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Trial Membership

I first joined our club on a trial membership 3 years ago and they still offer various trial packages. Having been not able to play for years with my knee was great to see how it stood up for 3 months before joining properly. I wouldnt haver joined at the time without it and am still there 3 yrs latyer paying full sub so certainly worked well for both me and our club in that instance.

Also noticed at Collingtree Park that they were offering a months trial for £100 earlier this year too, so certainly something a few clubs offer now and again.

Struggle to see how there can be much downside to the club
 
I am worried we'll get loads of people taking the opportunity to join and get cheap golf over the summer period, clogging the course up and with no intention of actually joining. Not sure how many we'll get taking up full membership versus taking up the trial offer. Might ask the question later in the year!
 
Seems a fair enough concern but weve never had this issue at ours and have pretty much always offered trial membership, if its bolstering membership long term and the course control/manage the numbers on trial at any time then surely shouldnt be an issue
 
Maybe it's the way to go,in the current climate people might not be in the position to pay for a full year but would pay for 6months in the summer. I know it's not ideal but it could bring more revenue to clubs.
 
Pin-seeker said:
Maybe it's the way to go,in the current climate people might not be in the position to pay for a full year but would pay for 6months in the summer. I know it's not ideal but it could bring more revenue to clubs.
Click to expand...

Depends on who it is ideal for.

For a club desperate for revenue to continue operating so the members can have somewhere to play, then it seems a pretty good idea to me and shows a bit of business sense. For a member who wants a quiet golf course, then not ideal. But I think the chances of members expecting a quiet course during the summer but also expecting the club to survive financially are pretty slim now. So fair play to them for trying something before its too late with a bit of forward thinking, and not sticking their heads in the sand.
 
It certainly isn't something new mate as a number of clubs in the midlands do this.

I can play and want to play all year round but I imagine this would be great for someone with kids/other duties year round that can take advantage of the climate at its best (Whatever that may be)

I have joined a really nice club which has a bit of a rep for being snobby! Although one old bloke who has been a member for 35years (just threw that in there) jumped at the chance to tell me the type of shorts I was wearing were banned I haven't met anyone other than decent members... call me snobby but I wouldn't want it any other way!

Oh and it was great telling him I had checked with the club pro who was more than happy with them!
 
We have had something similar in place for quite a while. You pay £50.00 for a month's trial membership then have that taken off your fees if you sign up at the end. I made use of it before I joined because you can find out all that you like about the course but this lets you get an idea of what it is like as a club. I was joining on my own so I took the opinion that if I signed up for a month and had no trouble finding playing partners then it would be worth signing up for a full membership
 
Hacker Khan said:
Depends on who it is ideal for.

For a club desperate for revenue to continue operating so the members can have somewhere to play, then it seems a pretty good idea to me and shows a bit of business sense. For a member who wants a quiet golf course, then not ideal. But I think the chances of members expecting a quiet course during the summer but also expecting the club to survive financially are pretty slim now. So fair play to them for trying something before its too late with a bit of forward thinking, and not sticking their heads in the sand.
Click to expand...

Agreed,we'd all like a quiet course to play on but we'd all be complaining when the standard of the course starts slipping due to greens staff getting laid off.
Personally I think if some one as paid for a trial period then they're well within their rights to 'clogg the course up'
 
My club has just introduced an 8 month Fair Weather package almost. Your membership runs from March to October and you only pay the % of those months.
 
I just recently saw one on a clubs website that I am planning to run a golf weekend to and thought it was a great idea (North Cliff in Scarborough) called an apprentice membership scheme.

I have told our club manager about it as I think its just the trick to attract new members
 
I think you'd need to put some fairly stringent T's & C's onto any offer like that. Nothing like a special offer to p off the members who've paid full whack ;)
 
drutz said:
My club has just introduced an 8 month Fair Weather package almost. Your membership runs from March to October and you only pay the % of those months.
Click to expand...

Just about the average for a ' golf season' up here so that'd go down like a lead balloon with the finance convener :)
 
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