My local muni

[Mr_Top_Shot]

Guys i am thinking of joining my local muni. Have a couple of reasons for this:

1. Want to get myself an official handicap
2. I play there quite a bit anyway and quite like the course.

I have only been playing since the end of last season but really have the bug.

The years 7 day fee is £440.

Can any of you wise owls offer me any words of advice?

All feedback much appreciated

 

[GB72]

Depends on how your muni is run, especially during the busy summer period. You will read all sorts of horror stories on here about muni courses but the 2 I used in the past are excellent and very well run. If it were not for the fact that the season tickets there were actually more expensive than the courses near me, I would have considered joining.

 

[Parmo]

My home course is a Muni, I can also get a season ticket for £360 and play when (in theory) I want. I am not 100% sure about it at the moment, there is a club there which offer a sub + joining fee of £130 on top of the £360 and that gets me a cert & entered into comps, the season ticket will class me as a day member so I get to use the club house when I want.

At the moment I am still in my first year of golf and throughout the year I play about 4 times on average a month so the saving of joining is 50% so a bargain. I was speaking to a member last night and asked about the chances of a locker (as I don't drive and leaving my clubs there would be a massive help and cost saver) and he just said "three years" :| I was like ok, so for £130 I get to enter comps and a cert? I will stick with the free one online and get a season ticket, and they wonder why no one is joining the club.

I didnt get on the course much last summer (started playing in Aug) and when we played at the end of the day the tee off markers where filled with beer cans and the course was pretty much shafted, but the plus side is if you get out like myself first thing in the morning you avoid these people and enjoy cheap golf, go for it dude.

 

[viscount17]

Mr TS what course is it? I didn't play golf when I lived in Brighton so don't know them.
I want to get my bro' back down to Brighton and play him. He's been playing a lot longer than me and with a much lower h/cap but that would make a win (or even an honourable draw) that much sweeter. Besides he's an ex-RAF bender (pilot) and I'm ex-RN mender (avionics).

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My local pay and play is run and owned by Bracknell Forest and has two mens club and a ladies club attached to it. You pay a joining fee to be a member of these clubs which gets you recognised as a member of a golf club and an official handicap.

They organise thier own events each month and book the tee times accordingly. From what I know you enter on the sheet posted on the noticeboard. I think you then pay a (reduced) green fee to play.

I understand they rotate the comps so one of the affiliates does not hog prime time slots at weekends. Once the comps have gone out they take regular bookings for guys just looking for a game.

I have to say it is always well kept and the guys that are attached to the clubs are always sensibly dressed.

There is another public golf course (even closer) called Blue Mountain which is owned by Crown Golf. They have a club there which I think runs along the lines of a normal club whereby you have a set fee each year (plus joining). Not sure if you have to play green fees on top. Its not a bad course but on clay soil so very hard going in Winter. Again everyone respects golfing dress code.

The problem with both courses is normally during high summer when kids are on their holidays. You normally get gangs of teenagers going out with minimal equipment (sharing as they go) with no concept of ettiquette etc. Similarly in late afternoon you get the "builders" (just an example NOT a generalisation) who maybe have had a few shandies at lunchtime and go out (even seen them still wearing their builders boots) and have few tinnies

I think you will be fine joining. It gives you a golfing identitiy and if it helps you play a few competitions and get your handicap down so much the better

 

[billyg]

Guys i am thinking of joining my local muni. Have a couple of reasons for this:

1. Want to get myself an official handicap
2. I play there quite a bit anyway and quite like the course.

I have only been playing since the end of last season but really have the bug.

The years 7 day fee is £440.

Can any of you wise owls offer me any words of advice?

All feedback much appreciated

Does that include green fees, unlimited golf and priority tee booking?

If it's just a handicap you're after then there's much cheaper options out there.
A muni I passed through a few years ago were asking less than £50 to calculate and issue handicaps.

If you thnk you'll play enough to bring the marginal cost of a round down to less than just paying and playing then why not. It's the first step on the ladder and will at least help you clarify what you like and dislike about such clubs and give you a checklist when moving on.

When I first started playing I was so besotted with the game that the little annoyances and distractions of muni's didn't even figure in my thinking.

You can only expect so much from a muni and if you walk into it with your eyes open then for that kind of money you can't loose.

I would hazzard a guess that you will find as you gather experience that muni's are not the last word in golfing excellence but for many(including myself) they were the first.

If they didn't exist I wouldn't be playing now- it's that simple so credit where it's due.

As for lockers - I would want insurance before I left my clubs in a locker overnight. My clubs' got number plate reading cameras on the barrier entrance and (daily changed) security encoding to get out which is only issued to members and ticket holders.The locker rooms are monitored.

They don't put those sort of measures in place for a laugh.

I even have a small waterproof shower bag to take car keys and valuables into the showers and mineral bath area. Cost pennies- could save fortunes.

Same when I go to the gym.

Unless you have a seperate set of security encoded members only facilities it's worth thinking about.

It only takes one pikey scumbag.

Good luck.

 

[GB72]

Also worth looking at the cost of the other courses in the area as muni membership is not always the cheapest. Thorpe Wood and Orton Meadows near me charge over £700 per annum whereas the avearage membership in the area is about £600. With the finances a bit thin at the moment and found my new club. Private members club looking to attract some younger members offering 30% discount. Current year on a great course with good facilities cost me £352.00 (including the ever optimistic £2.00 hole in one insurance)

 

[RGuk]

If it's just a handicap you're after then there's much cheaper options out there.
A muni I passed through a few years ago were asking less than £50 to calculate and issue handicaps.

Me too.

If the £440 includes green fees, then it could really be worth it. Divide this by the amount of times you might play and see how it works out.
I paid £38 to join and £9.50 to play (£3/5 reduction on the P&P rate). I played minimum 60 times per year so that's more than you'll be spending.....

 

[Mr_Top_Shot]

The £440 includes green fees, entry into the competitions they hold, the ability to get my official handicap. The local government actually have 2 courses locally. The fee gives me access to them both. (one isn't so good)

The course is called Waterhall and is a nice downland course.

I have worked out that even if i play 26 times a year the fee per round would work out to £15ish quid. Seems pretty good value.

 

[Parmo]

MTS,
That course looks decent, my muni is a 9 holers but great for beginners and tough enough for everyone to enjoy it. As I said before for just over a £1 a day free golf!!! bonus and better than forking out £600 + joining fee.

 

[billyg]

It looks good mate. If you sure it's going to suit you then IMHO roll the dice.

I used to have rellies that lived in Ovingdean and as a kid I would walk near a course just over the brow of the hill to the west of it. A few years later played it.Might even have been the first round of golf I played.

I also remember a little pitch and putt near Roedean Girls' school out along that stretch of road running along the cliffside. Any idea if that's still there? seem to remember playing there as a kid.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

If it has two courses it sounds like a good deal. I know you said one isn't as good but if you roll up and fancy playing and it is packed and slow at least you get the option of playing a quieter course and enjoying your game more.

Unless there are any other viable options nearby I'd be prepared to give it a go. Pay for this year and see where you are financially and in golfing terms this time next year

 

[medwayjon]

Seems like good value to me.

What you should do is weigh up the benefits of municipal/private club.

I would say that if your finances allow it, opt for the private club. You will benefit from a better kept course (probably), security for belongings & vehicles, no issues of encountering yobs, p!$$-artists or dog-walkers, and hopefully you will meet loads of new playing partners.

 

[viscount17]

TS, what's the other course?

I know where Waterhall is, not far from Devil's Dyke and the Black Lion. Does it still have the nasty little bend in the road just as it narrows under the railway bridge?

 

[Mr_Top_Shot]

TS, what's the other course?

I know where Waterhall is, not far from Devil's Dyke and the Black Lion. Does it still have the nasty little bend in the road just as it narrows under the railway bridge?

The other course is hollingbury park. Yes the nasty narrowed bend is still there

 

[Mr_Top_Shot]

It looks good mate. If you sure it's going to suit you then IMHO roll the dice.

I used to have rellies that lived in Ovingdean and as a kid I would walk near a course just over the brow of the hill to the west of it. A few years later played it.Might even have been the first round of golf I played.

I also remember a little pitch and putt near Roedean Girls' school out along that stretch of road running along the cliffside. Any idea if that's still there? seem to remember playing there as a kid.

Haha, yeh the pitch and putt is still there. i go there to practice my short game sometimes. Quite nice top walk around with the family on a summers eve.

 

[billyg]

It looks good mate. If you sure it's going to suit you then IMHO roll the dice.

I used to have rellies that lived in Ovingdean and as a kid I would walk near a course just over the brow of the hill to the west of it. A few years later played it.Might even have been the first round of golf I played.

I also remember a little pitch and putt near Roedean Girls' school out along that stretch of road running along the cliffside. Any idea if that's still there? seem to remember playing there as a kid.

Haha, yeh the pitch and putt is still there. i go there to practice my short game sometimes. Quite nice top walk around with the family on a summers eve.

Glad to hear it's still there. That stretch along the top is great.

I must jump on a train one day and go and have a look at the marina again.

Apart from the pitch and putt I used to remember spending a lot of time in the place with the big clock in it in town(can't remember it's name) with my nose glued to the window of Beatties model shop. I thought a radio controlled car was the bee all and end all of life

 

[viscount17]

Ah, billy, I remember it before the marina was there. We used to collect winkles off the rocks.

Shame you say Hollingbury is a bit run down, I grew up right by it (Varndean Lane, Balfour Road and Carden Avenue). Nicked my first balls from there (only from stuffy golfers who used to try to chase us off, the friendly ones could get help on the blind drives), used to find loads among the gorse as well.