St. Margaret's 2015 Membership Offer

dubber

€1,000 for full membership with member referral (member also gets the rate). New management company are aiming to get the course back to its best investing in new greens mowers, tees mowers, fairways mowers, rough mowers, a new state of the art sprayer, sand topdresser and a dedicated leaf collector; the clubhouse is also getting a makeover. New head greenskeeper and John Kelly is now head of Golf Operations ... send me a PM if interested!

BigChap1759

So Margarets have confirmed that they are keeping their sub at €1380 for 2015 but they are running an introduce a member scheme - both the existing member and the new member will get their subs for €1000 each.

I think this is a great deal given the work and investment that is planned for 2015.

If anyone is interested in the PM me to discuss - could be a great deal for two of us

BigChap1759

Apologies, I didn't see the previous thread and assume the mods merged both our threads?

Keano

Yip. Sorry I'm still finding my feet so should have mentioned that!

GreeBo

dubber wrote: »

€1,000 for full membership with member referral (member also gets the rate). New management company are aiming to get the course back to its best investing in new greens mowers, tees mowers, fairways mowers, rough mowers, a new state of the art sprayer, sand topdresser and a dedicated leaf collector; the clubhouse is also getting a makeover. New head greenskeeper and John Kelly is now head of Golf Operations ... send me a PM if interested!

Sounds like a good deal, but how are they going to pay for all that capital expenditure?
would worry me.

dubber

GreeBo wrote: »

Sounds like a good deal, but how are they going to pay for all that capital expenditure?
would worry me.

It's privately owned, as I understand it part of a large portfolio of assets, so acceess to capital or punitive terms aren't an issue afaik, presumably the owners believe they can get a return long term if they invest in the club. They operate a payment plan, so the risk to members is limited.

BigChap1759

GreeBo wrote: »

Sounds like a good deal, but how are they going to pay for all that capital expenditure?
would worry me.

With a €1m investment from the owners

zuutroy

Love the course but it can be quite rough around the edges at times and the greens are often poor. Will probably join in the spring if things look like they're picking up so will PM one of ye lads to get the deal
I remember when I was a junior in Corrstown when it first opened St. Margs was always considered the snobby club across the road!

FixdePitchmark

zuutroy wrote: »

Love the course but it can be quite rough around the edges at times and the greens are often poor. Will probably join in the spring if things look like they're picking up so will PM one of ye lads to get the deal
I remember when I was a junior in Corrstown when it first opened St. Margs was always considered the snobby club across the road!

Mad the way it has all panned out.
So many courses considered up market.
Are just getting by.
Struggling to stay open.

dubber

Bump!

meeko11

dubber wrote: »

€1,000 for full membership with member referral (member also gets the rate). New management company are aiming to get the course back to its best investing in new greens mowers, tees mowers, fairways mowers, rough mowers, a new state of the art sprayer, sand topdresser and a dedicated leaf collector; the clubhouse is also getting a makeover. New head greenskeeper and John Kelly is now head of Golf Operations ... send me a PM if interested!

I cannot understand why they dont reduce the membership fee to 1000 euro for everbody with no strings attached.There many courses in that area all with very similar membership fees.In my opinion 1385 is too much ,Corrstown Forestlittle and Roganstown all charge pretty much the same for membership.If Margarets wants to increase the number of members they have to reduce the membership fee,it is not a members owned club.The days of hanging around clubhouse bars are over,concentrate on keeping the course in top condition or go down the pay and play route,i love the course and would love to join but its not worth1385 a year.

dubber

meeko11 wrote: »

I cannot understand why they dont reduce the membership fee to 1000 euro for everbody with no strings attached.There many courses in that area all with very similar membership fees.In my opinion 1385 is too much ,Corrstown Forestlittle and Roganstown all charge pretty much the same for membership.If Margarets wants to increase the number of members they have to reduce the membership fee,it is not a members owned club.The days of hanging around clubhouse bars are over,concentrate on keeping the course in top condition or go down the pay and play route,i love the course and would love to join but its not worth1385 a year.

it's no big deal getting a referral, presumably the idea is not to piss off the existing members rather than make it a clique i.e. "yes we're letting people play for 1K a year, but you can too if you introduce them". I can guarantee there's lots of people who will act as a referrer to save themselves a few quid - I'm one of them!!

meeko11

dubber wrote: »

it's no big deal getting a referral, presumably the idea is not to piss off the existing members rather than make it a clique i.e. "yes we're letting people play for 1K a year, but you can too if you introduce them". I can guarantee there's lots of people who will act as a referrer to save themselves a few quid - I'm one of them!!

My point is why all this referral nonsense,do you want to go forward or just stagnate like the place has been for the last 3 or 4 years.Straigth up 1000 for seven day membership that will shake up the cartel that exists in north county dublin golf club membership fees.

Dealerz

meeko11 wrote: »

My point is why all this referral nonsense,do you want to go forward or just stagnate like the place has been for the last 3 or 4 years.Straigth up 1000 for seven day membership that will shake up the cartel that exists in north county dublin golf club membership fees.

Cartel is a bit strong no? Hollywood lakes are offering €997, and they are north county dublin, donabate and Balcarrick may be something similar!

dubber

Personally I'd prefer to pay a fair price for a quality course, I don't think a race to the bottom is in anyone's interest.

meeko11

dubber wrote: »

Personally I'd prefer to pay a fair price for a quality course, I don't think a race to the bottom is in anyone's interest.

I dont think its a race to the bottom,too many golf courses in a 15 km radius with not enough members thats where the problem lies.Adjust pricing or offer a better product than your competitors.None of the clubs in the area have joining fees anymore that was unheard of 10 years ago.The only way Margarets will survive is if they get double the amount of members they have now or increase the amount of green fee visitors.I love the course charge a realistic membership fee why not cut the incentive crap and charge 1000 for all.

dubber

meeko11 wrote: »

why not cut the incentive crap and charge 1000 for all.

Probably because it will instantly knock 100K off their revenue. IMO the incentive structure is a smart way to offer a discount to new members, whilst also rewarding new members and protecting their existing revenues. Trying to compete on price in a market with over supply would be a questionable strategy. They've the best layout in the area imo, providing a better "product" at a fair price makes sense to me ... I'm no expert at running golf clubs though.

Ollieboy

meeko11 wrote: »

I dont think its a race to the bottom,too many golf courses in a 15 km radius with not enough members thats where the problem lies.Adjust pricing or offer a better product than your competitors.None of the clubs in the area have joining fees anymore that was unheard of 10 years ago.The only way Margarets will survive is if they get double the amount of members they have now or increase the amount of green fee visitors.I love the course charge a realistic membership fee why not cut the incentive crap and charge 1000 for all.

It costs about 750k to 1million to run a average golf course. This covers the upgrade and further investment in machinery etc. That figure might be lower in clubs outside Dublin, but wage cost is higher along with Rates etc in Dublin.

Most clubs don't make money from the bar and a average club is getting 100k in green fees if the season is good weather wise.

So to afford €1000 per member in a 18 hole club in North Dublin would need about 750 members, so please explain to me how you expect to keep 750 members happy come year 2 when they can't get on the time-sheet at the weekend? And now you will have a problem getting green fees. Plus the course will need more maintenance due too the higher footfall on it which in return will cost more.

It's not even a race to the bottom, it just doesn't make any sense to drop fees any lower in most clubs around north Dublin without a increase in green fee rates which are actually to low currently.

Even with debts removed from most course P&L's they will still find it hard to run a business on less then 750k per year.

Everyone wants cheaper golf, but nothing is free in live if its worth while (except air) and someone as to meet the cost of running these business.

Ollieboy

dubber wrote: »

Probably because it will instantly knock 100K off their revenue. IMO the incentive structure is a smart way to offer a discount to new members, whilst also rewarding new members and protecting their existing revenues. Trying to compete on price in a market with over supply would be a questionable strategy. They've the best layout in the area imo, providing a better "product" at a fair price makes sense to me ... I'm no expert at running golf clubs though.

The reason Margarets have drop their fee is due to their lower membership numbers currently, so this is a simple marketing tool at the moment. Which will put other course in the area at risks off going out of business if they loss 100 members to St Margarets. But they will be looking for 1500 odd in the year 2.

The correct solution is for courses to close in the area, but even with this they will still charge the same fee at least.

meeko11

Ollieboy wrote: »

The reason Margarets have drop their fee is due to their lower membership numbers currently, so this is a simple marketing tool at the moment. Which will put other course in the area at risks off going out of business if they loss 100 members to St Margarets. But they will be looking for 1500 odd in the year 2.

The correct solution is for courses to close in the area, but even with this they will still charge the same fee at least.

Margarets deperately needs members, member who have fully paid their fees in full.This is the problem how do you attract and more importantly keep members.Bringing in a golf consultancy company to run the facilate is an extra cost or a smart move on the owners part.I think if the club was to contract greens staff and cocentrate on building a sustainable membership it has a great future .Its hard to see how Margarets can survive in the long term its not the K club or Carton house,yes it once was a fantastic course but sadly at the moment its not.

Milkers

Bump to enquire if anyone has played there lately? Have the promised improvements/investments in the course been implemented?

First Up

Milkers wrote:

Bump to enquire if anyone has played there lately? Have the promised improvements/investments in the course been implemented?

Played it last week. Weather was awful but course was pretty decent. Fairways, greens and bunkers in good nick.

Not many changes - I hadn't played it for years but it all seemed familiar. I think some gorse has been taken out. One par 5 has been re-routed slightly.

zuutroy

Clubhouse totally renovated, 5th hole massively overhauled...loads of rubbish removed from the course. Greens are much better than they were.

First Up

zuutroy wrote:

Clubhouse totally renovated, 5th hole massively overhauled...loads of rubbish removed from the course. Greens are much better than they were.

Has the 5th been overhauled? I didn't notice. Its a downhill par 3 with river on the left, same as before.

The par 5 near the turn (8th?) has a different line off the tee and approach to the green but that was the only change I saw.

It could do with better signage but overall its a nice, well maintained course, set up for visitors to enjoy.

BigChap1759

First Up wrote: »

Has the 5th been overhauled? I didn't notice. Its a downhill par 3 with river on the left, same as before.

The par 5 near the turn (8th?) has a different line off the tee and approach to the green but that was the only change I saw.

It could do with better signage but overall its a nice, well maintained course, set up for visitors to enjoy.

Up to the right on the 5th used to be all scrub which they've removed, flattened the slope and seeded with grass now. If u hit the ball in there previously u were not allowed to look for the ball and played ur second from a drop zone - they've also added a bunker at the front of the green.

160 new members in the 18 months since Synnergy took over and huge improvement to greens and fairways as described above.

Medals now run over 2 days and 170ish per medal so far this year and a very visible course of improvements going on around the course

billy3sheets

I joined this year and am really enjoying it. Great variety of holes there. Held up really well through winter.
The par 5 8th has 2 possible routes. It's currently on its winter route. I believe they will switch back to the other route for summer.
Renovated clubhouse including bar, restaurant and changing rooms are impressive.
Members I've played with so far this year have been friendly and welcoming - even bigchap!

BigChap1759

billy3sheets wrote: »

I joined this year and am really enjoying it. Great variety of holes there. Held up really well through winter.
The par 5 8th has 2 possible routes. It's currently on its winter route. I believe they will switch back to the other route for summer.
Renovated clubhouse including bar, restaurant and changing rooms are impressive.
Members I've played with so far this year have been friendly and welcoming - even bigchap!

Left hand is out of action as the resident swans are nesting next to the bridge that takes u from the left side to the green - should be back in play by next month 😀

First Up

BigChap1759 wrote:

Up to the right on the 5th used to be all scrub which they've removed, flattened the slope and seeded with grass now. If u hit the ball in there previously u were not allowed to look for the ball and played ur second from a drop zone - they've also added a bunker at the front of the green.

Fair enough. Does that mean you can run it down to the green off the hill? There is a tree on the right but if you can get past that it would be a fairly risk free way of getting past the bunker.

Jawgap

Played it last Friday and loved it. It certainly seems to have rebounded well.

My only 'gripe' was that the green on my favourite hole, the 8th, was a bit mossy - but there seemed to be loads of green staff working away. I did notice that quite a few trees had been removed, but that hasn't impacted on the course.

Macker1

Synergy who are running the course carried out similar tree cutting / pruning at Grange Castle. They also made the fairways a bit wider which to be honest all seemed to be geared towards picking up the pace of play for casual golfers that were paying green-fees or Society Golfers. Quite a bit of focus was on the commercial side of things which most clubs need I accept. The main thing was that the condition of the course under the stewardship of Synergy greatly improved.

Milkers

BigChap1759 wrote: »

160 new members in the 18 months since Synnergy took over and huge improvement to greens and fairways as described above.

160 new members seems incredible in the current golfing/financial landscape. Course must get pretty busy at times now?

Jawgap

Macker1 wrote: »

Add your reply here. Synergy who are running the course carried out similar tree cutting / pruning at Grange Castle. They also made the fairways a bit wider which to be honest all seemed to be geared towards picking up the pace of play for casual golfers that were paying green-fees or Society Golfers. Quite a bit of focus was on the commercial side of things which most clubs need I accept. The main thing was that the condition of the course under the stewardship of Synergy greatly improved.

Iirc, when the place opened they had designs on attracting tournaments (hence the mounding) and they picked up a couple of national comps, and maybe an LPGA event or two?

It's certainly more playable for the average golfer, although I think the placing of the water on some of the holes is very nicely done - it just dares you to try go for the green instead of laying up

Haven't played on a weekend, but last Friday we'd no problem picking up a pre-8am slot the night before, although it looked like a fairly big society was heading out later in the morning.

......final word.....the post round breakfast was smashing!!

Kevinmarkham

Some photos taken for St. Margaret's last year. It's a massive improvement from what it had become.

BigChap1759

First Up wrote: »

Fair enough. Does that mean you can run it down to the green off the hill? There is a tree on the right but if you can get past that it would be a fairly risk free way of getting past the bunker.

Not really as they've left it as rough so the ball is generally staying up there unless you've just missed the green

BigChap1759

Milkers wrote: »

160 new members seems incredible in the current golfing/financial landscape. Course must get pretty busy at times now?

That was coming from only 200 so it is still a relatively small membership - no problem getting out but you do have to get on BRS quick enough if you want your preferred time, Sundays by far the busier of the two days.

RoadRunner

Joined at the start of the year and love it!