Membership cost increase

[AussieKB]

The two courses I am a member of here in OZ both did not change....

 

[The Fader]

No news on our 2024 subs as yet, although clubhouse gossip is there will be no increase.

We have new owners who are keen to arrest our decline in member numbers so not raising fees
may be part of their strategy - who knows??

Can't ever see a formal 9 month membership catching on for the reason stated above but if, like us,
there is a flexible option - depending on how and when you use your points, you effectivey have a 9 or even 6 month
membership in everything but name only. Albeit with finite golf.

 

[Beedee]

No word of our increase for 2024 yet.

My club does a normal monthly direct debit for about £85 a month (must pay for the full year), or a flexible monthly membership for about £100 a month where you can come and go at a month's notice. I'm not a fan of winter golf and have no particular intention of playing again till March or April, so I can see me switching when the renewals are due in April.

 

[D-S]

No word of our increase for 2024 yet.

My club does a normal monthly direct debit for about £85 a month (must pay for the full year), or a flexible monthly membership for about £100 a month where you can come and go at a month's notice. I'm not a fan of winter golf and have no particular intention of playing again till March or April, so I can see me switching when the renewals are due in April.

So a break even point of just under 10 months?
I would opt for the flexible every time. 8 months for £800 with a £220 kitty to play a few away courses at off season rates in the bleak midwinter - yes please.

 

[Beedee]

So a break even point of just under 10 months?
I would opt for the flexible every time. 8 months for £800 with a £220 kitty to play a few away courses at off season rates in the bleak midwinter - yes please.

Yes. The only restrictions are that you can't hold a committee position, and if you leave you have to rejoin inside 6 months or else (re)joining fees apply.

 

[backwoodsman]

For what reason ?

AFAIK it costs the club to take the money in installments. So, again AFAIK, it costs the club less to offer the 'bonus' on the bar card and get the full payment up front, than it does to take part payments through the year. And as the bonus is on the bar card, it may be worth £50 to me, but it doesn't cost them £50 to honour it.

 

[JayB]

AFAIK it costs the club to take the money in installments. So, again AFAIK, it costs the club less to offer the 'bonus' on the bar card and get the full payment up front, than it does to take part payments through the year. And as the bonus is on the bar card, it may be worth £50 to me, but it doesn't cost them £50 to honour it.

But surely whatever it costs, and quite a few clubs charge extra for monthly payments anyway, it's worth it as in many cases it will be the difference between membership or not.

I know personally I wouldn't have ever joined a club if I had to pay everything in one go.

 

[NearHull]

Clubs themselves cannot charge more for monthly payments ( above the annual fee/12) as they would need a Financial Credit Licence ( not correct terminology). They can reward early annual payers with a discount or adding money to their bar card etc - it doesn’t need any licence to do so.

Some clubs have an arrangement with a preferred Financial Credit Company where monthly paying members contract a 12 month ‘ loan’ with the Finance Company, who then provide the annual fee to the club up front. This method will be annual fee/12 + interest payments.


ETA. Obviously, if a club does obtain the necessary licences they can charge monthly payers more, but I believe that would be an unusual arrangement.

FETA. It’s Christmas Morning and I can’t sleep, I’ve been up since 0530 and sadly commenting on Golf Forums.

 

[sunshine]

FETA. It’s Christmas Morning and I can’t sleep, I’ve been up since 0530 and sadly commenting on Golf Forums.

Too excited to sleep! Did Father Christmas get you what you wanted?

 

[sunshine]

Clubs themselves cannot charge more for monthly payments ( above the annual fee/12) as they would need a Financial Credit Licence ( not correct terminology). They can reward early annual payers with a discount or adding money to their bar card etc - it doesn’t need any licence to do so.

Some clubs have an arrangement with a preferred Financial Credit Company where monthly paying members contract a 12 month ‘ loan’ with the Finance Company, who then provide the annual fee to the club up front. This method will be annual fee/12 + interest payments.


ETA. Obviously, if a club does obtain the necessary licences they can charge monthly payers more, but I believe that would be an unusual arrangement.

FETA. It’s Christmas Morning and I can’t sleep, I’ve been up since 0530 and sadly commenting on Golf Forums.

This is a great post with interesting insights. Thank you.

I have always found it strange that clubs outsource the direct debit to a finance company like fairway credit. The golf club spends money over the course of the year, it doesn’t need your cash up front. I don’t understand why a club would encourage members to go into debt and pay interest to a third party instead of just letting them pay monthly. It doesn’t need to be a finance arrangement.

 

[3offTheTee]

Clubs themselves cannot charge more for monthly payments ( above the annual fee/12) as they would need a Financial Credit Licence ( not correct terminology). They can reward early annual payers with a discount or adding money to their bar card etc - it doesn’t need any licence to do so.

Some clubs have an arrangement with a preferred Financial Credit Company where monthly paying members contract a 12 month ‘ loan’ with the Finance Company, who then provide the annual fee to the club up front. This method will be annual fee/12 + interest payments.


ETA. Obviously, if a club does obtain the necessary licences they can charge monthly payers more, but I believe that would be an unusual arrangement.

FETA. It’s Christmas Morning and I can’t sleep, I’ve been up since 0530 and sadly commenting on Golf Forums.

Good post.

Just wondering what the position is if The Club charge say£25 as an admin fee for the year. If not it is a no brainier to pay monthly. Say subs 1k so average balance say £500 over 12 months @5% circa £25.

The bonus for older members is that if anything serious happens your estate are not in correspondence with The Club as the D/D OR s/O is cancelled

 

[D-S]

Good post.

Just wondering what the position is if The Club charge say£25 as an admin fee for the year. If not it is a no brainier to pay monthly. Say subs 1k so average balance say £500 over 12 months @5% circa £25.

The bonus for older members is that if anything serious happens your estate are not in correspondence with The Club as the D/D OR s/O is cancelled

Its really as NearHull says - a club cannot offer credit (delayed payment) without a Credit Licence, hence you need to outsource.

 

[NearHull]

This is a great post with interesting insights. Thank you.

I have always found it strange that clubs outsource the direct debit to a finance company like fairway credit. The golf club spends money over the course of the year, it doesn’t need your cash up front. I don’t understand why a club would encourage members to go into debt and pay interest to a third party instead of just letting them pay monthly. It doesn’t need to be a finance arrangement.

You made a generous comment on my post , thank you.

My current club handles the monthly payment system directly. We have sufficient office staff to do so, but it does throw up problems. The main two issues are those members who we have to constantly chase to pay each month - not all monthly members use Direct Debit/ Standing Orders - we have a couple who present cash/cheques/credir cards at the office on the due date - or not! Then there are those members who wish to leave mid year and believe they can stop payments, despite clearly agreeing to a full year’s membership split over 10 months. Both of these groups take up an inordinate amount of administrative time and effort. We have had to threaten some leavers with court action to bring them to their senses.

My previous club used Fairway Credit, and I did take advantage of that monthly payment plan as my financial circumstances at the time were not as good as they are today. But, they were a small club with only a small amount of admin staff. I wasn’t involved in that club’s management activity but there probably was a sound business case to off load that effort.

i did find that in my former professional life, 10% of your staff cause 90% of your management issues - it seems that the mantra is experienced in golf clubs. Some of the 10% are the less than diligent monthly members.

Why am I taking the time to post on this Christmas Day? because my wife has Covid and whilst I am still testing negative, we are staying away from our normal family gathering and having, what is known as, ‘ a quiet Christmas’ which encompasses surfing golf forums.

 

[Hobbit]

One of my previous clubs used to offer a prepayment scheme. It meant the first year you went onto it you’d just paid subs for that year but had a standing order then going out monthly for the coming year. Think they dropped it in favour of Fairway Credit.

 

[3offTheTee]

Its really as NearHull says - a club cannot offer credit (delayed payment) without a Credit Licence, hence you need to outsource.

Understand what you are saying but The Club are charging/ going to charge an admin fee for the time it takes to check whether the S/0 has been received at The Bank, mark the persons account that it has been received for January, hence the hypothetical amount of £2.08 monthly or £2.50 if 10 payments

 

[arnieboy]

You made a generous comment on my post , thank you.

My current club handles the monthly payment system directly. We have sufficient office staff to do so, but it does throw up problems. The main two issues are those members who we have to constantly chase to pay each month - not all monthly members use Direct Debit/ Standing Orders - we have a couple who present cash/cheques/credir cards at the office on the due date - or not! Then there are those members who wish to leave mid year and believe they can stop payments, despite clearly agreeing to a full year’s membership split over 10 months. Both of these groups take up an inordinate amount of administrative time and effort. We have had to threaten some leavers with court action to bring them to their senses.

My previous club used Fairway Credit, and I did take advantage of that monthly payment plan as my financial circumstances at the time were not as good as they are today. But, they were a small club with only a small amount of admin staff. I wasn’t involved in that club’s management activity but there probably was a sound business case to off load that effort.

i did find that in my former professional life, 10% of your staff cause 90% of your management issues - it seems that the mantra is experienced in golf clubs. Some of the 10% are the less than diligent monthly members.

Why am I taking the time to post on this Christmas Day? because my wife has Covid and whilst I am still testing negative, we are staying away from our normal family gathering and having, what is known as, ‘ a quiet Christmas’ which encompasses surfing golf forums.

That's tough, I hope she feels better soon. I was looking at forum posts at 5.00 this morning waiting for my grandchildren to wake up. 8.30 before they checked if Santa had been!

 

[2blue]

You made a generous comment on my post , thank you.

My current club handles the monthly payment system directly. We have sufficient office staff to do so, but it does throw up problems. The main two issues are those members who we have to constantly chase to pay each month - not all monthly members use Direct Debit/ Standing Orders - we have a couple who present cash/cheques/credir cards at the office on the due date - or not! Then there are those members who wish to leave mid year and believe they can stop payments, despite clearly agreeing to a full year’s membership split over 10 months. Both of these groups take up an inordinate amount of administrative time and effort. We have had to threaten some leavers with court action to bring them to their senses.

My previous club used Fairway Credit, and I did take advantage of that monthly payment plan as my financial circumstances at the time were not as good as they are today. But, they were a small club with only a small amount of admin staff. I wasn’t involved in that club’s management activity but there probably was a sound business case to off load that effort.

i did find that in my former professional life, 10% of your staff cause 90% of your management issues - it seems that the mantra is experienced in golf clubs. Some of the 10% are the less than diligent monthly members.

Why am I taking the time to post on this Christmas Day? because my wife has Covid and whilst I am still testing negative, we are staying away from our normal family gathering and having, what is known as, ‘ a quiet Christmas’ which encompasses surfing golf forums.

I had a feeling that this would be the issue....... agreed that its the 5 to 10% that causes inordinate problems. Yes, good intial post. Hope you have an enjoyable, quiet Xmas. All the best for the New Year. Oh? which is your Club?

 

[Imurg]

A previous club allowed a DD direct with the club at no extra cost or you could pay up front.
Since then I've always stumped up the cash (often cash) up front.
Fairway Credit is the other option.

 

[D-S]

Understand what you are saying but The Club are charging/ going to charge an admin fee for the time it takes to check whether the S/0 has been received at The Bank, mark the persons account that it has been received for January, hence the hypothetical amount of £2.08 monthly or £2.50 if 10 payments

It’s not so much if you charge or not, just the fact that you need to obtain and pay for a ‘credit licence’. Given this and the admin of collections, chasing etc. it ends up easier just to outsource.

 

[NearHull]

I had a feeling that this would be the issue....... agreed that its the 5 to 10% that causes inordinate problems. Yes, good intial post. Hope you have an enjoyable, quiet Xmas. All the best for the New Year. Oh? which is your Club?

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