Not Worth Joining Any Club

Rabidlamb

I cant justify the cost in joining any of the local clubs.
I live within 10 miles of 3 well recognised courses each of which charge €5k for an initial joining fee, €650-€825 membership per year after that.

Back in my teens I played a lot of golf & got down to a 7 handicap.
I'm now in my mid-thirties & have got the house, wife, kids etc. all sorted.
This time of the year I play about once a fortnight on various local courses & par-3's.

The clocks going back kill off golf after work so at least 4 months of the year are a write off bar weekends. My point is that it's far less expensive for a person like me to fork out green fees for the year than join up anywhere. I still get competitive golf through societies & I get to play a variety of courses.

What am I missing ????....

JCDUB

IMO, you're missing the competitive edge you get from playing in your club most weekends, seeing who's winning, setting your sights on them etc.

But having said that it's a lot of wedge to be shelling out when you have a family etc. so if you're happy doing what you're doing then keep on truckin.

I also enjoy having a GUI handicap and going to open competitions about the place and playing new courses, but you could get one of them handy enough by getting country membership somewhere a few miles from you, much cheaper.

Then you have the best of both worlds:D

stringy

you're missing out getting selected on Inter Club teams, where you get the opportunity to play different courses. This year I got to play Carton House Monty and Old Portmarnock a couple of times because of this. Each match followed by nice dinner and drinks. I played elsewhere also. Great being on the away panel cos I'm considered one of our long hitters.

It's also great getting down for 9 holes in the evenings for practice.

Being a member is pricy but worth it in the long run, because you can play until your 70+

JCDUB

stringy wrote:

you're missing out getting selected on Inter Club teams, where you get the opportunity to play different courses. This year I got to play Carton House Monty and Old Portmarnock a couple of times because of this. Each match followed by nice dinner and drinks. I played elsewhere also. Great being on the away panel cos I'm considered one of our long hitters.

It's also great getting down for 9 holes in the evenings for practice.

Being a member is pricy but worth it in the long run, because you can play until your 70+

Yeah I missed these aspects in my post, played a couple of rounds in Carton, K Club etc. and the social aspect of belonging to a club well into your 60's, 70's and still playing regular golf when you're retired and have more time on your hands are definitely beneficial.

You could easily end up saying in years to come "feck it why didn't I pay that €5k back in '07?Sure it was only a pittance compared to what it is now."

Aesop

OP I am in a similar situation to you.

I have come to the conclusion until I have time to give to the game it would be a waste of money. I reckon I would have to be able to play at least once a week for it to be worth my while. The problems isn't so much the joining fee but the yearly subs which have to be paid regardless of whether you play one round of golf a year or 50. For that reason I would say joining now as an investment for later is a waste of money. If the OP is in his 30's and he will be in his 40's before he will have time to give to the game he will have 10 odd years of subs to pay before he can take advantage of it. This also assumes that you will be staying in the the current area of the country for a long time.

Trampas

I have more of the problem with the joining fee than anything else.

Especially most places offering a share for around 10K.

With just buying a house I cant afford the 10k so country membership will do for the mean time

The 600 - 800 a year isn't the problem as all you need to do is create a bank account and put a SO off €15 a week and you wont notice it.