Golf club entrance fees!

[0]

A day doesn't go by where I've not read somewhere about how golf clubs are struggling with funds, struggling with retaining members - the average loss seems to be about 50 members per annum- struggling with attracting younger members (which are the lifeblood of not only the clubs but golf itself in this country) and struggling attracting senior members.

Apart from the clubs who have a poorly maintained course, or unfriendly stuffy atmosphere I feel one of the reasons is the 'accepted but no-one seems to know why' entrance fee!

I know some clubs are already rescinding theirs in the hope of securing interest but many are 'sticking to their guns' and trying to be elitist until one day they waken up and find they might have to get with the programme and realise we are firmly in a recession - official or not- money is tight for most of us and we'll seek value for money when it comes to the little luxuries these days.

Don't these commercially unaware managers of these clubs realise that if you have willing footfall that's 80% of the battle to gleaning more income from them.


An example is a local club to me which is a nice course, nothing special and the usual c5800+ yds so inherent of older clubs, they have annual subs around £800 which is fine, I would golf there 2-3 times a week spending at the bar and pro shop, I would take friends and colleagues there occasionally as well as family lunches/dinner etc etc so overall my spend, directly and indirectly, could be considerable. However, for the priveledge of joining, being an active member spending my time and money there, promoting the club externally etc etc they expect a joining fee of DOUBLE the annual subs in addition for year one!


Joining fees to me rank up there with mortgage admin fees, lease companies termination fee, arrangement fees blah blah another made up reason to force extra income "because they can"!

What about offering great service? friendly customer focused environments? Quality? Perceived value for money? All these establishments would I'm sure find more people willing to join and certainly willing to spend spend spend.
If you build it, they will come!




Apologies for the long Sunday morning post, once I started I couldn't stop

 

[Imurg]

A lot depends on whether the club can "get away with it". If they have a joining fee and regular new members then something must be making them join. But I agree that if membership is falling and the joining fee is still in operation, that has to deter people from becoming members.
The fee does serve a purpose though. In effect it ties you in to the club for a number of years. If the joining fee is 2x subs, then you're going to want to stay.there for 5 years at least to make it worthwhile. No joining fee and you're free to go whenever you want with no financial penalty.
There's a couple of clubs around here that still have a joining fee - much as I'd like to thnk about it, there's no way I could justify the outlay to the Accounts Dept.....

 

[jammydodger]

I agree 100%. I moved clubs this year and any that required a joining fee I didnt bother with. There's no way i'd pay it as i'd then feel obligated to stay to make it worthwhile. I'm not bothered about building long friendships with members over many years , I want to play a good course at a reasonable price. I also get bored with courses pretty quickly so would need to move on every 2 or 3 years anyhow.

 

[Snelly]

Quite a few clubs are doing away with a joining fee for the reasons that you give.

Imurg is right though in that the ones that are not simply don't need to. They are successful and profitable so why change? Also, joining fees, whether you like it or not, are a way for keeping the club exclusive to people over a certain threshold of income. It's a "keep the riff-raff out" mechanism.

In summary then, clubs that can, will always charge a joining fee until market forces dictate that they can't.

 

[Macster]

I've discussed this with our Pro, and I can see perfectly well the reasons Clubs still keep the Joining Fee to be honest.

Take my Club, we arent struggling for members like most others......we have a thriving Junior section, and most importantly, we have a beautiful course that is simply one of the best in my immediate area.

IF any club drops a Joining Fee, it simply creates a 'Nomadic' membership culture, where everyone and anyone decided to up and leave any year they feel like it, or re-join again in 2yrs etc, and that simply isnt good for any Club for future financial planning.
A Joining Fee creates an 'affilliation' with the Club, a 'Loyalty', and yes, seeks to tie you in for a number of years.

If the Club is good/nice enough, it wont have a problem with prospective members paying it, beleive me. We have picked up quite a few new members from another course locally, who interestingly, DONT charge a Joining fee, but who's subs were not far short of ours, BUT most importantly, members couldnt get on the Course without booking a damn Tee time, for any time/any day of the week !
Who wants that ?

At my place, I can rock up pretty much anytime, Comps excepted, and the most I might find waiting to tee off is 1 pair/group if I'm reallly unlucky.
After 5.30/6m.......its Millionaires Golf, I have the place to myself, or whoever I'm playing with.

Is it worth a £900 Joining fee, split over 3yrs, Interest Free .........
you better believe it.

 

[Leftie]

My club, Sundridge Park, has a joining fee of £2,500 for adults. We have a full membership.

I assume we charge it because we can.

The reason that we can charge it is because the money is ploughed straight back into the courses, staff and clubhouse making the club one that people in the area want to join.

When I joined about 10 years ago, the fee was £2,000. That has worked out so far at £200 per year on top of annual subs. For what I've got there I think that it's a bit of a bargain and, unless or until I can't play golf any more, or move away, I'm quite happy to see out my golfing days there.

 

[Khamelion]

I've heard of a few clubs around my area offering some quite good deals to try and pick up membership as they were struggling.

One was offering £150 for 8 month membership for Sunday to Friday unlimited play, Saturdays wasn't included as that was competition day.

Another was offereing £325 membership for the year.

And others have simply got rid of the joining fee.

The only clubs that have kept a joining fee are the ones with full membership or the ones that would like to keep a level of exclusivity.

 

[0]

My club, Sundridge Park, has a joining fee of £2,500 for adults. We have a full membership.

I assume we charge it because we can.

The reason that we can charge it is because the money is ploughed straight back into the courses, staff and clubhouse making the club one that people in the area want to join.

When I joined about 10 years ago, the fee was £2,000. That has worked out so far at £200 per year on top of annual subs. For what I've got there I think that it's a bit of a bargain and, unless or until I can't play golf any more, or move away, I'm quite happy to see out my golfing days there.

2 courses there I believe so if your subs are 1250 that's pretty good for 2 well kept courses, I can't disagree with supply and demand and some clubs trying to be elitist, difficult one to change and maybe they shouldn't or don't have to.

 

[RGDave]

Good thread Nikon.

Joining fees are a menace to the middle-income brigade. Years ago, people would stump up the money willingly as they probably felt confident they would stay in the area for a while. These days, people move for various reasons all the time (jobs, family) so you'd need to feel you could realistically lose the fee if necessary.

My mate joined the most expensive club in the area. They let him split the £1k joining over 4 years. He stayed for 2 years, moved on and wrote to them explaining the outstanding £500 would have to remain outstanding. They didn't push for it.

If the club is full, you can hardly blame the club. Proprietary courses excepted, it's a good addition to a private clubs coffers and I guess that ends up being to the good of the club members with money available to spend on the course and buildings.

I'm still grumpy about not being able to afford the joining fee at my favourite ever course, but that's a different story.

 

[elliottlale]

i simply couldnt afford to play at my current club if i had to pay a joining fee (of upto 2 times the yearly subs as some people pay!!!) i think that is crazy, but can see why they do it. in my job, i play only at weekends when im in the uk and when i have holiday time. im only at the club this year as il be moving to taunton next year. plus in away for 7 months of the year most years on deployment, so i wont be a member the next year that i have a deployment planned, so it really can get expensive for the little time i do play. why am i a member then?so i can play in comps and so i have a h/cap!