British Golf Clubs

[oakdale160]

I was talking to the manager of a British Golf club today. He was talking about a nationwide problem. Older members stopping playing or passing on who are not being replaced by younger people joining and very, very few young women starting to play. Stuffy image, too expensive, too much time needed to play 18 holes and young people are not 'çlubby' as their parents.. Clubs putting in pools and tennis courts to no avail. He feels that there will be multiple amalgamations and closures of courses in the next few years,

[sateeb]

Hardly surprising given that a goldfish has a greater attention span than the "yoof" of today.

Maybe if golf clubs place Facebook "like" buttons on each tee and "selfie" cameras!!!!!

[richard]

What he told you may well be true.

I used to play golf a lot when I lived in the UK and clubs varied in terms of how they behaved. This was driven by ownership, location, history and management. I belonged to 8 golf courses in different parts of the country over a period of 40 years. Some were snobby and clique and others were actively encouraging new old and young members to join. There were of course many municipal courses where anyone could rock up and play but I guess these are few and far between now. Entry was also favoured for low handicappers and the lowest handicap I had was 8 so much easier to join a club.

It will be interesting to see any feed back to your post from current members of clubs over there as I'm totally out of date with the situation now.

[oakdale160]

it may be apart of a wider thing. This lack of çlubiness. I was in the UK and my host took me to his rotary club. about 30 there, NOT ONE under the age of 55, no young members. Round Table , which was for members under 40 have faded away as that generation is not interested. The huge number of Pubs that have closed--go in a local boozer any night except Friday or Saturday and the clientele is of the same age group.
Its a pick up a 6 pack at the S'mkt and sit in front of the electronics, generation. Your facebook friends are more real than your flesh and blood acquaintances.

[Nereus]

It`s not restricted to golf clubs! Apart from the lady, there is not enough hair remaining with this lot to cover just one head! These people own old cars worth millions, and what is going to become of the cars within the next 15 or 20 years.

[Henry 14th]

I think a lot of this has to do with the emergence of new golf developments up and the uk and a shift away from traditional and often strict rules.

The new bread of golf course usually comes with fitness facilities thereby attracting younger people and their families.

There was a time when established golf clubs demanded a one time joining fee. The cost of this varied but 3/4 times the annual subscription was the norm in my experience.

This fee is not included in the cost of joining a newer establishment so I can assume that this also has an effect on joining a more established club ( I wouldn't be surprised if joining fees at established clubs are also being waved in am attempt to attract new members).

Finally the shift in golf being an elite class sport to a more affordable, accessible sport means that younger golfers don't want to abide by the snooty rules that are traditionally attached to established clubs.




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