Club's compensation package for lockdown 3.

[Deleted member 1147]

Depends on if the club owns the land or rents it - some clubs have to pay over up to £100k a year just to lease the land

If a golf course isn’t maintained for 3 months then it’s going to lose a lot more than just money.

We pay the National Trust about £100k.
I’m not aware that we got a refund from them.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Probably no staff correct. What unit rent does a golf club have to pay during lockdown?

They will still have rates to pay on the clubhouse, possibly rent as well depending on the set up.

 

[Blue in Munich]

I agree, we haven’t “lost” money. What we have lost though is a service, say we lost 3 months of golf due to the lockdowns one argument could be that the coming years fees are reduced by 25% to make up for it. Wanting a rebate though is short sighted, I think we both agree that we don’t want anything back from the clubs, just for them to be as strong as possible moving forwards.

And we lost that service because of a Government decree, not because of any failure on the club's part. The club had no choice in the matter.

I really hope that people don't go down the route of suing clubs when it was completely outside their control; the only winners will be ambulance chasing lawyers.

 

[Captainron]

Another consideration here is that if a club decides to give back say £100 to each full member.

£100 is not a lot of money. You could do without it. It’s a night out or a meal with the wife and kids at a normal restaurant. No one here is going to die if they lose £100. It’s rock all really.

That club has 800 members and all of a sudden that’s £80k gone.

That’s a lot of money. That could be the difference between being there and not got some clubs.

Add on lost revenue from visitors, catering and the bar.

Stop being so short sighted.

 

[DanFST]

Depends on if the club owns the land or rents it - some clubs have to pay over up to £100k a year just to lease the land

If a golf course isn’t maintained for 3 months then it’s going to lose a lot more than just money.

And how many green staff are needed for basic maintenance, with no traffic to get in the way?

They will still have rates to pay on the clubhouse, possibly rent as well depending on the set up.

So the same as other business' which have refunded or extended membership.

My clubs a members club, a good one. I don't intend on leaving and improvements have been made in lockdown. No issue not getting anything to make up for the lack of golf. However not everyone is in that situation. It's not short sighted, My friend joined his first club in the end of December with membership running till the end of March. He will have paid £300+ for absolutely no golf. They are refusing to extend it.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Another consideration here is that if a club decides to give back say £100 to each full member.

£100 is not a lot of money. You could do without it. It’s a night out or a meal with the wife and kids at a normal restaurant. No one here is going to die if they lose £100. It’s rock all really.

That club has 800 members and all of a sudden that’s £80k gone.

That’s a lot of money. That could be the difference between being there and not got some clubs.

Add on lost revenue from visitors, catering and the bar.

Stop being so short sighted.

I think they said that ours will cost effectively £50k.
Fortunately we’re a well run club and are financially secure.
Others aren’t so lucky.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

And how many green staff are needed for basic maintenance, with no traffic to get in the way?



So the same as other business' which have refunded or extended membership.

My clubs a members club, a good one. I don't intend on leaving and improvements have been made in lockdown. No issue not getting anything to make up for the lack of golf. However not everyone is in that situation. It's not short sighted, My friend joined his first club in the end of December with membership running till the end of March. He will have paid £300+ for absolutely no golf. They are refusing to extend it.

Lots of clubs are shut due to weather in those months anyway.
Would he expect to get money back due to rain/snow closures?

 

[Liverbirdie]

Enjoy your retirement.....

Please at least spend it in the pro shop at your club or the bar.

If they sell rum and raisin yorkies and Birra Morreti, would be rude not to.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

And how many green staff are needed for basic maintenance, with no traffic to get in the way?



So the same as other business' which have refunded or extended membership.

My clubs a members club, a good one. I don't intend on leaving and improvements have been made in lockdown. No issue not getting anything to make up for the lack of golf. However not everyone is in that situation. It's not short sighted, My friend joined his first club in the end of December with membership running till the end of March. He will have paid £300+ for absolutely no golf. They are refusing to extend it.

I'm not sure what other businesses are doing but I am also at a private members club. If the club refunds £100k to members that is £100k less they have to spend on maintaining and improving the course. As the number of rounds drops off considerably at this time of year anyway I really don't think many members will be complaining.

 

[clubchamp98]

For any of the lockdowns, nothing

Me to.
We have a £100 on bar card and £50 development fund as part of our fees.
They have told us we don’t have to pay this .
So they have let us off with our own money.

 

[Oddsocks]

What about the people who paid in full last year?

The owner is offering a loyalty discount for members but you're choosing to go and be a member elsewhere.

Apart from Marriott as mentioned, and I'm sure maybe another one or two examples might pop up, very few clubs would have just let people stop paying their DD as that's just a way of paying the annual fee that you committed to.

My old course used a finance company for the membership and us such was legally bound by their contract to freeze any DD’s for months they were closed

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Me to.
We have a £100 on bar card and £50 development fund as part of our fees.
They have told us we don’t have to pay this .
So they have let us off with our own money.

Ha ha, good sleight of hand.

 

[Kennysarmy]

It’s not your club anymore though is it?

?
I'm a member up until the 31st March.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

?
I'm a member up until the 31st March.

Look on the bright side, you can play on the 29th, 30th and 31st March

 

[clubchamp98]

Ha ha, good sleight of hand.

Yes it looks cheaper than last year by £150 .
But most of us will spend that any way over the year.
I will be happy to see it survive in the condition it’s in very good.
Miss the banter of the lads and can’t wait to get back to normal.

 

[Kennysarmy]

I'm not sure what other businesses are doing but I am also at a private members club. If the club refunds £100k to members that is £100k less they have to spend on maintaining and improving the course. As the number of rounds drops off considerably at this time of year anyway I really don't think many members will be complaining.

Or it's £100k less profit made by the guy who owns it!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Or it's £100k less profit made by the guy who owns it!

It thought you were at a private club ?

But in my case it's a private club and no work has taken place.

Why did you keep paying each month if you were leaving ?

 

[Deleted member 18588]

And if the winter weather was unexpectedly mild or if you were able, through WFH, to play say 140 rounds a year rather than an expected 100 would you be happy on leaving to be asked for an extra 40% of your normal fees?

 

[Kennysarmy]

It thought you were at a private club ?



Why did you keep paying each month if you were leaving ?

It's privately owned by an individual ( family)
It's not "owned" by the current members or trustees.

I tried to do the right thing and continue to pay my direct debits up until the end of my current membership year, even though I had the right ( now removed for future members ) to cancel with no notice.

Lockdown 1 we were offered shop vouchers or money off the end of the year year direct debits.

I wrongly thought there would be a shop voucher option this time and I'd get some of my last three £77.50 payments back.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

And if the winter weather was unexpectedly mild or if you were able, through WFH, to play say 140 rounds a year rather than an expected 100 would you be happy on leaving to be asked for an extra 40% of your normal fees?

Every Club and its financial situation is different, let’s not kid ourselves that some Clubs haven’t made a profit using furlough and gaining new members/visitors last summer.

But I’ve never seen any Club base its fees on how many rounds an individual is expected or could play, infact I’d say some Clubs don’t care if you play 1 or a 100 once they have your money.

In my particular instance I don’t expect any compensation/reimbursement etc, but the talk of bad weather or amount of games played etc is smoke and mirrors and are not addressing the concerns or problems some members may face.

I’d hope, as our Club has done, that they will at least listen and discuss any issues an individual has.