Feeling at home in a new club...

[RowleyBaggie]

First post on here, i hope to be coming on here regularly!

Has anyone else found that with all that is going on regarding finances courses can no longer afford to have snobby members who treat the places like their own pesonal social club where only clique members are welcome?

I think every club has one and these people need to be weeded out as they are basically contributing to the downfall of the club and the game in general?

Im fortunate enough to be a fairly new member of a very sociable club where 99.9% of the members are spot on and actively encourage new members to join in and get to know everyone so you really feel part of things. As someone who has only been playing for 18 months and has so far managed to get down to a 21 handicapp this is so important to my development as a golfer.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not got anyone like that at our place. They would soon be taught the error of their ways. We do have a few senior members that like to have their own chairs everytime they come in and some (actually a very small minority) who think they own the course and won't let nayone play through but for the most part it is a warm and welcoming place. They even let Viscount17 in wearing "those" trousers

 

[Golfmmad]

Welcome Rowley, I'm all for a friendly sociable club, and to me, being a member is far more than just playing the course. It's also about mixing with like minded people and enjoying all the banter that goes with it.

Golfmmad.

 

[RowleyBaggie]

Thank you for the welcome!

It certainly is, it's also nice to be able to have a drink somewhere with standards - nice to have a beer somewhere that isn't full of drunken, foul mouthed idiots.

The banter is all there but people also respect each other.

 

[Golfmmad]

The banter is all there but people also respect each other.

Amen to that!

Golfmmad.

 

[bobmac]

We do have a few senior members that like to have their own chairs everytime they come in

What happens if someone is sitting on "their" chairs when they come in?

 

[drawboy]

Golf clubs are inherently cliquey places due to preferred playing times/playing partners. 'Gangs' soon form like a school playground and getting into a 'gang' as a newcomer without the introduction of a gang member can be difficult. Every club has them if you care to look for them. At my last club this was discouraged by using drawn times so you could always get a game with someone but whether that someone would be welcoming was a different matter, rather than being accepted you just ended up being a little less of a stranger to a few more people. My new club still has cliques but each one is very open to new lads so much more welcoming.

 

[madandra]

I have been a member of 3 clubs:

Dalziel Park Motherwell was a great place with a great bunch of lads and everyone was equal.

Shotts GC: The dullest most inbred membership I have ever come across. Ignorant, biggoted and downright rude but with a smashing Pro.

Colvilles Park: This club does have old school members but due to the grim reaper being a regular member they are quite literally a dying breed. There are friends and family and a few guys from Dalziel here now which makes it more welcoming.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

I've joined a club where most of the members are very friendly which was one of the things that I wanted most from my club.
I was a member of a club some years ago where this snobbery existed. It was absurd really because the club was in a rather mediocre area of South London - no-one was rich, no-one was poor, no-one was talented - the inhabitants just existed and yet, at this golf club, some of the members thought they were one cloud higher than God himself!!! There were cliques galore and, as I suspected at the time, my golf suffered accordingly.
To my mind, snobbery at 99% of golf clubs should be erradicated. You'll always get it at certain clubs due to their reputation/geography but most clubs should be down to earth.
You'll always get cliques as well. It's up to the club to try and break them up, in my opinion.

 

[RowleyBaggie]

I think it's somthing that is gradually being kicked out - financial constraints mean clubs have to either be more welcoming or die.

I'm very happy at my current club and 99.9% of the membership are lovely people. For example, i was drawn in a fourball comp alongside a 2 handicapper - now this intimidated me a little being a relative newcomer to the game and made me feel my 21 handicap was inferior. I tell you what, this guy was brilliant and actually went as far as giving me tips to help my game after spotting a couple of things i needed to work on.

 

[viscount17]

Not got anyone like that at our place. They would soon be taught the error of their ways. We do have a few senior members that like to have their own chairs everytime they come in and some (actually a very small minority) who think they own the course and won't let nayone play through but for the most part it is a warm and welcoming place. They even let Viscount17 in wearing "those" trousers

one of whom confessed to having several pairs - though it would appear that, up to my breaking the ice, he hadn't actually worn them. has he come out yet Homer?

 

[GB72]

For various reasons I am thinking of a change of club next year and part of the reason is because everyone at my club has there own little groups and set playing times. Do not get me wrong, everyone is generally very nice and there is no snobbery etc but when every comp is played in your own groups it is very difficult to get to know more people and find more playing partners and I, to a certain extent, have followed that path and play with the same people I knew when I joined.

Really I am now looking for someewhere I can get more involved and play with different groups but, unfortunately, that just is not going to happen at my current club where everyone turns up in the same pre-arranged groups every week.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not got anyone like that at our place. They would soon be taught the error of their ways. We do have a few senior members that like to have their own chairs everytime they come in and some (actually a very small minority) who think they own the course and won't let nayone play through but for the most part it is a warm and welcoming place. They even let Viscount17 in wearing "those" trousers

one of whom confessed to having several pairs - though it would appear that, up to my breaking the ice, he hadn't actually worn them. has he come out yet Homer?

There has been an outbreak of loud trousers by a number of members this summer and some that would have given your outfit a run. I don't know who gave you stick so I can't say if he's been brave enough to put his so called shockers on display.

I can't compete in the loud trouser department but the grey and patent plum shoes caused a stir both at Ascot and Sand Martins when I wore them

 

[bobmac]

Really I am now looking for someewhere I can get more involved and play with different groups but, unfortunately, that just is not going to happen at my current club where everyone turns up in the same pre-arranged groups every week.

Belton Park has a sign in system for comps.
You get to the pro shop early and pick the tee time you want and sign yourself in and your 3 mates.
Just letting you know Greg

 

[Smiffy]

Golf clubs are inherently cliquey places due to preferred playing times/playing partners. 'Gangs' soon form like a school playground and getting into a 'gang' as a newcomer without the introduction of a gang member can be difficult. Every club has them if you care to look for them.

This, and the stupid week-end teeing off system, was one of the reasons I didn't enjoy my membership at Highwoods as much as I'd have liked.
There were so many "clubs within the club" it all got a bit confusing. Most of the members I came into contact with were really nice and friendly (until they played with me and then I didn't see them again funnily enough) but you were always aware of one group having a block booking on the tee at such and such a time on a Sunday, such and such a time on a Saturday, such and such a time on a Wednesday. Crowborough Beacon wasn't like this, or it certainly wasn't when I was there. Sure you used to get groups of guys that used to like playing together but these were literally the odd fourball, or a group of 8. You just got to know who they were and avoided them.

 

[GB72]

Really I am now looking for someewhere I can get more involved and play with different groups but, unfortunately, that just is not going to happen at my current club where everyone turns up in the same pre-arranged groups every week.

Belton Park has a sign in system for comps.
You get to the pro shop early and pick the tee time you want and sign yourself in and your 3 mates.
Just letting you know Greg

Might have to start looking a bit further afield then. Still, will go up and talk to them and get a feel for the place. I would be happy if there was at least a few weekend roll ups or something like that. Whilst I enjoy the course I am at at the moment, there are no roll ups (except the seniors in the week) because there are comps most weekends but as none of the comps are drawn everyone sticks in the same groups. Not great if you are short of a game for the weekend and are looking to pitch up and play.

 

[viscount17]

I'm going to start looking again, and that's also down to way comps are managed. I just don't agree with mates medals.

I took up 7-day this year with the hope of playing Saturday medals but as far as that's concerned I just wasted the extra. The gang of four had nothing on this lot.

I'm trying to find somewhere with a balance between the monthly seniors being played at a sensible time (so I only need to lose half a day) and drawn Saturday medals. Maybe utopia is out there.

 

[HughJars]

I'm going to start looking again, and that's also down to way comps are managed. I just don't agree with mates medals.

Totally concur. I moved clubs last year, and best thing I ever did.

My current club doesn't have mates medals, every comp is either fully drawn, or there is a Thrusday night draw where your name goes in a hat and you pick your own tee time, but only your own name can go on the sheet, so you can literally play with anyone, unless the mates got drawn from the hat consecutively.

IMO it is the best way to run competitions, and undoubtely contributes to the atmosphere of being by far the best and friendliest club I've been a member of (this is my 6th club)

 

[bobmac]

At a club I used to play at, you put your name down in time blocks, say 7.30 till 9, 9 till 10.30 etc. It worked well.
Far better than a queue at the pro shop at 7.30 on a Saturday morning to write down the same 12 names every week.