How far would you financially support yout club at this time?

[apj0524]

During a Skype meeting with other committee members it was clear that having to close the bar, restaurant and having restrictions on the clubs pro shop is going to leave approx. £20K hole a month in the clubs income, it got me thinking how far would, or could you, support your club at this time. Personally all I could afford to pay would be to pay this years subs in full, rather than monthly if they want, pay next years subs in advance and pay next years subs at say 80% then to support the shop put some money on my pro-shop account.

So would anyone else to be prepared to offer some financial help to their club?

 

[Papas1982]

For my last club I’d not have out a penny in. They didn’t do anything constructive with the last 2 years subs from us all, so I’d not expect them to use a cash injection wisely.

My new club Is effectively owned by someone who wanted his own course so he could further his hobby. As such I’m not sure it’ll need help. id provably go as far as to pay a years subs in advance If it was really needed.

 

[hovis]

this is probably not going to be favourable opinion on this forum of all places but if I'm not using a service I'm not going to pay for it. I don't see clubs lining up to support their members when times are tough
my club refused to freeze a membership for a member or even pro rata his membership after a wrist operation that left him out of action for 4 months. they said basically "tough titty".
maybe my opinion would be different if the club was more community focused and charitable

my local gym has begged us not to cancel our direct debits as he'll go under. that's all well and good but he drives around in a porche carrera 911 with a different rolex on most days. direct debit cancelled!!!!

 

[Robin Hood]

My club is a members owned establishment.
I would contribute to help support the club during these atypical times.
If it comes to it I hope my fellow members would do the same.

 

[Papas1982]

this is probably not going to be favourable opinion on this forum of all places but if I'm not using a service I'm not going to pay for it. I don't see clubs lining up to support their members when times are tough
my club refused to freeze a membership for a member or even pro rata his membership after a wrist operation that left him out of action for 4 months. they said basically "tough titty".
maybe my opinion would be different if the club was more community focused and charitable

my local gym has begged us not to cancel out direct debits as he'll go under. that's all well and good but he drives around in a porche carrera 911 with a different rolex on most days. direct debit cancelled!!!!

I think thats fair.
I’d consider supporting mine simply because I hope to be there long term. but I’d also want to see what plans there were for the money if it were required. Not simply to keep one persons lifestyle up.

 

[Wolf]

this is probably not going to be favourable opinion on this forum of all places but if I'm not using a service I'm not going to pay for it. I don't see clubs lining up to support their members when times are tough
my club refused to freeze a membership for a member or even pro rata his membership after a wrist operation that left him out of action for 4 months. they said basically "tough titty".
maybe my opinion would be different if the club was more community focused and charitable

my local gym has begged us not to cancel out direct debits as he'll go under. that's all well and good but he drives around in a porche carrera 911 with a different rolex on most days. direct debit cancelled!!!!

I agree and same goes for me if club don't support members at a time of need they can't expect support in return. My dad had a hip replacement 5 years ago, his club refused to suspend his membership whilst he was out of action so why should he now support them.

Likewise with Gyms, all the ones I'm involved with professionally have suspended all membership payments until they reopen, the only exception is those who paid upfront for the year, however they are honouring the fact that however long they're closed for they will extend the paid up memberships for the same period of time FOC.

 

[bluewolf]

I’ve paid my subs in full already. That’s the total support I’m offering. This rose tinted view of the Golf Club that some on here have is bewildering to me. My focus is completely on supporting my family and friends. The Golf Club is just a place where I undertake my chosen hobby/pastime.

 

[sussexhacker]

Everyone’s struggling you can’t be expected to keep making payments for gyms, golf clubs, nurseries and the like just to keep them afloat

As much as we can all get each other out you have to look after your own finances before you help others we don’t know how long this could last

 

[Imurg]

Most will have paid up by now so they're sitting on a fair bit of cash.
I'd expect them to cut back on any major projects that are lined up, concentrate on keeping the course playable while they can and just basically ride it out like the rest of us.
With no certainty as to when I'll start earning again I can't do any more than I've already done..which is pay my subs.

 

[patricks148]

I doubt we will get a choice, club just spent £1m on course upgrades and will few or no visitors this summer, subs will be up if the members want to or not

 

[MikeB]

Mine is a superbly run members club with a full membership & a waiting list which says something about it. I paid my subs in full & if the club where I spend many hours enjoying myself in the company of similar individuals needed some sort of support I would be happy to pay my share if it meant I can continue doing so.
The club has already offered a discount of future years subs if it is forced into full closure during the current crisis but I will decline the offer if it comes. I can afford it & don't want anything to interfere with my enjoyment.

 

[Grant85]

I'd imagine a lot of clubs are going to struggle.

There are plenty of places trying to make a 'business as usual' face in terms of social golf and I'm sure plenty of courses will be busy as people are off work or working from home.

But the reality is that a LOT of people of working age will either be out of work or on reduced incomes, or will simply feel things are too uncertain to be writing a cheque for c. £1,000 to their golf club. Added to that a lot of retired people will be reliant on investments or personal pensions as a fair chunk of their income or for their discretionary spends such as golf. So I'm sure a lot of clubs will feel the pinch as memberships are due.

At the moment, if my club came asking for money I'd be very concerned given the very early stage we are at in this. I think if a club was coming asking for money in order to keep everything the same as it is now, they are massively missing the point about what is happening and that almost every person and every commercial operation is going to have to make a significant adaption.

If it was later in the year and the crisis had subsided, or at least normalised, then I would probably go along with a modest contribution. Fees 6 months in advance... I'd struggle to see the viability of barring a big cost cutting programme being put in place along with such a proposal.

 

[Fish]

Debentures aren’t unusual in the golfing fraternity.

Although if the club doesn’t have a good business plan, it could be in just as poor a situation when they need paying back.

 

[IanM]

My club is a members owned establishment.

..ditto - and as such members are co owners. Full subs for the year were paid in January, so the "club's" fixed costs are covered. The Steward and Pro will be in difficulties unless we help.. the former is doing take away food, and I hope we all support the pro by buying lots of stuff in the shop when this clears up. I played on Saturday and not sure if I'll go back this weekend. As for paying for services not received, I understand the sentiment, but I have a stake in this club beyond being a customer! (eg of it closed and was sold for housing, i'd get a dividend, or be responsible for losses)

My wife is a member of a Marriott - which was closed mostly from November and has hardly played at all prior to all of this - I wonder why she hasn't cancelled her DD yet?

 

[Grant85]

this is probably not going to be favourable opinion on this forum of all places but if I'm not using a service I'm not going to pay for it. I don't see clubs lining up to support their members when times are tough
my club refused to freeze a membership for a member or even pro rata his membership after a wrist operation that left him out of action for 4 months. they said basically "tough titty".
maybe my opinion would be different if the club was more community focused and charitable

my local gym has begged us not to cancel our direct debits as he'll go under. that's all well and good but he drives around in a porche carrera 911 with a different rolex on most days. direct debit cancelled!!!!

This is a fair point of view... as long as you also take the view that at some point clubs and businesses will go under or significantly alter their proposition and you have to like it or lump it.

Now I'd be amazed if we ran out of reasonable golf clubs willing to take a membership or green fee off us... but it's going to be a very tough time in which we all have to make decisions about who and what we want to support with the cash that we do have.

 

[backwoodsman]

Fortunately my place is reasonably sound financially - so they'll not need to ask. We'll lose bar & restaurant income as well as green fees and the social events, but we've enough in reserve to ride it out for a while if we have to. It will be a kick in the balance sheet, but survivable albeit at the expense of projects in the pipeline.

The one amount of "support" that members will pretty much "have" to give is not expect a credit or refund for "down-time" if we get put in curfew & the course is forced to close. The economic argument would be fairly simple - if we give you some back now, we'll only have to ask for higher subs next year to make up the losses.

Ps: it's a members club.

 

[Hackers76]

Have paid this years subs but can’t afford to do much more this year. The club are talking about offering money back if they are forced to close at all over the summer, something I wouldn’t want off of them.
Unlike others our club has been excellent with members who fall ill or are unable to play for long periods so no complaints here.

 

[Siolag]

I’m currently paying my joining fee over a few years as that’s the way it works for new members, but I will likely pay it in one go at the end of summer (had been considering that anyway).

Also going to perhaps get some new clubs at some point so will use the pro, and also will get a good few lessons when it all goes back to normal.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

My club is privately owned, not a members club. The person in charge has not been member friendly so I have no doubt he would not get a penny extra from anyone. I have renewed my membership, paying in instalments, but over and above that, nope.

 

[Garush34]

Paid my subs for the year 8 days ago, we're a members club and we completely own the course so I think we would be Ok for the year. I couldn't afford to help the club any more if they asked for it, I just don't have the money and have to think of my family before a club. The way I see it at the moment, I've paid and not sure how much I'm going to play, i could have just wasted that and end up not playing at all this year, but so be it if next year the clubs still there and I can use the facilities and get a game.