What could improve your golf club?

[El Bandito]

I play at a great club, Tidworth - and as a few have posted, if i didn't like it I would move on...

I would like to see more competitions - as sometimes I can't make the medal weekend and lose the chance to impact my handicap, but it is a great course, and is lucky to have some members who freely give their time to help make it work.

 

[joma1108]

Whereas im happy with my course, it could be improved and most of it doesnt cost the earth and would help on the golf experience
>Ball Washer & Hole map at each hole
>Pin Position Location at the start of the round (its so easy to do and IMHO should be the norm at every course) im not saying im good enough to fly at every pin but its a nice touch.
>graduated fairway, first cut, second cut and then Boondai

Things that cost money and would be nice
Proper practice facilities
USGA Greens

if the club came and said that they were putting up the fees by £100 to do this i would be a happy man but hey ho

Still its a nice course im at no no great complaints

 

[Region3]

A proper speed green to chip on to.

We have a range and a pretty good practice putting green, but you're not allowed to chip on it.
The chipping green is just part of a field that has been mown shorter than the rest, useless for getting used to how chips check and roll out.

 

[Rooter]

Really happy with my club, the bar is a bit "old school" with floral carpets etc, a bit dated, but thats no issue really. Practice facilities are very good, decent putting green and a short game area with a larger green, 3 pins and 60 yards range with practice bunkers. it does miss long game practice area, but we are affiliated with the local range (1 mile away) and we as members get discount here.

The course its self is very good, they invested heavily a number of years ago with an irrigation system that even in the height of the heat wave recently, the fairways were very good! The greens here are always very very good, there is one new green that still needs to bed in more, but the rest are very good indeed. the head greenkeeper keeps everyone informed as to what is happening and why, they are investing very wisely and the head greenskeeper does a fantastic job. could do with more bins at tee boxes, and also get members to repair pitchmarks and divots more, but thats a countrywide problem.

They even had a members divot repair morning, people gave up a couple of hours to go round the whole course and repair/fill divots, as a members club, i have no problem in giving up a little of my time to benefit "my" club.

We dont do tee bookings at all, which most of the time is great, just need to check the fixtures list on the website to ensure you are not going to walk into a big comp or society, even though they have this covered with mixed start positions (1st or 10th) so it does work very well.

Overall, rooter is very happy.

 

[Captainron]

I wouldn't change much at all. They should mow the mound that cuts across the 13th to allow well hit drives to roll over it and not get stuck on it in the rough!

 

[USER1999]

More bins. Top of the list. It's amazing how many people will carry a heavy bottle when it's full, but when it's empty, another 100 yards is impossible.

 

[timd77]

As mentioned on another thread, i'm just about to join a club for the first time, so it's a little too early for me to say. However, when I was searching for a club, one thing I looked for and felt was lacking, was some kind of gym/fitness facility.

Might sound a bit of a break from the traditional golf club values, but these days people do like to go to the gym and keep fit, and fitness is becoming more and more part of the game. I pay for gym membership and so would be happy to pay a bit more for golf club membership if it meant I could use a gym at the same place. I'm sure it wouldn't cost much to do, if it cost 10k between 400 members, that's only £25 each per year.

Thinking outside the box!

 

[Mav281]

My home course is Three Rivers in Essex. Reasonable course, not the greatest, but not the worst. It is pretty good value for money and I think it's that fact that sees it keep it's members for the most part.

£980 for the year gets you,

* 18 Holes Kings course (3 Rivers)
* 18 Hole Jubilee Course (3 Rivers)
* Years Gym membership (3 Rivers)
* 5 Day membership to any of the courses at Stock Brook Manor (after 12noon Mon - Fri)

The Kings course at Three Rivers is the primary course. They are doing some improvement work at the moment which is long overdue, sorting out walkways/buggy paths for the most part. Greens were done recently as well and they have come up really well - we tend to get some good comments from visitors about our greens.

 

[fundy]

Happy enough with what we get for what we pay

If I was being picky then a little bit more water on the greens during the dry spells of summer would help, and a couple of the greens could do with a little more definition (ie by adding a bunker or similar other hazard). They have land available to build another 9, highly unlikely but would love to see that built (even if it was only a par 3 course). Mens locker rooms could do with an update.

 

[Alex1975]

Happy enough with what we get for what we pay
Mens locker rooms could do with an update.

And an extractor fan!

 

[Curls]

I love our track it's a great test and kept in fine nick, so I wouldn't be in favour of changing too much physically.

The only thing I would like to see introduced would be a course marshal at the weekends/comp day. Preferably one with a shotgun.

 

[Jarc]

Is a fitness facility something that other members at your club are also keen to have? It sounds like a good idea to have something like that at a club and I think it's something people will be happy to pay extra for and use.

I think it sounds like a good idea and might out something like this forward to my local club.

I heard just the other day on tv that players are able to hit it a lot further because of dynamic exercises they do in the gym. I don't know if this would be something club players would also want to do to improve their games.

Does anyone else have any opinions on having a golf gym at their club? Would you use and pay a little extra for it? Or does your club actually have this facility?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Without being picky - not a lot about the course and as far as the club - not a lot. Clubhouse we are very restricted in what we can do spacewise and with room we have I think clubhouse is fine. The only expansion option is stealing from members carpark - which is already small.

That said I think it would be good to have a juniors club room - where juniors could hang out, play XBox, Playstation, go on internet etc, little pool table - and be able to bring along non-member mates - and not disturb rest of membership.

We need to get youngsters attracted to the game. Give juniors a space of their own and they'll like that. And being able to bring non-member mates along - maybe allowing them to use putting green and practice grounds - within defined timeslots - introduce their mates to the game. Make our club more accessible to the community.

 

[fundy]

Theres hundreds of gyms around, dont see any need for there to be one at the golf club and ultimately the members have to pay extra to use it.

When I looked at joining a different club that had a gym initially I thought it would be a benefit, but then I realised if I had driven to the golf club there was zero chance of me using the gym over playing/practising golf unless the course was shut and/or weather horrific.

As for the people happy to pay extra for, Id guarantee you it is less than 10% of the golf club membership that will agree with you

 

[the smiling assassin]

Dig up and rebuild the remaining 5 or 6 greens still to meet USGA standards - this would mean no more winter greens.

Build a path between the 15th green and 16th tee.

Change peoples perception that you can't play Prestonfield when it's raining. So much work has been done on the drainage over the last few years that it's now very good indeed.

Slightly faster greens.

Make it ten miles closer to my house

Just dump a ton of sand on them like they've done at Duddingston. Greens are borderline linksy and have been running at 12 on the stimp this season.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Without being picky - not a lot about the course and as far as the club - not a lot. Clubhouse we are very restricted in what we can do spacewise and with room we have I think clubhouse is fine. The only expansion option is stealing from members carpark - which is already small.

That said I think it would be good to have a juniors club room - where juniors could hang out, play XBox, Playstation, go on internet etc, little pool table - and be able to bring along non-member mates - and not disturb rest of membership.

We need to get youngsters attracted to the game. Give juniors a space of their own and they'll like that. And being able to bring non-member mates along - maybe allowing them to use putting green and practice grounds - within defined timeslots - introduce their mates to the game. Make our club more accessible to the community.

Afterthought - why not bid for the Four Ball at my place that's up for auction on For Sale-Wanted and then after you've played you can tell me what we should do to improve things

 

[StrangelyBrown]

That said I think it would be good to have a juniors club room - where juniors could hang out, play XBox, Playstation, go on internet etc, little pool table - and be able to bring along non-member mates - and not disturb rest of membership.

We need to get youngsters attracted to the game. Give juniors a space of their own and they'll like that. And being able to bring non-member mates along - maybe allowing them to use putting green and practice grounds - within defined timeslots - introduce their mates to the game. Make our club more accessible to the community.

I like this idea.

Just dump a ton of sand on them like they've done at Duddingston. Greens are borderline linksy and have been running at 12 on the stimp this season.

Interesting 12 might scare some of us though

 

[Jarc]

Without being picky - not a lot about the course and as far as the club - not a lot. Clubhouse we are very restricted in what we can do spacewise and with room we have I think clubhouse is fine. The only expansion option is stealing from members carpark - which is already small.

That said I think it would be good to have a juniors club room - where juniors could hang out, play XBox, Playstation, go on internet etc, little pool table - and be able to bring along non-member mates - and not disturb rest of membership.

We need to get youngsters attracted to the game. Give juniors a space of their own and they'll like that. And being able to bring non-member mates along - maybe allowing them to use putting green and practice grounds - within defined timeslots - introduce their mates to the game. Make our club more accessible to the community.

It is a good idea but don't you think the juniors go there to play golf not pool and Xbox? It might be beneficial in getting young people to the course more often to play golf as well as the games room. I do like the idea of making the club more accessible to the community. With arranged days where non members can come along.

 

[paddyc]

My club Girton,Cambridge has improved a lot over the years but lost members as the old pro did absolutely nothing. New pro is lot more involved with members and teaching. Money being an obvious obstacle to improvements but these would be a better website, a much improved short game area, more definition between fairways and rough, some more bunkering and elevated tees as course is very flat or some water as there are no real stand out holes for me. Maps of holes on the tees are an embarrassment and some members are a bit miserable, apart from that, the Greens are excellent as is location for me and I can get a game pretty easily and get round fairly quickly.

 

[sfby]

Taking all the thorns off the gorse and brambles....