Times must be hard....

[cm_qs]

Heard an advert on the radio this morning offering a free game at the 5th oldest golf club in the world.
Royal Mussleburgh have reduced the joining fee to £1 and are offering prospective members the chance to try out the course for free and annual membership of under £600.
This is the first time i've ever heard a radio advert practically begging for new golf club members.

Tough times indeed.

 

[Cernunnos]

Wow..! wish i lived up there

Gis a job, gis a job

 

[clubchamp07]

I have heard about Club's offering brand new Driver's and also some other club's giving away free lesson's with the Pro to attract new member's. I think this is a dangerous way to go. Where will it stop? Imo, if the course is good enough, the new member's will join.

 

[Fore]

My club have just offered me the chance to move up to full membership with full member benefits on a pay as you play basis (with reduced green fees) without the need for a handicap.

Times nust be hard as you say.

 

[slugger]

my neighbour is a member of royal musselburgh. nice course, but the clubhouse needs some updating - it's a bit old fashioned. lovely setting though and the building itself is amazing in an old architectural way.

there's so many clubs in the edinburgh area and east lothian, and what with the current financial climate i think we'll see more struggling for members before the year is out.

Golf is too expensive for what it is. Maybe lowering prices will make it more viable for more people on lower wages and we'll actually end up with more people playing in the long term. can only be a good thing.

 

[SammmeBee]

Champ (or past Champ now?) - there is a different mentality to golf clubs in England compared to your neck of the woods, in a way that there is a difference sense of community, and also the prices tend to be more expensive....

What you say is correct but the good (defition of good here is top 5%) courses are 'full' but the rest are struggling to maintain/attract members - as 'value' seems to be the current buzz word...

I have made this point before but if you pay £1200 for your annual subs - that's £25 a round if you manage to play once a week plus your competition fees etc, if like 80% of clubs members you only play once or twice a month then you can get very good 'value' paying £25-50 a round green fee at different places....then if you've got to stump up a JF too then....

If there course is good enough then people will join but in manay cases there is just better 'value' to be had elsewhere....

 

[GB72]

Seems to be totally the opposite in my area, and from the sounds of it the area I am looking to move to. Joining fees are still being charged and fees have increased slightly this year.

I am not so worried about the fees but the joining fee is something that has always bugged me. In my case, may have to move club this year as re-locating so will have lost the joining fee at my existing club and will in all likelihood have to pay one at any new club I join.

 

[Macster]

"Golf is too expensive for what it is"

Slugger, I disagree.

Golf, even at some of the more expensive clubs, isnt expensive.

Take my own course @ £850 for a years Full membership, and its a beautiful track.
For that, I could walk on everyday of the week, without exception, and use the facilities whenever I choose.

Many many people pay more than that for a weeks holiday, and I mean per person.
Just cant be compared, and worth every penny imo.

Whether you get full value is up to you.

However, I agree, in the current climate anyone who is less than 'enthusiastic' about playing will very possibly be tempted to cancel their membership, something that I doubt any club in the land isnt experiencing to some degree.

 

[minty18]

Put it this way,

Say you pay £30 for a round, have some lunch and a drink for £10, this will probly take about 4-5 hours.

Now take a football match, ticket around £30-£50 lasts a couple of hours.

I know which one i'd rather do!

 

[EchtLoon]

"Golf is too expensive for what it is"

Slugger, I disagree.

Golf, even at some of the more expensive clubs, isnt expensive.

Take my own course @ £850 for a years Full membership, and its a beautiful track.
For that, I could walk on everyday of the week, without exception, and use the facilities whenever I choose.

Many many people pay more than that for a weeks holiday, and I mean per person.
Just cant be compared, and worth every penny imo.

Whether you get full value is up to you.

However, I agree, in the current climate anyone who is less than 'enthusiastic' about playing will very possibly be tempted to cancel their membership, something that I doubt any club in the land isnt experiencing to some degree.

And I disagree with you

For £600, in Scotland that is very expensive, hence no doubt why they are struggling. Golf in England is disgracefully expensive imo, and the main reason why I play Muni golf down here instead of having joined a club.

 

[Cernunnos]

There seem to be different sorts of rates charged in different parts of the country for tracks of equivelent quality.

Around here there seem to be quite high fees, being £600-£1200 on average & also quite high joining fees, in one cases more than 2 years subs.

There are local exceptions to the rule.

Then If I look to other parts of the country & the same sort of track can be found for as little as £300.

It does seem rather odd to me as the East Midlands is not really seen as that affluant a region to warrent such high fees.

 

[slugger]

"Golf is too expensive for what it is"

Slugger, I disagree.

Golf, even at some of the more expensive clubs, isnt expensive.

Take my own course @ £850 for a years Full membership, and its a beautiful track.
For that, I could walk on everyday of the week, without exception, and use the facilities whenever I choose.

Many many people pay more than that for a weeks holiday, and I mean per person.
Just cant be compared, and worth every penny imo.

Whether you get full value is up to you.

However, I agree, in the current climate anyone who is less than 'enthusiastic' about playing will very possibly be tempted to cancel their membership, something that I doubt any club in the land isnt experiencing to some degree.

and the cost of the shoes, the clubs, the balls, the bag, the tees, etc etc... it all adds up. I know there will always be better value ways to do stuff, but on the face of it, there's a massive amount of people out there who probably haven't tried the sport because of the perceived (and this case) expense of it.

Royal Musselburgh (even without joining fee) is too expensive compared to the many clubs surrounding it, most of which can match or exceed the quality of golf offered. It's main problem is that it's half way between Edinburgh and some better courses in East Lothian. If you live in Edinburgh, you're either going to join a club within Edinburgh, or go for one of the East Lothian courses, bypassing Royal Musselburgh on the way.

 

[level5s]

Murcar Links have had promotions recently if I remember correctly where they let prospective memembers play for free or take it off the annual sub.

I think it is good that clubs are looking at ways of opening themselves out to the public.
A lot of people might have driven past a club with "Royal" in the name thinking it was not an open club or too expensive to join. Having a radio advert will hopefully clear some people of these thoughts.

 

[madandra]

I am looking for a club and locally there are a few. Dalziel Park is a dump but you can pay by standing order £40 a month and cancel at the end of the season and rejoin next spring, Wishaw still has 2 year waiting list, Colville Park (I grew up 300 yards from it) is looking for £485 annual fees and £800 joining ... And Bellshill has spread their joining fee over 5 years which makes the annual price £550 for 5 years.

I am scared to jump into Colville Park bacause I have heard rumours that the joining fee is being scrapped next year.

 

[GB72]

On the subject of joining fees, my suggestion, other than to abolish them, is that they could be payable only after the first year of membership. This would allow a new member to see if they enjoyed the course and atmosphere over a prolonged period, would give the club an incentive to retain members and also allow prospective new members a financial break during this hard time.

 

[KeefG]

I've just rang Leeds Golf Club (Cobble Hall) and have been informed they have suspended their joining fee altogether. yearly subs are £910 and the joining fee was £600

The club secretary has just offered me a round of golf with a mate for £10 if we wish to have a look round.

Think i may have to take them up on that, after reading Spoff's comments on the course in another thread i really fancy joining here.

 

[USER1999]

I have never understood why golf is so expensive down south. Ok, the staff earn more, but there aren't that many of them. The cost to run a course can't be that disimilar, grass needs cutting, fertilising, etc whether north or south of the border. It remains a mystery to me, unless the Northern boys have a lot more members, but don't play as much, so there are more of them per club paying subs.

I read that Loch Lomond is in trouble. Ha. No green fees, no societies, very limited membership. Wonder why it doesn't work as a business plan. I for one would love to see it go bust. Hopefully it would then be run by someone more enlightened.

 

[Spoff]

I'm feeling the pressure now...

 

[Cernunnos]

There is a local club that would waive the joining fee if you stayed for 3 years & signed a form to say that if you left before then you'd be liable to pay the joining fee.

That way the club could guarentee members would stay for 3 years or more & get involved in the club. Thing is its a course I don't particularly like even though its quite a good offer in principle we don't know what is around the next corner. But in principle I do like the idea.

As for paying joining fees after a year if you decided to stay with the club, well this could be open to abuse in that people would join just for that one year then go away elsewhere. But again depends upon the joining fee. And I supose if it was a reasonable enough fee & the club was very good & one you would want to stay with then yes I supose it might work, but I could still see many people being put off by the fact that if they did want to stay, then they would need to fork out a hefty lump to do so.

I know another club that allows the joining fee to be spread out over several years, but in my opinion just masks the fact the joining fee is still £1200 & even spread over several years is going to be painful to the wallet for those years.

 

[SammmeBee]

I read that Loch Lomond is in trouble. Ha. No green fees, no societies, very limited membership. Wonder why it doesn't work as a business plan. I for one would love to see it go bust. Hopefully it would then be run by someone more enlightened.

No... the owners of Loch Lomond are in trouble....RBS helped with the finances I believe.....