Scottish Golf In Decline Again

[Deleted member 16999]

I think the main con of that is that while you encourage would be members to your club, when they realise it has cost them virtually a tenner for a game... are they then going to fork out £1,000 for membership?

And you also make existing members think about how much value they are getting for their own membership fees and if it would make more sense to become a nomadic golfer and play different courses on various groupon / tee off times / voucher deals etc.

In short, it devalues your product.

What if brings in revenue to keep members fees down? What if it leads to one of these visitors joining the Club?
Remember this is only a winter offer they are doing, course is quiet etc.

Speculate to accumulate?

 

[HughJars]

It has to. There is no other long term or short term solution. Scottish Golf don't have a clue or the answer they're firefighting at every level and yet again numbers are finances are falling.

The SGU are part of the problem.

Our annual budget from Subs is around £40k (c.300 members), we take in about £5k from guests (no visitors), and another £5-7k from Opens (we're permitted 2 per year).

The rise in SGU subs takes £1500 straight out of the club which as you can see is a massive figure for us, we've had the grand total of £0 value from the existing levy, and no doubt the same from the additional.

We're a course run on a country estate with numerous restrictions, opens and visitors being two of the more restrictive. I'd love for the SGU "marketing team" to come round and give us £3k of value, never mind getting ahead of our affiliation fees.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

To raise one membership fee of say £700, you would need 32 bookings.

A business just can not run themselves on those kind of numbers for a 4 ball, if those numbers are true, then that is scary numbers for clubs to use those vouchers.

The real point I was trying to make is my previous post, is that the voucher scheme stopped me becoming a member earlier, as it was so cheap to just play on the old 2for1 fore mag scheme.

The numbers are spot on, surprised to see it on there and very surprised at Groupons take.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I agree that most clubs need more junior members but this is not the answer, in your signature you say you left the game as you had kids, this is one of the main reasons people leave the game and some come back and some dont. Was cost a factor in you giving up ?

I agree Juniors is not THE answer, even that small poll I’ve done is showing less than a third playing now on here were Junior Members.
Closer links to Football/Rugby/Cricket clubs etc may prove more fruitful as prople get towards retiring from these sports or incentives to get people back in to the game in their late 30’s early 40’s.

 

[HankMarvin]

I agree Juniors is not THE answer, even that small poll I’ve done is showing less than a third playing now on here were Junior Members.
Closer links to Football/Rugby/Cricket clubs etc may prove more fruitful as prople get towards retiring from these sports or incentives to get people back in to the game in their late 30’s early 40’s.

Yep I agree with you, we need to get more guys like Grant85 back to golf and re-join clubs plus tackle the ages between 30-50 year olds to get involved.

 

[CliveW]

My word, where do you play ? It's very much a working class game/sport in Scotland.

I wouldn't say it was a working class game/sport in Scotland. I would say it is a game for all the people in Scotland regardless of social or working status.

 

[Grant85]

What if brings in revenue to keep members fees down? What if it leads to one of these visitors joining the Club?
Remember this is only a winter offer they are doing, course is quiet etc.

Speculate to accumulate?

That's fine, and if that is what your club do, then great, however as I only rejoined in August, I was on the lookout for playing opportunities and found a LOT of deals at similar price points during the summer. And even some opportunities to play Saturday golf - albeit late in the day.

It stands to reason that a lot of people who have one or two mates that enjoy a game could easily sustain themselves playing golf on these deals and even get some Saturday morning games at municipal courses.

 

[patricks148]

Yep I agree with you, we need to get more guys like Grant85 back to golf and re-join clubs plus tackle the ages between 30-50 year olds to get involved.

We don't want the ones 35 and under.... they want it cheap, 36 is fine

 

[Deleted member 16999]

That's fine, and if that is what your club do, then great, however as I only rejoined in August, I was on the lookout for playing opportunities and found a LOT of deals at similar price points during the summer. And even some opportunities to play Saturday golf - albeit late in the day.

It stands to reason that a lot of people who have one or two mates that enjoy a game could easily sustain themselves playing golf on these deals and even get some Saturday morning games at municipal courses.

Not my Club

 

[HankMarvin]

We don't want the ones 35 and under.... they want it cheap, 36 is fine

What next Patrick, no one under the age of 36 and no one over a 18 handicap🙈

 

[User 99]

I wouldn't say it was a working class game/sport in Scotland. I would say it is a game for all the people in Scotland regardless of social or working status.

My point was relative to a previous post that said it was looked upon as a rich mans game that is used by fat cats to do business deals, that is not how it is seen in Scotland.

 

[User 99]

no one over a 18 handicap🙈

Gets my vote, have you seen the mess these chompers make of our lovely courses.

 

[HankMarvin]

Gets my vote, have you seen the mess these chompers make of our lovely courses.

Do you mean Choppers ?

 

[User 99]

Do you mean Choppers ?

Choppers/chompers, call them what you wish, scurge of the modern game.

 

[HankMarvin]

Choppers/chompers, call them what you wish, scurge of the modern game.

The way things are we need as many of these guys as possible to help get the numbers up.

 

[Imurg]

It was mentioned earlier but I want to bring it up again.
I know many of you lot up there are members of 2 or 3 clubs.
Could a chunk of this decrease in memberships be down to people giving up one or more of these extra memberships?
Are they even in the equation?
If they are then you've had an over inflated number for many moons...

 

[HankMarvin]

It was mentioned earlier but I want to bring it up again.
I know many of you lot up there are members of 2 or 3 clubs.
Could a chunk of this decrease in memberships be down to people giving up one or more of these extra memberships?
Are they even in the equation?
If they are then you've had an over inflated number for many moons...

No idea but I would imagine that Scottish golf are only taking count of the affiliation fee numbers rather than per person as all they see is the drop in money they receive and that’s what hurts them not having cash to burn on the guys with blazers and all the jolly boys trips they used to squander the money on.

 

[Jacko_G]

I think those saying that a few clubs need to go under in order to 'save' the rest of them aren't really thinking long term.

While it is probably inevitable that some clubs will go under, I don't think it will necessarily save others. It might put them back on track for a while and get them a few dozen members, although probably by the time a club actually goes, probably anyone who is happy to play elsewhere will have done so already and the 150 or so people who are left will be so gutted at their club going under that they might not even join elsewhere.

And in another 10 or 15 years, the clubs who survive may find themselves in similar bother given the demographics.

As I said, think like a business. Invest in things that will bring in revenue / new members / visitors / functions. And get youngsters into the game from a young age. The sport NEEDS new players to become regular players.

It's not. It is simple economics, like nature, survival of the strongest. You are always going to get a hardcore of members at every golf club, ones who are either faithful and loyal or too blind and blinkered to see what they can get elsewhere. However they are "true" members and golfers who will be at all medals, they will spend money in the bar. They basically live for golf.

The 150 or so that you quote are "the hardcore" the ones who will "need" to join elsewhere.

The clubs that invest and look after their members will survive and continue to grow. To me at present there is not a better example than Paisley GC.

 

[Jacko_G]

I agree with you regarding Scottish Golf, they have no idea other than to expect the current club members to stump up more money in order to keep the organisation going and do nothing to help struggling clubs and only exist to fill their own pockets, did they stand by the original plan to reduce your fees to one club (your home club) or do we continue to pay the fee for all clubs you are a member off ?

Nope. We're still paying two lots of fees and Scottish Golf is still looking into it even although they (SGU included - same shower different name) have been saying for years that they would be changing it so that club members only pay one lot of fees!!!!!

 

[Grant85]

It's not. It is simple economics, like nature, survival of the strongest. You are always going to get a hardcore of members at every golf club, ones who are either faithful and loyal or too blind and blinkered to see what they can get elsewhere. However they are "true" members and golfers who will at medals, they will spend money in the bar. They basically live for golf.

The 150 or so that you quote are "the hardcore" the ones who will "need" to join elsewhere.

The clubs that invest and look after their members will survive and continue to grow. To me at present there is not a better example than Paisley GC.

Maybe the 150 all join somewhere else - but the demographics are still not great with a lot of old members and not enough new blood.