Distance Membership

Tomhoganie

I was thinking of joining one of the smaller clubs in order to obtain an official handicap. Avg Distance price seems to be about 200 notes including your first 3 rounds so you can get your GUI. Any thoughts?

Sir Shankalot

Tomhoganie wrote: »

I was thinking of joining one of the smaller clubs in order to obtain an official handicap. Avg Distance price seems to be about 200 notes including your first 3 rounds so you can get your GUI. Any thoughts?

My thoughts would be that, rightly or wrongly, any prize you win in an open will be tainted and you will be viewed as a bandit or a cowboy. Postal handicaps have a terrible reputation in this country.

I believe somewhere like Slieve Russell have a reasonably priced distance memberhsip offer (details anyone??) - the upside of joining somewhere like that is that you would play a really good golf course and when you win an open in XYZ GC with 42 points you don't get booed while collecting your prize!

Tomhoganie

honestly dont want to be tarred with that brush - playing golf about 5 years socially - started with 26 of a social handicap....stopped playing due to multiple fracture of my arm 3 years ago and picked it up again in the last year and a half - scoring in the low 90's regularly now and broke 90 for the first time last weekend.

the aim of getting my handicap distance wise is to keep it cheap so I can spend the otherwise spent money playing in opens on some decent courses more local to me and trying to get my handicap down to the low teens(wishful thinking to become a single figure handicap golfer!!!!)

to be honest winning comps would only be a major bonus to me - I would rather enjoy the game and improve at it....thats just me, dont know about other members of these distance courses....

Tomhoganie

oh and slieve russell is €675 distance membership....

Sir Shankalot

Tomhoganie wrote: »

oh and slieve russell is €675 distance membership....

Ok that is lumpier than I thought it might be - very good course though and if you lived in Dublin or further north would be worth the spin a good few times a year. I just think spending a little extra on a decent golf course that you could see yourself playing half a dozen times a year as opposed to one you will play three times ever in order to secure card might be worth looking at.

I am trying to think of the main offenders....I know that there are a couple of clubs whose members are not welcome in ANY open comp in my home club. A few of them arrived down in the 90's and loaded up a van load of prizes!! I'd prefer not to guess the names as would not like to offend

Tomhoganie

surely that couldnt be allowed? once you have you gui are you not entitled to play in all opens?

Sir Shankalot

Tomhoganie wrote: »

surely that couldnt be allowed? once you have you gui are you not entitled to play in all opens?

Just like a nightclub a Golf Club can always state ROAR! Clubs are perfectly entitled to stop people playing in their Opens

Adiaga 2

Tom, are you based in Dublin? If so, why not pay a little extra and join one of the pay and play courses? Prices start around €350 which will give you reduced green fees. Elmgreen, Corballis, Grangecastle, Silloge offer this type of membership. Then you could play in their weekly comps as well as opens.

Tomhoganie

ive played all of those courses and tbh would rather give half the money to a distance membership than pay that and pay to play on those courses - dont get me wrong, nice courses for what they are - but i'd rather get my gui for as cheap as possible and play some decent tough different courses and try and improve my game - not fork out 600/700 a year to play the same three or four tracks and lose interest because of boredom - i will join a decent club full time in a few years - just want to explore our fair islands courses as a nomad first....

coolcougar07

dont waste 200 you will gain entry to most clubs now with membership and no hello money join a club and end the bull****5

Dr_Colossus

Like the OP l was considering joining a course under the distance membership option. Based in Dublin so was considering the likes of Ballinlough Castle as it seemed to have the best potential while at a modest price of 200. Even took a spin up one Sun to check it out in the hopes of playing the first of my 3 cards. However the place was deserted and seemed pretty rough so decided against it.

Will now likely join Tulfarris Golf Club next week, played there two weeks ago to check out the course and was well impressed, was expecting it to be fairly wet given the reviews I'd read and all the rain it'd poured down for the two weeks prior to that. 40mins from Dublin and membership is from Mar 2011 to Mar 2012 for €1,000 but you can join from 1st Nov for the same price and you get use of the course/facilities until Mar 2012.
Played South County last week also as another possible course to join but it's a good bit more expensive at €1,600 from Jan to Jan and the course isn't as interesting or varied. In saying that though it is closer to Dublin and it was in good condition with the tee boxes, fairways and greens all very dry.

TheGrump

Has anyone tried South county's Novice memebship? It's €600. Is it worth it?

puttputt

I would recommend joining a club nearer to you unless you really can't afford it.

If you have aspirations to improve you can't beat the freedom to be able to get out a few evenings a week to practice or play a few holes, playing in occasional opens just won't give you enough golf.

Another benefit of being a member of a club is that you can put your name forward for inter-club competitions which gives you the opportunity to play different courses in away matches.

It's a good time to be looking at joining as a lot of clubs which would be a lot less easy to get into in better times are now offering deals.

Tomhoganie

affordability really is key for me - i am currently playing once a week and hitting the range once a week also - during the summer I know I will play more but I dont want to fork out a huge fee at the outset - maybe join a more local club in a years time when i see if i will be playing as regularly....but for now i think distance is the option for me.....

rafared

I heard through the grape vine that GUI congress will vote on a proposal for a "star" system in a bid to cut down on the clubs offering a distance membership. If it passes it will operate on the basis that the player must compete in 6 full competitons on their "home" course in order for their GUI card to be valid for the following year. Now before anyone jumps down my throat Im only repeating what an incoming captain of a course near me told me. He said there were two similar proposals to be voted on at the AGM of the Munster branch of the GUI.
Has anyone else heard or know anything about this?

WHIP IT!

Get a distance membership if you like. Play honestly, return your cards to the club, enjoy your golf and if anyone begrudges you when you win a prize - tell them to go f**k themselves... I know plenty of people who wear their golf club memberships at "fancy" places like Carton House as ego-inflating badges of honour yet they can't hit the ball out of their way. "Distance Members" are not the reason these people don't win Open competitions.

Tomhoganie

Thanks WHIP IT - although to win a few prizes would be nice, i want to play the game to get better, not to win a box of balls every few months....

mike12

Hi,
Would have to agree that u have to join a club where u can play a couple of times a week if you want to improve. The GUI have been on about the 6 comps in your home club for a couple of years now to keep a current handicap so that may happen. If you pay 200 up front and play 2 opens or green fees a week at 20 quid a pop on average for 4 months in the summer a once a week for the rest of the year u would be spending over 1000 for the year. I went the down the distance route before i joined the club i am at now Bellewstown where the Membership is reduced to 690 for the full year from now until the end of next year its 20 mins drive from the airport never any problem getting out and you can pay monthly there are comps wednesday saturday and sunday thru the summer.
Mike

downthemiddle

rafared wrote: »

I heard through the grape vine that GUI congress will vote on a proposal for a "star" system in a bid to cut down on the clubs offering a distance membership. If it passes it will operate on the basis that the player must compete in 6 full competitons on their "home" course in order for their GUI card to be valid for the following year. Now before anyone jumps down my throat Im only repeating what an incoming captain of a course near me told me. He said there were two similar proposals to be voted on at the AGM of the Munster branch of the GUI.
Has anyone else heard or know anything about this?

I have it on very good authority that the proposal will be that players must play in four competitions in their home club otherwise their handicap will be starred meaning they will be unable to play in competition.
They are also targetting certain clubs whose practise of distance membership is regarded as dubious and these clubs can expect visits from the GUI in the not too distant future.

Unglika Norse

Sir Shankalot wrote: »

My thoughts would be that, rightly or wrongly, any prize you win in an open will be tainted and you will be viewed as a bandit or a cowboy. Postal handicaps have a terrible reputation in this country.


What a load of bull you seem to aquaint the cost of a membership with the validity and accuracy of a handicap.

As for the starring I pointed out months ago that this would be brought as a motion to the munster branch and people laughed.

But it probably wont be brought in, due to the fact that this would mean every club golfer in the country would have to play x amount of rounds to retain his handicap and can you see places that have memberships into the 1000+ willing to force theier members into playing in competitions, in any event this again is to get at those clubs charging a lower fee it's been well documented on here in the past.

Unglika Norse

They are also targetting certain clubs whose practise of distance membership is regarded as dubious and these clubs can expect visits from the GUI in the not too distant future.[/QUOTE]

You would be surprised at some of the clubs that are abusing the handicap system. The GUI visit every club at the end of the year to do an audit, and they are far more concerned with the practise of giving out set handicpas of 17 and 18 to people who should be off 25 and 26.

kyleman

our captain told us that there is a motion to gui congress and if passed all golfers with distance memberships will be required to pay double fees to play in open comps

WHIP IT!

kyleman wrote: »

our captain told us that there is a motion to gui congress and if passed all golfers with distance memberships will be required to pay double fees to play in open comps

Define a 'distance membership' and then tell me how the GUI plan to implement this illegeal practise?

phkk

kyleman wrote: »

our captain told us that there is a motion to gui congress and if passed all golfers with distance memberships will be required to pay double fees to play in open comps

that's ridiculous...clubs will suffer even more if thats introduced when they need every available income in the modern climate..if the weather is like last winter,then clubs will be left with no other options but to run more open competitions...not everyone can afford the membership/time to golf/family commitments/other sporting commitments to be full members of clubs.