number of rounds a year, say 10-20 they can have a points based membership to facilitate that at a slightly reduced rate compared to green fees plus affiliation fees and insurance (at the home club). It should be a balance between ensuring proper funding to the club and affordability to the member.

Then for those who need the next level of freedom can take out a full membership.

Going to this model will allow the removal of weekday memberships and I think this is the future for golf club membership.
 

jim8flog

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I am of the camp

All members one fee. Particularly when the choice is 5day or 7 day.

I never understood why we introduced it as all we did effectively was to reduce the clubs membership fee income by £5k (from memory)

As all our increases are percentage based we also were reaching the point where the difference between 5 day and 7 day was getting to be quite a big figure. This however was put right a few years ago and 5 day members now receive a larger percentage fee increase than 7 day ones.
 

GB72

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My former club ditched 5 day membership a while ago. Seems fair to me that everyone pays the same and has the same access to the course. As others have said, many people, me included, had to pay for 7 days to play once or twice a week and so having to pay for 7 days when you only want to play on 5 of them does not seem that big a hardship and it also allows you into weekend comps etc.
 

USER1999

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Is that without 5 day memberships though? Otherwise it's impossible to know if it is despite or because of them.

We have full, 5 day, and lifestyle (a points based scheme). No idea which category plays the most, but every day it's booked solid.
Except the last two weeks, where we have restrictions in place).
 

rosecott

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5 day memberships should go.

In their place we need flexible memberships and full memberships only.

I think sufficient value can be found from the two solutions working together. If someone only wishes to play a number of rounds a year, say 10-20 they can have a points based membership to facilitate that at a slightly reduced rate compared to green fees plus affiliation fees and insurance (at the home club). It should be a balance between ensuring proper funding to the club and affordability to the member.

Then for those who need the next level of freedom can take out a full membership.

Going to this model will allow the removal of weekday memberships and I think this is the future for golf club membership.

One of our many membership options is a Pay & Play membership. It is points based and any weekend play is at the highest rate.
 
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