The cost of joining a club

[The19thHole]

everywhere I get quotes for joining a club (Surrey region) seem to be in the excess of £1k (some have + joining fee)

Ireland, Scotland, Op norf it’s around £700-800... Way is it so damn expensive down here FFS!? :angry:

 

[DaveM]

Eeeer cos your mugs down there and they think you have more money than us northeners. Easier to part you from it to maybe. ... .. ..

 

[stevie_r]

everywhere I get quotes for joining a club (Surrey region) seem to be in the excess of £1k (some have + joining fee)

Ireland, Scotland, Op norf it’s around £700-800... Way is it so damn expensive down here FFS!? :angry:

funnily enough I moan about the cost here in West Central Scotland (and I'm only £500 +) compared to what people are paying down Dumfries and Galloway etc,

for example:

http://www.portpatrickgolfclub.com/

£345 per year!

 

[HotDogAssassin]

Typical costs that I've seen here in Gloucestershire are £500 - £750 p.a. a few with signing on fee but not many. So it's not a north/south divide, more of a southeast/everywhere else divide.

 

[HotDogAssassin]

One of my local courses (Naunton Downs) offers a reduced cost membership for "occasional golfers", where you pay an annual fee for xx units of golfing credit, with rounds played on different days of the week take different values of units off your credit balance. You are also entitled to all other benefits of membership although only for weekday competitions.

This seems like a very good offer to me and I don't know why more clubs don't do the same.

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

£295 for me at Garesfield, intermediate rate because I'm under 30

 

[full_throttle]

would it be more beneficial to look along the M3/M4 corridor,

 

[Oddsocks]

19th, around here (croydon/biggin hill/westerham) £1000 wont even get me into a goat track that alone decent course, im looking at £1300+

 

[MadAdey]

Even at £1K it is not too bad. I take it is a nice course and you would love to join it. It only works out at £20 a week. How much do you play golf and I bet to play a nice course you spend around on average £30 a round at weekends. SO going on that it will cost you 30 rounds to get your money back. If like me you play every weekend possible and sometimes 4-5 times a week in the summer depending on weather and shift at work I must easily clock up around 150 rounds a year.

 

[The19thHole]

Even at £1K it is not too bad. I take it is a nice course and you would love to join it. It only works out at £20 a week. How much do you play golf and I bet to play a nice course you spend around on average £30 a round at weekends. SO going on that it will cost you 30 rounds to get your money back. If like me you play every weekend possible and sometimes 4-5 times a week in the summer depending on weather and shift at work I must easily clock up around 150 rounds a year.

They are very nice courses in surrey, but my point being, why should we be punished just for being in the south!?

In today’s current financial climate, some costs beggar belief!

 

[HotDogAssassin]

I think the question should be, what are the member numbers at these 'high cost' clubs. If the numbers are low then the club will be forced to reduce rates or go under. If the numbers are high then why should they reduce? It's not about being punished, it's about supply and demand and the market representative pricing.

 

[MadAdey]

The cost of joining a club can be tough. I live in Lincolnshire and my club only charge £650 a year with the option to pay the £600 joining fee over 4 years so it works out at £800 a year for the first 4 years. While golf clubs still have a good number of members then they will not drop their prices. It has been mentioned at my club to drop the joining fee but even in these times it has over 700 members of the 750 places at the club so do not need to. Even when times are tough people still find money for golf. What else is there to do?

 

[chrisd]

Mine is currently £960 and I have just had the Annual Accounts for the upcoming AGM

We made a small loss in the year and have a membership that isn't quite full, but not as bad as many. I guess the reasons are many fold as to why the south is dearer but I guess that lots of the costs are dearer especially if a club has purchased land. Wages would probably be higher. The biggest factor in our figures this year is the cost of water which went up considerably.

I think that the assumptions that £1k + membership = huge profits is not necessarily accurate


Chris

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

my other half has just put her point across that it's more expensive because it's warmer and sunnier down there so you playing in nicer weather more often. Bless

The simple fact is that everything costs more the further south you get. I go camping all over the country and the cost of living is daft the further south you get. You only have to look at the property market. My house would cost twice the price in some places, and mirroring what ChrisD says, if they bought the land then it's bound to cost more than a similar setup in the north

 

[Slab]

One of my local courses (Naunton Downs) offers a reduced cost membership for "occasional golfers", where you pay an annual fee for xx units of golfing credit, with rounds played on different days of the week take different values of units off your credit balance. You are also entitled to all other benefits of membership although only for weekday competitions.

This seems like a very good offer to me and I don't know why more clubs don't do the same.

I'm about to move clubs to one that operates this system which i think is great as it'll also give me the chance to check things out and make sure we're suited to each other before making an annual commitment

 

[The19thHole]

my other half has just put her point across that it's more expensive because it's warmer and sunnier down there so you playing in nicer weather more often. Bless

The simple fact is that everything costs more the further south you get. I go camping all over the country and the cost of living is daft the further south you get. You only have to look at the property market. My house would cost twice the price in some places, and mirroring what ChrisD says, if they bought the land then it's bound to cost more than a similar setup in the north

hahah I’m not saying anything

 

[CliveW]

Ireland, Scotland, Op norf it’s around £700-800... Way is it so damn expensive down here FFS!? :angry:

The same reason as why southerners can sell a semi and buy a sporting estate in the north of Scotland for the same money. It's called the North/South Divide!

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

I will say that clubs in our area have an Allaince (TYNE VALLEY ALLIANCE) which gives you a card with 9 free games at other clubs in the alliance. Its means I'm less likely to pay for golf elsewhere during the season

 

[chrisd]

The same reason as why southerners can sell a semi and buy a sporting estate in the north of Scotland for the same money. It's called the North/South Divide!

Might be an interesting thread to compare prices in the regions one day!


Chris

 

[CliveW]

Might be an interesting thread to compare prices in the regions one day!


Chris

The problem with that is there is such a difference in course quality/facility even within a particular region/county. For example in Perthshire we have the likes of Gleneagles at one end of the spectrum and some extremely inexpensive ones at the other end.