Impact of the weather on UK golfers and golf clubs...

[JezzE]

Afternoon all,
I hope the weekend weather was as kind to you as it was to use down south - glorious sunshine, clear blue skies, and more importantly, the first time I've played golf on both Sat and Sun since I can remember - Sat at the London Club and then nine holes with my son on Sun evening.
Clearly, it was lovely to be out there, but also, all too evident how long it will be before courses are anything like approaching their best.
We are looking at doing a feature assessing the impact of the prolonged spell of terrible weather on UK golfers and golf clubs, so it would be interesting to hear how much the weather has affected your personal participation/number of rounds played for the last year or so, and particularly over the awful winter and spring.
In addition, if anyone knows how the weather has affected membership retention and overall revenue at their home clubs, that would be interesting too (no names, no packdrill if so desired if the name of your club isn't in your signature).

 

[patricks148]

not much in the Highlands. I think we lost 2 days for snow over the whole winter and they were both weekdays so i don't think i missed a single round on a Saturday.

The cold temps have had some effect on the greens in that its been very cold over night for Feb, March, and a bit of April and have had no rain as such for over 2 months at Nairn. So we have not had any growth as such, comp to last year where we had high temps from March to mid May.

 

[louise_a]

Despite the bad weather last year the fairly dry weather in February and March as set our course up very well for the summer although we need the grass to start growing.
Membership wise I dont know the effect, but i do know that we we have suffered for all the society days cancelled last year. Our pro also decided to pack it it last month due to lost revenues.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

Winter was depressing as it was just so wet. However, really trying to get th'andicap down at the moment so played a lot and feel that through playing through the horrible weather, I have some small advantage over those that packed in for the winter (this is entirely in my head and not necessarily proven in fact!).

Happy that I've got a couple of months golfing under my belt before the season starts proper, but wish that they'd have been played in better conditions!

Several of my friends haven't rejoined as they feel like they're not getting their money's worth. I can't help feeling that had they been able to play on a dry course between oct-apr they might not have jumped ship so quickly. A good friend of mine left (after 15+ years) as he'd only played twice since September. £1800 is a lot of anybodies money if you're only gonna play for 5 months a year.

 

[Akie]

Couple of times the course was closed when I wanted to play but in general its been fine as long as you don't mind the ground being boggy and the generally wet weather. Playing on Saturday was excellent though with the sunny weather and a dry course!

 

[Hobbit]

2011 - 56 rounds - winter rounds 11/12 = 14
2012 - 31 rounds - winter rounds 12/13 = 7

Perhaps even more telling is the number of rounds played though summer 2012, May to Sept 19 rounds, and only 1 round in the August. And then there is the added factor of virtually no away golf in comparison to previous years.

However, my home club is a links course, and a measure of how much other courses in the area suffered can be seen in the significant increase in green fees taken through the summer. But conversely, winter time is usually our best time for green fees but 12/13 was one of our poorest.

November 2012 saw the start of our winter course refurbishments, the largest part being the practice putting green being dug out then relaid twice the size. The work itself was completed 4 weeks late because of the weather but even more disappointing is it's nowhere near being ready for the 36 hole scratch competition, the Cleveland Salver, this weekend. The ground temps required for decent growth, approx 10*C, have only been reached in the last week. But this has coincided with a very dry spell.

Recent weeks have seen a number of applications of wetting agents onto the greens to help with water retention, and an extra dose of fertiliser. Even the seeds used in the last few weeks are of a different, more resilient, variety than what is normally put down.

Membership retention; resignations were marginally up but have been more than compensated for by the uptake of members from clubs that suffered last year - one of which lost close on 200 days golf. The discounts for memberships at local clubs certainly suggests they suffered quite badly in 2012.

 

[Deke]

We got it pretty bad in Perthshire,with quite a bit of snow and long rainy spells.My club was shut due to the weather a good few times and it took quite a while to get back in top condition(back to perfection now however). For a while we were asked to follow particular routes on each hole and had winter greens on quite a few holes.I feel for the club in these times as they must want to stay open to give members value and generate income,but at the same time the more people playing the more damage the course gets! I imagine the poor greenkeepers must have been going loopy,but they have done a great job getting the course set up for the new season.I also feel envious of lucky links players to still get to play in the grim weather!

 

[G1BB0]

My course started 2012 too dry then it was too wet, it was just looking decent in Feb then snow/frost came and now the greens are shocking!

I reckon we are a good month of the 'right' weather before we can expect to play decent greens.

As a consequence my enthusiasm has diminished a lot and so has my practice regime. Hopefully now spring is finally here I can get the urge to start putting a bit more effort in

 

[richart]

Ok on the Hampshire/Surrey border. Lost days through snow, and one day when the heavens opened. Just realised we have not had temporary greens all winter. We used to have them for frost, but have not bothered this year. Greens on Sunday were lovely, but we are now due course maintenance. Rumour has it that greens are not going to be cored. All the work on drainage a few years back is really paying off, and after this winter I can't see myself ever joining a parkland course.

 

[Evesdad]

I think the most frustrating thing for me is that every time the school holidays came round the weather would scupper me! I've played every weekend the course has been open! The course took a battering from the rain last summer and we've had to re-do all the drainage on the 4th so an extra cost in there too. Well down on visitors fees, as expected really. I'm down on games this year compared to last but not drastically so a hopefully dry summer should see me claw some back. I managed 70 rounds last year averaging just under 1.5 a week which was my aim, so far this year I'm on 13 so 4 rounds short of one a week.

On the whole though the current dry spell has helped the course and is decent shape considering, grass growth in the bare hard worn places and I'll be wondering what the fuss was about!

 

[Hacker Khan]

I played at Renishaw in Sheffield that is very wet at the best of times. And when I played a month or so ago it was approaching a quagmire in places, with temps greens and tees most of the way. So they may be an interesting example to ring up as they must have suffered more than usual.

 

[Imurg]

Over the Winter and Spring we lost quite a few day's to the Weather. Sometimes rain, sometimes snow.
We had 4 holes on the front 9 closed on 2 occasionsdue to flooding - the water table was so high that any rain flooded the course again. When we were open we were on normal greens - maybe not that good an idea as they were very soft and suffered accordingly.
Fairways are now firming up as are the greens - greens maintainence this week - and the water level in the stream that runs through the course is as low I've seen it.
I know the club suffered during the Winter but we seem to have been saved by an influx of 100 Members from a course on the other side of Town that had to close in March.
That course never drained well and was closed for extended periods, at the end ,I believe, they were losing 10-15k a week.

 

[TEDSTAR]

I spend most of my week days in Surrey and fri to sun in Norwich, sometimes the other way around.
It would seem this winter as I traveled I moved toward the bad weather.I am no fair weather golfer and have played as much as possible, however at least five times either the course has been shut or the weather was simply too bad to play in.
I did play a couple of time when, to be honest, due to course condition or severe cold it probably would have been wiser to give it a miss.
So the weather did affect my golf however I did learn a couple of new shots because of it.
At the courses I play at I can't say I've heard any rumblings about wether affecting membership,but I can't say the same for the economic cliamate

 

[sev112]

Ok on the Hampshire/Surrey border. Lost days through snow, and one day when the heavens opened. Just realised we have not had temporary greens all winter. We used to have them for frost, but have not bothered this year. Greens on Sunday were lovely, but we are now due course maintenance. Rumour has it that greens are not going to be cored. All the work on drainage a few years back is really paying off, and after this winter I can't see myself ever joining a parkland course.

Drove past your place twice on Sunday and thought it would be a lovely day to play
Instead we had a lovely drive from Petersfield through the South downs to Bognor, bacon roll and coffee on the beach, picnic in a park, then cake at the National Trustvplace at Uppark on the way back. Blooming cold in the wind on the beach, even though it was blue skies

Back to the OP
Played 4 times on my home course from mid Aug to end March. Mainly due to rubbish continued weather and saturated ground. Probably led to me resigning membership cos the price per round was decimated

 

[Siren]

We have lost at least a months worth of golf and have more or less been on temporary greens since december. The fairways are actually starting to come good, but the greens are in terrible condition.

 

[Val]

My place, a Parkland course in Central Scotland didn't have 18 proper holes on all winter with at least 1 or 2 being on a winter green all through winter untill mid march.

Last summer was a nightmare with the rain, we lost 2 championship qualifiers in June (I think) which couldn't get replayed, other qualifiers got doubled up with other comps.

Then you have the cost, it will come a time when people may weigh up what they get in terms of quality golf for their money.

 

[Andy808]

To be honest even with our place being a parkland course we lost very little time on the course over the winter. Yes it was wet and we had buggy and electric trolley bans on from most of the winter the course stayed open and the green keepers did a fantastic job of keeping it that way.

The greens are a little late getting cut to their summer length (still on the long side) and there are a few patches on the greens that are struggling to recover from bird damage but all of this will soon be a bad memory as the green keepers carry on their outstanding work.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Last year, our club had to postpone or cancel 8-10 events, including the professionals day and the club championships.

Our opening medal this year was cancelled because of snow.

We had at least 5 winter greens all winter long, and only recently lifted the mandate to use mats.

It's hard to tell if the decline in member numbers is due to the weather or due to the continuing economic issues... Either way, the situation is a very difficult one. However, things are changing. A new greens convener has started a program of new drainage and many other course improvements, and I have to say that they're working well. However, we're not going to have 18 greens all year round for some time due to the costs involved in rebuilding the 5 remaining clay-based greens to USPGA standard sand based greens (~£30,000 per green).

 

[pokerjoke]

Afternoon all,
I hope the weekend weather was as kind to you as it was to use down south - glorious sunshine, clear blue skies, and more importantly, the first time I've played golf on both Sat and Sun since I can remember - Sat at the London Club and then nine holes with my son on Sun evening.
Clearly, it was lovely to be out there, but also, all too evident how long it will be before courses are anything like approaching their best.
We are looking at doing a feature assessing the impact of the prolonged spell of terrible weather on UK golfers and golf clubs, so it would be interesting to hear how much the weather has affected your personal participation/number of rounds played for the last year or so, and particularly over the awful winter and spring.
In addition, if anyone knows how the weather has affected membership retention and overall revenue at their home clubs, that would be interesting too (no names, no packdrill if so desired if the name of your club isn't in your signature).

Jezz could i have your email address to do this,thx.
Mine is tonyreed@live.co.uk
Thankyou

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Very prolonged dry cold weather in South Ayrshire. We went for nearly 3 months with little rain.
Growth is very late but the courses are starting to look good after last weeks rain.
Courses have remained open for most of the time but quiet.
I would imagine that club memberships are down and a couple of clubs look pretty desperate.
The many municipal courses seem to be doing well. Municipals tend to do well in a recession when club membership is seen as a luxury.
I pass Turnberry quite frequently and the courses look empty week days.

Golf seems to becoming more seasonal in this area.
I wonder if we will start seeing winter close downs like Loch Lomond etc.