Worrying times ahead for golf clubs

[Banchory Buddha]

I can justify to myself paying the increased subs & am in the fortunate position of being able to pay it; I appreciate that others aren't. But if anyone seriously thinks I'll pay £15-20 for a pint they have taken leave of their senses.

Even Orikoru's suggested tenner is cloud cuckoo land, virtually nobody will go to the pub at those prices, and pubs will therefore close anyway.

The problem is our govt just haven't grasped how serious this all is. Maybe pubs & clubs should put tinfoil behind their radiators, then we'd be fine?

 

[Dando]

Agree with the sentiment, all businesses face a significant increase obviously, but Broome is not your typical golf club.

It has other sports facilities in the building, a gym etc, plus , from memory, an American Golf outlet, and is a municipal course where membership fees are reduced and green fees are payable by members. I think their business model may need to be revised to be brought into line with more conventional clubs who charge an higher annual membership fee giving a more stable and predictable income up front.

my course is owned by AG and is only a 9 hole so membership is £60 a month for unlimited golf and range balls. when AG bought it in Apri they told the manger if he got 150 member by the end of the year, they would be happy. after 4 weeks 350 had joined and as of last night there were 500 and there is now a waiting list.

my only concern is that they allow alot of visitors on and with the shorter days approaching will the members get to play if visitors are allowed to book up tee times.

 

[RichA]

The problem is that energy has been affordable for so long that we've become incredibly wasteful and inefficient. Heated foyers with doors wide open 90% of the time is the norm for most commercial premises. We all need a rethink about how we use up non-renewable resources.

 

[Mandofred]

My energy renewal came up last Oct or so.....and the poop was already sounding like it would hit the fan with energy so we locked in our price for 2 more years....we should be good until Oct 2023. I heard the asst mgr at the club say something about it being ok for almost 2 more years at the club before their prices zoom up. When all this was starting to go bad, why didn't people at least sign up for guaranteed prices?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

My energy renewal came up last Oct or so.....and the poop was already sounding like it would hit the fan with energy so we locked in our price for 2 more years....we should be good until Oct 2023. I heard the asst mgr at the club say something about it being ok for almost 2 more years at the club before their prices zoom up. When all this was starting to go bad, why didn't people at least sign up for guaranteed prices?

We, our business, were rung at the end of last year, I think it was then. We were offered a 2yr deal at 3 times our current rate or a 5 year deal at double the rate. Back then that seemed a nonsense. Who would agree to a 5yr deal at double the rate when outside of the energy industry this was not really being talked about.

Most deals are fixed at around 2 years as who knows what is going to happen around the corner, Covid, Ukraine being prime examples. If you fix high and then it drops you are paying over the top. At the moment the opposite is true. Saying that, if we had fixed for 5 years at double our previous rate and then the govt caps prices today, would our prices be dropped or would we pay the high price for the next 5 years?

I would also add, the moment this started to go really bad the energy companies offered daft rates very quickly, understandably, and even Martin Lewis was advising not to fix.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing...........

 

[Red devil]

Even Orikoru's suggested tenner is cloud cuckoo land, virtually nobody will go to the pub at those prices, and pubs will therefore close anyway.

The problem is our govt just haven't grasped how serious this all is. Maybe pubs & clubs should put tinfoil behind their radiators, then we'd be fine?

And buy a new kettle

 

[Mandofred]

We, our business, were rung at the end of last year, I think it was then. We were offered a 2yr deal at 3 times our current rate or a 5 year deal at double the rate. Back then that seemed a nonsense. Who would agree to a 5yr deal at double the rate when outside of the energy industry this was not really being talked about.

Most deals are fixed at around 2 years as who knows what is going to happen around the corner, Covid, Ukraine being prime examples. If you fix high and then it drops you are paying over the top. At the moment the opposite is true. Saying that, if we had fixed for 5 years at double our previous rate and then the govt caps prices today, would our prices be dropped or would we pay the high price for the next 5 years?

I would also add, the moment this started to go really bad the energy companies offered daft rates very quickly, understandably, and even Martin Lewis was advising not to fix.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing...........

Yeah, at the time of the offer it was a bit higher than I thought it should be....but nothing like what you are saying. I think at the time point you are mentioning they were really cranking the pricing up. I just keep telling people that we were just mostly lucky our renewal came up when it did. A couple of months earlier and I might not have been worried.....a couple months later and it might have been too late.

 

[GB72]

Yeah, at the time of the offer it was a bit higher than I thought it should be....but nothing like what you are saying. I think at the time point you are mentioning they were really cranking the pricing up. I just keep telling people that we were just mostly lucky our renewal came up when it did. A couple of months earlier and I might not have been worried.....a couple months later and it might have been too late.

Same here. Cannot claim to have had any major insight into the situation, just pure luck that our deal ran out in September last year and so we fixed for 2 years again.

Seems like half our village are having solar panels fitted this week. I have a but more time to look into things like that with the fixed deal in place as would need to compare energy costs to putting £12000 or so on credit. Plus part of me hopes that there will be some form of national incentive to fit these or the return of the higher feed in tarriffs to encourage companies to proivde them in exchange for the tariff or reduce costs but reducing the need for epensive batteries to store the energy produced.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Yeah, at the time of the offer it was a bit higher than I thought it should be....but nothing like what you are saying. I think at the time point you are mentioning they were really cranking the pricing up. I just keep telling people that we were just mostly lucky our renewal came up when it did. A couple of months earlier and I might not have been worried.....a couple months later and it might have been too late.

As a business there is no cap so they were able to start jacking the price up much more quickly than for households. I remember my colleague coming off the phone with a look of disbelief at the cheek of the caller suggesting doubling the rate was a good deal .

Hopefully, we can put luck to one side later today and the fear can stop. Hopefully..........

 

[Blue in Munich]

Even Orikoru's suggested tenner is cloud cuckoo land, virtually nobody will go to the pub at those prices, and pubs will therefore close anyway.

The problem is our govt just haven't grasped how serious this all is. Maybe pubs & clubs should put tinfoil behind their radiators, then we'd be fine?

You're obviously nowhere near The Smoke, it's pretty close to a tenner in some pubs down here already

 

[HeftyHacker]

There's a surely a glass ceiling with things like this though. I did hear from someone talking about £15-20 a pint. Surely in that scenario there will just be next to zero people in pubs and they'll have to shut down? You can't put the price up to insane level that nobody will pay. If it was £10 a pint I could believe it.

Regarding golf club membership, I could have a serious problem. I certainly don't want to leave my golf club, but we have our first little one on the way next year, so my playing time will be reduced. If the membership is going up by several hundred pounds a year I'll have to have a serious think about whether it's viable.

This is exactly where I am currently. Got a little one already and an incredibly understanding missus but, with another one due in February, i'll have to seriously consider whether or not it's viable for me to have a full membership next year or look to go to a flexible, points based membership (my club is on Play More Golf). I'm currently managing to play twice a week most weeks but if that becomes less I probably won't see the benefit.

The flipside to that is that I'll certainly be cancelling my gym membership next year as thats a waste of £40pm so I could offset any golf membership increases with that - assuming of course that other expenditures can be offset against the very generous wage increases that have been agreed for my company etc.

 

[Albo]

We, our business, were rung at the end of last year, I think it was then. We were offered a 2yr deal at 3 times our current rate or a 5 year deal at double the rate. Back then that seemed a nonsense. Who would agree to a 5yr deal at double the rate when outside of the energy industry this was not really being talked about.

Most deals are fixed at around 2 years as who knows what is going to happen around the corner, Covid, Ukraine being prime examples. If you fix high and then it drops you are paying over the top. At the moment the opposite is true. Saying that, if we had fixed for 5 years at double our previous rate and then the govt caps prices today, would our prices be dropped or would we pay the high price for the next 5 years?

I would also add, the moment this started to go really bad the energy companies offered daft rates very quickly, understandably, and even Martin Lewis was advising not to fix.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing...........

I don’t know about business deals, but for households the cost of Getty out of a fixed term deal isn’t massive (£40 per energy type I think for my last deal) so taking the 5 years and exiting should energy prices drop would be an option

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I don’t know about business deals, but for households the cost of Getty out of a fixed term deal isn’t massive (£40 per energy type I think for my last deal) so taking the 5 years and exiting should energy prices drop would be an option

Exit prices have also been ramped up lately, hundreds of pounds, not tens, but I know Martin Lewis is pushing the govt to include all deals to be included in this freeze so that people who have high long term deals will be able to get them reduced to the new limit or leave at minimal cost. All will become clearer, hopefully, later.

 

[GB72]

You're obviously nowhere near The Smoke, it's pretty close to a tenner in some pubs down here already

In rural Lincolnshire the price of a round for me and my wife (pint of beer, and a kraken and coke) has gone up from £5.20 to £8.60 since not long before lockdown and that is bad enough. This week I have a 12 pint keg of Spaten Oktoberfest and a 12 Pint keg of Weissbier to choose from, both kegged fresh at the brewry and on tap in my garage at under £3.00 a pint (Plus whatever cheap rum and aldi knock off cola I get for the Mrs )

 

[evemccc]

As I’m relatively new to golf, and I’ve spent hundreds and thousands on beer in pubs and bars over the years, it’s easy for me to prioritise golf > alcohol (doubly true for alcohol in pubs these days)

 

[Mandofred]

You're obviously nowhere near The Smoke, it's pretty close to a tenner in some pubs down here already

I won't pay £5.....I'd rather buy beer from Asda and sit at home in the dark and worry about things

 

[timd77]

Tough times indeed. I love golf and would sacrifice other things before cancelling membership. For example, I’m topping up my bar card probably £25 a month so I’d knock that on the head first. Would be a shame and if others did the same it wouldn’t really help the club generate cash, but golf is the priority.

Truss has just announced the £2500 cap so looks like we’ll be fine as a household, just hope that small businesses are able to benefit as well, the lifeblood of society. If going out for a meal or a pint goes up too much, people won’t go and the businesses will close.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

You're obviously nowhere near The Smoke, it's pretty close to a tenner in some pubs down here already

Aberdeenshire. No way would I be paying that. Premium beers have sneaked over a £5, Tennents generally just under £4. Double it and they wouldn't see my money

 

[evemccc]

Aberdeenshire. No way would I be paying that. Premium beers have sneaked over a £5, Tennents generally just under £4. Double it and they wouldn't see my money

Having lived in Scotland for a few years, I feel comfortably within my rights to say this; halve it to £2 and they still wouldn’t see my money ?

 

[hovis]

The question comes

Would members be willing to put up with a £10 or so a week increase in their subs to continue playing a game they love?

I know I would.

We are very lucky in that we put in loads of solar panels (all across the roof of the driving range and clubhouse) and biomass boiler several years ago.

No I wouldn't. You want me to pay £500 a year more for the benefit of sitting in a club house following a round? I'd rather there be no club house facilities and save £500. I understand that people have nothing in their life other than their golf club but I just want to play golf