Golf membership. I'm now in the marginalised bracket. A reflection.

[Captainron]

I'm 38 with a wife and 2 kids who are 6 and 7. I work Monday to Friday from 9 - 5. My wife works for the NHS and does shifts. I love golf, cricket, hockey and rugby. I want to play them all as much as possible.

This year I gave up my membership because I couldn't justify the £700 outlay. I played 30 odd times at Spalding over the last membership year and enjoyed it but that meant that I gave up on all the other sports I loved.

Weekends are pretty much the only option for me but that's when all the other sports are too. I decided to get back into cricket and had fun. Because of family plans, holidays etc I could only play in 9 matches this year. So god knows just how little golf I would have manged. Luckily I can take the boys with me for the day as there is always space for them to play while I'm out chasing leather. Both kids play hockey and rugby at my club so they come down with me when I'm playing those.

Golf is a bit different in that I can't have my kids round with me yet (Give them 5 or 6 years and if they like the game then maybe). Time is a major factor when dealing with kids and their attention spans.

So I now find myself in the marginalised member bracket. I want to play more golf and would love to be a member but that would be throwing cash down the drain. I was sad to read the letter from the club saying that my membership was terminated but that I could reapply to join in the future but I couldn't be a slave to the game and I don't want to have to play golf just because I have spent the most on it.

I have also found myself wanting to play less now that I a playing more other sports and haven't had a game since June I think.

I will rejoin in the future but I believe that I fall into the age bracket where golf clubs are losing their most members and I can see why.

I would still love to maintain an active official handicap and play in opens etc. but that can't be done unless I am a member somewhere. That for me is a major drawback.

Shame really.

 

[Lambchops]

Not sure about the Uk but here most courses offer an 'annual membership' as they call it (normal is called 'full membership'). Basically you pay an annual fee of 1/4 for the full membership which keeps your handicap active but every round you play inc competitions you pay 50% of the daily green fee. My wife has this at our club as she can't play as much as she used to due to the little'un being <1year old.

 

[Biggleswade Blue]

I'm the same. Children similar age to yours, similar lifestyle. I took golf up a couple of years ago, and play maybe ten times a year. There are no clubs anywhere near me who offer anything regarding membership for an infrequent player like me. That's fine - but if they did some very low price deal which allowed me occasional playing rights, I'd join.

For example, an annual fee equivalent to say 11 green fees, allowing me to play no more than 12 times a year? Fees wouldn't be high, but the club would have my money, and I'd play my occasional round there, rather than hop about between several courses.

 

[Slab]

I once had an associate membership based on point’s i.e pay xyz and it buys you 100 points to redeem against rounds of golf and it was valid for upto 12 months

Weekday or off-peak round used up 7 points and weekend or public holiday used 9 points, signing in a guest used 12 points

The scheme also provided similar but slightly less discount to members for spending in pro-shop and bar etc

Once points used you can just buy more. Also you gained points by introducing a friend to the scheme so that getting two friends to join gave you enough points for a free round

Seemed pretty popular

 

[TheCaddie]

38 years old seems pretty old to start playing Cricket and Rugby again!

Get yourself back on the golf course! It's a sport for life!

 

[Captainron]

38 years old seems pretty old to start playing Cricket and Rugby again!

Get yourself back on the golf course! It's a sport for life!

Team Sport though.

There is an associate membership available at Spalding but its £270 and then you pay £15 per round so its still pretty expensive for someone who will probably only play 10 times in the year. That would work out at £420 for the year / £42 a round which is still not really worth it.

Damn CONGU and their requirements!

 

[Canary_Yellow]

There must be a huge number of people in your position, Captainron.

My wife is expecting our first child at Christmas and I know that it will mean that the amount of time I have for golf, be it practice at the range after work or playing at the weekend will be drastically reduced. I work in London and have an hour commute each way so playing in the evenings isn't really possible, except perhaps for a week or two in the middle of June.

I'll keep my membership up for the next few years as I like having the freedom to play early morning at the weekend, but once I reach 35 I'll no longer receive a reduced membership rate and I suspect it will be tough to justify the expense from that point on.

Hopefully I'll still play golf, but more sporadically and where ever I can rather than at my current club.

 

[DannyOT]

It certainly seems that more and more courses are beginning to offer better deals for associate membership and those who don't have the time to play enough, however it is definitely not moving fast enough.

I've been without a handicap for 2 years as I cannot justify the full membership cost when I play once a week at the very most. Luckily I have just found 2 clubs which allow.membership for ~£60 and then pay for each green fee. This way I get to keep a handicap active whilst not spending money on a course I can't play.

 

[Rooter]

Room in your boat for another? I have played the grand total i think of 5 times at my club. I pay over 50quid a month for the pleasure... I think this is the last year for a few, I cant even find the time to go to the range for 30 minutes, let alone a full 18! I have put in the grand total of zero competitive cards! Thats one way of maintaining my handicap!

 

[North Mimms]

I was facing golf as a nomad earlier this year as we were on waiting list to join a new club.
We were pretty sure that Mr Mimms would get in at the start of the membership year, my position less clear.
We decided to leave our old club, Mr mimms to take up membership at new club, but that would leave me with no handicap for opens.

Duncan suggested I join a local muni (we found 2 very close by with club membership costing less than £100 per year, then pay per round) and play the minimum there to keep hcp active, and still be able to play in opens, and pick and choose to pay and play where i wanted.

In the end it was academic, as we were both offered membership at new club a couple of weeks before old membership expired

 

[jamielaing]

There are flexible memberships- just takes a lot of looking for them. There is a course my way which is £50 per year and £12.50 per round which I think is reasonable. If you want to play in medals for handicap it is an extra £50 per year.

Have you considered country memberships? You can find some around £200 per year but you need to live outside a certain radius. Some are as little as 40 miles so not too bad if you are not going to use it that much.

 

[patricks148]

There are flexible memberships- just takes a lot of looking for them. There is a course my way which is £50 per year and £12.50 per round which I think is reasonable. If you want to play in medals for handicap it is an extra £50 per year.

Have you considered country memberships? You can find some around £200 per year but you need to live outside a certain radius. Some are as little as 40 miles so not too bad if you are not going to use it that much.

not sure you can use a country membership for your handicap. as your main club that is... well up here you can't anyway

 

[BoadieBroadus]

i'm in the very same boat and my renewal came through last week.

i moved to an "absent member" category at £350 including 6 rounds. over the last 12 months i played once.

still undecided for this coming year...

 

[North Mimms]

A friend recently calculated her membership on Cost per round.

Apparently it would have been cheaper for her to have played Wentworth a few times instead !

 

[Piece]

Totally understand the OP. For those reasons stated in the OP is why I haven't been a club member since the 80s. I would love to play more golf but other commitments and flexible/part-time membership offers in my area are non-existence for the courses I like.

 

[shewy]

It's really about time clubs modernised their approach to memberships, I'm the same, £700 lighter and played 3 times maybe and around 4 times elsewhere.
There's a club in my area (a bit far though) which offers a credit system, you pay I think £200 at the bottom level and it gives you credits, you use them as you play and they can be topped up, you get a handicap and can play in comps.
As stated there must be a huge amount of people like this, untapped revenue for clubs.
I'm not renewing my membership come April.

 

[Rooter]

It's really about time clubs modernised their approach to memberships, I'm the same, £700 lighter and played 3 times maybe and around 4 times elsewhere.
There's a club in my area (a bit far though) which offers a credit system, you pay I think £200 at the bottom level and it gives you credits, you use them as you play and they can be topped up, you get a handicap and can play in comps.
As stated there must be a huge amount of people like this, untapped revenue for clubs.
I'm not renewing my membership come April.

That's the same sort of deal i am on, however i am still not using it!!

Normal 7 day membership is i think around 1300. I pay 525 a year + irrigation fee, bar credit etc that works out at 50 a month, for that i get handicap admin, entry to comps and 20 rounds. after i use my allocation, i pay a discounted rate green fee. So in my case, the club have done everything they can really, its my fault i am not getting true value from it. I have about 15 green fee tickets to use still!! So only about 80 quid a round so far this year!! (members guest rate midweek is 23! LOL)

 

[RollinThunder]

A lot of the clubs in my neck of the woods offer an "associate membership", which is normally something like £40, and gets you a handicap, but you still have to pay a green fee for comps. At least people can just play in comps, and not ever have to worry about getting your money's worth. I have a full subscription, and the scorecards are different colours for associate members and subscribers. After a big comp, probably only 1/4 of the cards are full members, so it shows the popularity of an associate membership. My old club was a die-hard, subscription-only club, but the green fee to subscription fee ratio was quite good, and you only needed to play 20 times a year to save money.

I play cricket too, and the season has just ended this week, but over the last couple of years, we have lost a few good players, some to higher standard clubs, and some just packing in, so for me, the allure of cricket is disappearing. We've been struggling to get 11 men, and the social side of it is dwindling, so golf is a much better fix for me, and I look forward to playing on both days of the weekend.

In my opinion, club memberships are better for those who treat golf as their main sport or hobby, and have the time to play as often as the fee justifies. I imagine daytime sports, like cricket, rugby and hockey clash with the time that you could be playing golf, so it's difficult to find time for golf. Work commitments for us young 'uns is also a problem, as it's either to play at the weekend, weekday evenings (which are becoming shorter), or maybe the odd day-off in the week. I can see why clubs are losing a lot of members at this age.

 

[Junior]

Are there any good municipal courses near you ? Most usually have membership options that are very cheap. There is a great course near me (Walton Hall) that is £80 per year and they have allocated times for members competitions and obviously you can keep an active Congu handicap. Each time you play is at a vastly reduced green fee. Having this will also allow you to play in open competitions at different courses for reduced green fees.

The he downside is of course, that in the height of Summer, if you wanted to nip out for a quick 9 holes , you have to pay the reduced green fee, but could be behind a pretty packed field.

 

[Foxholer]

not sure you can use a country membership for your handicap. as your main club that is... well up here you can't anyway

I certainly did exactly that at Craigielaw (Edinburgh).