Subscriptions/current course closures - what is your club doing?

[BiMGuy]

What I find a bit irritating is that apparently as soon as the lockdown was announced a number of members emailed the Manager straightaway to ask if they were getting refunds.

I've had the same with our junior football club. Just had a load of messages to ask if we will be refunding any of the yearly subs. Same people who asked last time.

This is despite us lowering them from last year due to the season being made shorter, and us explaining that they are set at the bare minimum to cover our operating cost for a season.

I've had to explain again they cover a season of playing football, not a set amount of activities per month.

 

[Diamond]

On reopening in May our club took on 40+ new members in the first 2 weeks. By late summer they were not taking on any more 7 day members and have now introduced a registration fee of £750 on top of the subs which I believe has never has never happened before.
All members have paid subs throughout the pandemic.

 

[Golfnut1957]

Thinking about this from the club's / business perspective. For a typical private club in 2020, I am guessing:

- Revenue from bar and kitchen was massively down, but costs were also down, so the net impact is probably close to zero.
- Operating costs were probably down a little bit, due to staff on furlough.
- Revenue from societies / green fees was significantly down.
- Membership subs were moderately up, the bulk was all collected at the start of the financial year, but then a surge in new members joining over the summer has provided a welcome pro rata boost.

All of this indicates that the club is unlikely to have made any surplus in 2020. So if the club wants to provide compensation or a discount to members, how is this being funded?

Either by reducing costs, which will lower the quality of the course. Or by raising debt / dipping into cash reserves, which were probably being saved for a capital project like drainage improvements etc. Both of these options are unappealing to members, although the impact will be seen in the long term.

Have these issues been discussed at any of your clubs? There's been minimal comms from my club so I don't know if my assumptions are valid.

This pretty much sums up my club.

Where we differ slightly, we had well over a hundred new members during the summer, a not insignificant increase in revenue from subs, and while there was no revenue from the bar during LD1, during the summer it was mental, I have never seen it so busy, so they might have recouped a bit there.

The thing with our club is the renewals go out in November to be paid by whatever means by the 31st December. In theory everyone will either have paid or set up a direct debit prior to LD3. This isn't always the case though.

As an example, in our four ball, two of us have paid up fully, one has arranged staggered payments and the fourth has done nothing. This however is the norm.

A few years ago while stood on the first tee the Pro wandered up and said "xxx, the Secretary has informed me that should I see you I am to let you know that you are banned until you pay your subs". Oh, how we laughed as he turned the colour of beetroot. He wasn't trying to con anyone or save any money. It was just that paying his subs wasn't particularly high on his list of things to do. This was in March by the way, and he was only two and half months late with them.

 

[Diamond]

This pretty much sums up my club.

Where we differ slightly, we had well over a hundred new members during the summer, a not insignificant increase in revenue from subs, and while there was no revenue from the bar during LD1, during the summer it was mental, I have never seen it so busy, so they might have recouped a bit there.

The thing with our club is the renewals go out in November to be paid by whatever means by the 31st December. In theory everyone will either have paid or set up a direct debit prior to LD3. This isn't always the case though.

As an example, in our four ball, two of us have paid up fully, one has arranged staggered payments and the fourth has done nothing. This however is the norm.

A few years ago while stood on the first tee the Pro wandered up and said "xxx, the Secretary has informed me that should I see you I am to let you know that you are banned until you pay your subs". Oh, how we laughed as he turned the colour of beetroot. He wasn't trying to con anyone or save any money. It was just that paying his subs wasn't particularly high on his list of things to do. This was in March by the way, and he was only two and half months late with them.

I would say 2 and a half weeks is an oversight, 2 and a half months is extracting the Michael.???

 

[jim8flog]

This pretty much sums up my club.

Where we differ slightly, we had well over a hundred new members during the summer, a not insignificant increase in revenue from subs, and while there was no revenue from the bar during LD1, during the summer it was mental, I have never seen it so busy, so they might have recouped a bit there.

The thing with our club is the renewals go out in November to be paid by whatever means by the 31st December. In theory everyone will either have paid or set up a direct debit prior to LD3. This isn't always the case though.

As an example, in our four ball, two of us have paid up fully, one has arranged staggered payments and the fourth has done nothing. This however is the norm.

A few years ago while stood on the first tee the Pro wandered up and said "xxx, the Secretary has informed me that should I see you I am to let you know that you are banned until you pay your subs". Oh, how we laughed as he turned the colour of beetroot. He wasn't trying to con anyone or save any money. It was just that paying his subs wasn't particularly high on his list of things to do. This was in March by the way, and he was only two and half months late with them.

We are given 7 days grace to pay the renewal only. It used to be am month but so many players left it until the last of the that month it was curtailed.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Subs due at the end of next month and nothing mentioned to date. I think they need to be careful if they are thinking about raising subs too far as I have heard a few rumblings from long standing members. It's a tough decision trying to find a way to balance books or offset already accumulated losses. At the moment I'm not trying to be chilled and wait for the envelope to land first

 

[petema99]

We had bar credit doubled up last membership round (July), but nothing else - nothing announced this time round yet

 

[SteveJay]

Direct debits on hold currently while shut and was at 80% in tier 4.

How does that work for those who've paid annually in full or don't the club offer that option?

 

[timd77]

I joined my club in the summer and so I’ve no idea if they did anything in the first lockdown, nothing was said for November and nothing mentioned this time. It’s a member’s club and so I’m torn on it at the moment.

On one hand, I love the course and I want to go back there to play when this is all over. I understand that some staff will still be working and need to be paid and I understand that revenue will be down as a whole. We’re no longer taking on new members and so if I did leave or suspend my membership, I wouldn’t get straight back in.

On the other hand, my income has massively reduced since November lockdown and will likely continue that way during this one. I’ve already had to dip into savings to cover bills, and so paying out £100 a month for something I can’t use seems total madness and irresponsible. It’ll end up being around £400 altogether on nothing.

I don’t know. ?

 

[Jamesbrown]

How does that work for those who've paid annually in full or don't the club offer that option?

It’s not an option, used to be but not anymore. Changed to attract more members. Just a flat £125 p/m but can’t cancel for winter and come back in spring.

 

[USER1999]

We have just had £200 put on our bar cards, which is nice. I guess it is to encourage spending when we re-open, but overall, it's a nice gesture, and one that really wasn't necessary.

 

[Bdill93]

Our club just make you sign a 12 month contract much like a gym. Join, pay your subs, renew after the year is done - but every members year starts and ends at different times!

Our owners have added every month of golf we have missed on top of the current year. I joined in July, so ill pay membership subs till July 21, then play golf in August, September and October for free.

Brilliant owners, the business and its employees and they themselves dont seem to be suffering. I think mostly down to the success of a minigolf course that opened in 2018 which last summer, was so rammed all day every day, for £30 for a family, it raked in the cash!!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I joined my club in the summer and so I’ve no idea if they did anything in the first lockdown, nothing was said for November and nothing mentioned this time. It’s a member’s club and so I’m torn on it at the moment.

On one hand, I love the course and I want to go back there to play when this is all over. I understand that some staff will still be working and need to be paid and I understand that revenue will be down as a whole. We’re no longer taking on new members and so if I did leave or suspend my membership, I wouldn’t get straight back in.

On the other hand, my income has massively reduced since November lockdown and will likely continue that way during this one. I’ve already had to dip into savings to cover bills, and so paying out £100 a month for something I can’t use seems total madness and irresponsible. It’ll end up being around £400 altogether on nothing.

I don’t know. ?

Sadly that's a tough call. If you jacked the membership (which is clearly the logical move) could you join again at another club easily until you can get back into the club you are at now? If not can you not approach the current club and explain your situation and see if there is a way of witholding membership on financial grounds

 

[Orikoru]

I just decided to join a club with membership subscriptions this Jan and then days later, lockdown happens. I don't know what they did for previous lockdowns - not expecting any rebate for this since I've only just joined and they gave us a cheap pro-rata deal for Jan-Apr taking us up to their normal renewal date which is May 1st. I managed to play there once.. as long as I play a lot between end of lockdown and end of April I can still get my money's worth overall, so I'm trying not to worry about it too much. The timing was highly annoying though. I even had a round booked on Tuesday 4th that was kyboshed.

 

[timd77]

Sadly that's a tough call. If you jacked the membership (which is clearly the logical move) could you join again at another club easily until you can get back into the club you are at now? If not can you not approach the current club and explain your situation and see if there is a way of witholding membership on financial grounds

I’ll probably see what develops over the next couple of week. I think if I left I wouldn’t go back, would be too embarrassed and probably get black balled anyway!

 

[Golfnut1957]

I just decided to join a club with membership subscriptions this Jan and then days later, lockdown happens. I don't know what they did for previous lockdowns - not expecting any rebate for this since I've only just joined and they gave us a cheap pro-rata deal for Jan-Apr taking us up to their normal renewal date which is May 1st. I managed to play there once.. as long as I play a lot between end of lockdown and end of April I can still get my money's worth overall, so I'm trying not to worry about it too much. The timing was highly annoying though. I even had a round booked on Tuesday 4th that was kyboshed.

That's my plan for the year. While I never worked out the exact sums, rough calculations lead me to believe that I pay about £5 a round. It will take some doing, but I'm going for a new record of £3 a round this year, once LD3 is over. Here's hoping for a great summer.

 

[Captainron]

I don’t think we will get anything back off the club and I wouldn’t want anything back anyway. Last year cost them a bunch in lost revenue and them refunding anything would cause more loss. I’d rather have a club to play at than a few quid back

 

[Philip Doran]

I’m paying about 1500 for 5 day membership this third will probably mean a loss of at 1/3 of annual fee. No offer so far from owner who is not short of a few bob. Decided to suck it up early on but now it’s getting ridiculous and unfair. I don’t mind paying some towards maintenance but it is a service they are providing

 

[backwoodsman]

Our subs were announced back in December - as they are applicable from Jan 1st. They are being held at same level as last year. Last year we got no refunds and nobody is expecting (or asking for) one this time round in lockdown 3.

And surprisingly, the 2020 accounts were up about £220K up on the equivalent period for the previous year. (Mainly down to business rate rebate and new members joining fees). So have managed to get some long needed new machinery for the greens team (mowers, overseeder etc)

 

[HampshireHog]

This years subscription left my account today. Members club so no money back for closures, but no increase this year.