Membership incentives for golf's next generation...

[JezzE]

Afternoon all,
Just a quick Friday afternoon question for you.
With many golf clubs being a little lacking in the 'next generation of members' department, what do you think of financial incentives to attract more 20 and 30-somethings in via scaled membership fees - good idea or unfair that people should be paying different amounts for the same thing just because of their age?

 

[Imurg]

I always get miffed when I see ads like the one placed by Frilford Heath. Offering no joining fees if you're below 30.
If your club needs joining fees then evryone should pay. Also I get riled by phased, age related fees.
There is a huge assumption that once you reach 30 you've made your millions and can pay top whack. If I wanted to join a "better" club I would't be able to afford the fees as I hit the mid-40's recently, but if I was 25 it would be reachable.

 

[patricks148]

No don’t agree with people paying less just because they are of a certain age group.

In some parts of the country there are just too many golf clubs. I remember my younger brother was a keen golfer in the eighties and around the area we lived; there were 3 private courses and a couple of public ones that you had to queue up for an hour or more to get on at the weekend. I believe the number of courses around there has now doubled

 

[John_Findlay]

Most golf clubs (all?) do discounted green fees for juniors despite the fact that they are often the most frequent users of the course. So there's already an inbuilt age descrimination as you get older.

Rather than having discounted fees for those in their 20's and 30's I think it would be better to have a sliding scale of fees according to how often you play, a bit like my own course. That may attract those who are younger. Who knows.

 

[colint]

I understand why it's done, but it's open for abuse. A club near me had a scheme runnning a few years back, you could jump the waiting list and not pay a joining fee if you were under 35. One of the first to use the scheme was millionaire and occasional footballer Michael Owen !

Personally I don't think it should extend beyond 25. People tend to have families later now, so in theory could actually have more disposable income in their late 20's than 30's or 40's

 

[Doh]

No don’t agree with people paying less just because they are of a certain age group.








What, even if they are still at school?

 

[Robobum]

It's being done out of necessity at most places offering it.

Given the choice of no club or sky high fees once the senior section "departs" then I am okay with letting the "whippersnappers" in a bit cheaper.

There will undoubtedly be some who slip through the net i.e earning more than I do but paying half fees, but c'est la vie.

Our average age at the club is around 61 I think, I reckon you could fit all the 25 - 35 age group into a five a side team.

 

[Dodger]

Afternoon all,
Just a quick Friday afternoon question for you.
With many golf clubs being a little lacking in the 'next generation of members' department, what do you think of financial incentives to attract more 20 and 30-somethings in via scaled membership fees - good idea or unfair that people should be paying different amounts for the same thing just because of their age?

Before we reply,what is your take on it Jezz??

You know mine...

 

[Scott1505]

It's being done out of necessity at most places offering it.

Given the choice of no club or sky high fees once the senior section "departs" then I am okay with letting the "whippersnappers" in a bit cheaper.

There will undoubtedly be some who slip through the net i.e earning more than I do but paying half fees, but c'est la vie.

Our average age at the club is around 61 I think, I reckon you could fit all the 25 - 35 age group into a five a side team.

I believe this is the case at a lot of golf clubs especially mine. I joined my club with a mate we are both below 30 and received a good deal to join. We have now introduced another 6 new members to the club due to this good deal. This extra membership is invaluable to golf clubs in the present climate and even if just one or two of us remain there for good then i believe the deal has worked for the club plus the average age has been lowered.

If this deal was not on at the club then myself and 7 others would not have joined.

 

[Oddsocks]

Most golf clubs (all?) do discounted green fees for juniors despite the fact that they are often the most frequent users of the course. So there's already an inbuilt age descrimination as you get older.

Rather than having discounted fees for those in their 20's and 30's I think it would be better to have a sliding scale of fees according to how often you play, a bit like my own course. That may attract those who are younger. Who knows.

IM in agreement with this, what gets my back up is as a just over 30's player, i would pay full wack for a memeber ship to play once a week and maybe a midweek knock during the summer nights once. effectively giving me around 75 games for my membership.

My last course my membership was £1200, and if we take my 75 rounds a year as an average, it weas costing me £16.00 a game. now as a senior member (not sure of the exact age) the fee's were around £800, 30% less than mine. most of the senior members would play saturday and sunday, and atleast once during the week. if we say they only played 3 times a week, their games was costing them £5.15, if they got around to playing 4 times, it was down to £4.00. Why should their fee's be cheaper when they are hammering the course 3/4 times a week. i wouldnt mind but you never see them spend money in the pro shop, money in the bar so it wasnt as if they was putting any extra revenue into the club.

 

[DCB]

I listened to a talk a while back about the demographics of golf club membership and was stunned at the current state of the game in Scotland.

I grew up in an era where golf clubs had waiting lists. the better the club, the longer the list. There were even waiting lists to get into the junior section

Nowadays, people have changed the way they live. We no longer have 'jobs for life' and stay in the one area all our days. We move around the country far more with our employment than once was the case.

As a result, there are people who don't get the benefit of joining a club, therefor, they don't join a club. They still play golf, but use pay & play or the dreaded '2 for 1' voucher schemes that are on the go.

As a result, clubs no longer have the Juniors moving through to Ordinary membership in the manner they once had. This is where the biggest problem occurrs. Very few club members in the 18-30 range. Clubs do need to look at ways of bringing that range back into membership, if they don't then there will be serious problems ahead.

Incentives to bring in this target area have to include staged fees. How else is a younger person supposed to manage to afford club membership. If they then decide not to keep their membership when they reach 30 so be it, but if they really enter into club life, they will surely try to stick around.

 

[Losttheplot]

I can see this is a can of worms ready to open!!!

I do think there should be no age discrimination from 18 upwards but at 18 who can afford a 600+ membership??? Maybe put it to 21???

I think the seniors issue isnt an issue. If you choose to pay an annual membership fee then you can play as much as you want just like the seniors can and if they get more golf in than us then that's fair play to them.
On the other hand they should pay the same as everyone else.

 

[pokerjoke]

Imo juniors should be cheaper,and seniors,all others should be the same price.That does mean the next generation does get an incentive.

 

[Tiger]

I agree that this is a broader issue about membership packages. A couple of my friends have just joined my club as they had turned 30 and couldn't afford justify the extra fees at the club they used to play at.

It's actually in your 30's and early 40's that you need to tighten your belt these days. The pensioners are the heart of our club and they pay the same as the rest of us. What would be good is a Comp membership allowing people to play in a set number of qualifying comps and then a discounted green fee. That way less frequent players should get better value for money.

Where I would discount is juniors and those in full time education.

 

[HRC99]

I think anything that encourages new members is to be applauded.

Monthly payments, discounts for age, transitional memberships from juniors, flexible memberships that offer handicaps and reduced green fees etc will all need to be part of a golf club's membership offering.

At the end of the day, if your club has a waiting list, then you don't need to offer such incentives but, if like most, more members would help the club then clubs should go for it.

The world is changing and, if golf clubs don't change with it, then their future is in jeopardy.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm al for getting juniors into clubs and learning the game and to a degree learning about life. It was certainly a great grounding for me as a youngster to regularly play with adult members. However I don't agree with the rates then continuing.

I've grabbed the 2009/10 fees for my place as I'm having a clear out and they are to hand.

Full 7 day was 1280 plus 600 joining
Juniors (up to 18) was 230 and no joining fee

18-21 was 320 with no fee
22-25 was 640 and 300 joining fee
26-28 was 960 and 45 joining

So basically for ten years you can go out to work and earn reasonable money and pay significantly less than me and my peers and yet play as oftena nd enjoy all the same benefits. I can't see any justification in that whatsoever.

I have to say my club seems to be bucking a trend and is doing very well at encouraging new members and that is still with a joining fee. What's the way forward. That I don't know but this age discrimination has to be the first thing to go

 

[RGDave]

It seems to me that a lot of clubs simply don't have enough options for some types of potential member.
If I ran a club, I'd certainly offer some means tested/age related levels of membership. Interesting to note that clubs sometimes offer weekday only, but never weekend only. Weekend only, with the option to play once a month (only) in a comp and out of comps anytime when there are tee times would get some folk through the door and stop the regulars downgrading.
...not that I've thought that one through.

 

[Screwback]

I'm al for getting juniors into clubs and learning the game and to a degree learning about life. It was certainly a great grounding for me as a youngster to regularly play with adult members. However I don't agree with the rates then continuing.

I've grabbed the 2009/10 fees for my place as I'm having a clear out and they are to hand.

Full 7 day was 1280 plus 600 joining
Juniors (up to 18) was 230 and no joining fee

18-21 was 320 with no fee
22-25 was 640 and 300 joining fee
26-28 was 960 and 45 joining

So basically for ten years you can go out to work and earn reasonable money and pay significantly less than me and my peers and yet play as oftena nd enjoy all the same benefits. I can't see any justification in that whatsoever.

I have to say my club seems to be bucking a trend and is doing very well at encouraging new members and that is still with a joining fee. What's the way forward. That I don't know but this age discrimination has to be the first thing to go

Bloody hell thats kinda expensive to be paying for golf no way i could afford that...

 

[Dodger]

Screwback = 2 top courses for the price of a pie and 2 pints of heavy.

 

[Screwback]

I think Golf courses should offer golf for under 30s as cheap as possible. At the end of the day they are the future of the club and the club depends on them. If they cant afford it in their 20s they are going to go off find something else to do (cheaper) and not come back when they reach there 30s.