This is KILLING Golf in This Country! WHEN WILL IT END?!
After reading this recent survey I am now GENUINELY SCARED for the future of Golf Clubs!! You need to watch this. I don’t even know where to begin with this one to be honest, it all just goes from bad to worse. This is KILLING Golf in This Country! WHEN WILL IT END… please let me know your thoughts on this in the comments section of this video… I would love to know!!
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30 Comments
Fire away…what needs to be done?
Happening here in Eastern Canada. You'd think everything was rosy for the clubs. Memberships are full. Prices are sky high. You'd think they're doing bank. But the most popular 9 hole course in town just shut down this year. A local family owned course just jacked up their prices to what the other best courses' prices used to be. And it's out in the country. It's difficult to for them to get customers. So what is going on? There are no more discounts to any of these courses. The late hours (4-6 hours before sunset) are almost never booked. There's a simple reason. People play WAY slower late in the day. No clue why. It used to be the opposite. But you can't finish your game before it gets dark and the marshals are terrified of upsetting anyone because there are so few people already late in the day (if there is a marshal at all which is rare). In the next town over where my brother has a membership, his club got bought out last year. He said the conditions had been deteriorating for a while and the new owners aren't doing anything. I'm hearing some clubs are likely to be sold and ALL members won't get a refund and will lose their membership. Yeah, sounds like legal issues, but that would only get resolved years down the road if they even still exist.
Something very strange is going on. As a sidenote, in your last video, you talked about the Bryson and Trump video. Trump said flat out he's no longer building golf courses. He said the land was too expensive, but it's likely everything is too expensive. And also slow play is an epidemic here. People who can't hit the ball 100y and walking. The people walking are the worst. Get a cart FFS. But carts are half the price of the green fee. They're way too expensive. So you get slow play.
I'm a central Florida resident and a retiree and a membership at any course or country club is prohibitively expensive. My weekly partner and I only play the public and semi-private courses where and when it's affordable. We play simply for recreation as we're too old for playground basketball, baseball, or softball but still like to get out and hit a ball somewhere. IMO, private clubs are relics of a bygone time where golf was the province of the well-heeled gentry who could support it. Here, local municipalities have taken over many courses from private ownership and this makes the game accessible to all, young and old, rich and poor for merely the cost of a green fee. I lived in the Chicago area many years ago and there are still numerous city owned and Cook County owned courses and many other municipalities are the same in other states. With the cost of everything increasing worldwide, I foresee the number of private membership clubs dwindling slowly away.
The simple answer is the market will correct itself. But some truly special places are lost forever that way.
What to do?
Realizing everything comes at a cost, it is still of vital importance to make the game accessible to young people long term.
Imho Every golf course should have free time for kids. Even some free instruction. Who knows maybe the parents/grandparents get into it as a result. But many of those kids will keep playing. And if their pro treated them well as a kid, maybe they have a student for life.
Municipal courses are vital. Imho. Governments need to remember courses are great parks that people actually pay to go to. Even if they lose some money, at least they generate some revenue while providing so much joy. So as courses close the cities should take advantage. As Alex mentioned, the pay to play format is strong. There is demand for daily fee golf.
Also with golf in the Olympics now, every municipality and private and semi private club should want to support future potential.
I also think golf needs rich people to help keep courses healthy and affordable. And also support talented, hard working junior golfers. Also companies could sponsor golf clubs.
As for Private Clubs, they need to be creative and open to the revenue outsiders can bring. IMO. Why not sell off open tee times?
I also like the idea of volunteer to play/be a member. Instead of staff being like second rate citizens why not have young people work in part for being a part of the club.
Also clubs do have the stigma of old people. Private clubs need to find ways to crate clubs within the clubs: such as maybe separate common areas that may attract younger folks. Think video games instead of playing cards.
Also courses need to continue finding ways to make maintenance less expensive and labor intensive while becoming more eco friendly.
Technology roll backs are part of this topic. Golf needs to start shrinking plying field wise. It should have never been allowed to get so big.
As for women, I see it in Hawaii we have some awesome amateur events that men keep playing for life while it is very rare to see a woman playing post college age. I don’t get that. I mean we make our wives and moms do a lot, working while still being partners and moms, but still, talented ladies need to keep playing some competition post college. Which would obviously keep them playing and paying. One sure fire way to help that is their kids are invited to play free.
I could go on and on.
But I’ll leave it there.
Can’t do anything until Biden is out of office.
The 2 courses I was a member at in Sydney were public courses and had the following membership categories: #1. Full Member ( for male & female). They could play 7 days a week socially and paid no green fees. If they wished to play in the club's competions they could do so on Saturdays, Sundays, in the Mid-Week Open days (Monday & Wednesday) for a comp fee of AUD $20.00, and for the ladies an extra ladies comp was on Thursdays for the same fee. #2. Mid-week members for those that could play in the open days who couldn't afford the full membership. #3. Junior membership up to age 21. This category also included full time University students even if they were older than 21. They could play in the same competitions as a full member. #4. Senior membership for those over the age of 65, so this membership basically covered retirees. Each of these membership categories had differing membership fees, but the one thing all memberships had in common was that it enabled members to obtain an AGU (now WHS) handicap, which then allowed them to play in competitions at other courses in their open days or when invited by a member of another club, especially if that club was a private club.
Booking sheets were made available of a Friday evening from 6.00 p.m. onwards, 2 weeks in advance. No telephone bookings were accepted on the Friday evening and at least 1 person ( if the same 4 members played together each week) had to be physically present at the club to book their tee time, and they could not book any more than 1 group.
As both courses were public courses, tee times for member comps were limited from opening time, usually around 6.00 a.m. until 1.00 p.m. The public could either telephone and book a tee time after 1.00 p.m. or just walk in and get a game. Both clubs fielded teams in inter club pennants which was another way of introducing players from other clubs to a course and usually resulted in many of those players returning on a regular basis to play in either the mid-week comp or Sunday comp & vice versa for our members.
Unfortunately the first course was purchased by a developer, and despite all his promises that the course would continue to be maintained at the level we were used to, that was never his inention and he just progressivly let the course deteriorate to the point of having 18 temporary greens, thus driving the members away so he could close the course and proceed with his original intention of turning it into a housing estate.
Fk golf….should be worried about the machete attacks on children…
In Colorado, USA, It cost $65 to+$100 for 18 holes with a cart person at a public course. This is cheap, but to much for the regular guy!
The introduction of youngsters to the game is much needed. Like ALL sports, we need to start at grass roots level.
In the UK, some of the membership fees do not reflect the course. I have played at many curses around the UK where the green fees have been reasonable and the course has been in immaculate condition. I have also played some courses that charged a fortune and the course was no better than a farmers field. Just because they were in a 'certain' location.
I gave up being a member of a golf course because some of the members etiquette was appalling!
Pitch marks not repaired, divots not replaced. Yet these people were paying membership fees and not respecting their own course!
As well as my own pitch mark, i repair at least 3 other pitch marks on each green as i play.
Being unrestrained in my choice of courses i can play, i feel better off.
In Leicestershire, we have the Leicester Golf Centre. The owner Anders and his team have removed some of the antiquated traditions that some clubs enforce. Their philosophy is "Golf should be fun". No strict dress codes. Use of tee boxes to suit your ability and a friendly atmosphere.😁
In my opinion, joining fees should be abolished. I wanted to join a club near me. Joining fee would have meant a second mortgage. Plus i had to be recommended by 3 people. I had only just moved into the village, so i knew nobody!
Time for clubs to 'Get Real' and realise that without the golfers, they will fold!
In the last 4 years I’ve been a member of a club, membership has increased by 25% and I wouldn’t say is better now than it was when I joined in terms of playability. The reason I maintain it is I play a lot after work as a means of exercise so I get VFM as it’s probably £10-15 a round max true cost
Golf course local to me is earmarked to close to build 2500 houses .. Whether it will happen I’ve no idea . Local residents are pushing back .
Golf in the U.K. and Ireland is very affordable, compared to the states, which is surprising given they have vastly more land.
Do no groups of golfers get together and try to start their own clubs over there?
On the other topic, golf is generally played by people 35 and up. There’s always more of them coming, and in future there’s going to be more older people than ever.
Golf has been fine for 400 years it’ll be fine into the future.
In the Midwest of the US, many of the public courses sold to developers both commercial and residential. Those remaining are expensive (over $50/rd)
Tv golf boring
Golf has never been value for money. Just wait for NetZero bs and many courses will close.
Why does it matter that only 15% of golfers are women?
Because when Tiger was winning everything, they couldn’t build courses fast enough. Now there is no stand out personality and courses are struggling.
Fancy clubhouses that arent used as they used to be by members are a big drain on clubs resources. Golf club managers and other staff have become more the norm even at smaller clubs where before the club was run by volunteers each looking after different area are another massive drain on a clubs income. I have seen two of the clubs i was a member at both get into serious financial bother because of these two things, hence the reason for me moving elsewhere. To me golf is all about playing the game and enjoying others company and the competition. The course is the first priority and this is where the finances should go. The fancy clubhouse with its overpriced food and drink is not in most cases a revenue raiser but a drain on the clubs finances. Golf managers/ administrators to me are also an expensive drain as well.
Not surprised that the demographic of members is literally dying! In the South East most decent memberships are £2000 plus. If you work full time and have a family the maths doesn’t add up. You’d need to play 50 rounds a year at £40 a round to break even. That’s why people are choosing to pay and play.
Honestly feels like he should have way more subscribers. I get all my golf updates here. 😊
I think clubs could encourage private investors to build 2/3 tire driving ranges with nighttime availability,with food and beer ect 🍺 encouraging junior golf with good senior acceptance as well as encouraging the youth to take up caddy positions with low handycapp players to gain experience during club competitions. Or move to Australia where you can play golf all year round 🥹
At my local course a bucket of balls is now £9 ! They have installed computer simulators in all bays and although young kids enjoy this, the older golfers, who just want to warm up and hit some balls, find this too expensive.
Then there's the price of clubs.A top of the range driver is now £500 ! Imagine if you have two teenagers, who are keen on golf, and want the best equipment to help them progress.Clothing is also very expensive, with polo shirts with a top manufacturer's emblem on averaging £50.
Then we have the recent rule changes, that often mean golfers are unsure of what to do in certain situations, which causes arguments.
The weather is also an important factor.This year the heavy rain has meant I have played only a few rounds,and we are half way through the year.My annual membership fee means I will switch to pay and play in future to save money.
There is another element driving ranges, that offer trackman and golf games on simulators also divert players away from golf courses. In one bay you can play 4 or 5 or 6 players, you can play top courses such st andrews, pebble beach, bethpage, no walking or finding balls, no slow play, no one in front, no weather conditions, no booking, they can buy a few beers have some food and its done in a couple of hours. My local one does events longest drive, nearest the pin etc etc lowest score, you can stableford, foursomes. Let along the tech advances in the virtual reality world. I dont think golf courses are going to go out business but they do need to adapt, golf is hard at the best of times, equipment can be espensive, so doing things like rolling back the ball distance doesnt scream progress in my view.
The problem with golf clubs is snobbery it always has been. That's why I never joined one. If the Committee and members would stop looking down their noses at people they'd maybe get on better.
Better listen…orp ?? 😂
green fees in my area have almost doubled. I have one in my area that went from $115.00 to $350.00 in one year. Needless to say I pass this course 2 to 3 times a week and the parking lot is empty. I have cut my rounds from once a week to once a month and have spent most of my golf budget at a driving range and I am a better golfer for it.
Golf courses need to look at prices to play, courses sit empty with no one playing but still want £60 but might get money if it was £25 during off peak times, lots of clubs still think they can get golfers playing with the same numbers from 20 -30 years ago. Golf clubs that are closed months on end need to be aware paying for 12 months membership but only playing 7-8 months is not work joining and golfers are now starting to realise its better to play when it suits them and pay and play at lots of courses with no commitments. Clubs near each other need to get together and do a 3-4 course membership and allow people to join and be able to play at any of the courses in my opinion.
Golf clubs need to wake up, £1400 for my local club, yet with as married bloke with kids, who at best can do 20 rounds. It’s just not worth it.
I think they should consider memberships, for those with kids. Most people who play, will want their kids to play, so it will feed into it self
One thing is that golf has an opportunity to appeal to female golfers as an untapped market.
I’m an OAP and there is no way I can pay a joining fee of £1k+