Tips for growing a golf society

[Sulty]

Hi All,

First post here, from a golfer who has recently fell back in love with the sport. We have just created a golf society this summer and wondered if anyone had any tips on how to grow it but also anything that would enhance the society for the members of it.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

 

[evemccc]

Interested in this thread

I was looking to join a golf society earlier in the year for the obvious benefits of playing some top courses - couldn’t find any / many advertising for members to join, and was told its more like existing friends or a company / pub etc forms them and they rarely look for outside members—- not sure how accurate that is?

Either way, my googling didn’t produce much of what I was wanting

 

[Doh]

Most of the societies I have been a member of has been associated with pubs or work somewhere you have a flow of like minded people.

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

I don't play in a society but agree they are often started around pubs or work and then extended out by friend of a friend arrangements.

I did see one of the local golf magazines I follow on twitter promote societies occasionally and have one months issue devoted to them. Looking at their website they actually go into quite a bit of detail so it may be worth seeing if there is anything similar in your local area.

I'm Midlands based so it's Midlands Golfer that is distributed around golf clubs. Their website is here https://midlandsgolfer.co.uk/societyhome/ which links through to the society page which has both write ups of societies (and contact details to join) as well as golf clubs society offers. Although it would be helpful if they stated the area/town for each golf society before you click through.

(Apologies to GM for mentioning another golf magazine on here!)

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Most of the societies I have been a member of has been associated with pubs or work somewhere you have a flow of like minded people.

Very much what Doh says, as being linked to something like that/forums/facebook groups etc ensures a new flow of people to replace people who naturally drop away or a common interest.

Best of luck.

 

[LincolnShep]

First post here, from a golfer who has recently fell back in love with the sport. We have just created a golf society this summer and wondered if anyone had any tips on how to grow it but also anything that would enhance the society for the members of it.

I belong to a society that I believe to be really well run so, if you're looking for things that would enhance your society, here are the things that I like about mine...

• drawn groupings and tee times - it's really helpful to new members and means cliques don't form, it doesn't mean that the organiser can't try to accommodate requests for an early/late tee time, or two people playing together because they're sharing a buggy, but random should be the default
• clear explanations about the format being played - mostly it'll be stableford but what's the policy on gimmes, are you playing the lost ball drop in fairway local rule, how will society handicaps be calculated and adjusted
• calendar of events published as early as possible - ours comes out in January (occasionally December) for the full year, if you want good numbers at your events you need to give players every chance to avoid clashes
• clarity about how much each event costs and what happens to any surplus - our events are £30-£45 which usually includes bacon roll and coffee on arrival and a one course meal afterwards, it also includes cash prizes for the top three; there will be a separate twos pot collected on the day

There are other things, but these are the things that stand out for me. It must be hard work (with 20-30 players per event) and I'm really appreciative of the time and effort that our organisers put in. Good luck with your society.

 

[PJ87]

On the flip side I used to be a member of a very popular society ..

However they started to invite people who invited others and so on

Over the years cliques formed within the society and all the members who had the same interest and original (IE all worked together) started to leave as it wasn't the same

So be careful what you wish for.

 

[Bdill93]

Hi All,

First post here, from a golfer who has recently fell back in love with the sport. We have just created a golf society this summer and wondered if anyone had any tips on how to grow it but also anything that would enhance the society for the members of it.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

Where abouts are you based out of interest?

 

[Sulty]

Interested in this thread

I was looking to join a golf society earlier in the year for the obvious benefits of playing some top courses - couldn’t find any / many advertising for members to join, and was told its more like existing friends or a company / pub etc forms them and they rarely look for outside members—- not sure how accurate that is?

Either way, my googling didn’t produce much of what I was wanting

Yeah it started from a group of friends. We all play football on a sunday however as we are now in our mid 30's the football is starting to come to an end and we have been playing more golf. It was always tough to get the same people to play golf so we started with 6 and then to 10 and now after 5 'rounds' since July we are at 16 people. To be honest it is a little informal currently, we haven't charged membership but we have a leaderboard and allow up to 36 Hcp purely because some people are new to golf and want to be inclusive. Its bmore to create a wider player pool for people to get rounds in with the added competitive element. We need to register to the EGU though which is the next step.

 

[Sulty]

I belong to a society that I believe to be really well run so, if you're looking for things that would enhance your society, here are the things that I like about mine...

• drawn groupings and tee times - it's really helpful to new members and means cliques don't form, it doesn't mean that the organiser can't try to accommodate requests for an early/late tee time, or two people playing together because they're sharing a buggy, but random should be the default
• clear explanations about the format being played - mostly it'll be stableford but what's the policy on gimmes, are you playing the lost ball drop in fairway local rule, how will society handicaps be calculated and adjusted
• calendar of events published as early as possible - ours comes out in January (occasionally December) for the full year, if you want good numbers at your events you need to give players every chance to avoid clashes
• clarity about how much each event costs and what happens to any surplus - our events are £30-£45 which usually includes bacon roll and coffee on arrival and a one course meal afterwards, it also includes cash prizes for the top three; there will be a separate twos pot collected on the day

There are other things, but these are the things that stand out for me. It must be hard work (with 20-30 players per event) and I'm really appreciative of the time and effort that our organisers put in. Good luck with your society.

Yeah I think as the more people are joining outside the initial friendship circle, they always play with the person they bring in if they feel more comfortable but then after a few rounds we try to mix it up.

Yeah we solely play stableford but have a match play competition thrown in during the year and have all dates published at the start of it to allow people to put in calendars. Its always last weekend of the month to help people budget. We also have back to back dates for people working so if they cant make the 24th they can get a round in on 31st as example to allow them to put a score in. The winner will be the person with the best 5 stableford scores added, so if you only play 5 rounds you can submit but if you play 8 you can choose what scores... it encourages participation.

The seperate pots are a good idea, i assume this is like long drive, nearest pin or something else during the round?

Thanks for the reply it was really good to compare what we are doing

 

[Sulty]

On the flip side I used to be a member of a very popular society ..

However they started to invite people who invited others and so on

Over the years cliques formed within the society and all the members who had the same interest and original (IE all worked together) started to leave as it wasn't the same

So be careful what you wish for.

That's a really fair point, I take that on board, i guess it depends on the individuals and how they want to play. Do you want to play with close friends or to widen your golfing circle and play with people in an organised format with an element of competitiveness.

 

[Sulty]

Where abouts are you based out of interest?

Northamptonshire, but have people playing out of Rugby and Leicester as its fairly close

 

[Sulty]

Yeah I think as the more people are joining outside the initial friendship circle, they always play with the person they bring in if they feel more comfortable but then after a few rounds we try to mix it up.

Yeah we solely play stableford but have a match play competition thrown in during the year and have all dates published at the start of it to allow people to put in calendars. Its always last weekend of the month to help people budget. We also have back to back dates for people working so if they cant make the 24th they can get a round in on 31st as example to allow them to put a score in. The winner will be the person with the best 5 stableford scores added, so if you only play 5 rounds you can submit but if you play 8 you can choose what scores... it encourages participation.

The seperate pots are a good idea, i assume this is like long drive, nearest pin or something else during the round?

Thanks for the reply it was really good to compare what we are doing

In addition to this we use the Vpar app to create the on course leaderboard and handicap movement, which is pretty good.

 

[trevor]

The one I am in has 5 games in the summer usually starting at about 3pm on a weekday so people can come after work or only take a half day off and then we have a weekend away (Sunday / Monday) at the beginning and end of the year. Price for the golf always includes prizes, trophies etc.