Possible Golf membership Interview questions ???

[Sats]

I assume this is a private club. I note that this is an online interview, so it will be harder for them to pick up the secret signals without shaking hands.

If this was in the US, they might ask you silly questions like if you preferred to shout mashed potato or light the candle after a good drive. In the UK you can expect to be asked a range of important questions such as:
- How many parking spaces should be allocated for the committee?
- What is your view of the flower arrangement in the entrance hall? This is a trap, answer carefully as the lady members petitioned for this at the AGM.
- How many tee times should be made available on Saturday morning for the seniors swindle?
- Are knee high black socks acceptable attire with shorts?
- Should the club invest additional joining fees from new members into new greenkeeping equipment or a new commemorative plaque to recognise the success of the mixed bridge team?

Those questions sound unnecessary and full of agendas not related to whether someone can join a golf club to me. If I got asked that I'd go to another club.

 

[Ethan]

Ive Got a online membership Interview for a new club tomorrow.
I've never had one before , whats the typical questions that are asked
Ive got a few questions i need to ask them also

thanks

Usually the main question is "instalments or pay it all in one?"

 

[howbow88]

Negative slant: It's amazing that a lot of golf clubs only a few years ago were crying out for new members, and now that they're busy due to the effects of Covid, some are doing stuff like interviews and joining fees again. It's this kind of stuff that stopped people joining a few years ago when golf wasn't so popular.

Positive slant: Obviously golf courses shouldn't be over subscribing themselves with members, so limiting membership numbers makes sense for everyone. And from the sounds of this thread, these aren't really interviews but more welcome meetings, which is actually a great idea.

I hope your experience is the latter

 

[evemccc]

I would describe mine as a ‘welcome meeting’, and I think it was even described as even less formally by the pro — “let’s get a seat and I’ll talk you through a few things” — it certainly wasn’t anything I thought now or then as an interview even though some of the questions were obviously to see if I and the course/club were the right ‘fit’ for each other

Just things like previous golf experience and how i would expect to use my membership, and an explanation of the culture of the place and what to expect from it

Edit: if I were to join somewhere else or to get a Country membership for somewhere I would be looking to know the following.
1) any reciprocals 2) booking system vs roll-ups 3) how often is access to course limited eg Ladies Days, Seniors, Society days etc 4) is there a system of integrating new members 5) winter mats and how often was it closed last winter 6) limitations on Members Guests?

 

[nyckuk]

All went well
It was very informal , it was just next years mens and ladies captain on the Zoom meeting .
It was basically my golfing history, how often i as expecting to play and any questions i had .
I think it helped They knew my proposer quite well so that made it seemed quite relaxed

 

[Deleted member 23270]

Negative slant: It's amazing that a lot of golf clubs only a few years ago were crying out for new members, and now that they're busy due to the effects of Covid, some are doing stuff like interviews and joining fees again. It's this kind of stuff that stopped people joining a few years ago when golf wasn't so popular.

Positive slant: Obviously golf courses shouldn't be over subscribing themselves with members, so limiting membership numbers makes sense for everyone. And from the sounds of this thread, these aren't really interviews but more welcome meetings, which is actually a great idea.

I hope your experience is the latter

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the bit in bold. If I made a substantial financial investment to join a nice club and they let in someone who was very disruptive to the club because they didn't vet people then I think a lot of members would be annoyed.

 

[John Evans 9]

Interviews are usually just an introduction to a club and not something that have to be “passed”. At a previous club I had a pleasant chat with the Secretary and Captain and within half-an-hour I was on the first tee. I soon regretted it. All the competitions were held in 4balls and all the sensible time slots were taken by regular groups who never split up. This was a complete surprise to me as my previous club played comps in threes and had a draw every week. I did not think to ask about this at interview but it would now be top of my list.

 

[John Evans 9]

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the bit in bold. If I made a substantial financial investment to join a nice club and they let in someone who was very disruptive to the club because they didn't vet people then I think a lot of members would be annoyed.

I don’t think an interview is necessarily going to spot someone who is disruptive. But once you’ve got them what can you do about it ? Disruptive employees can be sacked ….but members ?

 

[Robster59]

At our club, it's less of an interview, more of a welcome meeting. We have a chat with them, ask how they heard about the club and why they were joining. Asked about their past experience and what they were looking for out of the club. We also asked if they knew anybody at the club and if they wanted to be introduced to anyone, or set up with a group of players. We also then gave them a tour of the clubhouse and changing rooms to familiarise themselves with the layout. We also had a tablet so that we could show them how to access the members section of our website. It can be quite intimidating to go for a golf club interview because of peoples pre-conceptions, so we tried to make it as relaxed and informal as possible.

 

[Robster59]

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the bit in bold. If I made a substantial financial investment to join a nice club and they let in someone who was very disruptive to the club because they didn't vet people then I think a lot of members would be annoyed.

This happened on a (now closed) club near to me. They were chasing the money so let in a group who roved to be very disruptive and drove away at least as many members as were in the group that joined.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

This happened on a (now closed) club near to me. They were chasing the money so let in a group who roved to be very disruptive and drove away at least as many members as were in the group that joined.

E/W? Pity that that sort of thing contributed…my best pal was a member and I played it loads and enjoyed it. It was also where I first played a computer game. Back in the late 70s they had the ‘table’ Space Invaders in a bay window in the lounge bar…we loved it with our post round pint ?

 

[Deleted member 23270]

I don’t think an interview is necessarily going to spot someone who is disruptive. But once you’ve got them what can you do about it ? Disruptive employees can be sacked ….but members ?

True but I would prefer to meet someone before letting them in rather than just a blind application.

 

[Robster59]

E/W? Pity that that sort of thing contributed…my best pal was a member and I played it loads and enjoyed it. It was also where I first played a computer game. Back in the late 70s they had the ‘table’ Space Invaders in a bay window in the lounge bar…we loved it with our post round pint ?

To be fair, it was a lot more deep-rooted than that, but it certainly didn't help. Alledgedly there were some misogynistic comments made to the Lady Vice-Captain by one or more of the group at one of the events.

 

[howbow88]

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the bit in bold. If I made a substantial financial investment to join a nice club and they let in someone who was very disruptive to the club because they didn't vet people then I think a lot of members would be annoyed.

I understand meeting people before letting them join, but as is often the case with golf, it markets itself unbelievably badly. Calling these meetings 'interviews', just makes people that are on the fence think twice about bothering.

 

[NeilG]

Any form of interview that is followed by a yes/no decision would seem to me to be an opportunity to discriminate.
I was looking to join a golf club a few months ago and saw a few things that seemed very dated - interviews, application forms that asked irrelevant questions such as occupation etc...

 

[sunshine]

Those questions sound unnecessary and full of agendas not related to whether someone can join a golf club to me. If I got asked that I'd go to another club.

I might not have been entirely serious.... although surely you must know that golf club politics is a minefield.

 

[Deleted member 23270]

Any form of interview that is followed by a yes/no decision would seem to me to be an opportunity to discriminate.
I was looking to join a golf club a few months ago and saw a few things that seemed very dated - interviews, application forms that asked irrelevant questions such as occupation etc...

Did you apply?

 

[nyckuk]

Any form of interview that is followed by a yes/no decision would seem to me to be an opportunity to discriminate.
I was looking to join a golf club a few months ago and saw a few things that seemed very dated - interviews, application forms that asked irrelevant questions such as occupation etc...

Hopefully they are discriminating against

 

[NeilG]

Did you apply?

Fair question.
I was in the fortunate position of having a number of different options and could easily avoid those that I thought may not have an outlook that I agreed with.
The club I joined I started with an email, then phoned the Sec and it instantly felt like I was being treated like a customer. For me that was perfect.

 

[NeilG]

Hopefully they are discriminating

That may well be the objective but not always easy to tell from a job title.