Membership cost increase

[clubchamp98]

It's a shame when you need to defend your hobby through no fault of your own.

Isn’t it our job to put the record straight though.
If anyone said to me “ do you wear jumpers like Ronnie Corbett” I would just laugh.
I explain modern clubs to them ( mine anyway) .
But if you go to the Ritz for lunch would you not dress up a bit?

 

[hovis]

You need to grow a set then and stop worrying about what other people think.

You need to grow a set then and stop worrying about what other people think.

Or, I'd rather not have a pair and not be seen to have the traits of a typical golfer.

 

[D-S]

Didn’t RSG let the pros play practice rounds in shorts without long socks?

Strangely clubs often relax their dress codes for large events. I have been to the Ladies National County finals with Gloucestershire many times often held at old fashioned clubs. They was one in Essex where almost all the players from 6 counties contravened a lot of the Ladies dress code but the club agreed to relax them for a week otherwise the event simply could not have been held.

 

[Slab]

Isn’t it our job to put the record straight though.
If anyone said to me “ do you wear jumpers like Ronnie Corbett” I would just laugh.
I explain modern clubs to them ( mine anyway) .
But if you go to the Ritz for lunch would you not dress up a bit?

Could that be part of the problem, club/s think its the Ritz but some folks think its closer to Nandos

 

[clubchamp98]

I think the best course of action is right your fees are going up x % but to make sure everyone gets with the programme we will provide you with a free pair of £20 shoes from shoe zone to be worn after the round

Make it like bowling .
Shoe rack in changing room to borrow for dinner.
Mind you the shoe rack might have to be in the car park.!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It is really difficult to get rid of the image though.
My club has allowed jeans and trainers in the clubhouse for the past 10 years or so, same with changing shoes in the car par, hoodies are allows etc. etc.. However the other day when asked where I played someone in the conversation said that it was a stuffy club as they knew someone who was thrown off my course for wearing short socks - I’ve been a member for just under 30 years and trainer style socks have always been allowed (I wouldn’t have joined - in the mid 90s - if long socks were obligatory). However the club was being blamed for issues over 30 years ago -I’ve no idea how this sort of pre conceived misperception can be changed if people are going to hold on to the their prejudices for ever.

Spot on

Many clubs have changed over the years but there are still some and that includes golfers as can be seen in the thread that can’t see that many golf clubs have moved forward with the times and need to stop judging all the clubs based on a very small minority - we have 4 golf clubs in the local area and for years we were known to be “stuffy” - interviews , no jeans , no trainers etc, that was all removed and now the club average age has been dramatically reduced due to the age demographic that have joined the club

I have many friends and work colleagues that would like to play golf and have tried but don’t take it for various reasons - none of them are any image issues or what colour socks they can’t wear

 

[hovis]

You can keep blaming the image etc but it’s a minority reason why people don’t start to play golf - time and cost will always been the two main reasons.



club

Maybe it's the circles I roll in but very rarely do I hear time and money as a barrier to take up the sport.
What I do hear on regular occasions is "I wouldn't be seen dead on a golf course"
"I would end up banging someone out"

I Also got people to the range and semi interested until I start to teach them about typical etiquette and clubs rules. They just say "stuff that".

 

[hovis]

Could that be part of the problem, club/s think its the Ritz but some folks think its closer to Nandos

I think you have brilliantly summed up the last 10 pages into one line. We'll done sir

 

[clubchamp98]

Could that be part of the problem, club/s think its the Ritz but some folks think its closer to Nandos

Yes it is the problem imo.
To many clubs think they are the last bastion of standards.
Most don’t anymore.
Mine allows jeans ,trainers,hoodies but no cargo shorts why it’s just shorts with extra pockets.
Some golf club rules defy logic in modern Britain.

But clubs are businesses and as such can enforce whatever rules they see fit. ( even sex/age discrimination)
If you can’t/ won’t comply don’t go there.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Isn’t it our job to put the record straight though.
If anyone said to me “ do you wear jumpers like Ronnie Corbett” I would just laugh.
I explain modern clubs to them ( mine anyway) .
But if you go to the Ritz for lunch would you not dress up a bit?

Yes it is, and I do. It does get boring though, to have to advise people that most clubs are not stuffy, backward thinking, sexist etc. I've had to do the speech too many times.......I don't stop doing it but golf doesn't help itself on that front.

If I was going to the Ritz, I wouldn't but lets go with the analogy, I would go smart casual, but no more (I don't do ties, I don't do formal wear as I don't find itcomfortable). If smart casual wasn't enough, plenty of other places to go to

 

[AddisonRoad]

I think you have brilliantly summed up the last 10 pages into one line. We'll done sir

Or maybe some people have different preferences. Some people don’t enjoy playing adults that whinge about dress codes and wear ugly shoes as a measure of defiance, others do. Hopefully clubs form their own cultures and preferences to suit their membership, and hopefully those that don’t enjoy it seek out other clubs rather than hurling negativity at the majority of the membership.

 

[GB72]

Maybe it's the circles I roll in but very rarely do I hear time and money as a barrier to take up the sport.
What I do hear on regular occasions is "I wouldn't be seen dead on a golf course"
"I would end up banging someone out"

I Also got people to the range and semi interested until I start to teach them about typical etiquette and clubs rules. They just say "stuff that".

I have to agree with some of that. Non golfing people I talk to actually have no idea of the time it takes to complete a round or, in fact, how much golf costs. What they do think is that golf clubs are full of stuffy old men in blazers with right wing views and opinions and that they would not be at all welcome or feel, comfortable.

Anyone know the history of trainer bans at clubs. Cannot really be based on smartness as there is no definition of shoes having to be smart or even in decent condition and so I am just interested why trainers became the thing not to be allowed.

 

[hovis]

Yes it is the problem imo.
To many clubs think they are the last bastion of standards.
Most don’t anymore.
Mine allows jeans ,trainers,hoodies but no cargo shorts why it’s just shorts with extra pockets.
Some golf club rules defy logic in modern Britain.

But clubs are businesses and as such can enforce whatever rules they see fit. ( even sex/age discrimination)
If you can’t/ won’t comply don’t go there.

I can't disagree with most of this but most do have undesirable standards to many people. Take your golf head off for a second a imagine you want to take up golf when you are confronted with :

1 you can't change you shoes there mate
2 you can't wear trainers but you can wear trainers if they are golf trainers
3 you have to wear specific shorts
4 your socks must be white
5 you have to keep your shirt tucked
6 that shirt better have a collar
7 you can't take your trolley in between the bunker and green
8 you can't walk where you want on the green
9 you can't talk when someone is playing
10 you can't talk/shout across the fairway
11 you have to take you hat off to shake hands
12 no, no mate. You can only play one ball. No practicing here
13 change your shoes to have a pint
14 don't park in the captains spot
15 get to the gate only to find you need a code to get out

You can understand why people think "stuff all that cobblers"
To all of us the above is normal standard stuff. But from the outside looking in.......... ????

 

[GB72]

I can't disagree with most of this but most do have undesirable standards to many people. Take your golf head off for a second a imagine you want to take up golf when you are confronted with :

1 you can't change you shoes there mate
2 you can't wear trainers but you can wear trainers if they are golf trainers
3 you have to wear specific shorts
4 your socks must be white
5 you have to keep your shirt tucked
6 that shirt better have a collar
7 you can't take your trolley in between the bunker and green
8 you can't walk where you want on the green
9 you can't talk when someone is playing
10 you can't talk/shout across the fairway
11 you have to take you hat off to shake hands
12 no, no mate. You can only play one ball. No practicing here
13 change your shoes to have a pint
14 don't park in the captains spot
15 get to the gate only to find you need a code to get out

You can understand why people think "stuff all that cobblers"

I can simplify it even more. When someone judges, and it is judging, that the way I wish to dress and deport myself is not up to the standards required to have a beer and a sandwich in a bar then I am pretty much out. Appreciate that clubs have the right to put in place whatever rules they like but I have spent most if my life being told what to wear form school uniform to suit and tie for work and, as I approach 50 at the weekend, I think I have earned the right to actually be me when I chose what to wear at weekends and not to be looked down upon or denegrated because I wear jeans, vans and a hoodie. A bar is a place to relax. Now, to use a previous analogy, if the club had service, food and decor to the standard of the Ritz then you know what, I may consider it worth dressing up for but it feels inherently wrong to smarten up for a place with the food and decor of a Bernie Inn. This is just another of the reasons why I no longer hold a current membership.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My point is also in regards to why people don’t take it up as well from scratch

You can keep blaming the image etc but it’s a minority reason why people don’t start to play golf - time and cost will always been the two main reasons.

Have you got anything to back this generalisation up. Doesn't match a lot of the stuff I have read about why golf may struggle to continue to attract new players once the post covid boom drops off

 

[hovis]

I can simplify it even more. When someone judges, and it is judging, that the way I wish to dress and deport myself is not up to the standards required to have a beer and a sandwich in a bar then I am pretty much out. Appreciate that clubs have the right to put in place whatever rules they like but I have spent most if my life being told what to wear form school uniform to suit and tie for work and, as I approach 50 at the weekend, I think I have earned the right to actually be me when I chose what to wear at weekends and not to be looked down upon or denegrated because I wear jeans, vans and a hoodie. A bar is a place to relax. Now, to use a previous analogy, if the club had service, food and decor to the standard of the Ritz then you know what, I may consider it worth dressing up for but it feels inherently wrong to smarten up for a place with the food and decor of a Bernie Inn. This is just another of the reasons why I no longer hold a current membership.

Bernie inn???. Did I detect a only fools and horses quote there?

 

[SteveW86]

I'd like to take up yachting - I didn't realise that the fact I can't afford a yacht means I've been subject to "indirect discrimination" who do I complain to?

Chris, come and see me....I'll do you a good deal

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I can't disagree with most of this but most do have undesirable standards to many people. Take your golf head off for a second a imagine you want to take up golf when you are confronted with :

1 you can't change you shoes there mate
2 you can't wear trainers but you can wear trainers if they are golf trainers
3 you have to wear specific shorts
4 your socks must be white
5 you have to keep your shirt tucked
6 that shirt better have a collar
7 you can't take your trolley in between the bunker and green
8 you can't walk where you want on the green
9 you can't talk when someone is playing
10 you can't talk/shout across the fairway
11 you have to take you hat off to shake hands
12 no, no mate. You can only play one ball. No practicing here
13 change your shoes to have a pint
14 don't park in the captains spot
15 get to the gate only to find you need a code to get out

You can understand why people think "stuff all that cobblers"
To all of us the above is normal standard stuff. But from the outside looking in.......... ????

Surely it’s broken down into two areas

Dress code/parking - plenty of courses that don’t say where you can change your shoes , stop you from wearing what colour socks you wear , stop you from wearing trainers , park wherever you want , where what top you want

Ettiquete - a lot of that is just common sense and care of the course you are playing , but even then there are courses you can go and shout your head off , go wherever you want on the green with your buggy or trolley - but every sport will have those sort or dos and don’ts when playing the sport

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Have you got anything to back this generalisation up. Doesn't match a lot of the stuff I have read about why golf may struggle to continue to attract new players once the post covid boom drops off

Have you got anything to back that up?

 

[clubchamp98]

I can't disagree with most of this but most do have undesirable standards to many people. Take your golf head off for a second a imagine you want to take up golf when you are confronted with :

1 you can't change you shoes there mate
2 you can't wear trainers but you can wear trainers if they are golf trainers
3 you have to wear specific shorts
4 your socks must be white
5 you have to keep your shirt tucked
6 that shirt better have a collar
7 you can't take your trolley in between the bunker and green
8 you can't walk where you want on the green
9 you can't talk when someone is playing
10 you can't talk/shout across the fairway
11 you have to take you hat off to shake hands
12 no, no mate. You can only play one ball. No practicing here
13 change your shoes to have a pint
14 don't park in the captains spot
15 get to the gate only to find you need a code to get out

You can understand why people think "stuff all that cobblers"
To all of us the above is normal standard stuff. But from the outside looking in.......... ????

I am pretty sure most sports clubs have rules
Tennis club by me has a reputation of posh, but I have never been there.
I don’t judge places by other peoples opinions.

The things you listed are silly I agree except the bunker one.
You could damage the bunker edge so don’t do it also it’s where a lot of the sprinkler heads are situated
The Captain has earned his spot so some respect is just manners.
Why do you want to talk when someone is playing?
One ball is to protect the condition of the course for others and GK work load ,pitch marks etc.
You don’t need to remove cap to shake hands just watch the Americans