Membership Costs Up

[Garush34]

There is a proposal at ours to put fees up £10 from next year, but this also includes the extra £3 odd for the SGU fee. I'm happy to pay it, its not a lot of money at the end of the day, and I'm still getting my membership for cheap. If I was to join elsewhere I would have to factor in fuel costs etc to get there and that puts the price up even more.

 

[Crazyface]

Exactly.
Our fees are £1100 for. 7 day membership. It’s gone up every year since i joined, but then sonhave everything needed to maintain the course. We also have a slight surplus, which we are using to redo the bunkers on the course over a number of years. Each bunker I believe is something like £5k to totally redo for the better long term.
Standing still isn’t an option, and obviously my club must be doing something right because the number of new members has risen.

If your place can shell out to do bunkers then I think you have no worries about how affluent the club is. My last place filled in four two years ago to save money.
Then wasted about £10k on building a new tee on the second that didn't need doing. This hole then became a flick from an elevated tee down to the green. I used to just grab any club from the bag, half swing and on the green. Clowns!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

That depends on the club, mines is a member owned club so it's not a business, yes it needs to run like a business but it's not to make profit.

If your club is being run properly then it should be making a 'profit' although that money should be going into a fund to pay for future capital projects such as clubhouse repairs/renovation, course projects etc. If it isn't then the next time you need £50k to replace the clubhouse roof you will end up with a massive hike in annual subs.

 

[Grant85]

I'm not sure a roll and bacon or a couple of balls are going to make any difference.

Usually catering is outsouced and the pro shop is run as a business by the professional and not the club.

All golf courses will have car park members and that's fine to an extent, you can't force people to use the facilities if they don't want to. What you do have to appreciate though is that they are keeping your fees down as well.

Clubs in general increase fees year on year, not saying it's right but it is something I budget for.

It's more the cost of running the catering and having 2 staff members in at 0730 to sell not enough food before 11am. It's probably £125 in wages alone.

Obviously a commercial caterer is going to struggle to justify that even if they were to break even and many clubs struggle to provide a service, even on weekends. And others will keep it going purely to provide the service, even at a cost to the club to appease the few members who use it and support the club.

 

[Smasher]

If your club is being run properly then it should be making a 'profit' although that money should be going into a fund to pay for future capital projects such as clubhouse repairs/renovation, course projects etc. If it isn't then the next time you need £50k to replace the clubhouse roof you will end up with a massive hike in annual subs.

This, Keynesian economics!
They should be making a profit and investing some but also saving for major investment, repairs or tough economic times. IME most are like Gordon Brown and splash the extra cash like a chav with a new credit card.

 

[Grant85]

reducing fee's is just the long slippery slope IMO, nothing is cheaper than it was 10 years ago so not sure why some think Golf should be

Agreed - but think like a business. They would spend money on marketing to attract customers, or provide bundle deals that kept revenue up but were seen to be more valuable and would help to attract new customers and retain some others.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

How much are your current fees and are they going up my £50, struggling to follow the point you are making?

 

[User 99]

If your club is being run properly then it should be making a 'profit' although that money should be going into a fund to pay for future capital projects such as clubhouse repairs/renovation, course projects etc. If it isn't then the next time you need £50k to replace the clubhouse roof you will end up with a massive hike in annual subs.

I was/am of the understanding that being a members club it is run on a non profit basis with all profits ploughed back in to the running of the club, which is possibly what you are saying.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

If your place can shell out to do bunkers then I think you have no worries about how affluent the club is. My last place filled in four two years ago to save money.
Then wasted about £10k on building a new tee on the second that didn't need doing. This hole then became a flick from an elevated tee down to the green. I used to just grab any club from the bag, half swing and on the green. Clowns!

I wouldn’t call my club “affluent”, more well managed and run.
Having the funds to make course improvements only comes about through careful planning and management of the club finances, with the hard choices that brings. Ultimately a course that’s in good condition will bring in more members than might leave. No one really wants to play a potato field regardless of how cheap it is.

 

[patricks148]

I wouldn’t call my club “affluent”, more well managed and run.
Having the funds to make course improvements only comes about through careful planning and management of the club finances, with the hard choices that brings. Ultimately a course that’s in good condition will bring in more members than might leave. No one really wants to play a potato field regardless of how cheap it is.

you are forgetting about Orikoru

 

[Coffey]

You get what you pay for.

I could move to a cheaper club but the facilities and course quality is not as good. I have the money at the moment so I will continue to be a member there until I cannot afford to do so and then would look to change.

I am under 30 and my fees raise £70 a year as I get older up to £1100 for a full membership. Mine is currently around £800.

 

[HampshireHog]

I’d be happy if it was only £50, but it won’t be ☹️. In real terms £1 a week seems a small amount for me to absorb compared with lobbing out God knows how much on a joining fee elsewhere.

 

[Junior]

Good question. I pay £1100 at my main course , which is comparable to similar courses within a 30 minute drive in Cheshire. I live a short walk away, so, for me, I would pay a little more, but I don’t see it rising for the foreseeable as it went up 10% last year. In most of the previous years it had been frozen although I think there was maybe a 1 % rise a couple of years ago). Economics (staff, rates, machinery costs) had just caught the club up. The courses of high stature in the area (namely Sandiway and Delamere) are considerably more.

I will be resigning from my country membership this year at St Annes Old Links. When I joined a few years ago it was £600 to join and £600 per year. This coming year it will be £840 for me and the joining fee for all categories of new members has now risen to £1200. Full membership is only £1120. It’s a great course, in amazing condition year round , with great members and I love heading up there, but, it’s simply a luxury that I can’t justify given the amount of times I play there. The reason they can charge this is that the membership is full and they have waiting lists for each category (apart from lady I believe) so its firmly a supply and demand issue.

 

[Jacko_G]

I’d be happy if it was only £50, but it won’t be ☹️. In real terms £1 a week seems a small amount for me to absorb compared with lobbing out God knows how much on a joining fee elsewhere.

Absolutely agree with your sentiments.

Everyone has different ideas and views and everyone has different financial positions and responsibilities. It will always come down to what you can afford or perceive to be good value.

£50 over a year is less than £1 a week however for someone who is possibly on a very tight weekly/monthly budget it can be a lot extra to find in one go.

I'm not looking forward to my fees as I have a feeling that they will rise considerably again this year.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Sandiway and Delamere) are considerably more.

I will be resigning from my country membership this year at St Annes Old Links. When I joined a few years ago it was £600 to join and £600 per year... This coming year it will be £840 for me... so its firmly a supply and demand issue.

Ouch for country membership price and a fair increase for only a few years. Not great news as you paid a joining fee but as you say supply and demand. And I thought the course I am looking to join at £830 country was a lot, thinking maybe it isnt

Are you looking at another course instead ?

Out of interest, Sandiway isn't 'massive' amounts more than what you currently pay IIRC (ignoring the large joining fees)

 

[Qwerty]

Ouch for country membership price and a fair increase for only a few years. Not great news as you paid a joining fee but as you say supply and demand. And I thought the course I am looking to join at £830 country was a lot, thinking maybe it isnt

Are you looking at another course instead ?

Out of interest, Sandiway isn't 'massive' amounts more than what you currently pay IIRC (ignoring the large joining fees)

How much is the JF at Sandiway?

 

[HampshireHog]

Absolutely agree with your sentiments.

Everyone has different ideas and views and everyone has different financial positions and responsibilities. It will always come down to what you can afford or perceive to be good value.

£50 over a year is less than £1 a week however for someone who is possibly on a very tight weekly/monthly budget it can be a lot extra to find in one go.

I'm not looking forward to my fees as I have a feeling that they will rise considerably again this year.

I guess the point I was making is that annual fee increases aren’t going to be a consideration in moving clubs as the cost of change is unrealistic as I’m going to be looking at a minimum of £5k for the first year, factoring in joining fees. So unless the club goes “Wentworth” on the membership they have me until such a point as my circumstances change, and I either stop golfing, I’m prepared to downgrade or West Hill waive the joining fee.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

How much is the JF at Sandiway?

(not sure if I should post exact figures, as they were really helpful to me as a nobody and wouldn't wish to upset the club and really thankful for all their help at the time and think the course/setup is brilliant)

As an indication, at the beginning of this year when I enquired for men it was about 2x annual fees and for women 1x times annual fees(not exact but fairly close). If you are interested, the general manager Peter was really helpful when I spoke to him several times over membership.

 

[jim8flog]

It's more the cost of running the catering and having 2 staff members in at 0730 to sell not enough food before 11am. It's probably £125 in wages alone.

Obviously a commercial caterer is going to struggle to justify that even if they were to break even and many clubs struggle to provide a service, even on weekends. And others will keep it going purely to provide the service, even at a cost to the club to appease the few members who use it and support the club.

We went to a franchise for food and bar a few years ago, winner for the club as we have zero staffing costs and we take a percentage of the caterers takings. The caterer must be happy as he renewed the contract twice.
The only downside for members is that prices have gone up quite a bit for a lot of the food and some of the drink.

 

[Grant85]

We went to a franchise for food and bar a few years ago, winner for the club as we have zero staffing costs and we take a percentage of the caterers takings. The caterer must be happy as he renewed the contract twice.
The only downside for members is that prices have gone up quite a bit for a lot of the food and some of the drink.

I guess this is an issue.

A commercial operator are going to put up prices to a commercial level and be fairly unapologetic about it.
A lot of people will put up with this if it is good quality and the prices are not premium.

The club are less likely to do it as they might take the 'not for profit' decision, but ultimately that will only increase costs and / or lead to poor quality, irregular service, irregular quality.

My main point would be was that if members properly supported their club and had regular coffees or food - it would make a big difference to clubs who still tried to run their own service. At the end of the day, everyone has to eat regularly so it is hardly a massive cost to buy a bacon roll or a sandwich at your club given you need to eat something at some point either just before or just after golf.

Every member doing that once a week would make a huge difference to the club and would make almost no difference to the member.