Ideas for encoraging long term Golf Club membership

[Cernunnos]

Its been pointed out that more & more golfers are swapping clubs frequently. I'll admit that I've had a few different memberships & there are several reasons for this which I will go into, but heres my Idea....

Clubs currently offer something called I believe country membership which is lower for those liveing over a certain distance away, which on one sid of it is fair enough, but wouldn't it actually be better to offer local residents of a town or within say 5 miles of a course a reduced membership & joining fee or nil joining fee for local residents living within say 5 or so miles of a club. This I think would increase the likelyhood of keeping a core membership.

So this new membership I would say call a Town or local membership

Surely isn't this a better idea & clubs could more easily budget for the years ahead.

 

[DCB]

That idea would only really work in a rural area.

If you look at many of Scotlands smaller clubs rural they do already have good incentives to try and gain members. In some cases there are family memberships available for less than I pay at my own club for one adult. Juniors are welcome, often from a very young age. A lot of the smaller rural clubs rely on the visiting golfer, society or holiday golfer to bring money in. After last years wet summer they must be suffering.

As has been said before, there is a big difference in the way golf is percieved in Scotland and England. Up here it is a working mans game (in most cases) down south it appears to have been the game for the middle classes, hence the extirtionate costs that some clubs down South seem to have.

I can fully understand why there are guys on the move looking for a better deal. Some of these clubs are just being too greedy. I certainly would baulk at paying £1000 a year for my golf. Currently I don't even pay that for two of us!

 

[USER1999]

Looking at my clubs accounts after the AGM, it looks like they need/spend all the money they get. I can't see how reducing the cost of membership is going to help them that much. They also still have a waiting list to join, although I think this list is a bit shorter now as quite a few left this year due to the crunch.

The main thing a club needs to provide is a good friendly atmosphere, where every one knows every one else, and it feels like a second home. I don't know how you can generate this from scratch, and I would think it is easier to feel this way in a members owned/run club than a comercial enterprise. There is more to people leaving a club than just money. Take MWJ for an example.

 

[DCB]

You make an interesting point about members clubs and commercial enterprises. We're fortunate in that there are not too many 'commercial enterprises' up here. The vast majority are members clubs.

With regard to your first sentence about money in - money out, thats why clubs need to be able to budget properly. To do that they need to keep as solid a member base as possible. There will always be membeship churn, but nowadays people move to another club to readily in my opinion. Ther is no such thing as a perfect club, they all have their problems, so moving is not neccisarily moving to a better club.

 

[Junior]

Intersting thread, i've switched clubs this year for the first time for a few reasons . . . my old clubs precarious financial situation , the resulting increasing membership subscriptions and the main reason is that 5 of my good friends have recently decided to join a club for the first time, having mainly played society golf for the past few years. As much as they would have liked too, they cannot afford to join my old club.

It is one of the few in the area still to have a joining fee. I was told that the idea of the joining fee is that it keeps the members loyal to the club, and that they wont just leave after a year. . but i cant help but think that an extra £600 (which can be paid over 3 years) on top of the £900 year subscriptions is too steep in todays climate.

I used to think that the most encouraging thing to sustain long term membership is the quality of the course. Now I think its value for money golf in a friendly atmosphere.

 

[TWM]

The main thing a club needs to provide is a good friendly atmosphere, where every one knows every one else, and it feels like a second home. I don't know how you can generate this from scratch, and I would think it is easier to feel this way in a members owned/run club than a comercial enterprise. There is more to people leaving a club than just money. Take MWJ for an example.

Yes I agree with that.
A good way to generate such an atmosphere is to have lively ladies, seniors and junior sections so that people in these categories can immediately be accepted into the group.
As for the rest, it is important that club competitions are always drawn with members only allowed to state morning or afternoon play. No cliques.

 

[USER1999]

I am not so sure about outlawing cliques, they will always happen in any society. I am also not sure about drawn medals, as I like to medal with familiar faces (not the same ones every time, but familiar). For those who want the excitement of playing with different people, put your name down in an empty slot, and see who puts down with you.

I think you do need a lot of swindles (roll ups), so new people can meet alot of members quickly, as this helps integrate people. But then some people think this is cliquey too.

 

[GB72]

That is what my club lacks, roll ups. Yes the seniors have one mid week but no weekend roll ups to meet new members. As you also pick your own groups for comps then the chances of building a good atmosphere where everyone knows each other is limited.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have a number of roll ups (or greedies as they are known). Most people know when they take place and new members are often encouraged to join in the main one as a way of meeting some of the clubs regular faces. There are a number of other greedies where it is much more cliquey (Hooded Claw etc) and some of the senior member ones but in general you can always find a game.

I prefer drawn competitions. It stops any arguments about members always having the same start time and prevents any chance of "mates" rules during a club event. Its a great way of making sure club members get out and meet each other instead of their normal insular 4 balls.

I noticed that my club was advertising big time at Maidenhead Golf Centre which whilst not a long way from Ascot is still not the most adjacent club. Every other bay had a poster extolling mambership opportunities. I guess the pragmatist applauds the club for new initiatives trying to encourage more members but the realist thinks that to go to these lengths doesn't bode well for balancing the books

 

[Cernunnos]

I think the idea would actually work best in a town environment where it would encorage people from that town to golf in that town rather than driving to the next town to try & get a better deal. There could be a rolling scale say if you were within 2 miles it was 50% of standard membership, 5 to 70% & then up to 10 miles 95% of full membership. Especially as most Towns tend to be about 10 miles or more apart.

Yes it would work in a rural setting too. But I see it working best for clubs around or in towns..

Derby runs a system where fees of the municiple courses are about £20 less for Derby City residents, this is an incentive to keep the goling within the town.

Though it hardly goes as far as I'd like it to go.

Thing is in these times of Global warming & rising fuel prices shouldn't we be encoraged to use what is readilly availaable around us & rewarded to liveclose to courses we'dlike to play & not be forced away by extirionate prices as all this does is mean less likelyhood of golfing & more impact on the environment.

The closer we live to a course or courses within cities & towns the more likely we are going to suport that local club if we can get a foothold as a member in the first place with reletive ease.

 

[USER1999]

Watford residents get concessions on green fees at my track, but not discounts on membership. I think this is fair.

 

[Cernunnos]

Hiya Murph. It is fair but doesn't encorage locals to support their local club on a permanent basis, week in week out.

Though its really nice to know that some towns/clubs are making some sort of an effort.

 

[DCB]

Look at the links on Bobmacs web page. The club he's at do seem to be catering for golfers of all level and ability. Costs are reasonable too.

Noticed one of the clubs in my area, Swanston, are trying to do a sliding scale sort of thing with their memebership. Even seem to be offering a 20 round/ year membership at a greatly reduced rate.

Too much competition with so many clubs and courses in and around the City.

 

[Cernunnos]

Obviously three major clubs in my town isn't enough competition (not counting the smaller outlaying ones.)

Oh perhaps I simply live in the wrong town or area to experience clubs where thay feel the need to be competative.

Ishall certainly look at his sig & if those are things clubs around where he lives are doing, then perhaps those round here need to do something similar.

 

[GB72]

Certainly in my area the idea of competition does not appear to be driving down prices. All of the clubs local to me have pretty much identical subs. As in many other industries, a price war does nobody any good and would not be surprised if there was an informal agreement in place between the various owners.