KeefG
Journeyman Pro
....RBS helped with the finances I believe.....
Thats a kiss if death if ever there was one
....RBS helped with the finances I believe.....
Wishaw still has 2 year waiting list
And Bellshill has spread their joining fee over 5 years which makes the annual price £550 for 5 years.
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.
I think the days of someone playing at a club for their golfing life are long gone. People move about too much with their jobs to stay in one place all their days. I've been a member of my club for alost 25 years. I see it as an integral part of my life.
However, I think clubs are making life harder for themselves in their aproach to keeping their membership. Whilst a joining fee is now a considerable amount, in some cases a very considerable amount, it does tend to make you stay at the club you paid all that money to join. With the reduction in joining fees the clubs are finding a more transient membership who will try a club for a year and then move on to another club next year when the 'new' club has a better deal on. There are even regulars on here who seem to advocate moving club if it appears better elsewhere.(Not picking on anyone honest). A local club, Glencorse, are currently doing a no joining fee deal, 5 mins from door to door, I could walk it in 20 mins, ideal you might think. But I enjoy it where I am. It's my club !
We've debated the rights and wrongs of joining fees before with no real conclusion, but I do think that in the long term, players will move from club to club far more frequently that they did before. This will have a knock-on effect with clubs creating budgets for the next year being unable to forecast exactly how many members they will have to meet the income required for said budget.
Visitor/Day Ticket golfers have already taken huge chunks out of club profits by making use of 2 for 1 vouchers etc. Clubs fearing lack of visitors are scared not to be involved in such a scheme in case they don't get footfall.
Scary times indeed.
ps
If I lived to the East of Edinburgh, I would certainly be interested in Royal Musselburghs ofer, it's a good course. Used for regional qualifying for the Open in recent times.
Just had a thought on the original post. I hope cm_qs was in transit in the Eastern half of the country because if he was back in Wishaw, then Royal Musselburgh are looking at the wrong target audience to their advertising. Radio advertising can't be cheap but when you do go down that route you really want to hit your target audience.
Just had a thought on the original post. I hope cm_qs was in transit in the Eastern half of the country because if he was back in Wishaw, then Royal Musselburgh are looking at the wrong target audience to their advertising. Radio advertising can't be cheap but when you do go down that route you really want to hit your target audience.