Lifestyle membership - handicap options

[Neeko1988]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice please. I was a full 7 day member at a local club to me for a few years but stopped to play different courses.

There is about 8 of us who play regular none of which are interested in joining anywhere as they prefer variety.

I would like to get an official handicap again and play in some competitions every now and again but not lose being able to play with my usual PP’s.

A club near to me is offering a lifestyle membership for £260 for 20 credits which equates to around 9/10 rounds on a weekend and can be topped up in £100 increments. All the same perks as a full member

My thoughts is to do this just to obtain a handicap and play in a few comps and it not costing me the earth.

What’s everybody’s thoughts or am I missing anything or another way of doing things?

Thanks

 

[dronfield]

Hi
i looked at similar deals in Sheffield last year , but it was going to be quiet costly over a year due to fact that you use a lot of credits up if you play sat mornings - great value if you can play mid week or off peak.
Also check with the club that you will affiliated to that you can play in all the comps - are there restrictions etc.
Rich

 

[anotherdouble]

No problem with this and a great way of doing it. You cover both of your favoured options.

 

[Neeko1988]

Thanks rich, no restrictions on comps. A lot of other courses in the area restrict you but not this one which is good. My thoughts were to use it to get a handicap and play a few comps throughout the year and still play other courses aswell with my usual PP’s

 

[Deleted member 16999]

On the face of it, it seems exactly what you’re looking for.
No reason not to give it a go.

 

[Neeko1988]

Thanks guys

 

[Grant85]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice please. I was a full 7 day member at a local club to me for a few years but stopped to play different courses.

There is about 8 of us who play regular none of which are interested in joining anywhere as they prefer variety.

I would like to get an official handicap again and play in some competitions every now and again but not lose being able to play with my usual PP’s.

A club near to me is offering a lifestyle membership for £260 for 20 credits which equates to around 9/10 rounds on a weekend and can be topped up in £100 increments. All the same perks as a full member

My thoughts is to do this just to obtain a handicap and play in a few comps and it not costing me the earth.

What’s everybody’s thoughts or am I missing anything or another way of doing things?

Thanks

Have you looked at creating your own club and registering with your golf union... Golf England or Scottish Golf?
A club near me play at Rouken Glen. They don't have a course, they all just buy season tickets for the local David Lloyd course and I think they only have 30 or 40 members.

Sorry - don't know the costs for this, but there will be costs so you would probably need your playing mates to help as well. But I'd imagine your £260 you are thinking of shelling out will go a good way towards it.
And you could surely arrange your own competitions at the venues you play and just make sure everyone marks their card and holes out and the scores are submitted to maintain everyone's handicap?

Again - don't know that this is definitely allowed or if you need permission from the venue course.

Would be a big bonus for a nomadic society to all have handicaps which would allow you to play in Open competitions - which would mean playing decent courses for £10 or £15 on a Saturday during the summer!

 

[PIng]

A cheaper way of doing it may be to join a local municipal - they quite often have clubs attached that charge somewhere around £70 for membership and you just pay green fees.

 

[Neeko1988]

Thanks for the reply Grant I never knew you could do that although it sounds a lot of hassle to just get an official handicap. I’ll keep it in mind though thank you.

Ping I did look at the local muni courses but they aren’t much good by me. The one offering the lifestyle membership is fairly decent in fairness

 

[Grant85]

Thanks for the reply Grant I never knew you could do that although it sounds a lot of hassle to just get an official handicap. I’ll keep it in mind though thank you.

Ping I did look at the local muni courses but they aren’t much good by me. The one offering the lifestyle membership is fairly decent in fairness

I'm sure it would be a lot of hassle, at least to set it up, but if a few of the others were interested in helping out it could be a good option.

Had a quick look on the Scottish Golf and Golf England and both suggest draft constitutions clubs could adopt. Didn't find anything on fees or 'setting up your own club' and in fairness, it may not be something that they encourage small groups of players to do as it doesn't exactly help their existing member clubs.

 

[bigslice]

What Grant says makes a lot of sense. Pretty sure you could get more folk interested.

 

[duncan mackie]

Thanks for the reply Grant I never knew you could do that although it sounds a lot of hassle to just get an official handicap. I’ll keep it in mind though thank you.

Ping I did look at the local muni courses but they aren’t much good by me. The one offering the lifestyle membership is fairly decent in fairness

What that club is offering, and what you are looking for, look like a perfect match.

If you weren't looking to play those rounds at that club then maybe consider some of the alternatives raised, but from the sound of it that's not the case.

Enjoy.

 

[Neeko1988]

Thanks for the help all

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

I'm on a points membership for similar amount and number of rounds. The only thing I'd suggest is finding out how comps are scheduled i.e. are there sign up sheets or is it just turn up and play? If the latter and your restricted on certain tee of times then I've found it harder to get playing partners. Waiting around for a group to go out, and because you're only playing minimal rounds you don't necessarily get a regular group.

Still worth it to keep a handicap as I want to play in some open competitions as well next year, but not quite as easy as I first thought because of no sign up sheets and not being able to play at peak times.

 

[Crazyface]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice please. I was a full 7 day member at a local club to me for a few years but stopped to play different courses.

There is about 8 of us who play regular none of which are interested in joining anywhere as they prefer variety.

I would like to get an official handicap again and play in some competitions every now and again but not lose being able to play with my usual PP’s.

A club near to me is offering a lifestyle membership for £260 for 20 credits which equates to around 9/10 rounds on a weekend and can be topped up in £100 increments. All the same perks as a full member

My thoughts is to do this just to obtain a handicap and play in a few comps and it not costing me the earth.

What’s everybody’s thoughts or am I missing anything or another way of doing things?

Thanks

Do this !!!! It's what I will be doing next year. Then pick up cheap rounds off Teeofftimes. You'll still be quids in!!!!

 

[Crazyface]

Hi
i looked at similar deals in Sheffield last year , but it was going to be quiet costly over a year due to fact that you use a lot of credits up if you play sat mornings - great value if you can play mid week or off peak.
Also check with the club that you will affiliated to that you can play in all the comps - are there restrictions etc.
Rich

A ha...but you use your credits to play in the comps, as he said 9 / 10 a year. Around these weekend comps using credits play where you like.

 

[Orikoru]

That lifestyle membership sounds decent. There's a nice course near me that offers similar, for £500, but unfortunately they don't allow you to enter the big comps, only monthly medals and Stablefords, which was a bit of a deal breaker for me.

A cheaper way of doing it may be to join a local municipal - they quite often have clubs attached that charge somewhere around £70 for membership and you just pay green fees.

This is how my membership works. The course itself is run by the council, and our club is a separate entity that just uses the course for all our competitions. So I pay £100 membership, plus green fees on top. That works well for me as I want to play different courses and not just my home course every week, just like the OP says. Although the council are doing a really poor job with the course at the moment so I've been keeping an eye open for other offers elsewhere - like the lifestyle one I just mentioned - but I haven't found another one that works for me yet. If any local courses did a lifestyle one like the one you said, I'd probably be taking it up!

 

[dronfield]

A ha...but you use your credits to play in the comps, as he said 9 / 10 a year. Around these weekend comps using credits play where you like.

Hi

Agree with this in theory - i have done similar this last year and used Teeofftimes to book cheap off peak golf elsewhere.
The one downside is, in my opionion, it can take a while to get to know a new course and so if you only use it for comps, you may play in several and see your h/c keep going up, until you become familiar with the layout/greens etc.
just my opinion.

Rich

 

[Neeko1988]

I know the course in question well anyway as its local and have played it a lot. i appreciate everybodys replies. i think i am going to go ahead and join it and see how i get on. thanks again all.