Cost of Annual Membership at your Club

How much is Annual Membership at your club?


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Bdill93

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For the first time ever im contemplating a new club.

From September I no longer qualify for a Under 30's rate at my club so I move up to full membership costs which adds about £20 a month to my current cost.

I could move to a better course which offer reduced rates until I'm 35 for less money... but its a 30 minute drive through the countryside and not on my front door...

Decisions....
 

Neilds

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When clubs have grown membership hugely a 6% loss isn't anything to worry about just yet.

I know some clubs who have doubled the membership in the last few years.
Can clubs that have doubled their membership keep enough of them happy to retain the membership? Booking a tee time must be a lot more difficult, lots of new members means (potentially) a lot of brand new golfers so pace of play may suffer and more members playing means more unraked bunker, missing divots, unrepaired pitch marks etc. It is a bit of a balancing act to get the right number of members without tipping the balance too far either way
 

AdamC28

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For the first time ever im contemplating a new club.

From September I no longer qualify for a Under 30's rate at my club so I move up to full membership costs which adds about £20 a month to my current cost.

I could move to a better course which offer reduced rates until I'm 35 for less money... but its a 30 minute drive through the countryside and not on my front door...

Decisions....

I would be interested in what club you are considering? It's been a fair few years since I've played at Ravensmeddow but it does offer very good value for money.
There aren't many places you can join for less than £1000. I'm at Halesowen GC but that is still over £900 for up 36.
 

Bdill93

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I would be interested in what club you are considering? It's been a fair few years since I've played at Ravensmeddow but it does offer very good value for money.
There aren't many places you can join for less than £1000. I'm at Halesowen GC but that is still over £900 for up 36.

So on a bit of research this afternoon:

Ravenmeadow
£680 full adult membership
£440 Under 30's

Worcester golf and country club
£1200 full adult
£906 under 35's - £75pm

Sapey Golf and Country club
£880 full adult
£550 31-36
£450 18-30

Worcester is the best and second closest course to me (10 mins in good traffic but through the middle of town that wont happen often)
Sapey is the second best but furthest away (30 mins)
Raven is 3 minutes from my door but the subsidy stops at 30...

Gaudet Luce also an option but no membership fees on their site..
 

AdamC28

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So on a bit of research this afternoon:

Ravenmeadow
£680 full adult membership
£440 Under 30's

Worcester golf and country club
£1200 full adult
£906 under 35's - £75pm

Sapey Golf and Country club
£880 full adult
£550 31-36
£450 18-30

Worcester is the best and second closest course to me (10 mins in good traffic but through the middle of town that wont happen often)
Sapey is the second best but furthest away (30 mins)
Raven is 3 minutes from my door but the subsidy stops at 30...

Gaudet Luce also an option but no membership fees on their site..

Sapey does sound like a bargain but I suppose it becomes less so if you don't go as often due to distance.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
 

JayB

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JayB

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So on a bit of research this afternoon:

Ravenmeadow
£680 full adult membership
£440 Under 30's

Worcester golf and country club
£1200 full adult
£906 under 35's - £75pm

Sapey Golf and Country club
£880 full adult
£550 31-36
£450 18-30

Worcester is the best and second closest course to me (10 mins in good traffic but through the middle of town that wont happen often)
Sapey is the second best but furthest away (30 mins)
Raven is 3 minutes from my door but the subsidy stops at 30...

Gaudet Luce also an option but no membership fees on their site..
Depends on how much you enjoy playing where you are I suppose, if you like the course and/or have many friends/playing partners you'll be leaving behind?

Will there be times you popped over on an evening or at short notice at your current club that may not be a practical option if you have a fairly long drive? What about fuel costs, wear and tear on the car? Any financial saving will be eaten up pretty quickly.

If the only reason you're considering it is for the £130 saving, I would stay where you are
 
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SocketRocket

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So on a bit of research this afternoon:

Ravenmeadow
£680 full adult membership
£440 Under 30's

Worcester golf and country club
£1200 full adult
£906 under 35's - £75pm

Sapey Golf and Country club
£880 full adult
£550 31-36
£450 18-30

Worcester is the best and second closest course to me (10 mins in good traffic but through the middle of town that wont happen often)
Sapey is the second best but furthest away (30 mins)
Raven is 3 minutes from my door but the subsidy stops at 30...

Gaudet Luce also an option but no membership fees on their site..
I've been a member of Worcester for 16 years and can recommend it.
 

Bdill93

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Depends on how much you enjoy playing where you are I suppose, if you like the course and/or have many friends/playing partners you'll be leaving behind?

Will there be times you popped over on an evening or at short notice at your current club that may not be a practical option if you have a fairly long drive? What about fuel costs, wear and tear on the car? Any financial saving will be eaten up pretty quickly.

If the only reason you're considering it is for the £130 saving, I would stay where you are

It’s a massive step up in quality of course to move anywhere else though. It tends to happen at my club to be honest, players come, learn the game and then move on to nicer places. We are the “worst” course in Worcester by some margin - but I still do love the place.

The membership group is alright but any friends would all move together as I’d say we play about 75% socially.

You’re right about popping over, but I could still go over to where I am now in the week if I was very short on time and Worcester isn’t too far away to be honest… I might not even go this year but I think it’s on the cards in the not too distant future.
 

Bdill93

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Sapey does sound like a bargain but I suppose it becomes less so if you don't go as often due to distance.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

Prices are very attractive but it’s can only be due to the location! Quite literally slap bang in the middle of countryside 😂 nice track in the summer though if you’ve not played it!
 

backwoodsman

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No surprises here
So, resignations have gone back to pre-pandemic levels of 6% average. I don't know what normal turnover for club membership (golf, or other clubs) actually is, but 6% doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me?
 
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So, resignations have gone back to pre-pandemic levels of 6% average. I don't know what normal turnover for club membership (golf, or other clubs) actually is, but 6% doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me?
Its not out of the ordinary, about 10% was before the pandemic, I think most golf clubs are still in a good position, if your product is good and its still affordable why would people leave?
 

D-S

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Its not out of the ordinary, about 10% was before the pandemic, I think most golf clubs are still in a good position, if your product is good and its still affordable why would people leave?
That’s very true, the only difference now is the cost of living squeeze and how high up the list of priorities annual golf fees are.
On a slightly different note, it’ll be interesting to see how far up the list of peoples priorities the now vastly inflated green fees at ‘not the very top’ courses are.
 

nickjdavis

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Well...after annual renewal time...we have dropped from 590 members to 460..thats a 22%drop...that's a tough ask for any club to manage...ill be honest though....its no surprise given the state of the course and the abrasive attitude of some of the staff members...especially across the bar, where what some staff think is banter actually descends into rudeness.
 

moogie

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Well...after annual renewal time...we have dropped from 590 members to 460..thats a 22%drop...that's a tough ask for any club to manage...ill be honest though....its no surprise given the state of the course and the abrasive attitude of some of the staff members...especially across the bar, where what some staff think is banter actually descends into rudeness.

Wow...!!!
That is a huge drop
With that sort of drop in revenue, surely the course will suffer further
 

Golfnut1957

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Well...after annual renewal time...we have dropped from 590 members to 460..thats a 22%drop...that's a tough ask for any club to manage...ill be honest though....its no surprise given the state of the course and the abrasive attitude of some of the staff members...especially across the bar, where what some staff think is banter actually descends into rudeness.
Your post spiked my interest, and so I had a count. We have 533 male members with Hi and 57 female members with Hi. 610 members with Hi is about par for the course for us, so I suspect that there has been little or no drop off after our increase.

Interestingly we have 366 members with no handicap. This will include many who prefer not to have one, social members and I think I spotted some lapsed members, although they may now just be social members. Interestingly I noticed that the members list includes two who I know for certain are dead*.

*Both were recent.
 
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