Extortionate green fees!

[howbow88]

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Sorry to hear that.

 

[Captainron]

I am sure that most people on here would love to play Turnberry. It is a phenomenal golf course. Would many of us spank a grand to get a spin on there? No. Is it realistic for us to be outraged by them asking for such a fee? Irrelevant. We can B and moan about it but we won’t change anything.

 

[PaulMdj]

Sorry to hear that.

Appreciatted, she’s doing well now

 

[Arthur Wedge]

A governing body (the Premier League) that is a private entity, much like the R&A, USGA, etc.

A weasel answer from a weasel poster. Makes sense. Have a good evening

R&A have nothing to do with Trump Turnberry

The R&A don’t control golf clubs - can’t force them to do anything

Did you know there are even clubs out there that don’t bother with the rules of golf or handicapping

As for the last sentence - says more about you than anyone else

 

[IanM]

I think the St Andrews Links Trust could do a bit more to remember they look after a national monument.

Everyone else, well, that's free market. If folk are paying the mad money, that vindicates the "business' decision. Even if it's unpalatable from a golfers' perspective!

 

[Morfeen75]

Value perception is different for everyone, so is the financial freedom to pay for it.

What’s your 2nd best golf course that your played? Just curious what you are comparing it to.

I agree. If i can't afford something then i simply dont buy it. I dont complain that it should be cheaper.

Sunningdale, Carnoustie ,Kingsbarns,Pebble beach, Dornoch,Castle Stuart, Royal Aberdeen, Hankley Common, too many to list.

 

[IanM]

Hankley is half the price of some of those!

 

[VVega]

I agree. If i can't afford something then i simply dont buy it. I dont complain that it should be cheaper.

Sunningdale, Carnoustie ,Kingsbarns,Pebble beach, Dornoch,Castle Stuart, Royal Aberdeen, Hankley Common, too many to list.

So in your opinion Ailsa is 2-3 times better (subjectively) than any of these courses?

 

[Morfeen75]

So in your opinion Ailsa is 2-3 times better (subjectively) than any of these courses?

I dont rate any golf course by the cost of green fee.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Clubs still trying to recover from Covid , many trying to sort out the changing summers and burnt out fairways ,

Are they????

When did we fully open up again. It must be at least four years and so that is plenty of time for a well constructed business to work out their finances, adjust to recoop and then re-visit. My club is full, has a thriving academy and junior programme off the back of the Covid take up and while we introduced a significant joining fee after Covid as a means to recover money lost, this has not been significantly reduced. We are not pricing the green gees stupidly or hiking bar/food prices. We are a business and so looking at societies and use of the clubhouse by external customers as a revenue stream and not fleecing members and especially visitors. I think its lazy to blame covid at this juncture

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I think the St Andrews Links Trust could do a bit more to remember they look after a national monument.

Everyone else, well, that's free market. If folk are paying the mad money, that vindicates the "business' decision. Even if it's unpalatable from a golfers' perspective!

Not just St Andrews…Turnberry and other major courses are an important part of Scotland’s sporting history…and IMO access should not be the exclusive ‘property’ of the very wealthy. The fact that Trump is the owner of such a beautiful and famous piece of Scotland, especially sticks in my craw.

Besides…Playing such as Turnberry is for many I am guessing all about the bragging. Dot all to do with the quality of the course.

 

[Morfeen75]

Are they????

When did we fully open up again. It must be at least four years and so that is plenty of time for a well constructed business to work out their finances, adjust to recoop and then re-visit. My club is full, has a thriving academy and junior programme off the back of the Covid take up and while we introduced a significant joining fee after Covid as a means to recover money lost, this has not been significantly reduced. We are not pricing the green gees stupidly or hiking bar/food prices. We are a business and so looking at societies and use of the clubhouse by external customers as a revenue stream and not fleecing members and especially visitors. I think its lazy to blame covid at this juncture

The affects of Covid is still having detrimemtal affects to businesses accross the world in a variety of sectors, including the Leisure sector. Some will recover quicker than others and its great to hear your own club had made massive strides in overcoming financial stress. In Those areas that are affected more, naturally it will take longer to overcome financial issues. To suggest its lazy to blame covid is unfair.

 

[Morfeen75]

Not just St Andrews…Turnberry and other major courses are an important part of Scotland’s sporting history…and IMO access should not be the exclusive ‘property’ of the very wealthy. The fact that Trump is the owner of such a beautiful and famous piece of Scotland, especially sticks in my craw.

Besides…Playing such as Turnberry is for many I am guessing all about the bragging. Dot all to do with the quality of the course.

Morally i agree. There's not many morals in business unfortunately.

I would say the American visitors take great delight in paying for the top courses. Its in their nature to rate it by cost. If Turnberry was 50bucks the Americans wouldnt play it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The affects of Covid is still having detrimemtal affects to businesses accross the world in a variety of sectors, including the Leisure sector. Some will recover quicker than others and its great to hear your own club had made massive strides in overcoming financial stress. In Those areas that are affected more, naturally it will take longer to overcome financial issues. To suggest its lazy to blame covid is unfair.

I would argue it maybe highlights that a club has financial issues and while covid will have exacerbated these, I think it shows that since the pandemic they aren't performing particularly well. The pub sector was a prime example and we lost a lot of pubs during and immediately after Covid hit, and this has been continuing but those that have closed down in the last year or so have been struggling for a while (certainly in my locality) and it is the ones run really well that thrived immediately after and carry on doing so. Like when we had the golf boom years in the 80's when lots of courses were built, a lot of these closed in the early 2000's or 2010's as they simply weren't viable business concerns

 

[Arthur Wedge]

The affects of Covid is still having detrimemtal affects to businesses accross the world in a variety of sectors, including the Leisure sector. Some will recover quicker than others and its great to hear your own club had made massive strides in overcoming financial stress. In Those areas that are affected more, naturally it will take longer to overcome financial issues. To suggest its lazy to blame covid is unfair.

He also appeared to cherry pick one sentence from a whole host

As you say there are many areas still trying to recover from Covid and seem just couldn’t , there are golf clubs out there that have closed as well

The ones that did get hit badly were the ones that rely on the US visitor to supplement their income.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Morally i agree. There's not many morals in business unfortunately.

I would say the American visitors take great delight in paying for the top courses. Its in their nature to rate it by cost. If Turnberry was 50bucks the Americans wouldnt play it.

I believe it was something Woodhall noticed - they didn’t get many US visitors and mainly it was prob because the US didn’t see them as a top course because they were cheap ( at the time)


The yanks will pay a lot of money to play courses in the UK and Ireland - especially the ones in the Top 100 and Classic Links

And clubs nearby know that so boost up their green fees - there are a number of clubs that prob do that

 

[patricks148]

I think the St Andrews Links Trust could do a bit more to remember they look after a national monument.

Everyone else, well, that's free market. If folk are paying the mad money, that vindicates the "business' decision. Even if it's unpalatable from a golfers' perspective!

I think they did to a certain extent up until a few years ago, but the fact everyone else ( other open rota courses) was charging more than them and they are pretty much can sell almost every tee time at least twice over . though its a shame i dont blame them, TOC does subsidises the other courses in the trust.

on the Turnberry subject, when they had members is wasn't much, couple of grand at most before Trump took over, but got rid of them pretty quickly.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I believe it was something Woodhall noticed - they didn’t get many US visitors and mainly it was prob because the US didn’t see them as a top course because they were cheap ( at the time)


The yanks will pay a lot of money to play courses in the UK and Ireland - especially the ones in the Top 100 and Classic Links

And clubs nearby know that so boost up their green fees - there are a number of clubs that prob do that

We are close to the likes of Sunningdale, Wentworth, Swinley and The Berkshire so we would never dream of pricing ourselves in that bracket. We aren't comparable and there is a fine line between pricing yourselves competitively and attracting visitors and over egging the pudding and losing revenue. We are on a par with Mill Ride (which in the day was a well known championship course) and so price accordingly

 

[Slab]

We are close to the likes of Sunningdale, Wentworth, Swinley and The Berkshire so we would never dream of pricing ourselves in that bracket. We aren't comparable and there is a fine line between pricing yourselves competitively and attracting visitors and over egging the pudding and losing revenue. We are on a par with Mill Ride (which in the day was a well known championship course) and so price accordingly

Hadn't heard that club name before, their website is pretty rotten as websites go

 

[PaulMdj]

We are close to the likes of Sunningdale, Wentworth, Swinley and The Berkshire so we would never dream of pricing ourselves in that bracket. We aren't comparable and there is a fine line between pricing yourselves competitively and attracting visitors and over egging the pudding and losing revenue. We are on a par with Mill Ride (which in the day was a well known championship course) and so price accordingly

People will always look for the cheaper option, Ascot was very proactive after Covid with offers and incentives (according to your facebook page) but I’d hazard a guess that unless yous were foolishly tied to a longterm contract the Club will have also raised it’s fees for parking etc when they close it for events nearby.

No chance any decent course will close to allow thousands of cars to park on it, regardless of amount offered.