New Golf Club

[Patster1969]

So, I'm looking for a new club and have an informal chat with the General Manager & the Captain tomorrow at a new club - anything I should expect? It only seems to be a half hour at most.
My two previous clubs I just joined and didn't have to have a meeting with anyone.

 

[Imurg]

2 way Q and A...
They want know a bot about you, you can ask any questions about things you're not sure about.
They'll also outline any general rules and stuff about comps etc..
I've done these at my last club and current club...both very relaxed.
Don't stress!

 

[IanM]

Really depends on the Club. A you say, previous places you have just handed over the money! I had a meeting on Zoom with a club this week and they asked me why I wanted to join the club and a little about my golf experience. It's a good opportunity for you to ask them the thigs would like to know about the practicalities.. how tee bookings operate, how new members are integrated , when do comps/roll ups happen etc etc!

Nothing to worry about...

ps Were you Eaton or Harrow??

 

[evemccc]

Really depends on the Club. A you say, previous places you have just handed over the money! I had a meeting on Zoom with a club this week and they asked me why I wanted to join the club and a little about my golf experience. It's a good opportunity for you to ask them the thigs would like to know about the practicalities.. how tee bookings operate, how new members are integrated , when do comps/roll ups happen etc etc!

Nothing to worry about...

ps Were you Eaton or Harrow??

Obviously Eton..GM Forum doesn’t let the Harrow riff-raff in you know

 

[sunshine]

Really depends on the Club. A you say, previous places you have just handed over the money! I had a meeting on Zoom with a club this week and they asked me why I wanted to join the club and a little about my golf experience. It's a good opportunity for you to ask them the thigs would like to know about the practicalities.. how tee bookings operate, how new members are integrated , when do comps/roll ups happen etc etc!

Nothing to worry about...

ps Were you Eaton or Harrow??

You were obviously at Harrow, because you can't spell Eton

 

[IanM]

You were obviously at Harrow, because you can't spell Eton

Wow. .how did it autocorrect to that? Castle Eaton is in my address book

 

[Patster1969]

Really depends on the Club. A you say, previous places you have just handed over the money! I had a meeting on Zoom with a club this week and they asked me why I wanted to join the club and a little about my golf experience. It's a good opportunity for you to ask them the thigs would like to know about the practicalities.. how tee bookings operate, how new members are integrated , when do comps/roll ups happen etc etc!

Nothing to worry about...

ps Were you Eaton or Harrow??

Damn, I chucked my school tie away ;o)

 

[Orikoru]

I expect they just want to make sure you're not a massive dickhead. So you should be ok.

It might actually be more of an introduction where they show you around and answer any questions you have, if you think of it that way I think it's a nice idea. Didn't really get that at my club but then we joined immediately before a 3-month lockdown.

 

[Patster1969]

I expect they just want to make sure you're not a massive dickhead. So you should be ok.

Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves

 

[richart]

Don’t mention you are on this forum.

 

[Backache]

Boasting you had the lowest score on the Wormwood Scrubs golfing society outing may help

 

[Jason.H]

I had an interview last year as I’d been on the waiting list. It went well enough for them to offer membership though I didn’t take it.
It’s great not only for them to find out a bit about you but you ask them questions too. Limited booking amongst other things put me off.
I played the course 3 times whilst on the waiting list and didn’t think it was with the money.
So my take is play it a few times at different times to get a feel for it.

 

[Patster1969]

So the meeting was ok - as you all said, just a brief introduction to the club and how it works. Did feel a bit underdressed though, as both the general manager & the captain both had club ties on (definitely something that neither of my previous clubs did). They were also confident that I was going to join, as they had done me a welcome pack already (I did)!
The main thing that will be different is no tee time booking, as you just turn up and join the first group/next group (is this the kind of thing that put you off, Jason?) - both previous clubs had online booking and the last one in particular was a bunfight to get a morning teetime at the weekend, because unless you were on at 7pm on the dot two weeks before, you weren't getting a teetime. There's a large swindle that all play Saturday/Sunday morning and they always tended to block book all of the teetimes for about 2 hours - always the same people playing in the same groups mostly at the same time (didn't want to join the swindle as it was £5 a round, if you wanted to play on Saturday or Sunday morning, you had to play in the swindle regardless and from other people had said to me, it was only death that could get you out of the swindle).
The no tee-time thing will take some getting used to but it does do away with block booking by the same people/group. They also said that you have to be on the tee to be able to join a group, as they don't want 1 person "reserving" a teetime if the other 3 aren't there/in the bar.
There are roll-ups as well, so by playing in different groups, will hopefully get to know some people at the club. Think it will take some getting used to.

 

[Deleted member 31467]

Sounds like a good friendly club, hope you settle in well

 

[Albo]

So the meeting was ok - as you all said, just a brief introduction to the club and how it works. Did feel a bit underdressed though, as both the general manager & the captain both had club ties on (definitely something that neither of my previous clubs did). They were also confident that I was going to join, as they had done me a welcome pack already (I did)!
The main thing that will be different is no tee time booking, as you just turn up and join the first group/next group (is this the kind of thing that put you off, Jason?) - both previous clubs had online booking and the last one in particular was a bunfight to get a morning teetime at the weekend, because unless you were on at 7pm on the dot two weeks before, you weren't getting a teetime. There's a large swindle that all play Saturday/Sunday morning and they always tended to block book all of the teetimes for about 2 hours - always the same people playing in the same groups mostly at the same time (didn't want to join the swindle as it was £5 a round, if you wanted to play on Saturday or Sunday morning, you had to play in the swindle regardless and from other people had said to me, it was only death that could get you out of the swindle).
The no tee-time thing will take some getting used to but it does do away with block booking by the same people/group. They also said that you have to be on the tee to be able to join a group, as they don't want 1 person "reserving" a teetime if the other 3 aren't there/in the bar.
There are roll-ups as well, so by playing in different groups, will hopefully get to know some people at the club. Think it will take some getting used to.

That sounds good.
My worry would be that 32 people just turn up on a Sat/Sun morning all at the same time and in effect swamp the tee at the same time. Hopefully that’s not the case.
The club I’m a member of used to do ball in a shoot on Sat AM, I remember getting there at about 0745 (first tee time was 8am) and there were about 8 balls in the shoot, 3 cars in the car park (including mine). And a couple of people milling about (the drivers of the other 2 cars I presumed).
As 8 am got closer more and more people turned up but no more balls got deposited. Basically they got a couple of people to turn up early and fill the shoot with balls for their group so they had the tee all to themselves for the first however long.
That left a bitter taste. We spoke to the pro who said nothing to them.

 

[evemccc]

Aside from non-golfing / peripheral to golf matters like cost and distance+travel time to the club, IMO by far the most important thing for prospective members to consider is ‘can I actually get a game or tee-time easily, at a time my life schedule allows me to play’

Lots of other things are nice to have, and also important or ideal I suppose, but that’s the big one

 

[WGCRider]

So the meeting was ok - as you all said, just a brief introduction to the club and how it works. Did feel a bit underdressed though, as both the general manager & the captain both had club ties on (definitely something that neither of my previous clubs did). They were also confident that I was going to join, as they had done me a welcome pack already (I did)!
The main thing that will be different is no tee time booking, as you just turn up and join the first group/next group (is this the kind of thing that put you off, Jason?) - both previous clubs had online booking and the last one in particular was a bunfight to get a morning teetime at the weekend, because unless you were on at 7pm on the dot two weeks before, you weren't getting a teetime. There's a large swindle that all play Saturday/Sunday morning and they always tended to block book all of the teetimes for about 2 hours - always the same people playing in the same groups mostly at the same time (didn't want to join the swindle as it was £5 a round, if you wanted to play on Saturday or Sunday morning, you had to play in the swindle regardless and from other people had said to me, it was only death that could get you out of the swindle).
The no tee-time thing will take some getting used to but it does do away with block booking by the same people/group. They also said that you have to be on the tee to be able to join a group, as they don't want 1 person "reserving" a teetime if the other 3 aren't there/in the bar.
There are roll-ups as well, so by playing in different groups, will hopefully get to know some people at the club. Think it will take some getting used to.

Was a member at a club that did this and it was great until my kids were about 4. I want to play on Saturdays and by the time I'd taken them to sport/parties/school there was zero chance I had an hour or 2 to kill waiting for a space on the first tee.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

So the meeting was ok - as you all said, just a brief introduction to the club and how it works. Did feel a bit underdressed though, as both the general manager & the captain both had club ties on (definitely something that neither of my previous clubs did). They were also confident that I was going to join, as they had done me a welcome pack already (I did)!
The main thing that will be different is no tee time booking, as you just turn up and join the first group/next group (is this the kind of thing that put you off, Jason?) - both previous clubs had online booking and the last one in particular was a bunfight to get a morning teetime at the weekend, because unless you were on at 7pm on the dot two weeks before, you weren't getting a teetime. There's a large swindle that all play Saturday/Sunday morning and they always tended to block book all of the teetimes for about 2 hours - always the same people playing in the same groups mostly at the same time (didn't want to join the swindle as it was £5 a round, if you wanted to play on Saturday or Sunday morning, you had to play in the swindle regardless and from other people had said to me, it was only death that could get you out of the swindle).
The no tee-time thing will take some getting used to but it does do away with block booking by the same people/group. They also said that you have to be on the tee to be able to join a group, as they don't want 1 person "reserving" a teetime if the other 3 aren't there/in the bar.
There are roll-ups as well, so by playing in different groups, will hopefully get to know some people at the club. Think it will take some getting used to.

At my club, we dont do tee times either.
Where have you joined?

 

[spongebob59]

There wasn't tee times at Dartford but the same people generally played at the same.times, even in the comps ( the one thing I didn't agree with there , comps.weren't drawn)

 

[Jason.H]

So the meeting was ok - as you all said, just a brief introduction to the club and how it works. Did feel a bit underdressed though, as both the general manager & the captain both had club ties on (definitely something that neither of my previous clubs did). They were also confident that I was going to join, as they had done me a welcome pack already (I did)!
The main thing that will be different is no tee time booking, as you just turn up and join the first group/next group (is this the kind of thing that put you off, Jason?) - both previous clubs had online booking and the last one in particular was a bunfight to get a morning teetime at the weekend, because unless you were on at 7pm on the dot two weeks before, you weren't getting a teetime. There's a large swindle that all play Saturday/Sunday morning and they always tended to block book all of the teetimes for about 2 hours - always the same people playing in the same groups mostly at the same time (didn't want to join the swindle as it was £5 a round, if you wanted to play on Saturday or Sunday morning, you had to play in the swindle regardless and from other people had said to me, it was only death that could get you out of the swindle).
The no tee-time thing will take some getting used to but it does do away with block booking by the same people/group. They also said that you have to be on the tee to be able to join a group, as they don't want 1 person "reserving" a teetime if the other 3 aren't there/in the bar.
There are roll-ups as well, so by playing in different groups, will hopefully get to know some people at the club. Think it will take some getting used to.

In my situation they only offer 5 day membership to start with and I play Saturday and Sunday so I would have had to remain as member at my current club until 7 day was achieved at the new club. They couldn’t give a time scale on that. They also have online booking but slots were limited. I guess I’m a bit spoilt were I’m a member of now and not ready to give that up.