Subscriptions

[Don70]

Morning all,
New user here with an issue at my (currently) ex-club, any thoughts appreciated.
Ive been a member at my club for a couple of years but did/could not re-new in May due to personal issues which meant i might not be in the country, therefore did not want to shell out the best part of £1500 on the basis i might not be around.
Things fell through and i am staying in the UK, contacted my club only to be told i can re-new my subs but they would have to be back-dated to May 1st, meaning i would be paying for 2 months golf i could not and have not been able to use.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

Ive been far from impressed with their attitude at a time when all golf clubs are crying out for members and they did not seem to appreciate that £1500 is a hell of a lot of cash to shell out for most peopple at any time.

Quite angry and upset about the situation.

 

[Aztecs27]

sounds ridiculous to me. Find another club IMO.

 

[Don70]

Thats how i feel, however my father plays there and has done for 30-odd years, so theres that to consider.

 

[Oddsocks]

given the current climate i bet there isn't a club in your area that doesn't want a sniff of your £1500 quid. id make a call to the club manager asking if he would like to reconsider this rule of paying for golf that you havent played, if its not open for discussion, id walk.

A local course i wanted to join in april have offered me the same deal as they had on back then, 15 months for the price of 12, they want my money, your club dont sound like their bother either way.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Pretty much as everyone else. Your club is still turning approx 1250 for 10 months membership by refusing to budge. I wouldn't worry too much about your dad being a member and look on it as having two courses to share. I think if you have a proper face to face with the secretary or captain they may reconsider especially if you can pay on the day.

 

[CallawayKid]

As Homer said, face to face is the way to go but let them do the talking and let them talk themselves into a hole. If they won't budge, tell them to jog on. You can always play as a guest of your Dads'...

CK

 

[funkyfred]

Agree with the face to face, and as a witness to the proceedings i would take your father along as well. I would have thought that someone with 30 years of good service should see how the club is being run.
And it it doesn't go your way, you can always ask the question how many other people have they lost through this inflexible attitute.

At my club, any new members pay on a pro-rata basis, and we also pay on a monthly direct debit, although through an administration error they forgot to collect mine in May.
Cheque in the posts guys........honest.

 

[richart]

Hold on am i missing something here. Our subscriptions are due in November, and with the poor weather over the last couple of winters, perhaps i should resign in November, and then rejoin in April, and just pay half a membership ? Wouldn't do it myself but i know a few that don't play over the winter, and don't see why they should get a huge discount.

If you join a new club fine, pay pro rata for the months of the subscription year you are a member. But i think if you want to continue your membership of your existing club it should be continuous. I know clubs need the money, but if you bend the rules for one, it could cause problems with other members.

Just my opinion.

 

[Don70]

Richart, understand your view, however were a new member to join at the club now they would pay a full 12 months subs from the day they join, not backdated 2 months.
Why should i not receive the same treatment? i am happy to pay 12 months subs for 12 months golf.

 

[richart]

Richart, understand your view, however were a new member to join at the club now they would pay a full 12 months subs from the day they join, not backdated 2 months.
Why should i not receive the same treatment? i am happy to pay 12 months subs for 12 months golf.

Don, my point is they would be a new member. You are an existing member, looking to rejoin two months after leaving. I assume you do not have a joining fee, otherwise you would probably end up paying more to rejoin ? (This would be the case at our club) What about someone who is injured or ill and can't play for two months through the subscription year. Should they get a refund for months missed ?

The rules have to be seen to be as fair as possible to all members. Nothing personal, but i can understand where the club are coming from.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Richart, understand your view, however were a new member to join at the club now they would pay a full 12 months subs from the day they join, not backdated 2 months.
Why should i not receive the same treatment? i am happy to pay 12 months subs for 12 months golf.

Don, my point is they would be a new member. You are an existing member, looking to rejoin two months after leaving. I assume you do not have a joining fee, otherwise you would probably end up paying more to rejoin ? (This would be the case at our club) What about someone who is injured or ill and can't play for two months through the subscription year. Should they get a refund for months missed ?

The rules have to be seen to be as fair as possible to all members. Nothing personal, but i can understand where the club are coming from.

I thought the OP is now an ex member as he didn't renew the subs in April. Personally I think he should be entitled to the pro-rata as he isn't a member and not looking to just get two months off for not playing. What if he'd gone to another club, hated it after a month and wanted to rejoin his dad. Would he still be expected to pay for the two months he was at another club

 

[chrisd]

Rich is quite right. Most clubs would expect a continuous payment as some members would see this as a way to just pay and enjoy summer golf.

To stop this possibility, my club has said that anyone leaving then wishing to rejoin, either has to pay continuously, or cant rejoin for the golfing year. I can see all the pitfalls but there are people out there who would "play the rules" and its difficult to administer once a precedence has been set


Chris

 

[richart]

Richart, understand your view, however were a new member to join at the club now they would pay a full 12 months subs from the day they join, not backdated 2 months.
Why should i not receive the same treatment? i am happy to pay 12 months subs for 12 months golf.

Don, my point is they would be a new member. You are an existing member, looking to rejoin two months after leaving. I assume you do not have a joining fee, otherwise you would probably end up paying more to rejoin ? (This would be the case at our club) What about someone who is injured or ill and can't play for two months through the subscription year. Should they get a refund for months missed ?

The rules have to be seen to be as fair as possible to all members. Nothing personal, but i can understand where the club are coming from.

I thought the OP is now an ex member as he didn't renew the subs in April. Personally I think he should be entitled to the pro-rata as he isn't a member and not looking to just get two months off for not playing. What if he'd gone to another club, hated it after a month and wanted to rejoin his dad. Would he still be expected to pay for the two months he was at another club

Does the club have a joining fee ? If so, should he pay that as a new member, which is probably considerably more than the two months sub ? Don can no doubt confirm.

My point is that if your membership renewal is at a time when you can't or don't want to play, you could leave and then come back when you feel like it. You can't have a membership which could be open to people picking and choosing which months they pay for. I know Don is not trying anything on, but other members might.

 

[GB72]

This is interesting as at the start I was fully behind the OP that this was not on but seen the comments of Richart I have changed my mind. It is all down to precedent. Now I am sure that that there are perfectly good reasons why the OP did not sign up at the beginning of the year but if you start allowing existing members to resign and re-join on a pro rata basis then you are asking for trouble. Once this has been allowed once you will get people looking to pay pro-rata fees for all sorts of reasons. Half the membership could resign in October and rejoin at the end of March. Now it all depends on how the club put their point of view. If they described it to me in these terms then I would admit they have a point. If they do not have a soild argument then they are being bloody minded and I would walk.

 

[Mattyboy]

Perhaps this is a way forward? Clubs offering winter membership (Oct to March) for say £500 and summer membership (April - Sept) for £1000? How it would work in practice I do not know.

I would walk if I was you. Its a buyers market at the moment when it comes to golf club membership.

Matt

 

[granters]

Oh i've been waiting on this thread! I WAS a member of a certain club until Febuary.

To explain-
Within the space of a week we found out my wife was being made redundant, and i had to go for major surgery meaning i wouldn't be able to play for 6 months, so i let the club know i had no choice but to resign.

But things turned round for us. At the 11th hour the mrs kept her job as someone else fell on their sword, i'm swinging again after only 2 months and i'm getting a big promotion in work.

SO...i contacted the club 2 weeks ago explaining the situation, and asking whether i could re-join at the start of next year, or later this year.

The answer was that there would be no problem, but i'd have to either-

1) Pay a full years subs, having missed over half the season

or

2) Rejoin next season and pay a £500 joining fee!

Now i could ALMOST see their point if there was a massive waiting list. But the fact is the club is struggling for members and have just charged all of their current members a £60 "membership levy" to cover for the lack of members!

I didn't even bother replying. I laughed out loud when i read the e-mail. And i know for a fact that 2 long standing members have gone absolutely tonto with the club over the matter.

But i've moved on to far better things. It's their loss as far as i see it. Plenty of clubs are adapting to the modern age to attract new members, so any clubs that act like that won't be around for long.

Phew, that's better!

 

[Macster]

I think it sets a precedent if they give you a reduced fee, you've been a member and resigned, and now want back in.

As Richart says, - I dont play at all in winter, or very rarely, so should I be able to resign and simply pay a reduced fee from March again ? No...of course not.

there is a lot of talk about 'Clubs needing members more than members needing clubs', but in all honesty, that isnt the case at my own Club.
Sure, we need people to replace the ones that move/resign etc, to keep the membership up, but we are in a healthy place as far as playing members are concerned.
We havent even dropped the Joining Fee, as it the Committee's opinion, it creates a 'nomadic' membership, full of people that may or may not join next year, with no penalty for either and no incentive to stay.
That isnt good for a Club's healthy running, a Club has to be able to forward budget and plan for expenditure.

If you like the Club & Course, pay yer money, and get out and play !

I know as far as I am concerned, in my 22years of membership, I've thought more often of leaving the wife than I ever have of leaving my Golf Club !

 

[coolhand]

Lots of clubs (not necessarily golf ones) that charge a joining fee and an annual fee let you suspend your membership to deal with working abroad/job changes/financial circumstances.
This means that you remain a member put don't have usage rights until re-activate your membership at which point the fees become due on a pro-rata basis.
Obviously there needs to be a limit on how many times you can do it but in reality once would probably be enough.

 

[granters]

i completely agree that clubs should be protected from the problems mentioned, but certainly from my case no common sense has been applied. I would consider myself a very good member of whatever club i'm in. I don't want to swap clubs every 2 years, but there is a definite problem with "the old estblishment" in certain clubs.

I will happily pay a joining fee for my new place as i plan to be there for a long time. It's not that, or pro rata memberships that bother me. It's the sheer pig headed arrogance of some committees, who refuse to change their ways whatever the consequences. The club i'm referring to lost 60 members last year. Surely that's alarm bell time?

they have to accept that it IS a buyers market just now and change with the times to get money in the door. Otherwise their precious club will be no more. And i promise you i don't want to see that happen

 

[NWJocko]

Interesting argument and I understand both sides of the debate.

However, committees in clubs (not just golf) always make things complicated and difficult for themselves.

If you don't renew on time and can meet with the committee to explain your own circumstances, why can't members have a window to rejoin (say 2 months) during which they can pay the remainder of the year but have to pay an "admin fee" (£25/£50/£100/whatever) to do so. This would obviously have to be agreed at the discretion of the committee based on the personal circumstances involved (i.e. "I don't fancy playing in the cold" would not be valid!).

Discussing things like this in advance is always much better than trying to resolve something after the event IMO and this way all parties involved are up front about it.