25 euro to much!!!!

FANTAPANTS

My club has started to charge 25 euro for open days which i think is madness in the current climate of this country.We havent got a great clubhouse if you want to call it that its 2 portacabins stuck together, and the new manger of hotel has decided to up the prices which is losing people on open days during the week.We have to compete with the Hereford in kells on 1 side which is a fab course(2) and great facilities and the Slieve Russell on the other and this mad man ups the prices i think he has shot himself in the foot here and cant see him keeping his job to long when they start looking at the books to see how much cash they are down since he took up his post

mike12

Unless its a great club 25 is at the top end of the price range. What Club is it.
Mike

tang1

Farnham by sounds of description the OP gave, fine course.

neckedit

Sounds more like Virginia...........Maybe??

liam12989

lads some gems are absolutely given away open days for 25€

I personally don't agree with it

Why sell your place like McDonald's when you have a Michelin start

Some clubs are too driven by recession crap

FANTAPANTS

its farnham alrite great course but 25 euro????? not when we are trying to get people from dublin to drive straight past kells to us and get people from north to bypass the russell

neckedit

Sorry I was being smart with the Virgina thing............Played there years ago and i recall one of the lads saying "we drove past Headford for this??"

FANTAPANTS

neckedit wrote: »

Sorry I was being smart with the Virgina thing............Played there years ago and i recall one of the lads saying "we drove past Headford for this??"

lol
virgina 9 hole course played their 1 time wouldnt be in rush back

mike12

I think open days have changed, they used to be about clubs letting members of other clubs play there course for a reduced rate. Now its about getting as much revenue out of the days as possible.
€25 quid is reasonable for a good course but with green fees so low its fairly high for a open. 15 to 20 is about right for a decent course think thats what headford charge for a great course.
The top clubs can still get away with 50 or 60 but not for much longer.
Mike

stockdam

If people won't pay the price then it will be obvious that it's too high. Unfortunately there are many courses all looking for money and so the punters will vote with their balls (err feet).

FANTAPANTS

stockdam wrote: »

If people won't pay the price then it will be obvious that it's too high. Unfortunately there are many courses all looking for money and so the punters will vote with their balls (err feet).

true true mate mad for money but aint gonna generate it at these prices!!! We the members ran a scramble few weeks back at 10 euro a person 4 per team had 14 teams which was not to bad....... then This new manger ran 1 at 20 euro a person 4 teams entered???? You would think he would cop on from this:mad::mad::mad:

Seves Three Iron

Those lads wondering why they drove by 'Headford' were actually in Galway so shouldn't worry too much bout Kells or Cavan courses and as for the OP in 'Hereford', well, he has a really long trip home. Terrible weather for boat travel also.

AldilaMan

Roganstown charge €25 for opens which I think is a bit steep. It would be better to fill the timesheet at €20 a pop than one third full at €25 (but then again Ian is a bit slow when it comes to economics. Hollywood lakes charge €15 which is good value IMO. Revenue raising is where most clubs are at these days and they need to adjust prices accordingly.

FANTAPANTS

AldilaMan wrote: »

Roganstown charge €25 for opens which I think is a bit steep. It would be better to fill the timesheet at €20 a pop than one third full at €25 (but then again Ian is a bit slow when it comes to economics. Hollywood lakes charge €15 which is good value IMO. Revenue raising is where most clubs are at these days and they need to adjust prices accordingly.

big time

Jul3s

What did the new manager say when you voiced your concerns to him?

Dr_Colossus

AldilaMan wrote: »

Roganstown charge €25 for opens which I think is a bit steep. It would be better to fill the timesheet at €20 a pop than one third full at €25

Agreed and their prizes for such an entry fee are poor, I won first prize in an open day there late last year and the prize was only a €40 Roganstown voucher, not even enough to cover a two ball. Given there was nothing of interest to purchase in the proshop I used the voucher to enter another open day in mid April where it turned out they were playing the competition from very far forward yellow tees in order to protect the normal tees for an Irish under 18s competition that weekend. Will not be in a hurry to return even though I like the course and it's somewhat convenient in terms of travel time. In future I'll play Headfort New which is the same price and on the same day.

Without an established reputation and superb course and facilities price is the deciding factor when selecting an open day. As such an increase in price without major redevelopment or improvements to the course will not to down well with the traveling golfer - especially with the increase in fuel costs which are an ever increasing factor.
However another important factor is selecting a suitable day of the week where there isn't too much competition from nearby courses. You mention Headfort and The Slieve Russell as good courses nearby offering open days. The Slieve Russell have their open days on Mon for €30 and Headfort New on Tues for €25, another quality course in the vicinity is Concra Wood which has an open day on Tues for €35.
I see on the Farnham Estate website that the open days are held on Wed so at least there's no immediate clash there. However Thur and Fri are generally quite days on the open day front so perhaps a change of day could also increase interest? With standard green fees listed at €40 I think it's important to keep the open day price at a half price €20 since a busy time sheet also results in more footfall through the proshop and bar/restaurant where golfers are equally likely to spend much needed funds.

TheDoc

I think 25 euro is a fair price.

Your playing the course without a member competing for prizes.

That sounds a fair deal for me.

I think i memory serves its 10 or 15 euro for me to bring a visitor with me to Hollywood lakes

An extra tenner to have someone play on their own without a member doesnt sound that outragous.

Yes there is a recession but there is still plenty of disposible income and if your prviding a good service then you shouldnt need to take the hit.

FANTAPANTS

Jul3s wrote: »

What did the new manager say when you voiced your concerns to him?

he was told about raisning prices at meeting with members and still went ahead with them

TheDoc

Just read this thread in more detail and a few websites to see pricing

OK clearly golf is getting alot cheaper then it was a few years ago for obvious reasons.

25 quid for Roganstown through sounds a pretty decent offer aswel. Its all wel and good that we are charging 15 , but isnt Roganstown registered as a championship course?

Surely it would warrant an extra 10 quid.
While I think the lakes is great and tbe fair I havnt played a course Ive liked better or found more challenging , we still arnt graded as championship and need to keep our pricing competitive

In reality we coul probably be the most expensive in North Dublin and have good arguement for it if pricing was solely based on course quality and challenge coupled with player enjoyment

Mister Sifter

AldilaMan wrote: »

Hollywood lakes charge €15 which is good value.

Hollywood Lakes wouldn't be good value if it was free.

TheDoc

When I saw on the main screen your name as the latest post......I expected great things......

TheDoc

Mister Sifter wrote: »

Hollywood Lakes wouldn't be good value if it was free.

Controversial....

Rekop dog

Too

blue note

I think courses are probably underselling themselves quite regularly now. A lot of it is probably to compete with nearby Nama courses offering very cheap rates.

But I hear the Farnham Estate is a very nice course. €25 for a competition there seems very fair to me.

Kid Charlemagne

Bit harsh to suggest 25e is too much for roganstown, especially when some of that money will go towards prizes. Presumably the course is getting 20 quid a man to allow you in to play. What more do you want in fairness like???:pac: Its a championship track thats always in excellent conditions.

Some of the prizes in the members comps are a bit low but thats more to do with funding of the "mens club" as opposed to the course/owners.

charlieIRL

I noticed recently that for an open day in Moate it was only €10.

tang1

charlieIRL wrote: »

I noticed recently that for an open day in Moate it was only €10.

Great value for money, underated little course.

Dr_Colossus

Kid Charlemagne wrote: »

Bit harsh to suggest 25e is too much for roganstown, especially when some of that money will go towards prizes. Presumably the course is getting 20 quid a man to allow you in to play. What more do you want in fairness like???:pac: Its a championship track thats always in excellent conditions.

Yes can't fault the course or conditions but a €40 first prize that's restricted to use within the club is pretty crap given the entry fee of €25. Restricting the prize to a Roganstown voucher is also pretty bad for an open day as visitors might only be in the area for that one day and unlikely to return anytime soon. I think there was prizes for the top 3 so what would you get for 2nd or 3rd, €20 and €10 perhaps? For a €25 entry fee I think you should be looking at a first prize in the order of €75 provided the day isn't a wash out and only a handful of people playing.

To put things in perspective I won an open day earlier in 2011 in a course down the country and the €20 entry fee resulted in a hefty first prize of a €90 GUI voucher.

scout353

Tramore Golf Club which has recently been upgraded (old course has all new greens and tees, while new nine holes added) have an Open every Friday which is €25 for visitors but includes a mixed grill as well.

Great value and the course is now one serious track! Used to be very flat and easy greens but now there are plenty of borrows. I think some of the original holes have been redesigned too.

Down around here most of the opens are €25. Bunclody was €35 on a Wednesday last summer!

Seves Three Iron

Due to the late cancellation of some or other golf classic, Concra Wood have an open off the back tees this Friday. Dunno what cost is, probably around the 30 euro mark, but a great test off those markers. 36 pts would have a good chance of a prize.

On an aside, played with a lad in the last black tees event who landed around 30 yards short of the 10th green. That's not far off 400 yards of a drive. Wind was behind and he was coming down 'that' slope which probably gave him another 100 yards odd of roll but still...easily the longest drive I ever seen.

neckedit

Seves Three Iron wrote: »

Those lads wondering why they drove by 'Headford' were actually in Galway so shouldn't worry too much bout Kells or Cavan courses and as for the OP in 'Hereford', well, he has a really long trip home. Terrible weather for boat travel also.

Well done......

blue note

scout353 wrote: »

Tramore Golf Club which has recently been upgraded (old course has all new greens and tees, while new nine holes added) have an Open every Friday which is €25 for visitors but includes a mixed grill as well.

Great value and the course is now one serious track! Used to be very flat and easy greens but now there are plenty of borrows. I think some of the original holes have been redesigned too.

Down around here most of the opens are €25. Bunclody was €35 on a Wednesday last summer!

My home course - I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's €12 for members including the grill, so not bad value for us either.

Freemount09

In general what percentage of the money taken in do clubs pay out in prizes do people know ?

AldilaMan

Mister Sifter wrote: »

Hollywood Lakes wouldn't be good value if it was free.

Did you have a bad day on the greens?

After a pathetic comment like that - where's that ignore button

And some people even gave their thanks - Jeez

Mister Sifter

AldilaMan wrote: »

Did you have a bad day on the greens?

After a pathetic comment like that - where's that ignore button

And some people even gave their thanks - Jeez

It's quite simply a horrible golf course. Clearly i'm not the only one who thinks that too.

AldilaMan

AldilaMan wrote: »

Did you have a bad day on the greens?

After a pathetic comment like that - where's that ignore button

And some people even gave their thanks - Jeez

Just found it

scout353

blue note wrote: »

My home course - I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's €12 for members including the grill, so not bad value for us either.

Compliments to ye then - rates as one of the best I've played in recent years.