Reduced Membership Deals

[Crazyface]

At a shockingly poorly attended club meeting to try and find our why membership is low and what can we do etc etc, yesterday, a bloke who was our accountant but resigned at the start of the season, "Alarm Bells", said that out of our less than 400 memberships only 15% actually was in the full membership category, so saying we have 400 members, we don't ! OMG !!! Captains day was poorly attended as was Presidents day. Presentation day was poor on Saturday, a shotgun, and the course was nowhere near full. Gaps everywhere! But back to the headline. Should there really be these cheap categories? Ours go up to age 35 !!!! Jesus H Christ. If you haven't got yourself together by then to afford full membership then you shouldn't join. Go on shoot me down. I've only posted this due to the scary 15% thing.

 

[Paperboy]

I think most golf clubs in my area are reduced rate til 30 or 35 depending on the club.
They are still full members, just at a reduced rate.

 

[Orikoru]

My club does a slightly reduced membership up to age 39. But given that I was 34 when I was looking for a new club to join, this was actually a big factor in me and my two golfing mates joining the club, so they gained three memberships they may not have had otherwise. It's only about £200 less than the full membership, but every little helps.

It's been discussed to death on these forums already, but of course most people in their 20s and 30s don't really play golf and clubs need to attract a younger demographic. I actually think the majority of clubs offered these age-reduced memberships, so your club would be shooting themselves in the foot by not having them.

This is also about the fourth time in the last calendar year you've made a new topic moaning about your club's membership offers. I'm not sure anything has changed.

 

[Bdill93]

I think its a wise business decision as per Orikoru to be honest - but I am also in a subsidised category so of course I would!

Clubs are made up of a mix of people, but those that play the most aren't young (generally speaking)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have reduced payments until 35 (I think). We are definitely getting a lower demographic especially amongst the lady members which is good for the longevity but I don't know what proportion we have as fully paying members

 

[Arthur Wedge]

We have reduced rates up until 39 , been that was for years it’s a gentle increase until full fees

 

[MACM85]

My club is reduced fee's to 40. However the bulk of our membership are 5 day seniors.

It is a tough one to deal with. Charge people more and see them go elsewhere or hang on to what you have and implement increases over time that hopefully retains members and brings in new members.

Question I would be asking is why there such a poor turn out? Is the course in poor condition? Facilities not existent?

 

[Neilds]

We have discounted rates up until 39 although it increases every year from 35

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Ours are only discounted until 25. Discounts up to 40 seems crazy to me, excessive. I get what people are saying about the demographic playing but even so........

It sounds as though there is either something fundamentally wrong at Crazyface's club or the nearby alternatives are more attractive. Worrying times for the club unless it can do something to increase their numbers.

 

[Imurg]

I think discounted deals like this are very bad.....only because I've never been able to take advantage of onee....

 

[Golfloveruk]

The OP was quite hard to decipher, but I think he’s grumpy that some people get a discount.

The club need to know how many full paying members they need to run the place then work out how many from each category they require to get to that number. You might need the equivalent of 500 full fees, which could be made up of 700 members from different categories.

400 members isn’t very many.

They should get rid of 5 day memberships and seniors discounts first if they have them!! They use the facilities the most.

 

[ntommo]

Last year we had categories from 19 up to 29 with every year having discounted rates, given that a lot of these young ones generally have more spare money than the majority of other members its been decided that we will have a category from 18 to 22 then its full membership. We'll see what the uptake is like next year. It may come back to bite us but hopefully not

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The OP was quite hard to decipher, but I think he’s grumpy that some people get a discount.

The club need to know how many full paying members they need to run the place then work out how many from each category they require to get to that number. You might need the equivalent of 500 full fees, which could be made up of 700 members from different categories.

400 members isn’t very many.

They should get rid of 5 day memberships and seniors discounts first if they have them!! They use the facilities the most.

Don’t think it’s so much that some get discounted membership - more that the club has allowed the % on full membership to fall to such a low point. 15% of 400 is only 60 full members and that seems unsustainable. I guess the big question is how long the top end of the 85% can stay at that level, and how many subsequently take on full membership. Truth is that with only 60 full members the numbers conversion are either very low, or the full member attrition rate is high or barely covers conversions.

 

[Golfloveruk]

Last year we had categories from 19 up to 29 with every year having discounted rates, given that a lot of these young ones generally have more spare money than the majority of other members its been decided that we will have a category from 18 to 22 then its full membership. We'll see what the uptake is like next year. It may come back to bite us but hopefully not

Where do you get these people have more spare money from?

 

[Orikoru]

Where do you get these people have more spare money from?

I was going to say, that's patently untrue. The older generations have all the money.

 

[Oddsocks]

At a shockingly poorly attended club meeting to try and find our why membership is low and what can we do etc etc, yesterday, a bloke who was our accountant but resigned at the start of the season, "Alarm Bells", said that out of our less than 400 memberships only 15% actually was in the full membership category, so saying we have 400 members, we don't ! OMG !!! Captains day was poorly attended as was Presidents day. Presentation day was poor on Saturday, a shotgun, and the course was nowhere near full. Gaps everywhere! But back to the headline. Should there really be these cheap categories? Ours go up to age 35 !!!! Jesus H Christ. If you haven't got yourself together by then to afford full membership then you shouldn't join. Go on shoot me down. I've only posted this due to the scary 15% thing.

I’m aware of two clubs in this area only accepting fully paying 7day members for this exact reason.

It’s not uncommon for youngsters to stay with parents longer and as such should have more funds by default. Charge them full fees unless at uni.

 

[abjectplop]

I was going to say, that's patently untrue. The older generations have all the money.

Was going to ask this too . I suspect it was some older people who came up with this consensus!!

 

[VVega]

Surely the question is not why so many members are in the discounted categories but why the club can not attract a sufficient number of the full category members?

Does it mean that the full category is not competitive for the area? Or just that there is not enough target demographic around etc?

 

[Crazyface]

My club does a slightly reduced membership up to age 39. But given that I was 34 when I was looking for a new club to join, this was actually a big factor in me and my two golfing mates joining the club, so they gained three memberships they may not have had otherwise. It's only about £200 less than the full membership, but every little helps.

It's been discussed to death on these forums already, but of course most people in their 20s and 30s don't really play golf and clubs need to attract a younger demographic. I actually think the majority of clubs offered these age-reduced memberships, so your club would be shooting themselves in the foot by not having them.

This is also about the fourth time in the last calendar year you've made a new topic moaning about your club's membership offers. I'm not sure anything has changed.

I know, I'm stupid. But I've found another offer at my place. 18 months of golf for......£41.95 a month! My doodahs are getting fed up with being whacked like this. We really must be in a mess.

 

[Crazyface]

I’m aware of two clubs in this area only accepting fully paying 7day members for this exact reason.

It’s not uncommon for youngsters to stay with parents longer and as such should have more funds by default. Charge them full fees unless at uni.

Heavens!!!! I agree 100%