Open competition entry fees and prizes ?

[williamalex1]

What's the fees and prizes at your club for open comps.
My club came up with the following for our next open pairs comp.

Entry fee is £20 for a 2 man team, this includes a £2 food/drink voucher.
1st team prize = 35% of entry fees, per team.
2nd " " = 20%
3rd " " = 15%
4th " " = 10%
i think it's a fairer way, and the club can't really lose any money.

How does your club work it out ?

 

[Crazyface]

Dunno, but my last place gave up on "Opens". Didn't seem to get any interest, and the members refused to pay to "play their own course".

 

[Capella]

Germany has a slightly different cutlure when it comes to open comps. Ours are this week. We have a men's comp on Wednesday, a ladies' comp on Thursday, a senior comp (men and ladies mixed) on Friday, a 4BBB on Saturday and an individual Stableford on Sunday. The weekend comps are open for any gender. All comps include halfway snacks and some kind of dinner afterwards, so prices are relatively steep. For the weekday comps they are 30 € for members and (I think) 55 € for guests, the Saturday one is 50 € for members and 85 € for guests and on Sunday it is 40 € for members and 75 € for guests. So guests play a greenfee of 25 €, opposed to the 60 or 70 € they'd normally pay.

All events are sponsored, btw., so the prizes don't come out of the entry fees. Basically, the open is a way for the club to make money.

 

[KenL]

I have no idea and it is never a consideration on ones I play.

I play ones at courses I want to play and at some local clubs to support them.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

What's the fees and prizes at your club for open comps.
My club came up with the following for our next open pairs comp.

Entry fee is £20 for a 2 man team, this includes a £2 food/drink voucher.
1st team prize = 35% of entry fees, per team.
2nd " " = 20%
3rd " " = 15%
4th " " = 10%
i think it's a fairer way, and the club can't really lose any money.

How does your club work it out ?

Still don't follow all this, open fees seen more like a prize pot, never really got an answer on the other thread why people think this and never seen it mention on an open I have ever entered.

Am I reading that right, ie :-

80% of £20 = £16 goes in prizes and then there is the profit element lost on a £2 food/drink voucher as well(say a £1).

Therefore £3 per 2 man team is actual 'profit' or returned to the club (plus an additional revenue in the bar/shop on that day)or £6 per tee time for a fourball.

I would politely say that is plain crazy, golf clubs need to realise that they are a business and need to make a return(profit) to reinvest in the business, to fight inflation, buy new equipment, pay extra staff and so on etc

Sorry, I haven't got the foggiest about the clubs I am a member at, but I hope they are making more that for shutting the course for a day or afternoon.

 

[williamalex1]

Still don't follow all this, open fees seen more like a prize pot, never really got an answer on the other thread why people think this and never seen it mention on an open I have ever entered.

Am I reading that right, ie :-

80% of £20 = £16 goes in prizes and then there is the profit element lost on a £2 food/drink voucher as well(say a £1).

Therefore £3 per 2 man team is actual 'profit' or returned to the club (plus an additional revenue in the bar/shop on that day)or £6 per tee time for a fourball.

I would politely say that is plain crazy, golf clubs need to realise that they are a business and need to make a return(profit) to reinvest in the business, to fight inflation, buy new equipment, pay extra staff and so on etc

Sorry, I haven't got the foggiest about the clubs I am a member at, but I hope they are making more that for shutting the course for a day or afternoon.

This seniors comp is being played on a Thursday, hopefully attracting 150/180 visitor on a day when the course is usually empty. Bar and kitchen staff are on duty anyway so no extra cost involved, same with the course no extra work involved.
The £2 voucher can be put towards food or drink , a pint cost £3.40 . Some car park golfers won't have a drink or even use the voucher.
Some might stay for a few, some might even like the course and become a member.

 

[fundy]

This seniors comp is being played on a Thursday, hopefully attracting 150/180 visitor on a day when the course is usually empty. Bar and kitchen staff are on duty anyway so no extra cost involved, same with the course no extra work involved.
The £2 voucher can be put towards food or drink , a pint cost £3.40 . Some car park golfers won't have a drink or even use the voucher.
Some might stay for a few, some might even like the course and become a member.

Lucky you

Down here that same open would be £30+ per head to enter with a greenfee being taken out of the cost and probably a smaller prize pool than you get. They are clearly seen very differently in Scotland to the south of England!

 

[Jacko_G]

I have no idea and it is never a consideration on ones I play.

I play ones at courses I want to play and at some local clubs to support them.

That is also more or less my thinking.

 

[Jacko_G]

Still don't follow all this, open fees seen more like a prize pot, never really got an answer on the other thread why people think this and never seen it mention on an open I have ever entered.

Am I reading that right, ie :-

80% of £20 = £16 goes in prizes and then there is the profit element lost on a £2 food/drink voucher as well(say a £1).

Therefore £3 per 2 man team is actual 'profit' or returned to the club (plus an additional revenue in the bar/shop on that day)or £6 per tee time for a fourball.

I would politely say that is plain crazy, golf clubs need to realise that they are a business and need to make a return(profit) to reinvest in the business, to fight inflation, buy new equipment, pay extra staff and so on etc

Sorry, I haven't got the foggiest about the clubs I am a member at, but I hope they are making more that for shutting the course for a day or afternoon.

If Golf Clubs are classed as businesses then you need to tread carefully with VAT. Golf Clubs are non profit making clubs for a reason. Doesn't stop a club having "reserves" but you can't class a club as a business if you want the benefits on taxes and VAT.

 

[casuk]

Ours was £10 for members £15 for non, prices were spit between division 1-3 top prize in each division was £150-200 second was £80-90 and third was £50 think there were some other prizes too

 

[Deleted member 21258]

If Golf Clubs are classed as businesses then you need to tread carefully with VAT. Golf Clubs are non profit making clubs for a reason. Doesn't stop a club having "reserves" but you can't class a club as a business if you want the benefits on taxes and VAT.

That is an interesting area and certainly one that you can read loads about, a good starting link is here for one of the relevant cases:-

https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/index.php/vat/691-vat-green-fees-not-for-profit-clubs

 

[GB72]

Ours are about £30-£35 a head, all played in 4 balls with 2 scores counting. Includes a 2 course meal so the club builds that element of profit into the event rather than give an option to eat. Never seen a breakdown of what goes out as prizes but not seen any complaints and they get pretty full. Tend to have quite a few in a year, I think 4 mens plus ladies, seniors and mixed events.

My issue is (and I am not sure if this is just me being selfish) but a number of these are held at weekends leaving only 9 holes open to members. As a person who can only play at weekends, that niggles a bit. Appreciate that the club needs to make money and, as I said, it could well be me just being selfish, but I always felt that open comps were meant to fill the course when it was quieter. Again, I appreciate that it is easier to fill the start sheet on a weekend but should that be at the expense of members' ability to play at busy times. Maybe this is common (cannot say I play in opens at other courses) and I am being unreasonable.

 

[Coffey]

It is interesting to see how many opens each club have.

We have 2 per week on our main course.

One on a Sunday and one on a Wednesday. Both of them are £20 for visitors and prizes are completely dependent on numbers of entries but no idea how much % wise is split. It is £5 for members and that includes 2's.

We do have other opens on our second course which is mainly aimed at mixed team events and seniors.

They are pretty popular, I would say on a good Sunday you'd get 50 odd people playing in it (mix of members and visitors).

We then also have our Open Week during the summer. During this week there is basically a comp on every single day on both courses. It is a good week with sponsored prizes so they are normally decent enough.