Membership cost increase

[clubchamp98]

Can't really see why fees should go up by 10% or higher. Yes things like fertilizer have gone up but that isn't enough to justify it. Sounds like profiteering by the clubs, especially privately owned ones

Fertiliser has gone up by almost 40%
Some things have stayed the same not many.
There is profiteering everywhere
But I agree some clubs will go up 10% but only give staff 5% pay rise.

 

[clubchamp98]

Be careful what you wish for; once everyone abandons the expensive one for the cheaper one, the expensive one goes under and the cheaper one now has a captive audience which it can now charge whatever it wants. Yes, it’s an oversimplification but the basic premise applies.

Loads of choices down here, but nothing that I’d want to join over what I’ve currently got, so my choice will either be pay the increase or pack the game in. At the moment I don’t have enough time for motorcycling and golf, so if golf goes the alternative is in the garage bought and paid for. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that but we’ll see what happens.

Be a real shame if anyone has to pack in because their club prices them out.
But it’s going to happen.

 

[Neilds]

Not sure what increase we will have next year but we have embarked on a 5 year program to redesign all the bunkers (4 holes done so far) and also recently installed toptracer and lights on the range to try and bring in more income. I only joined the club a couple of years ago but from what I have heard, certain members were reluctant to spend the windfall we got from selling land to a developer and they would rather have loads in the bank than improve the facilities. Hopefully we have now got the balance right and we don't overstretch ourselves.

 

[D-S]

Can't really see why fees should go up by 10% or higher. Yes things like fertilizer have gone up but that isn't enough to justify it. Sounds like profiteering by the clubs, especially privately owned ones

Golf course machinery costs have gone up by 20-30% and this is a significant chunk of any clubs budget.

 

[Ian_George]

Golf course machinery costs have gone up by 20-30% and this is a significant chunk of any clubs budget.

Don't forget power and fuel. And probably wages as mitigation for cost of living increases.

 

[IanM]

Just been offered a decent short term contract. I'll do that till end of March.

That's any membership increase and all golf trips covered for 2023.

Radical solution, but effective.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

I might have said it before, but our clubs solution will likely to be to re-allow/increase society offerings (I don’t think we’ve allowed societies since Covid). Just the energy bill alone was increasing by something silly like £100k so unless you open the flood gates to new members (we are oversubscribed as it is) you’ve got to do something to generate revenue or the full cost will go onto the members.

That being said, surely everyone fully expects an increase of anything up to about 10-15%?
We’re private/member owned so I trust that any increase passed on to members is fully merited. Would be a trickier one to accept if there was an owner taking a fat salary and wanting to like his own pocket under the guise of inflation driven increases.

 

[Deleted member 25575]

I think everyone does expect a rise 10% or thereabouts.
However, I do wonder how many won’t renew. There are many comments in this thread about it only equating to £2 a week or whatever, what I think people are missing is the real squeeze that many people are feeling at the moment, and yes I fully understand the clubs are also feeling the squeeze. But I fear for many a golf club is a luxury and generally speaking an expensive one at that, that luxury getting more expensive (understandably so) at a time where essential for living items (food / heating etc) are also going up and real term wages going down, will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, that said many of these people wouldn’t have taken membership again this coming year even without the price rise.

It’s tough for clubs, they understandably need to raise prices, but in doing so risk hitting that tipping point for some as long as the end result is them bringing in more revenue than they did last year that’s as good as it might get. Longer term, if the rise in subs and subsequent drop off in some members, means the club no longer has enough funding for the year to maintain 2022 standards/improvements, I fear 2024 will be an even harder year for many clubs as people will start to resent being charged more for an inferior product.
Tough times

 

[r0wly86]

I feel if a club does make a profit or surplus, that they will have to accept that they won't be making money for the next couple of years, ride out the storm and try and retain as many members as possible. If they put up their prices in order to sustain the same levels of profit of surplus then they may lose a lot of members.
If clubs are just about sustainable before the increase in prices, then I genuinely fear for their future, people are going to have a lot less money and luxuries like playing golf will probably be the first thing to go for a lot of families

 

[Oddsocks]

The missing link will be people with multiple memberships, these will almost certainly be first hit even if it’s just a social membership.

Flexi / points based memberships are about to see a boom in my eyes, play more golf as an example. My membership this year was 1600 and looking back at the amount of golf I’ve played, I wouldn’t have used my credit allowance if I’d been a play more golf member paying only £700. By the time they have taken their management fee I would guess my club would have received 600-650 for my membership opposed to the full 7 day membership. That’s a £1000 saving for me and an equal loss to the club.

 

[Blue in Munich]

...It’s tough for clubs, they understandably need to raise prices, but in doing so risk hitting that tipping point for some as long as the end result is them bringing in more revenue than they did last year that’s as good as it might get. Longer term, if the rise in subs and subsequent drop off in some members, means the club no longer has enough funding for the year to maintain 2022 standards/improvements, I fear 2024 will be an even harder year for many clubs as people will start to resent being charged more for an inferior product.
Tough times

This will be the crux of it for me; I'd prefer that the club raised it by sufficient that they maintain the current standards than raised it by a bit less but let standards slip. That really would grate.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Just had ours through this morning. The email details how the committee debated between a 5, 7 or 10% increase and decided to settle somewhere between 7 and 10% across all member categories.

I've just done the calculations and my associate membership is an 11% increase on last year ?.

I was expecting worse tbh as I was half thinking they might do away with the associate memberships in which case I'd have probably let my membership lapse. As it is I'll be renewing.

 

[clubchamp98]

Just had ours through this morning. The email details how the committee debated between a 5, 7 or 10% increase and decided to settle somewhere between 7 and 10% across all member categories.

I've just done the calculations and my associate membership is an 11% increase on last year ?.

I was expecting worse tbh as I was half thinking they might do away with the associate memberships in which case I'd have probably let my membership lapse. As it is I'll be renewing.

They decided with between 7/10% rise.
And yours has gone up 11% , whose doing the maths.

 

[SurreyGolfer]

The missing link will be people with multiple memberships, these will almost certainly be first hit even if it’s just a social membership.

Flexi / points based memberships are about to see a boom in my eyes, play more golf as an example. My membership this year was 1600 and looking back at the amount of golf I’ve played, I wouldn’t have used my credit allowance if I’d been a play more golf member paying only £700. By the time they have taken their management fee I would guess my club would have received 600-650 for my membership opposed to the full 7 day membership. That’s a £1000 saving for me and an equal loss to the club.

I've got one at Pyrford, roughly spend about ~£500 a year and it suits me perfectly (playing at odd times due to work/family commitments). They become pricey if I want to play in comps as they're usually at peak times, or just recreationally at peak times. But for me it was a choice between ~£500 flexi or ~£150 a month knowing I wouldn't extract full value.

It's a great way to get people into the game too. Completely agree with you.

 

[Springveldt]

Which local club has put their fees up by 18%, if you don't mind me asking??

The Park from what I've been told. I know they run January to December so renewals have just gone out. It was one of the most expensive in the area already before the rise.

I noticed for the first time ever that they also had an offer on my facebook feed last month that was for joining now and getting 15 months for the price of 12. I've never, ever saw them advertising for members before.

 

[HeftyHacker]

They decided with between 7/10% rise.
And yours has gone up 11% , whose doing the maths.

Haha I know, I did nearly email back. When I opened the attachment with the fees on I thought it looked a bit off so got the calculator out ?.

 

[Springveldt]

I think everyone does expect a rise 10% or thereabouts.
However, I do wonder how many won’t renew. There are many comments in this thread about it only equating to £2 a week or whatever, what I think people are missing is the real squeeze that many people are feeling at the moment, and yes I fully understand the clubs are also feeling the squeeze. But I fear for many a golf club is a luxury and generally speaking an expensive one at that, that luxury getting more expensive (understandably so) at a time where essential for living items (food / heating etc) are also going up and real term wages going down, will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, that said many of these people wouldn’t have taken membership again this coming year even without the price rise.

It’s tough for clubs, they understandably need to raise prices, but in doing so risk hitting that tipping point for some as long as the end result is them bringing in more revenue than they did last year that’s as good as it might get. Longer term, if the rise in subs and subsequent drop off in some members, means the club no longer has enough funding for the year to maintain 2022 standards/improvements, I fear 2024 will be an even harder year for many clubs as people will start to resent being charged more for an inferior product.
Tough times

Yeah, it's the accumulation of things. I know in my household (with 2 kids) we are about £30 a week more for food without buying anything extra and my fuel bill is £330 a month, up from about £170 last year. Diesel has also gone up massively as have take-away treats. It's £7 for a meal in McDonalds now FFS. . I expect council tax will go up by it's usual 5% come April and I'm already paying £270 a month for that.

I don't have a smart meter so I've been taking meter readings every day and wrote a spreadsheet to calculate it. I'm currently using about £6 a day electricity (work from home, 2 kids etc) and £3 a day for gas and that's without the heating being on. I did a test and turned the heating on for 7 hours and set the thermostat at 18 and I used £7 of gas that day. So come the cold weather when the heating needs to go on I'll be looking at about £13 a day at least for fuel.

In my head I've already budgeted for a 10% increase in golf and I'll pay that but if it goes up by 18% or 20% then I'll need to have a long hard think, especially since our greens this year were garbage during the summer compared to my 5 other years of membership. It's a hard ask to ask for 20% more when loads of the membership were complaining about the course conditions this season. To be fair to my club though it is very well run and they do react to criticism very quickly. I'll be very surprised if they did ask for 20% more.

The scary thing for me is that I'm on a decent wage for my area, I'd hate to think what others that aren't are feeling at the moment.

 

[moogie]

The Park from what I've been told. I know they run January to December so renewals have just gone out. It was one of the most expensive in the area already before the rise.

I noticed for the first time ever that they also had an offer on my facebook feed last month that was for joining now and getting 15 months for the price of 12. I've never, ever saw them advertising for members before.

Wow
That's a hefty rise on fees, as you say, high anyway (for our county)
Though it is a private members club unlike any other in area, in that respect

I've never seen them have to advertise for members before either, nor any offers.

 

[clubchamp98]

Haha I know, I did nearly email back. When I opened the attachment with the fees on I thought it looked a bit off so got the calculator out ?.

Clever from the club .
Tell you it’s 10% but charge 11% how many would check.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Our builder quoted £1500 to take down and dispose of our conservatory. I’m doing it myself, and the labour cost I save (will still have to pay council to remove dismantled if can’t get someone to take it off my hands) will cover any increase in next years subs. Well I blinkin’ well hope it does.