Golf club offers to pay the interest on members’ direct debit subscriptions; Scottish Golf furloughs majority of its staff

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir April 10, 2020 11:19

A leading Lancashire golf club has said it will pay the interest on direct debit subscriptions for all members who renew their annual policy by April 15, while Scottish Golf has announced it has furloughed most of its employees.

Haydock Park Golf Club in Lancashire has said that members’ annual policy will only kick in after the club reopens and golf is allowed again – ensuring they will be entitled to the full 12 months of golf.

The interest works out at £70 per member per year, but according to Stephen Nicholson, business manager of Haydock Park, the move is a ‘calculated risk’ which has so far more than paid off as renewals have jumped significantly since the measure was introduced.

“Our membership year runs April to the following March so the timing of the enforced closure could not have been worse,” he said.

“At that point we had only received 15 per cent of the renewals for the new membership year. The board agreed that members should only pay for when we’re open, so that made the decision to freeze the membership straightforward.

“The problem with the move to us as a business would be the effect on cashflow. We considered members might not want to pay all the money upfront for their subscription, but the club didn’t want to have multiple and split payment methods.

“We have the two-payment options; upfront and monthly using Fairway Credit. For the monthly payment option Fairway Credit charge the member an interest fee of around seven per cent which on a seven-day membership costs around £70 for the year over 10 monthly instalments. The scheme has the following benefits – members commit to their subscription, but only paying monthly instalments at a fraction of the cost to paying upfront in full, and the golf club receives the entire amount of subscription up front.

Stephen Nicholson

“With these benefits in mind it made sense for us to promote this payment method to help boost our cashflow and the respective members’ cashflow whilst taking a calculated risk in covering the interest payments for our members during the closed period.”

Nicholson added that the result of the move has seen 70 per cent of the club’s renewals now processed while the deadline for members to renew has been extended.

“The majority of our members have always come up to the office to pay their fees, with this now no longer an option we have been directing our members to contact us and pay by the other methods, such as; BACS, online transfer, over the phone and so on.

“This might take some getting used to, so we have extended the deadline for membership renewals to April 15. We hope to get another 10 per cent of the membership renewing by this point and once this whole crisis blows over the remaining body of the membership who haven’t been able to commit to us will hopefully come back as well.

“We felt we needed to be decisive to help appease our members during this difficult time and that decisiveness looks to have paid dividends. In an industry that seldom makes change maybe this is the time for golf clubs to make more decisions of this nature and safeguard their futures too.”

Several clubs are offering incentives to their members to renew as early as possible.

For example, Tiverton Golf Club has said anyone who buys membership now will find that the year won’t kick in until their first tee shot and Brora Golf Club has brought in various initiatives – such as green fees redeemable in the future and new life membership categories, which brought in £70,000 in one week.

This comes as Scottish Golf has announced it has cancelled all its events and performance programmes for the remainder of the 2020 season, and furloughed the majority of its staff.

A statement from chair Eleanor Cannon on its website reads:

‘I recognise that, for each of our 575 affiliated clubs, our committees, employees and members, it is a time of uncertainty and stress. Tough decisions are being taken by your management teams so that your clubs can re-open their doors in as strong a position as is possible. Clubs need their members more than ever to support them financially so that they can survive the lockdown in an already tough market, and so that we each have our club to come back to.

‘Scottish Golf, like its member clubs, is having to make some tough decisions in light of a significant delay in our member income, so that we can continue to support our clubs as we come through these difficult times. To this end we have furloughed the majority of our employees and made the necessary decisions as regards our season’s calendar of events.

‘We have taken the decision to cancel all our events and our performance programmes for the remainder of the 2020 season.

‘There is important work that we will continue to deliver to ensure we are in a positive position when our clubs and their courses reopen. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you more about this work now.

‘In time we will all get back out there onto our courses. For now, we must look after each other and the communities that our clubs serve. Once we can start playing the game we love again, we will all work together to re-establish golf as the life blood of our communities. Thank you for the commitment you have shown us. We look forward to working with you all both now and in the future.’

Scottish golfers, meanwhile, are holding virtual tournaments which allow them to play rounds without leaving the house, reports The Herald.

Bellshill Golf Club is running the simulated competitions to raise money for the NHS.

To play, participants enter their handicap on a website and the results of the round are randomly calculated.
The handicap is then subtracted and a winner is named.

During one virtual round, Bellshill Golf Club raised £160 for the NHS. The next event will see players compete for the ‘Keep your Distance Strokeplay Medal’.

Entry costs £3 for members, with 40 per cent of the funds given to the winner and 60 per cent to the NHS.

Allan Saunders, club secretary, said:  “It’s a fun competition and I think it keeps the guys’ spirits up during these troubled times.

“Each member has to go through the motion of booking a tee time on the start sheet just as you normally do for a competition and pay the cost of taking part.

“So in that sense, it’s keeping members interested and we are posting daily via our members Facebook page.

“There’s a fair bit of banter and bragging rights on our social media, but the most important thing is the donation to NHS staff.

“It was our finance convenor that came up with the idea. He was inspired by indoor golf simulators and thought up a way of allowing people to play golf without leaving the house.”

And outside of the UK, New York has introduced a more stringent lockdown which demands that all golf clubs must close for at least the next three weeks.

In Kenya, a tougher lockdown has also been introduced, which targets golf as well. The game can be played on golf courses, but clubhouses have been ordered to close for the next month and no handicap competitions will be allowed during that time.

However, in the UAE, where Dubai is under lockdown until at least April 18, Troon Golf has said its three golf clubs have re-opened with rules in place. For example, all golfers must have their temperatures checked before their rounds, no food and beverages can be purchased and holes have been adjusted so that flags do not need to be touched.

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir April 10, 2020 11:19
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2 Comments

  1. Phil April 11, 10:44

    We’re already on the same style initiative, it seems to be popular and members are switching to monthly….

    Reply to this comment
  2. James April 10, 12:45

    Great initiative Stephen Nicholson. Sounds like it’s working well.

    Reply to this comment
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