Problems at a municipal rant

[Parmo]

So I booked a tee off time for 0645 or something on Saturday as I like early morning golf when the morning mist is about and the course nearly clear with a nip in the air, I go to pay my green fees when the toff behind the counter who doesn’t speak unless you are a member (even though a municipal course) says “You wont be able to play on your own anymore after today as we could have had £54 for that slot and you will have to pair up or join a group”, ok I thought but since its early and there isn’t many about and I don’t like playing with strangers as I am a beginner/intermediate (normally I play with my 17 year old son but he works most weekends) why the problem since its council owned?

So after that rant I thought one it’s a “pay and play” course so I can play when I want and by myself as its council and two why are some municipal courses still so elitist? I am now putting serious thought into joining a private club and finding a club where I can at times play early in the day play on my own or with my son.

Has anyone else encountered this who play alone at times?

 

[madandra]

I would complain to the council's head office and tell them you are being descriminated against. They wouldn't close an effin swimming pool if only one person turned up, would they.

TAKE IT TO THE TOP PARMO.

SOLIDARITY !!!!!!!!

 

[Parmo]

Cheers dude, I think I will see if I get a bonus at work this year and use that to pay for the joining fee at a private course and as they say at the municipal "its a club not just a course and a pub" but hey I dont take it that seriously and maybe I just want a pub and a course.

I will see what happens next time I want to play alone and if they made me join another group then I will complain.

 

[Dave3498]

It's 'jobsworth' again. We encounter it everywhere these days. People in official positions are no longer allowed to act resonably or use their common sense. The guy was really given a choice of zero income for the 06.45 slot, or your £13.50, he chose zero for pedantic reasons. Complain to the council and let us know how you get on.

 

[GB72]

I can understand them pairing up groups if there is demand for that tee slot and the course is heavily booked but otherwise cannot see the argument. That tee slot is only worth more if more people want to book it, if not then they are better off taking your money.

I would also point out that a number of private clubs, including the one nearest me, use tee booking times for members and are equally likely to pair up groups if the course is busy. That said, at least there is a better chance of knowing the person that you are playing with.

 

[Teetotal]

If I book a tee time for two at my local muni on a weekend you can guarantee they will have lumped me with two of the worst random golfers you have ever imagined without asking me first. It's hard work trying to make conversation for 5 hours with people you don't know and hit it out of bounds on every shot or wheel their trolley's over the green. That's why I book for three then say sorry - the third didn't make it.

 

[gor_don01]

by your name i wonder if it is a teesside municipal that your on about if so they are selling 7 day passes for £150 from now until the 31st april ( which i think is good value)

if you get one of these they will never know if you are on your own!!!

 

[Parmo]

No I am from Richmond (NY) but live in Leeds now; I spoke to the municipal secretary yesterday and he mentioned something about a priority card that they can offer if I join as a member and they see me playing a lot, but I thought well surely I should be able to claim that now as a Leeds resident and not need to pay £140 membership, so I called the council this morning and there is a card but referred me back to the club as they issue them so back to square one.

 

[lefty74]

council courses are poor managed, they let any old hacker on a lot of the times with jeans and trainers nobody cares and the price of my local council course is £17 for a round, do yourself a favour join a private course and improve your game!!!!

 

[Parmo]

yeah but hundreds for a joining fee is slightly off putting when for the price of that I could get myself a set of X20s & have change for a Cobra driver. I dont see how clubs can justify the amount we pay in joining fees I really dont.

But I will see how this winter goes, if they switch to the winter greens I may have to find another course as the winter ones are no more than pitch and put greens.

 

[DCB]

You'll get paired up at St Andrews most times. I've also been in a two made up to a four at another couple of courses around there.

 

[lefty74]

totally understand private courses are expensive, i paid £1515 to join and first year green fees for my course but nobody would tell me that i cant play on my own or at any time, but i do realise it's a lot to shell out, golf clubs need too change the way they charge people and joining fees have too be a thing of the past if they want new members!!!

 

[GB72]

I agree, especially as a number of supposedly private courses are no more exclusive than the average municipal in any event. The nearest club to me has 2 courses. One of which is often booked out all day to societies leaving members, paying guests and guests at the on site hotel to cram onto the other. If you think that the cost of the joining fee represents about 10 rounds of golf if you paid green fees and the annual fee about another 20 rounds, the average person who can only play once a week, weather permitting, has no incentive to join.

 

[Parmo]

totally agree with that, the course I want to join is a lot better than my current home municipal and I can talk the wife into the deal as it works out about £10 more expensive a month to join the private club rather than keep using the municipal, but the stumbling block is the hundreds wasted on a joining fee that could go towards other things, its not like I receive anything from the club for the huge fee and still would be paying £60+ a month membership.

Its a bloody shame like as I would like to join the private one as the driving range is stalls rather than a field which gets busy and a nightmare to practice, maybe next year with a bonus I might talk the wife into it.

 

[GB72]

As it happens the one letter that I have managed to get published in the magazine (not letter of the month unfortunately as would have loved the putter) was on this very subject and the lack of flexible options offered by clubs when it comes to signing up new members, especially as a large number have families and jobs and can only play once a week at best.

 

[lefty74]

a lot of clubs have leisure facilities joined to the course so the whole family is catered for, unfortunatly old clubs dont realise that revenue also comes from the whole family eating and drinking at the club rather than just one person.
this is a great game we have but it does have to move forward just a little bit, i'll put the soapbox away now!!!

 

[ForeThought]

As it happens the one letter that I have managed to get published in the magazine (not letter of the month unfortunately as would have loved the putter) was on this very subject and the lack of flexible options offered by clubs when it comes to signing up new members, especially as a large number have families and jobs and can only play once a week at best.

Its a good point - and one that some clubs are getting. At Goodwood - ok, no use to you in Rutland I know - members pay a smallish anual fee then buy bundles of credits which they then exchange for rounds of golf - rounds at popular times using up more credits than at less popular periods. Members can choose how many credits they buy, thus the occasional golfer who wants all the benefits of club membership (handicap, chance to enter club comps etc) does not have to fork out an arm and leg for it.

This is merely an adaptation of some of those pay and play clubs have memberships available which work on much the same lines - you pay a small fee to join the club, then pay per round played.

 

[Parmo]

My municipal is a club with three divisions and weekly competitions and I am tempted to join it for £100 subs and £40 joining fee but no discounts on green fees, but and a big but is that the cost for myself works out a month playing there at £81 and the private club is £63 full membership on direct debits also I get free buckets on a very good range and play on the 12 hole 3 par course. Because I don’t drive a taxi is fiver more each round so it works out a tenner more expensive overall a month at the private club, no problems with that but £450 joining fee (I know it’s not much to most golfers but its something else we need as a family) is the biggest hurdle.

Maybe clubs should be looking at reducing that or having offers on in winter to encourage more beginners/intermediate golfers to join for the coming year ahead? Or councils (or just Leeds council) to offer a season ticket for the courses they have for a few hundred quid per year.

 

[viscount17]

Just wait a while. A lot of clubs will be offering things like 15 months for the price of 12 if you join in January - most memberships run from April 1st. Only thing is, it only applies for your first year.
(Of course if you're like me and have 7 courses within 30 minutes you could try to ring the changes. That said at least two of those are expensive and one you need a second mortgage just to join)

 

[GB72]

My problem is not so much purely an issue of cost but rather that many of the courses in my area have so many societies and pay and play golfers at the weekend that there is little benefit to being a member. I would pay the extra if it meant a quieter course but when they are ramming as many people of possible on to the tees at the weekend, they may as well be a municipal. I know that these are businesses focused on profit, I am not that naive, but the line has to be drawn somewhere