Advice regarding club & comps for beginner

Ah_go_on

Hi all, relatively new to Golf and have really caught the bug. Looking to join a local club (either Beech park, Citywest or Newlands) however none of my friends play and I don’t know anyone in these local clubs. I’m aware I’d need to get 3 x cards marked by a member to get handicap but not knowing anyone makes this difficult.

Also if playing competitions can I just turn up on my own or is that frowned upon?

Any advice appreciated

Golfhead65

Ah_go_on wrote: »

Hi all, relatively new to Golf and have really caught the bug. Looking to join a local club (either Beech park, Citywest or Newlands) however none of my friends play and I don’t know anyone in these local clubs. I’m aware I’d need to get 3 x cards marked by a member to get handicap but not knowing anyone makes this difficult.

Also if playing competitions can I just turn up on my own or is that frowned upon?

Any advice appreciated

Most clubs operate time sheets for comps so when timesheet goes live just put your name down with somebody and away you go .Btw it's a good idea when you are new to a club to put your name down with different groups each week to begin with to get to know as many members as possible then you get more engrossed in the club..best of luck and enjoy

GreeBo

They will likely have some meetings for new members where they will give advice on how to do this...sometimes they have specific comps etc

Ah_go_on

Thanks guys. Any recommendations for the clubs Newlands, Citywest or Beech park?

GreeBo

Ah_go_on wrote: »

Thanks guys. Any recommendations for the clubs Newlands, Citywest or Beech park?

Newlands and beechpark are two nice tracks, I'd go for whichever is closest so you get your monies worth.
Don't know citywest at all in afraid!

ahnoyouregrand

Hi. I have recently moved to a new area and am looking to join a particular golf club nearby. Unfortunately I don't know any existing members and the application form requires a proposer and seconder. What is the best way around this? Is it usually strictly enforced as a requirement?

spacecoyote

Ah_go_on wrote: »

Thanks guys. Any recommendations for the clubs Newlands, Citywest or Beech park?

Is budget a factor in your considerations. If it is, then Newlands would be highest of those, also the only one that has a joining fee.

I think it's in the 3000-5000 range.

Citywest would be the cheapest of the 3, but likely feels the least like a club. It's a hotel course so you'll be sharing tee times with guests. As far as I know it doesn't have the most active of memberships. Arguably, it's the worst course of the 3 you mentioned. A few too many par 3s for my liking.

Beech Park is a nice course, would be more expensive than citywest, cheaper than newlands. It's got a good mix of holes, with some shorter & longer par 4s.

Other options in the area would be Caslewarden, which is my home club. I'm a bit biased obviously but it's a good warm club in terms of atmosphere. No joining fee. They've been putting a good but of money into the course & facilities. Has a driving range & good chipping area onsite. Course is a good, but fair test & rounds tend to be relatively quick. Even medals have generally been under 4 hours this year. Prices would be similar to Beech Park I reckon.

If budget is definitely a factor Grange Castle could be worth a look too. I think it's a better course than Citywest.

Tempora

ahnoyouregrand wrote: »

Hi. I have recently moved to a new area and am looking to join a particular golf club nearby. Unfortunately I don't know any existing members and the application form requires a proposer and seconder. What is the best way around this? Is it usually strictly enforced as a requirement?

I've recently been on the hunt for a club so I'll give you my experience on this: most clubs with the proposer/seconder requirement have it as a leftover from the boom and when I rang them up they said it wasn't required and my application could be processed regardless. However there was one club which was the exception and would absolutely not budge even an inch on the proposer/seconder policy, and also do not have any kind of "meet up with some members and potentially meet some sponsors" sort of programme (I've heard this a thing in some places). I get the feeling they're not particularly stuck for cash/members and the policy is simply to keep numbers applying down.

In short give them a ring and ask whether the policy is enforced strictly at their club and if it is, do they have any advice for finding sponsors for someone new to the area.

ahnoyouregrand

Tempora wrote: »

I've recently been on the hunt for a club so I'll give you my experience on this: most clubs with the proposer/seconder requirement have it as a leftover from the boom and when I rang them up they said it wasn't required and my application could be processed regardless. However there was one club which was the exception and would absolutely not budge even an inch on the proposer/seconder policy, and also do not have any kind of "meet up with some members and potentially meet some sponsors" sort of programme (I've heard this a thing in some places). I get the feeling they're not particularly stuck for cash/members and the policy is simply to keep numbers applying down.

In short give them a ring and ask whether the policy is enforced strictly at their club and if it is, do they have any advice for finding sponsors for someone new to the area.

Thanks for this. I will give them a call tomorrow. Hopefully, as you said, it's just a hangover from the last boom!

First Up

ahnoyouregrand wrote: »

Thanks for this. I will give them a call tomorrow. Hopefully, as you said, it's just a hangover from the last boom!

If you are buying into a traditional member owned club you can expect to pay an entrance fee (in effect its a share) and still be required to have a sponsor. Nothing to do with the boom.

More commercially oriented clubs usually just want money.