Comp fees going up?

[Lord Tyrion]

I played for one of our teams a few times last year. There was always a 2 course meal afterwards, which we paid a fiver towards. I'd never thought about it before, but given the same offering is £12-£14 normally, there is obviously some kind of cross-subsidy going on.

Never quite understood the need for a 2 course sit down meal after a club game. It's historical but if you offered it to players at full price, unsubsidised, do you think that there would be many takers? The are simpler and cheaper ways to socialise with opposition after a round.

 

[Imurg]

I have always understood the the 2's ball sweep cannot be mandatory as essentially it's considered gambling by the golf powers that be, and therefore there has to be an "opt out".

Am I right or wrong?

Our under 18s can play in the club comps but cannot enter the 2s or the Sweep...

 

[Imurg]

Never quite understood the need for a 2 course sit down meal after a club game. It's historical but if you offered it to players at full price, unsubsidised, do you think that there would be many takers? The are simpler and cheaper ways to socialise with opposition after a round.

Surely all you need is a couple of plates of sarnies and a couple of bowls of chips....job done for a fraction of the price

 

[sweaty sock]

Surely all you need is a couple of plates of sarnies and a couple of bowls of chips....job done for a fraction of the price

I wouldnt even do that, It bouls my proverbial there are players at our club that get, first team, seniors team, mixed team, and even occasional "b" team meals. 4 bloody meals a week the club are paying for! I'd 100% scrap the lot.

I get there should be a rare reward for being good, something golf isnt great at rewarding, but people will constantly take advantage if you give them half a chance...

 

[D-S]

Surely all you need is a couple of plates of sarnies and a couple of bowls of chips....job done for a fraction of the price

This is what our representative teams do, paid for nominally out of the 25% levy on comp fees that includes engraving etc.
Friendly matches (mainly Senior’s) have a one or two course meal that they have to pay for - now at least they do this on a rolling basis but still it is not what many would like, so they struggle to field teams for the 35+ Seniors matches despite a high number of members being eligible.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Ah club matches - great way to play other courses , meet other golfers from both your home club and away club , a little bit of competitive representation- would highly recommend everyone get involved. Would play in every single game if I could but thankfully the club has loads of people willing to play in club matches. Nice bit of breakie , good golf and then a bit of food after - good day out - first one if the summer season in 2 weeks at Ellesborough

 

[chrisd]

For our vet league matches they've gone from an after match dinner where you needed to shower, change into jacket, collar and tie, have a 2 or 3 course dinner, speeches from both captains etc etc to a pre match lunch. Afterwards we'd normally have a drink and then go home - much better imo

 

[Orikoru]

Ours is usually £3* entry and optional £2 for the twos. I rarely used to enter the twos, until one time I didn't bother and got two twos. Now I enter it most of the time, which is a surefire way to guarantee I won't get any twos.

*Board comps and major vary, often are £4 or £5 entry.

 

[Crazyface]

All winnings at my place go on the Proshop account.

Same as ours. Fair play as he organises and runs everything.

 

[doublebogey7]

I am surprised by the amount of meals some of your clubs are paying for. At ours the first teams for Ladies and Gents are paid by the club, other meals are paid for by the players. That seems about right to me, not sure why a club feels the need to pay for the meals of those playing in what amounts to social golf. This is pretty universal across the county.

 

[Springveldt]

I am surprised by the amount of meals some of your clubs are paying for. At ours the first teams for Ladies and Gents are paid by the club, other meals are paid for by the players. That seems about right to me, not sure why a club feels the need to pay for the meals of those playing in what amounts to social golf. This is pretty universal across the county.

This is something I had never thought of before but why am I paying to subsidise someone's meal just because they are good at golf? I gain zero benefit from the club team (like 98% of the members I would guess) so why can't they pay for their own meals? Is it because they wouldn't play if they had to?

 

[sweaty sock]

This is something I had never thought of before but why am I paying to subsidise someone's meal just because they are good at golf? I gain zero benefit from the club team (like 98% of the members I would guess) so why can't they pay for their own meals? Is it because they wouldn't play if they had to?

Its just because nobody would pay. Its the old gaurd trying to hold onto dying traditions, up until last year it was suit and tie.

It used to be, work to five, drive to golf club, get changed into golf gear, play 18 holes, get in, wait for the last group to get finished. Get changed into suit and tie. Food would often start after 945. Get home at about 11 with 3 sets of clothes sloshing around your car. Holds no appeal to me no matter whose paying for the pie and chips...

 

[GB72]

Its just because nobody would pay. Its the old gaurd trying to hold onto dying traditions, up until last year it was suit and tie.

It used to be, work to five, drive to golf club, get changed into golf gear, play 18 holes, get in, wait for the last group to get finished. Get changed into suit and tie. Food would often start after 945. Get home at about 11 with 3 sets of clothes sloshing around your car. Holds no appeal to me no matter whose paying for the pie and chips...

Certainly last time I played club matches you bought your own club kit and everyone, home and away team, paid the same amount for the post match food (about £12.00 I think) and I thought that was fair. Now, I have no idea whether the first and second teams were subidised by the club. If they were, nobody said anything and I would not have been happy if they were. With so few people being anywhere near the level needed to get in the A and B teams (scratch or better) and the C team having been taken over by the clique of the great and the good of the club, there would be no benefit to most in paying for their kit and food. I could only play in the mixed team and then only at the courses that certain groups were not fussed about playing.

Interesting to see over the net few years how comp numbers hold up. Comps became a tax on handicaps at my club, you needed to enter to keep your handicap and to keep it up to date. Now cards are handed in more frequntly with WHS perhaps some who felt obligated to play for handicap reasons may not be so bothered now.

 

[HampshireHog]

You guys are living the dream £25-£30 for a friendly match at our place.

Mind you with West Hill, Worpleston, Woking, Liphook and Hindhead on our rota it still seems like value.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I am surprised by the amount of meals some of your clubs are paying for. At ours the first teams for Ladies and Gents are paid by the club, other meals are paid for by the players. That seems about right to me, not sure why a club feels the need to pay for the meals of those playing in what amounts to social golf. This is pretty universal across the county.

For us the only food provided is sandwich and chips for the scratch and mid HC teams for afterwards

We all buy our own shirts so I have a club shirt and also a scratch shirt

The inter club matches - it’s normally breakfast on arrival , then sandwiches and chips afterwards. Each person pays around £15

We do have the odd match with a rival that is breakfast , match then sit down meal with jacket and tie and a lot of wine , yep that dirty word - tradition, it’s a very popular match every year

 

[doublebogey7]

This is something I had never thought of before but why am I paying to subsidise someone's meal just because they are good at golf? I gain zero benefit from the club team (like 98% of the members I would guess) so why can't they pay for their own meals? Is it because they wouldn't play if they had to?

Its not that long ago when clubs would tout for the best golfers in the area and offer vastly reduced or in some cases free membership. Those clubs felt that having the best golfers at the club increased the clubs reputation and therefore made them more popular. I am guessing this all pretty much stopped at the onset of reduced memebership for the under 30/35/40's. Though it is clear some of the more famous clubs still do it.

 

[Backsticks]

I don’t think this is fair.
I don’t play in comps so have no idea of the cost of ours, but why should people who play in comps have to pay more towards the club than those who don’t?
I get why you pay an entry fee, prizes, engraving and the like, but the extra club revenue should come cross the board not as a tax on comps surely?!

We have competitions Sat and Sun. £5 entry, of which £3 goes to general club, the rest to prizes.

Club justifies it on the basis that Sat and Sun are the premium times, and so more valuable. Course almost but not quite full. Less than half full on weekdays. So turning away greenfees and outings groups at the weekend, when they could charge more than we contribute, they see as fair. I can see their point. We have a sub group of seniors that also play a competition on Tuesdays, and they dont play the club contribution. Generally retired so it suits them, and they like the quieter course.

 

[doublebogey7]

We have competitions Sat and Sun. £5 entry, of which £3 goes to general club, the rest to prizes.

Club justifies it on the basis that Sat and Sun are the premium times, and so more valuable. Course almost but not quite full. Less than half full on weekdays. So turning away greenfees and outings groups at the weekend, when they could charge more than we contribute, they see as fair. I can see their point. We have a sub group of seniors that also play a competition on Tuesdays, and they dont play the club contribution. Generally retired so it suits them, and they like the quieter course.

So do members not get any form of priority for tee times on non competition weekend days.

 

[Springveldt]

Its not that long ago when clubs would tout for the best golfers in the area and offer vastly reduced or in some cases free membership. Those clubs felt that having the best golfers at the club increased the clubs reputation and therefore made them more popular. I am guessing this all pretty much stopped at the onset of reduced memebership for the under 30/35/40's. Though it is clear some of the more famous clubs still do it.

Some still do it, I know of 2 people that have been offered cheap membership deals if they played for another club. Thing is, the club results mean nothing to the vast majority of members, personally I couldn't give two hoots if my club team wins, gets beat, get relegated etc. I don't go scouring for league results and think "I should join xxxx course, they just won the league, it must be great". It such a small subset of the membership that is affected by league matches, to get in my clubs team you need to be scratch or better. Even then there have been a few scratch golfers that never get in.

 

[Bdill93]

Some still do it, I know of 2 people that have been offered cheap membership deals if they played for another club. Thing is, the club results mean nothing to the vast majority of members, personally I couldn't give two hoots if my club team wins, gets beat, get relegated etc. I don't go scouring for league results and think "I should join xxxx course, they just won the league, it must be great". It such a small subset of the membership that is affected by league matches, to get in my clubs team you need to be scratch or better. Even then there have been a few scratch golfers that never get in.

Do your club not play in handicap matches?