joining fees

[williamalex1]

In the last few years, quite a few longterm members have left to join other clubs. Then rejoin 1or2 years later with no joinjng fee and maybe even a discounted membership offer.
This is great for the golfer,but seemingly more difficult for the club to budget for the following year
Should fees be applied somewhere , to keep existing members, or is it a catch 22.

what do you guys think

 

[thecraw]

Joining fees put members off in my opinion. Have a decent track which is well run then people will stay.

Only top clubs can still happily advertise joining fees however even now they are seeing a huge drop in prospective new members.

 

[Val]

It's a buyers market now, clubs want members badly and will do what's needed to secure them.

 

[Lump]

When I joined my club 3 years ago there was no joining fees, but there had been in the past. (to the tune of £600 I have been told).
We have this year put the joining fee back on. Every local club has this joining fee so the club saw it as a missed opportunity to increase revenue.(£300 which can be payed over 2 years) We've had the same (or near enough) number of new members register.

 

[SocketRocket]

My Club has retained the joining fee (One and a half years membership + current year), the only concession made is that you can now pay it over three years. Seems to be working for them still as the club is still attracting new members and stays at capacity. Must be the quality of the golf course and facilities.

 

[drawboy]

Our club has no joining fee, but it put it's subs up 25 quid and lost 43 members, I cannot see me being at my club next year if it doesn't improve even if I had have paid £1000 joining fee it would not stop me leaving.If you are going then you are going. Once paid the joining fee is paid simple. I do not think they keep anyone at a club.

 

[G1BB0]

joining fee = no ta I will look elsewhere, in this economic time golf is a luxury that for me has to take 2nd place behind a sky tv sub grrrr (2 teenage sons).

 

[williamalex1]

Joining fees put members off in my opinion. Have a decent track which is well run then people will stay.

Only top clubs can still happily advertise joining fees however even now they are seeing a huge drop in prospective new members.

my thought was that if there was a fee to rejoin people might think twice about leaving in the first place , because the grass isn't always greener . i couldn't resist that, sorry :lol:

 

[Birchy]

I didnt pay a joining fee to join my club and would never pay one. I think its a complete rip off.

 

[virtuocity]

I didnt pay a joining fee to join my club and would never pay one. I think its a complete rip off.

+1 totally agree.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

I don't think joining fees are right as we should be able to play at a different club every year if we want to.

 

[ventura]

The club I'm joining has suspended the fee at the moment. I think I would have looked elsewhere if there was one, too many clubs that don't have any at the moment so will put people off if you do.

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

+2. I have a young family to think of and at present Sky Tv is a must for the sports and children's tv.

 

[SocketRocket]

I didnt pay a joining fee to join my club and would never pay one. I think its a complete rip off.

Everything has it's price and we have the freedom to pay the price or buy something else, I dont see why it's a rip off! The club is owned by it's members, money is raised with the fee and spent on improving facilities for the membership, nothing wrong with that. As long as the club attracts suitable numbers they will continue to charge it, if you want to be a member you pay it. Simples!

 

[alansd]

The type of club you are joining should also be taken into account when thinking about whither a joining fee is reasonable or not.
I would never pay to join a privately owned club and would rather not join one. All of the money getting paid in is lining someone's pockets and only the minimum will get put back into the club.

Joining a private members club on the other hand essentially makes you a shareholder in the club so I can understand why clubs if they can will have a joining fee. I changed clubs a year ago and have had to pay a joining fee of £1000 spread over three years, if i was over 35 that would have doubled to £2000. Its a lot, but the money in these clubs goes back into improving the facilities so at least you can see where the money is going.

A decent club can still command joining fees (round the south east/surrey) and from what I have seen it makes sure the people joining are serious about playing and not going to stay for a year then bugger off somewhere else.

 

[Lanark_Golfer]

I can see both sides to the joining fee argument, it would make you think twice about leaving a club if you had paid a large joining fee. On the other hand if all the other local courses aren't charging them, a lot of people won't even consider joining. I paid one at my current club 7 years ago and they still charge one now but most comparable local courses don't, the GM advised at last AGM people had enquired about joining but declined as soon as joining fee was mentioned. It hard to judge the lesser evil of people leaving easily or not joining in the 1st place. The course I am waiting to join this year still has a joining fee which I am happy to pay as they are offering a course of a very high standard and still have a waiting list of a few years. If you can offer a standard of course or facilities that others that have no joining fees can't match then I'm sure the joining fee will stay and be readily paid, if the course or facilities are no better then it's a dangerous situation as new members most probably won't consider you.

 

[Iaing]

I don't have a problem with clubs charging joining fees. If they're popular enough to charge one in the current financial climate then so be it.
However. I do feel that instead of the jf disappearing into club coffers, it should be paid back to the member, perhaps via discounted subs over a number of years. Ie if you pay £1000 joining fee, you get £100 off your subs for the first 10 years of your membership.

Nothing to stop this happening if the clubs look for a joining fee to promote loyalty rather than just to raise some extra cash.

 

[Captainron]

I think the better clubs will always charge a fee. This means additional revenue to keep them top and means that they have a certain amount of control over who joins. All the good clubs here charge one and a half times the annual subs plus the subs in the first year. Means you get longer and more stable membership. I don't want to pay that really but will have to if I want to be at a top club, and I do! I will be saving for is eventuality

 

[Wolfman]

what about joining fees paid over two years but you leave after one year and only half the joining fee paid ?

 

[boyatthebay]

Don't have an issue with joining fees, it is all down to supply & demand. If a club feels they can get away with it then good on them. It's a personal choice if you pay it or go somewhere else. If a club charges a fee and they are getting new members, they must be doing something right