Joining fees... Have you got round them?

[DaveyG]

Went to my local courses open day on saturday and loved it. Every single thing about the course, club house, facilities are perfect. Even down to the free storage of powerkaddys which local courses dont seem to have.

The catch is there is a 400 joining fee and other courses dont charge them at the moment... This course is half a mile from my door step everything is perfect about it other than an extra 400 quid.

Has anyone ever got round paying one. I never bother hagling too much with things like this but ha heard of loads of people getting things without paying set up/ joining costs.

Would be great to hear of anyones stories when you have walked away without paying it.

Cheers,

 

[Birchy]

Just go in and say i would sign on the line right now if you didnt have a joining fee and see how they respond. Tell them most courses dont have joining fees and show them some local examples.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

If they're like most clubs they'll be desperate for membership. Go in with the ability to pay subs in full there and then and tell them you will give them the money now if they wave the joining fee, if they don't take it I'll be amazed

 

[CMAC]

tried one near me and they wanted/still want £1400 joining fee on top of £800, tried negotiating and reasoning, pay up or dont join is the answer I get, some clubs still have a waiting list apparently.

 

[DCB]

Every single thing about the course, club house, facilities are perfect. Even down to the free storage of powerkaddys which local courses dont seem to have. ​

Whilst many clubs have dropped their joining fee, those that haven't appear to be able to attract members without many problems. If it really is that good, then that's why they still have a joining fee.

 

[Wolfman]

Ask if they offer Fairway credit where they let you pay monthly over two years, apart from that find a new club !

 

[Liverbirdie]

Our club did your £700 joining fee over 10 years (which I still pay £70 on top of green fees per year). For the last 3-4 years there has been no joining fee, I have been advised that I will receive e large chunk off my 11th years subs.

You could see if they will spread the cost of the £400 over 5 years, with £80 on top of each years fees.

 

[backwoodsman]

Depends on how much you want to join? If demand is such that they have no need to waive the fee, then they won't. You can but ask - but if they won't, then you either pay or look elsewhere.

 

[saxmaster]

i simply wouldnt join if they still wanted a joining fee. most ridiculous way to make money ever.

 

[moogie]

There are only a Handful of clubs in my area that still have joining fees
Those that have WILL NOT waive it
Nearest Ive known, is one course, gave 1/2 price joining fees if you joined as a 4-ball, or of a greater sized group

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I have often wondered how private clubs get round the no joining fee malarky.
If you had paid £1k a couple of years ago, you would be a bit p'd off when the comittee decided to drop the charge.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My club has now done away with it. However before they did, you could defer it for a year. Offer that as an alternative

 

[Imurg]

i simply wouldnt join if they still wanted a joining fee. most ridiculous way to make money ever.

I simply couldn't join if a joining fee was required.
There's 2 or 3 really nice clubs/courses near me but with the hike in yearly subs, adding a joining fee would be impossible.

 

[G1BB0]

same as Imurg, was going to pay upto 1k for membership but the clubs that I really fancied were more than that + fee... no ta

 

[GB72]

My new club has a joining fee but the membership is full and may now be a waiting list. That is against a backdrop of other similar local clubs that have dropped theirs and are desperate for members. It is £500 but it is payable over 10 years so not too painful.

And as mentioned above, it did hack me off when my old club dropped the joining fee just after I had made my last payment but offered nothing to benefit existing members who had paid it. To make matters worse, they also offered new members the chance to join at the previous years rates so they cut the joining fee and the annual fee and expected existing members to subsidise it with increased fees. I left.

 

[Evesdad]

Ours is still in place but I know for a fact that four friends of a friend joined together and got the fee waived, just a couple of months after i joined and paid in full! Was not amused.

 

[Smiffy]

Went to my local courses open day on saturday and loved it. Every single thing about the course, club house, facilities are perfect. Even down to the free storage of powerkaddys which local courses dont seem to have.

It's not very often that you find a club that is "perfect" in every single way.

I simply wouldn't join if they still wanted a joining fee. most ridiculous way to make money ever.

It's also one of the best ways to raise the money to pay for everything that makes a course "perfect in every way".
It's a one off payment, not levied every year. So if you were joining with a view to staying then it's worth paying. I would happily pay a £400.00 joining fee to become a member of such a "perfect" club, especially as the course was half a mile from my doorstep.
Join a club 20 miles away that doesn't have a joining fee. It won't be perfect and will cost you £10.00 a time in petrol every time you go to play it.

 

[SGC001]

Ours is still in place but I know for a fact that four friends of a friend joined together and got the fee waived, just a couple of months after i joined and paid in full! Was not amused.

I think it's difficult as a single joining to get a fee waived.

Around our way some have had reduced if moving in a four or more. The amount reduced beend dependant on how many are moving. One club did want people of a younger age joining (adult) and if you were willing to do some committee work might have given some of and a bit of a waiting list queue jump. The odd club may have also done something similar for low handicap players.

Joining fees can be a barrier to moving a much as joining. If the club is right and you can afford it I wouldn't cut off my nose to spite my face. Location, location location and if it's a good club and course it would tick the boxes for me. It might be worth asking if it can be paid in instalments and if they have any other offers they may let you now then.

 

[User 105]

I'm with Smiffy on this. A one off £400 for what looks like the perfect club. Yeah, I'd try to haggle and get them to waive it but would still sign up if they didn't.

Renewed at my place about a month ago but was looking for other clubs. My place isn't perfect, but has the best balance of facilities, location and fees.

There were two other clubs I was considering but they both wanted ~£2k joining fee on top. They had cheaper memberships than my place which meant I would have broke even after about 3 years. Which means committing to 3 years. Didn't fancy that.

 

[munro007]

Its amazing how many of you's want something for nothing, if they have a joining fee policy, you either pay it, or join some where else. Your lucky its only £400. Most courses that still have a joining fee up here are anywhere between £1,500 - £65,000. And yes that is £65K for the Renaissance Golf Course http://www.trcaa.com/