Criticising your club on social media.

[fundy]

We have a social media policy. Well documented on the members section. I'd argue it's the same as one you may have in place at work. You don't sign to that, but it's implicit under the terms and conditions of your work contract and similarly by agreeing to be a member

The joys of working for myself, I get to openly criticise myself on social media on a regular basis

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Fundy, would you have slagged your own place of work off on social media?

A golf club is not special, I would expect the same if I did the same to any club or organisation I was a member of. Being a member of somewhere, whatever the club, is different to buying a ticket from virgin rail and the train being late.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

I expect if it got to the point I was complaining on social media and if the problem wasnt being addressed Id be ending my membership anyway, no different to any other business that wasnt delivering on a contract that I had paid for

Of course the club has options, Im not sure why think they should be able to exempt themselves from being publicly discussed

If it's a Members' Club then it is not a business and any member using social media to criticise that Club is actually directing criticism at themself amongst others.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Just seen your last post, doh. You get the point though? Maybe not and we are just going around in circles. Hey ho, we will just have to disagree on this one.

 

[User101]

There are minimum standards of behaviour expected from any club member, slagging off the clubs member policy at the same time slagging off of said particular members in my opinion falls way below said minimum standard but I guess we may all have different standards.

 

[Senseicads]

I think there is a difference here between using social media to rant against individuals and using social media to complain about the golf club not delivering an adequate service. You don't deal with personal problems with individuals by publicly calling them out on social media...get on the Jeremy Kyle show for that...but I have no issue calling the club out if it wasn't producing the goods in terms of service. In fact some people at our place have done exactly that after getting inadequate/unsatisfactory responses down at the club. The responses have come in fast enough after their posts i'll tell you that for nowt. I don't know who said it earlier on in the thread, but they are correct when they say if it's reached the point where you are complaining on a fb page then you have to be rethinking your membership anyway.

 

[jim8flog]

massive difference between one pays me to work for it, the other i pay for a product/service, personally cant see how you see them as the same

There in lies the important difference. We are a members club and all members are part owners. We are not paying for a service we are paying to be members and agree to abide by the members/partnership agreement.

 

[jim8flog]

I dont understand why being a member makes it any different. If the club hasnt resolved an issue that has been addressed with it about a product/service that has been paid for then why shouldnt the member go to social media and air the issue? its an often recommended solution for people with other companies people have memberships with, why does a golf club suddenly get different treatment?

Serious question, how many peoples clubs have a social media policy and have signed up to not being allowed to criticise on social media?

Ours does and by renewing your membership you agree to the clubs rules and regs.

As a fellow member I would take great exception to someone who maybe acting in such a bad manner that they cause my annual subscription to increase because societies etc are giving us a miss due to negative comments on social media

 

[BornSlippy1994]

Disagree completely with the 'workplace' comparison.

You are paid to work. It's a reasonable requirement that as part of paying you a company can demand that you don't talk negatively about them publicly. You are the one providing the service, and receiving compensation for it.

The inverse is true for golf clubs. You pay (sometimes a significant amount) to be a member, and it's the club who need to provide the service to you.

Don't get me wrong I'd never personally slag off a club on social media, as it just isn't something I do. That being said, if I had paid a fortune to receive a subpar service from a club I wouldn't objective to it on any form of moral/philosophical basis.

As someone has stated above, golf clubs aren't special. Therefore, surely they should expect to receive criticism the way in which other businesses do?

 

[Hobbit]

Disagree completely with the 'workplace' comparison.

You are paid to work. It's a reasonable requirement that as part of paying you a company can demand that you don't talk negatively about them publicly. You are the one providing the service, and receiving compensation for it.

The inverse is true for golf clubs. You pay (sometimes a significant amount) to be a member, and it's the club who need to provide the service to you.

Don't get me wrong I'd never personally slag off a club on social media, as it just isn't something I do. That being said, if I had paid a fortune to receive a subpar service from a club I wouldn't objective to it on any form of moral/philosophical basis.

As someone has stated above, golf clubs aren't special. Therefore, surely they should expect to receive criticism the way in which other businesses do?

I've always subscribed to the view that as a member I'm a part owner. I'll raise merry hell behind closed doors and be a royal PIA if I feel the club is seriously at fault. I won't resort to social media, and probably won't even bump my gums in the bar.

And if airing it in social media means less people visit, the subs will go up. Bit self defeating really.

At the end of the day, it would have to be a serious, unresolved issue before felt the need to get a bit shirty, and by then I'd be looking to leave.

 

[SteveJay]

I'm with Fundy and Slippy on this. See no comparison with an employer/employee relationship, but that membership of a golf club is paying for a service....actually not that dissimilar to the Virgin Rail ticket analogy made above.

Whilst I agree that there is a better escalation process, members should have the ability to use social media if they so wish. We can do it for other service providers, so why not golf clubs. We are in a society where there is freedom of speech for christ sake!

Someone said as a member you are an owner - don't think so! A few prestigious clubs might involve that, but for 99% members are paying customers who, yes, via a committee, might have a limited say in some operations, but are so far removed from the perks of ownership (like profits sharing, dividends, proceeds in the event of closure etc).

In saying that I would be reluctant to resort to social media in case it did involve me losing out financially, i.e. having membership suspended, unless it was so bad I was content to leave. After all, what about new or potential members, don't they deserve the right to hear about problems or should any criticism be totally locked behind closed doors?

 

[Jamesbrown]

I have criticised an old club on social media before.
It’s a very quick way to get peoples views across and gives it a wider audience, for which they can also give their opinions.
This then gets noticed quickly and usually resolved quickly.
Usually if you have an issue. It’ll end up at a meeting a month down the line when all is forgotten.

My slagging off didnt get me booted, though I was mentioned in an old boys meeting and some snide remarks in the pro shop. In the end I left for a better club.

 

[Val]

I have criticised an old club on social media before.
It’s a very quick way to get peoples views across and gives it a wider audience, for which they can also give their opinions.
This then gets noticed quickly and usually resolved quickly.
Usually if you have an issue. It’ll end up at a meeting a month down the line when all is forgotten.

My slagging off didnt get me booted, though I was mentioned in an old boys meeting and some snide remarks in the pro shop. In the end I left for a better club.

Why did you feel the need to slag off so publicly

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I wouldn't slag my club off on social media. We are lucky to have a very proactive and responsive secretary, captain and committee and so most issues can be raised and dealt in house without any need to make it public. Why, when you have a course in great condition, with green staff that have done so much in the last few years in terms of the quality of the greens and the overall conditioning would you post something that would then detract societies and green fees from coming. We are as reliant as the next club for their revenue and it seems a negative and unnecessary way of getting the point across. There has to be better ways of dealing with the problem

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Someone said as a member you are an owner - don't think so! A few prestigious clubs might involve that, but for 99% members are paying customers who, yes, via a committee, might have a limited say in some operations, but are so far removed from the perks of ownership (like profits sharing, dividends, proceeds in the event of closure etc)./QUOTE]

I think that you will find that the vast majority (around two-thirds) of Clubs are Member's Clubs and, therefore, the members of those Clubs are, by definition, owners.

There are no "perks of ownership" as they are not constituted to make profits.

 

[Jamesbrown]

Why did you feel the need to slag off so publicly

Cancelling qualifying completions due to “course conditions”. when I got the notification to cancel. I was on the course at the time practicing for next days comp. The conditions where mildly damp, but 20 degrees for the weekend.
Due to the rare amount of qualifiers we had there and the short season they had - starting in may ending in September.
I expressed my displeasure. As did others. Because it wasn’t bone dry and no role out certain players didn’t want it to be qualifying. No offer of extending preferred lies. I claimed it was against the spirit of the game.

Outburst and reaction resulted in a lengthier following season and more qualifiers. But I’d left by then.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Cancelling qualifying completions due to “course conditions”. when I got the notification to cancel. I was on the course at the time practicing for next days comp. The conditions where mildly damp, but 20 degrees for the weekend.
Due to the rare amount of qualifiers we had there and the short season they had - starting in may ending in September.
I expressed my displeasure. As did others. Because it wasn’t bone dry and no role out certain players didn’t want it to be qualifying. No offer of extending preferred lies. I claimed it was against the spirit of the game.

Outburst and reaction resulted in a lengthier following season and more qualifiers. But I’d left by then.

And could you not have dealt with your complaint "face to face".

I'm sorry but to me resorting to the keyboard for this seems rather petty.

 

[SteveJay]

[/QUOTE] think that you will find that the vast majority (around two-thirds) of Clubs are Member's Clubs and, therefore, the members of those Clubs are, by definition, owners.

There are no "perks of ownership" as they are not constituted to make profits.[/QUOTE]

I stand corrected if that is the case. Its not my understanding of "ownership" though. As a member in such circumstances what do you actually "own"? Assume the assets (e.g. the land, all assets etc) are held outside the members club?

 

[User101]

Cancelling qualifying completions due to “course conditions”. when I got the notification to cancel. I was on the course at the time practicing for next days comp. The conditions where mildly damp, but 20 degrees for the weekend.
Due to the rare amount of qualifiers we had there and the short season they had - starting in may ending in September.
I expressed my displeasure. As did others. Because it wasn’t bone dry and no role out certain players didn’t want it to be qualifying. No offer of extending preferred lies. I claimed it was against the spirit of the game.

Outburst and reaction resulted in a lengthier following season and more qualifiers. But I’d left by then.

You slagged off the club on social media rather than raising it through proper channels ?? Seriously ?

 

[Bunkermagnet]

You slagged off the club on social media rather than raising it through proper channels ?? Seriously ?

Probably tried taking Mother Nature to court for compensation as well