Be very aware

Unglika Norse

I know that you are all adults, but be very aware of the full financial position of any club to whom you are asked to pay an entrance fee, some of these clubs could and are into the banks for millions, I kid you not, They also face the prospect of a huge drop in membership numbers,

What may appear to be good value could turn out to be very dear in the next year or so when levies have to be added to meet financial commitments if indeed they can be met,

The least you should do is seek a balance sheet and ask how they expect to fund the club over the next number of years.

This will be further compounded by a loss in green fee revenue, alternativly the green fee rate will be reduced to attract new trade which in turn will mean a loss of tee times for members.

As I suggest just be careful the other side is not always greener.

Merry Christmas to all you boards golf fanatics

jimjo

Some good points there.

Unglika Norse wrote: »

the green fee rate will be reduced to attract new trade which in turn will mean a loss of tee times for members.

That is my biggest concern. Green fees have to go down and are doing so. Nearly all clubs have some special offer on the go or their open events have increased. You obviously need a happy medium which can prove difficult to suit both parties. Within saying this I’m very much in favour of having affordable green fees.

Nothing worse that a) not getting a tee time b) being stuck behind a group who are slow and have no concern for the course, not raking bunkers, replacing divots or repairing pitch marks. A group of lads just down for the day wont be back anytime soon, just generally taking the piss around the course.

I feel on these cheap days if you play in somewhere like Turvey for €15, Rathcore for €20 or Dunmurry Springs for €10, because you get to play the course for so cheap you should be under a type of extra duty to take care of the course. Like repair two pitch marks on the greens. I know some may argue you should be doing this already but we know this is not the case with most golfers.

heavyballs

have you some internal gui financial info or something or are you just telling us something we already know
me,i'm going to join somewhere next year,it won't put me in huge debt and i will support the club as i think a member should(pro shop,bar,restaurant)like i did in my old club b4 moving back up to the big smoke,
if it goes to the wall so be it but our economy in my opinion needs positivity not negativity,i knoe you're only trying to help(scaremonger),thanks but no thanks

Unglika Norse

heavyballs wrote: »

have you some internal gui financial info or something or are you just telling us something we already know
me,i'm going to join somewhere next year,it won't put me in huge debt and i will support the club as i think a member should(pro shop,bar,restaurant)like i did in my old club b4 moving back up to the big smoke,
if it goes to the wall so be it but our economy in my opinion needs positivity not negativity,i knoe you're only trying to help(scaremonger),thanks but no thanks

No I am not connected to the GUI in any way, people know that clubs are in trouble but do they go to the extent to find out how much trouble. It's great that you are the type of member that every club would like to have, and neither is it negative nor scaremongering to advise people to ensure that the possible loss of any payments is minimised. Some clubs sadly may well go to the wall

PhilipMarlowe

I don't see it as scaremongering. All the advice I see is to make as informed a decision as possible, that is all.
If you are 'just' paying an annual subscription you haven't much to lose but if you are paying a joining fee, even though it may be reduced from what it previously was, just be sure you are getting 'value'.

-Chris-

I don't actually like these kinds of threads.

I work in the motor industry and, due to the current economic climate, there are many rumours flying around about dealers in trouble etc. Some are correct, some are not.

The problem arises where a dealer who's not in trouble finds themselves victims of a rumour. People will refuse to leave deposits or will not have the faith to buy cars based on this rumour. The rumour then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.


I don't think there's anything specifically incorrect in what you're saying OP, but I think it's of limited use.

Either your stating that, in general, many clubs are in trouble, but I don't think there's any news there, the vast majority of businesses are in some form of trouble or under significant pressure. Or possibly you're thinking of a specific club or group of clubs and don't want to mention who it is.
This is where I'd day it's very important that you don't become part of the rumour-mill yourself.
Unless you know of something specific, verifiable and imminent, you should continue to refrain from naming anyone.


My €0.02