the warm welcome of a golf club?

[hovis]

i've noticed a bit of a trend recently when visiting private golf clubs. there's many but i will use ''brocton'' near stafford as a eg......

pulling into the car park (which was near full) to be greated by lots of empty spaces up front and centre reserved for 'captin' 'vice captin' immediate past captain' lady captain' the captains dog!!!!! do they not have legs? (not the dogs)

then
absolutely no changing in the car park
no chipping allowed
no buggies past this point or disclipline action
no parking here without prior agreement
no spikes in the changing room toilet
Mobiles MUST be switched off
no paper towels down the toilet

its not really a warm welcome is it? i was scared the sneeze at one point. i understand there are rules but bloody hell, everyway you turn there are signs containing the word dont, no, must , reminded, disclipline and so on. is it that hard to ask the sign writers to say ''please change footwear in the locker room? it sounds alot better.

i dont get it.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

That's not really typical of either of the courses I'm a member at TBH.

 

[r11john]

Totally agree. Like my course Mossock. Were is the sign for play well, enjoy your day and welcome. To oppressive.

 

[chrisd]

i've noticed a bit of a trend recently when visiting private golf clubs. there's many but i will use ''brocton'' near stafford as a eg......

pulling into the car park (which was near full) to be greated by lots of empty spaces up front and centre reserved for 'captin' 'vice captin' immediate past captain' lady captain' the captains dog!!!!! do they not have legs? (not the dogs)

then
absolutely no changing in the car park
no chipping allowed
no buggies past this point or disclipline action
no parking here without prior agreement
no spikes in the changing room toilet
Mobiles MUST be switched off
no paper towels down the toilet

its not really a warm welcome is it? i was scared the sneeze at one point. i understand there are rules but bloody hell, everyway you turn there are signs containing the word dont, no, must , reminded, disclipline and so on. is it that hard to ask the sign writers to say ''please change footwear in the locker room? it sounds alot better.

i dont get it.

Again, not typical of any clubs I have visited and certainly not mine!

 

[ADB]

Not a trend I would say, it has always been so.

I actually agree with all the examples you gave and would hope these standards were maintained should I be a member of that particular club.

This countrymay be sliding into decline, but that is no reason to drop the standards at the Club.

By the way, forgetting the signs, were you well greeted by the staff?

 

[Sweep]

I understand where you are coming from, but the amount of work and expense the Captains go to, it is the least a club can do to give them a parking space. I used to be a member of a club that would not allow the changing of shoes in the car park, not because they thought it was unseemly, but because it prevented "visitors" nipping on the course without paying. no chipping is usually to preserve the putting green and no spikes indoors to protect the floors etc. You would hope there would be no need for signs everywhere and it could all be left to peoples common sense, but we all know that is never goung to happen. Visitors have to accept that it is up to individual clubs to make their rules. the members are clearly happy with them, otherwise they would object or join elsewhere and after all, it is the members who provide the vast, vast majority of the clubs income. IMO visitors should respect the rules of the club they are visiting.

 

[Gazboy]

Most places I've played at are very friendly and welcoming, not only with their signs and house rules but the warm reception from other players/members. The only club that I've played at, that is similar to the one in the example was Hazlemere Golf Club and it was mainly the hostile & uncooperative reception from the members (we were four guests that had been awarded a complimentary round) that sticks in our minds.

It is an enormous contrast to Huntswood GC, which could not have been more welcoming to guests.

 

[Foxholer]

Not typical.

Though certainly good reasons for a few of those rules, if not the obsession with signs.

Certainly paper towels down the toilet can cause blockages and phones ringing on the course can be particularly annoying!

Health and Safety and similar requirements may be a cause. And I certainly don't want to see smi naked bodies in the car-park - though shoes are ok for me.

As long as the welcome by staff is warm, I can forgive quite quite a lot of such 'rules'.

 

[hovis]

Its not the rules or signs I have a problem with. Its that way they're written. A sign can be polite and informative at the same time

 

[Hacker Khan]

Its not the rules or signs I have a problem with. Its that way they're written. A sign can be polite and informative at the same time

Totally agree. I noticed the same thing on a golf club web site I visited the other day, in the visitors section the first 6 things were all 'you can not, you must, no this and that .....' And then eventually they got to the green fee. But by that stage I thought sod them.

As you say Hovis, it's the way these things are presented, and to me a lot of golf clubs seem to not understand this and are stuck with the 'tradition, standards blah blah' argument. And it is so nice to go to a club that does it well with things like friendliness of web sites, lack of rules on mostly what you can't do as soon as you come through the gate. I always see a close correlation between those kind of clubs and the genuine warm welcome you get and sense that you are a valued customer, and clubs where they are making a token effort and in reality they only are doing the bare minimum to tolerate you.

As I said in the dress code threads I drone on about, I'm not sure what golf clubs expect would happen if they removed a lot of these 'don't do this' signs, especially the ones that are mostly populated by members anyway? They are hardly going to be inundated by hooded youths stripping off in the car park to go and play golf in trainers.

 

[ScienceBoy]

We all follow rules like this every day. At work, on the bus, in the park etc

I do not see any of those rules stopping me from being warmly welcomed, I have yet to have anything BUT a warm welcome, even at the most intimidating of clubs!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Years ago i remember a West Country club, may have been Yeovil, who had a huge blue sign in the car park with a list of 'dont's'.
It took about 5 minutes to read.
I tend to ignore these signs and I am more interested in who I talk to.

I used to do customer care training for leisure/sports/ golf.
My first question was always 'Who is the most important member of staff on your site'?
This generally got a very mixed reply but the correct one was 'The first member of staff your customer meets'
Could be a receptionist, cleaner, greenkeeper or caterer but they should be all involved in the welcoming process.

My worst recent experience was a very snotty young assistant pro at St Kittocks.

 

[JezzE]

Must be a Staffordshire thing - Beau Desert awash with 'don't' signs as well from what I remember...

 

[Fish]

I've played Brocton and I must say, I never noticed them! I suppose if you notice 1 or 2 you may find yourself then looking for them? Its a beautiful course, tranquil settings, lovely clubhouse (Listed building) and top catering, I'd put up with all those signs for some more of that at my club

 

[hovis]

Must be a Staffordshire thing - Beau Desert awash with 'don't' signs as well from what I remember...

Funny you should say that I was going to use beau desert as my example. Horrible welcome from richards the pro too

 

[Hacker Khan]

We all follow rules like this every day. At work, on the bus, in the park etc

I do not see any of those rules stopping me from being warmly welcomed, I have yet to have anything BUT a warm welcome, even at the most intimidating of clubs!

I don't thing anyone is advocating not having any rules and descending into anarchy in the UK. In my book a lot of rules prominantly displayed saying you cant do this and that is part of the warm, or not a warm welcome. I am not sure of what other places where you play sports make such a show of making these signs so prominent.

 

[patricks148]

Shocking how dare they have rules!!

Next time your there, why don’t you;
hand break turn into the Captains space, strip down to your pant in the car park and put on your spiked shoes. Then walk though the middle of the club house, stopping only to do some moon walking and shoe spins on the polished hardwood floor. Before heading out to the practice green and hitting wedge shots off the middle of it onto the 18th green. Then head off for a round without paying your green fee or having even booked a time in a buggy, making sure you drive over every green and tee on the way.

Then stop off in the bar afterwards and have a dump in the plant pot in the corner

 

[Hacker Khan]

Shocking how dare they have rules!!

I will repeat again for those who can't read, the point was not about having rules, it was about the manner in which they were displayed and communicated to visitors and members. A lot of it is PR and image, which I quite understand is a bit of an alien concept to a lot of golf clubs and members, but there you go.

 

[Hobbit]

Shocking how dare they have rules!!

Next time your there, why don’t you;
hand break turn into the Captains space, strip down to your pant in the car park and put on your spiked shoes. Then walk though the middle of the club house, stopping only to do some moon walking and shoe spins on the polished hardwood floor. Before heading out to the practice green and hitting wedge shots off the middle of it onto the 18th green. Then head off for a round without paying your green fee or having even booked a time in a buggy, making sure you drive over every green and tee on the way.

Then stop off in the bar afterwards and have a dump in the plant pot in the corner

Definitely a coffee over the keyboard moment!! Brilliant humour, and thank you for a huge guffaw.

I will repeat again for those who can't read, the point was not about having rules, it was about the manner in which they were displayed and communicated to visitors and members. A lot of it is PR and image, which I quite understand is a bit of an alien concept to a lot of golf clubs and members, but there you go.

Not often I agree with you HK but you've definitely nailed it. I hate seeing multiple signs saying the same thing. Our club used to have 3 signs about dress code.... but the sign pixie put one of those in the bin, and bizarrely no one has commented on the fact it went missing.

 

[hovis]

I will repeat again for those who can't read, the point was not about having rules, it was about the manner in which they were displayed and communicated to visitors and members. A lot of it is PR and image, which I quite understand is a bit of an alien concept to a lot of golf clubs and members, but there you go.

Partric, you should read the thread before posting your comment. Its not what we're discussing "Mod Edit"

nice one hacker khan