I must say that I am becoming ever more annoyed at the people on the outside telling us, on the inside, where we are going wrong. Their continual mantra is ‘clubs have to change’ to suit what is perceived as the modern way. Well, if the modern way is ‘I want something for nothing, and I want it now’, they can go elsewhere as far as I am concerned.
The only change necessary in golf is that clubs must offer what THE MEMBERS want at a reasonable cost or they will have difficulties. All of these people on the outside saying that it is old fashioned to have traditions and they don’t like the way they are treated at golf clubs because of (say) the dress code, can, as far as I am concerned, go where they will receive no grief … somewhere else. Clubs should not surrender their traditions to people who know no better just because it doesn’t suit THEM!
What is however of more concern is that some other major organisations (home unions) seem to think that they know how to run clubs and, quite frankly, they don’t. Tourist boards demand that free golf should be made available to tempt visitors is nonsense to by far the majority of clubs. Tourists (in the true sense of the word) are not in the least interested in playing much beyond the signature courses. The normal run of the mill members’ clubs welcome a level of ‘visitors’ which suits their own members’ requirements and the ‘cancer’ (and I use the word deliberately to properly reflect its effect) of two-for-one schemes is the main problem posed to club golf as we know it.
We are all aware of the ‘nomadic golfer’ syndrome and there is no doubt that it exists. What clubs, and unions, fail to appreciate is that if these two-for-one schemes did not exist, every club in the land would be full with a considerable surplus left over. Golfers are not stupid and if they can get their golf for half price, they will undoubtedly take it. Would they however all cease to play if they didn’t? The fault is not theirs, it is ours.
I have heard the argument that clubs could not exist without their visitor income.
What the clubs who participate in the two-for-one schemes fail to reconcile is that they have degraded the value of their most important asset, the club. They suffer twice the traffic for the same income.
I can hear cries of dismay in the background. ‘That approach would bankrupt us’ and ‘that might be OK for him’.
What I can say is that I have recently retired as a secretary from my private members’ club which has a full membership, a waiting list, still charges a joining fee, does not entertain any form of national two-for-one scheme and is not overrun by visitors. All this for £475 per year, so please don’t opine that I don’t know what I am talking about.
In conclusion, it is time that clubs took back the control of this wonderful game from the amateurs whose interest lie with their own version of success. We all have a product to sell and it is vital that its value is not degraded by allowing it to be undersold. That said there have been many clubs that have been charging memberships and visitor fees that the ‘market would stand’ rather than what they were worth. That would perhaps be the one benefit to be gained by the ‘traditional’ club member.
They would perhaps be able to take their offspring to play on the courses they played as youngsters without having to remortgage the house to do it.
W Allan Osborne is the former secretary of Bathgate Golf Club. His views are separate to Golf Club Management and are not endorsed by Golf Club Management
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