What Would It Take

[CMAC]

Having now become a full member of Blairgowrie there is no other course I would rather be a member of in my area.
Other courses are Gleneagles and Carnoustie, but they don't have the same club facilities.

Your right, their clubhouses have saunas, steam rooms, a manned luxurious locker room, exceptional bar area with open fires and tv's showing golf or football. First class food, exceptional service, practice facilities to die for with free range balls.........yes, they don't have the same club facilities

 

[SocketRocket]

I'd need no booked tee times as an absolute must. It really does make getting a game and playing on the spur of the moment a doddle. After that it'll need a dedicated short game area, comparitive pricing, drawn comps and a good bunch of members and atmosphere in the 19th

Sounds like Worcester would be ideal. Bit of a day out for you though.

Tees are on a rotational time basis for two and Three/four balls at time slots.
Every day of the week there is a roll up with draw for play, two on some days.
Great practice areas.
Members club at around £750 full member, £650 restricted (5 day + Sat Morning -& Sun Afternoon)
Great bunch of members. Formal Lounge and Casual Bar.
+ a beautiful golf course and club house.

http://www.worcestergcc.co.uk/

 

[Phil2511]

But if you're thinking of getting members into a club consider how difficult it is for a member to actually break into the playing side of a club. Look at your comp sheets and you will see the same groups playing together pretty much every week. How can one person break into that? We've all done it but it wasn't easy.

This actually happened at my club. I was playing with a group of 24(inc me) on a Sunday but there was quite a few who were there for a drinking session rather than the golf. So my mate who got me into the club had joined a group of about 12 on a Saturday as he was on the council and quite alot of the council played in this group and I became friendly with most of them from playing midweek comps.

It was actually the Captain and Comp secretary who asked me to join them on a Saturday. I played twice and 2 of the guys told me I wasn't welcome until I was off 15 hcap or better.

So I thought stuff that, don't want to listen to those 2 muppets. So an older guy that I played with in the Sunday group asked me what was I going to do and I said I will go out and play on my own if I have to, but later on the Saturday rather than at 8am on the Sunday. He decided he was tired of the early starts and would join me.

The next thing the Captain, Past Captain, Treasurer, Secretary and 2 other council members were joining us along with 6 other guys to date. We have 2 more guys coming this Saturday. All in the past 2 months.

We call ourselves the friendlies, where anyone is welcome, whether you want to play every week with us, just need your card marked if your normal crowd aren't playing or a new member looking to meet people(one guy is). The guys in the pro shop tell new members joining the centre if they want to join the club to turn up on Saturday at 11am and you will be sorted out, earlier if you want breakfast.

Even in our small club there was a clique thing going on with a few largish groups that didn't want outsiders. The current Captain/committee are more into trying to bring in new club members and make them feel welcomed and wanted. To top it off the 2 guys who objected to me being in their group have since left lol

It's the likes of the decent bunch of lads I play with that make the club for me personally. It also outweighs the negatives created by the golf centre itself in regards looking after the course and facilities which would be the downside of my club.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I think it would take the club professional moving to pastures new for me to move, or the fees going up by a stupid amount.

 

[Aztecs27]

Maybe not to you but I know lots of guys who play at places where you need to book and in the summer they struggle to get games at their place because all the tee times are booked. I like the fact I can finish work at 5 - leave my clubs in my locker and just take a small bag with my shoes and a golf shirt with me - and be out and playing by 6. No worrying about missing my time if I'm running late. To me its a big incentive at my current club

WE have the best of both worlds at my place. Tee bookings til 4pm then it's first come first serve.

Works out perfectly as you can ensure you get a tee time during the busy periods and just rock up after work in the summer and go off when it's your turn.

 

[HickoryShaft]

I am happy where I am also - lower green fees on all the other local courses but a combination of perfect location for me, close to home and work, mates who play there and an interesting course with loads of features that keep you heading back for more means I am staying put.

A suggestion to those whose clubs need members. Ask amongst your members who are part of a society, then set up challenge matches between the local societies and club members. With the societies meeting and playing with members they find out what the club/course/members are like. Also there's a chance that society members will join together, thus not having problems with finding people to play with on comp days, and eventually they find friends amongst the members anyway.

However - the above suggestion is a cracking one and in an age where a lot of clubs need members I think this is well worth trying. We are about 25 members short I think so I will be passing this on to our club manager as an idea to try. I am in a work society so may suggest we try this as a first attempt to recruit from - more people for me to play as well

 

[wull]

callander golf club is struggling a bit and and i think they are increasing the membership costs from £440 to £475.

i know that's not a patch on what most of you pay but for me that is a lot.added to paying £240 at killin it's adding up.

i'm not sure what clubs can do,callander is sturggling really badly,the numbers are dwindling away and the clubhouse is dead all the time.the restaurant doesn't generate anything at all.hardly anyone stays on for meals and this last year the guy running it was always away really early so anyone wanting meals later on had no chance.

i'm just there to play golf...

 

[DCB]

Does Callander not get the visitor traffic it used to get ? The visitor traffic was what kept a lot of these small clubs alive in the past.

 

[DCB]

In response to the OP, I've been where I am for over 25 years, not going to move now. Local club to me had an offer that would have been attractive if money was a major issue, but still happy to travel and play at my club.

Interesting comment by Dodger in another post re Dunbar. I can see that being a major attraction as lots of folk travel down to East Lothian to play their golf, especially at this time of year.

 

[richart]

Having booked tee times does not make a difference. I dont understand why folk think it does.

In your opinion.

I much prefer being able to turn up and play and not having to book. If there are a few waiting to play at my club, we just wait our turn, and give stick to those teeing off in front. I play nearly every weekend, and the longest I have ever waited to tee off has been 20 minutes. We also have the option of teeing off the 10th, though I think I have only ever done that once.

All our comps have booked tee times, but for friendly golf turning up and playing when you like suits me.

 

[Oddsocks]

All our comps have booked tee times, but for friendly golf turning up and playing when you like suits me.

thats what ive always seen as a must for any membership.