Why is golf so expensive in England?

[Espada]

I did find one in Milton Keynes which advertises itself as being just over £0.20/day. Sounds like a fairly easy course though, I guess at that price there must be something wrong unless it is heavily subsidised. Might have to try it one day and see what it is like.

 

[Imurg]

Its not just memberships. Green fees are sky high too. £30 in Bonny Scotland lands you a really nice track. £30 down here is for a run-of-the-mill course, Ok but nothing special. A good one is going to cost in excess of £50 - generally. There will be exceptions but I can't think of any at the mo.

 

[backwoodsman]

Can't answer for everything as to why, but one example...

The club I'm just joining - in deepest southern-softie country - only leases the land on which stands the course. Rough calculations are that it works out at about £300 per member per year. That's obviously before any overheads and running costs start getting added on...

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I don't really know the reasons behind it. I know we are expensive at RA as I've mentioned before but a lot of that was built in costs as a result of being forced to move to a new course and having to fund the clubhouse and greenkeeping machinery etc which had to be budgeted for over a ten year period. As membership has dwindled (recession etc) there has been a need to review these numbers and I think fees are higher than envisaged.

That said compared with our immediate private club neighbours (Windlesham, Mill Ride, Wentworth, Swinley, The Berkshire) we are cheaper and probably offer more accessibility (roll up and play) than most of these who all cater for corporate and society events.

There are a number of very good pay and play's with clubs affiliated (Downshire & Blue Mountain) but you cannot always get a tee time to suit and the pace of play is always slow.

I'm happy that my club ticks all the boxes I need in terms of quality of the course, practice facilities, accessibility to play, number of competitions and the friendliness of the membership. Its a tough find each year especially with HID in a much lower paid job following redundancy at Christmas but it money I'm happy to find somehow

 

[Troy]

Golf is not that cheap in central Scotland. At my club, I pay about £650 a year (although the facilites are good and there are two courses) However, compared to about £240 for Boat of Garten and less than £400 for Nairn Dunbar, it does seem expensive. A lot does seem to depend on geography.

 

[patricks148]

I paid over £1000 for membership in Hertfordshire. I now live in Inverness and am a member of two clubs and still had £300 left over for a third. Royal Dornoch is less that £500 as is Nairn West! Mind you wages are not as high up here!

 

[Westerninvader]

You think you have it bad in England come accross the water and see how much it is here. I'm currently looking into joining a club and the clubs listed below are all within 15 minutes of my front door

Druids Glen Entrance fee €90,800 annual sub €3057.07
Greystones GC Entrance fee €16,000 annual sub €1400.00
Delganey GC Entrance fee €16,950 annual sub €1365.00
Charlesland GC Entrance fee €16,000 annual sub €1692.00
Bray GC Entrance fee €15,000 annual sub €1372.00
Glen of the Downs GC Entrance fee €8,000 annual sub €2486.38

As you can imagine I will be sending the butler around to druids glen later with a bag of gold bullion to settle the bill.

 

[birdieman]

Westerinvader that is a particularly ugly avatar you have there!

Those green fees you're highlighting are out of reach for all but 2% of the population I expect?

Are they getting the memberships they need at those clubs?

Ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[Westerninvader]

Birdieman,
all the clubs have availability. But there has been no sign yet of any of them dropping prices. My father in law is a member of one of them and he reckons that they will have to dramatically drop there entrance fees in the next twelve months so I will be holding off at least that long. but your right its ridiculous. ( I stand to be corrected but none of the clubs have even put in a stage payment option on the entrance fee, which would seem like an obvious marketing tool)

 

[Herbie]

In answer to the OP question...
I dont think golf overall is expensive, there are many clubs where you can play for less than £20 and many clubs offering membership for less than £600 (less than most people would spend each year on booze, and less than the difference between running a gas guzzler as opposed to a cheap economical car) as for kit, anyone can get rigged up to play golf for less than £200 (cheaper if its all second hand) so I dont see it as an expensive sport or pastime.

Now dont get me wrong, I do know that in some areas golf costs a fortune and this can be down to the economics of the area or simply greed(or both)I also believe that some of the top prestigeous courses dont always offer as much as some lesser known courses, this can be reflected right across the scales in golf. I think a lot of it is down to value for your money, and one personds opinion will differ from another, but as far as the question goes, golf is not expensive, its just made to look that way in some areas and at some clubs. And to some degree by the gullable or pretentious golf consumers.Supply and demand, should there be great demand, this should bring about price reductions, yet how often do we see this in golf? (unless out of date in a clearance)

 

[AidenSmith]

"in Scotland golf is a game for every man, whilst in England it is still viewed as a middle class game"

I'm not sure about that, TBH. Even it Scotland it, I've found, is still very much a middle-class pursuit, which is a pity.

 

[CrapHacker]

I agree that most courses down here are in the blimeyoreillyoucantbeserious price bracket. But when I tried Eastbourne Downs a couple of weeks ago ( not a bad track at all, in fact I'm quite tempted ), they suggested the normal price is £750 signing on fee plus £750 a year.

But they have an offer on for new members. Basically pay £50 a month for the rest of this year ( until April 2010 ), and then pay £750 + 10% ( plus any yearly increases ) until the £750 is paid over the next 9 or 10 years. So next year, if the subs were to remian the same, you'd pay £825, or £69 a month. Four games a month works out to less than £18 a round.

Ok it's still a lot of money when the mortgage needs to be paid, but it seems pretty good VFM, even down here.