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Member of a club in SE England. My fees are £2.5K. It might seem a lot, but the course has only been closed half a day this winter. I played 120 rounds last year so around £20 per round. Basically if you play regularly it does make sense. If you are a casual golfer and play once a month it wont make sense.
In the US there is a membership near me that is $400 for 2 years worth of unlimited golf (you just have to pay $9 for a car per 9 holes if you want to ride). The membership gets you access to 6 courses all within 20 minute drive from me. You can't beat that.
So if you play 100 times in the year for example dows that mean you need to pay $1800 for the use of a cart? Or can you decide to walk it too? I know in the US a lot of places require mandatory use of a cart
A local membership at St. Andrews is £350, around $450, which includes the Old Course and the 6 other St. Andrews courses. No additional fees to play. Consider yourself beaten.
Just recently joined my local club, £131 pcm, 7 day membership unlimited golf on an 18h & 9h course. Made sense for me now as have 2 mates who were also keen to join, kids are slightly older & it gives me access to play at peak times such as early Sat/Sun morning so I can be home by 11am & still take the kids out etc. Also means I can pop up after work & do as many holes as I want in the time I have, ie, can do 6 holes in an hour & go home, rather than paying for 18 & feeling I need to play them all to get my moneys worth. Helps the course is generally open all year round.
I didn’t renew this year after reviewing my ROI. Membership was just under a grand, and when I factored in the course conditions, my availability and the weather, it just didn’t stack up. I’ve searched around, started playing different local courses and I feel it’s likely to make me a better golfer. I’m not too fussed about the social side and I can still go and play my ‘home’ course if I feel like it. Prior to this it felt like going on holiday ‘all inclusive’. Step outside to try a nice restaurant and suddenly you’re paying twice for something.
In austria, the cheapest green fee in my area is 100 euros... so if you play a lot you're almost forced to be a member of a club... many still have stupid joining fees as well... and what they offer compared to the UK, is an absolute shambles!!!
I have just renewed my membership although the course has been shut most of the winter but I have been able to use the practice area. During the summer I definitely get my money’s worth out of it. Most green fees in my area (Shropshire) are £30+ so I only need to play my course 2 times within the month to make it worth it. If you live in the UK and don’t want to be a member of a club I would advise you to join Golf England which costs £40. This allows you to have an official handicap by submitting your scores when you play different courses throughout the UK (playing partner must also be a member of Golf England or a full member of a golf club).
I am so grateful to be a member at a club where the course is open all year round and very few temporary greens.... I think the whole course was closed for 1 day this winter where the course was defrosting from the only frost! This has been an exceptionally wet year, in a normal year its definitely worth it being a member!
Totally agree, I’m lucky enough to be a member at two clubs, I retired last November but even before that in normal weather conditions I more than got my monies worth. Since October the weather has been crazy, the ground is so sodden that when it rains there is no where for the water to go. Yes it’s very clay soil where I live but I have never known a winter like this, I can drive past farmers fields that stay with huge flooded areas for days if not weeks. We have lost very few days to frost/ snow it just won’t stop raining.
Depends what you want from your golf, im not bothered about getting a handicap or playing in comps. I'm just happy playing different courses set a break whatever target and keep improving along the way and that suits me absolutely fine. Memberships will help keep the club afloat while it does have to close due to weather but the clubhouse/shop always open, a lot have simulators now as well so yeh its just down to golfer preference. I know one guy who never plays anywhere but his home course, that would do my head in member or not.
It's not always about the golf alone. It's the social aspect that goes with it. I've found being part of a club so much more beneficial than playing clubs were you know nobody and don't have that feeling of being part of that club.
I’m in the US Midwest area and a cheap club is $5-10,000 initiation plus $3-500 monthly dues and that does not include your cart/caddie fees or monthly food minimums. Plus in my area you can only play from maybe Mid-March to the end of October but your dues are 12 months.
Thank you for giving real figures. I’m in the southwest (albeit a sparsely populated area, about 100k people) and the only Country Club is 7k initiation, 5k annual, minimum $500/mo on food and beverage.
@@tylerevans369I live in a rural area in the south. Tennessee to be exact. My local course is a 9 hole course. $250 stock fee (first year only). $550 annually. With the option for $150 cart fee. I usually put $1000 back out of income taxes just for golf. Thought about membership but I love playing more than just one course.
Agreed I’m east coast and the costs they mentioned in this video would be an automatic no brainer lol Our county courses even with a county card is $60-70 a round + $20 if you want a cart.. county courses without a county card can range from 80-100$ plus cart if you want.. I’d pay $1000 for 6 months if that was an option lol
The first year I ever bought a membership it cost me $800.. At the end of the year the club told me I had played $4000 worth of golf... I think I was well over 100 rounds... Well worth it!
Great video - Currently weighing up the options of paying more (double) to change to a different club. Nice to see others think it's a tough decision as well. I have been weighing up how much I will play and therefore "cost per round".
Moved to Doha, but full membership is £5800 (it is a tour quality course though) Gets too hot here to play May-Sept so even more so. Bit too rich for my blood, but will probably go for the weekday (3.8k) or 9 hole membership (2.4k).
I play at a course south of Manchester, we only shut for one weekend through the winter, granted we were on mats with 2-3 temp greens but everyone was still able to play it they wanted to. Green fees are much better value than surrounding clubs and the course at its best is fantastic.
Where I am men's membership is around 2k but it's on chalk so golf all year round other than maybe a couple days where it's shut from a big storm! This is down south!
I’ve got a local pretty close that is only like NZD $500 (which in pounds is nothing). Paid it off in about 2 months. Basically free golf until December now. So good to just rock a quick 9 hole after work or whatever. I’m a teacher so get a lot of time to play during holidays etc. Also gives affiliate rates at all of the other courses, so nice wee discount there. Can’t afford the more top tier courses, but if you can get a good cheap one at a course that is decently maintained and has well maintained greens it’s definitely worth it. Have played so much more since having it.
My local course is really weather resistant (high elevation, moorland course) the greenkeeper is excellent, only canned a round twice when I've tried to play outside of Dec - Mid Feb. Played off mostly fairways or very 1st cut of rough if you don't want to play off a mat. Membership is £525 or so for a year (fixed price to next year's renewal), it's honestly a great deal... ...but I still don't want to take it up. Its £14.99 to play it on GolfNow most weekends. So I'd have to play there 4 times a month to save £2 over booking on GolfNow. I am full time employed, its the north of England, so it's dark for several months in the evening, so I can't fit rounds in after work for a slight majority of the year. I would rather just play there twice a month, then find another hot deal and play somewhere else twice a month. Like many people in the UK, I started Golf in my early 30s, so I've aged out of young membership. So, until retirement, I really can't see me ever electing for membership over just booking my weekly round on GN or BRS.
In Canada you could pay average 3K Canadian dollar for a year pass. Here's getting do expensive that I stopped playing. Last year only went 4 times and paid average 120$ for round. The price of renting the golf cart is now what I used to pay before COVID to play 18 holes at the beginning of the season.
So I live in northern Alberta and we have two courses here that open mid April until mid October. The cheapest option is $2800 for a full week membership with a cart, the expensive option is $4600 for a full week with a cart. So is this comparable to other courses? Or is this insanely over priced? Blow my mind please and thank you 😂
Best move I made. Moved from cricket to golf. Couldn’t be happier. Also a win with time management, one sport that move from which takes more time than golf! Go Jacob!
100% down to how much is open vs cost per year. My local course hasn't shut 1 day, had 2 weeks of temps since January and the condition despite the weather has been exceptional. Paying more for a better maintained course vs paying less for a course which is shut 4 months of the year is a no brainer (South Yorkshire)
I actually joined a club with Play More Golf under a Peter Finch promotion! A couple of years ago. Flexible membership is quite nice, but the club I joined left PMG and the membership + joining fee was way too much, especially for a course that suffers in the rain (clay based). I tend to play at off peak times anyway, so being a free agent works for me, plus with PMG I didn't have many other courses with them nearby.
I've played a couple of times a week throughout the winter at a couple of clubs. The one I'm a member at closes 3 low-lying holes and puts in 3 temporary par 3s. Only 2 mat tees on the course. Membership £650 (US$820) a year. The other course costs me £15 a round as a member guest. Guess we're just lucky here in Wales (which is renowned for its dry climate).
I think the cost of upkeep of courses is costing more and more. I think clubs do need to find a balance. I'm lucky to be able to play probably 3/4 weekends a month and will play consistently now from April to October. But that still probably only about 20-25 rounds a year, when holidays are taken out, which based on my membership is about €50 a round, and then extra to play competitions, when a society can play the same course for €25/€30 and get quite a bit of tee times. I like the idea some courses do with some of your membership going to the bar, some have €250 in the pro shop, which at least would make you feel like your getting something when maybe weather closes the course for a few months a year
I don't play enough to warrant having a membership, I joined a local golf society, I get out at least once a month and a 3/4 day weekend away every year!
It all depends on how much you golf. In Missouri US its a little under $1000 for a full unlimited membership walking. I played over 110 rounds so worth it for me but if I played 40 rounds would not be.
Very interesting topic, I’m in Essex UK. With the way the weather is heading now into the future, with warmer wetter winters and very hot periods in the summer I just cannot see it’s worth it where I am. Going forward golf will be possible for 6 months of the year maximum. Average decent-ish club in Essex is around £1450 a year. Divide by 6 months and that’s £240 per month for the months you play. Don’t forget there will be periods in summer when it’ll be far too hot to play too, a more common occurrence going forward with global warming etc. If you play at least twice a week in those months then it’s pretty much break even compared to the green fees you would pay. More than that and it’s probably still worth joining a club but for the majority of working people with a partner/wife/kids who want to go out on the weekend then I really can’t see the point
Chorlton cum hardy has been on 12 or 14 holes for virtually all winter. The holes have been shorterned, but we have been on proper greens which are in very good condition. It is not ideal but in winter 12 holes in a couple of hours feels like a decent amount of golf. Trolleys have been allowed
South east - £1500+ for a membership, my club is on sand so open when many other local clubs are closed, but we pay more for that. It's often us that cancels rather than the course being unavailable. Played about 30 times over the last 12 months - just about break even.
I started playing again a few years back, and becoming g hooked I was paying green fees £15 for 9 at local pay as you play 4+ times a week, then getting invites to a mates club costing me £40. Second club I joined ( annoyed at joining fee) was £1200 + £450 first year. But it had a driving range, chipping and bunker area, proper putting green plus 18 hole course with very good greens. 2 minutes from My house so I can jump on the Course at very short notice. Membership is limited at 450 so members can access the course at weekends and not find it booked out, or the course overplayed.
I still can't wrap my head around these prices. I'm a member at a club in Texas, USA and the joining fee was $12,000 and $650 per month. That does not include if you want to use a golf cart. The total golfing membership is slightly higher, around 600. We are able to play 45-50 weeks a year thanks to the weather here. How long is the golfing season where you live?
@@jackcalder2937 it was a joining fee £450 then £1200 annual fee. The 9 hole course I’m also a Member of is £375 but it is the course and nothing else no club house, toilet, pro shop etc
@@_Will919 we can normally play all year, with a few weeks lost to frost/snow/waterlogged. The past six months have been exceptionally wet though with many areas seeing more than double normal rainfall. As such where I play has had closures almost every week since the start of October for being waterlogged. The ground here has a clay sub soil and once it’s waterlogged water slow to drain.
Belonged to a club with 45 members and got spoiled...until it closed after 25 years. Paid about $1000 per year for an insuranceolicy to cover me being on the property. In the recent years, I belong to a public course for 1200 dollars annually and it includes the cart. Played 9 holes on 177 days last year. Played 18 a few times, but certainly satisfied.
I tried the none membership (The play more pay and play multi courses approach twice) and we had two epic summers.. so and I ended up paying £300 more a year to play different courses and a small fortune more just to practice once a week.. So I actually played and practiced less than I would if I was a member of my current course 😂. Bottom line, here in the UK Clubs need members, they can't survive on visitors alone, if there was no members the green fees would quadruple, people wouldn't pay it and the courses would close. With membership your paying for the upkeep of the club, the course, machinery, green staff etc.. somebody paying for a £12 hotdeal on a monday with golfnow ain't going to cover fuel in the grass strimmer. 😂.
Spot on, at one of the clubs I go to, the old boys network who meet as a group 3 days a week will meet for coffee etc to help out money into the club, the venue also does a good trade in weddings and events so is always getting some money coming in
just renewed my membership which is £800 a year and if you break it down it is £15 a week and in the winter the course is closed a lot or temp tees and greens but thats protecting the course, also from april/may all the decent courses around me are £30+ a round. I try and play both saturday and sunday most weeks and in the summer once a week after work so for me its worth it.
I’ve cancelled mine this year, the course I was a member at suffers in the wet, even though it’s been open most of the time over the winter but it’s been a bog. I last played there in the middle of November 😫 absolutely pointless waste of money
My club in North Leeds we don’t have membership fees , we are sent an invoice at the end of the year , if the club makes enough money , we pay very little , if the club invests serious money , we pay significant fees
Member of a club in East Sussex, designed by Alistair McKenzie, built on chalk so playable year-round, I paid a touch under £1300. I play 3 to 5 times a week year round. Easy to see value. But £1300 is still a lot to find
I played my home course today had a day off went up there to play it took 45 mins to play one hole waited another 20 mins on the second to play so walked off spoke to the manager. They said well there is a big visiting group there today. To add insult two four balls wouldn’t let me play through. So what is the point of trying to play when you can when it is open and what is the point in paying a lot of money to just walk off 🤷🏻♂️ clubs are just out to make money. Honestly think about not rejoining after today 😢
There needs to be a base membership and then something like £5 per round. I play once a fortnight and pay the same as someone who plays 5 times per week.
When they say $1000-$1500 (sorry, I don't know how to create the pound symbol on my keyboard) is that per month or for the whole year? And is that for a fully private club or a course that has daily rate golf? I've been a member at two different private clubs in the US and even for an under 25 year old member the MONTHLY fee was $350...although the course was open year round.
I was wondering the same thing. I’m a member at a public course in Indiana, USA. Our family membership (two adults no children) is $2500 per year. That covers all golf fees, cart fees, range balls, and a 10% discount in the pro shop. This isn’t a private course, not a higher end course, not a resort style course… just a normal everyday course that’s usually in good shape, but nothing special. It’s a public course so anyone can pay the $45-$55 greens fee and play anytime. There is a Par 3 course on the property that isn’t as well maintained as the big course, but it’s also included in the yearly. The only reason why we join is because we can go out and play 2 or 3 or 6 or however many holes we want and not feel like we’re paying a full greens fee for just a few holes. We play a few holes anywhere from 3 to 6 nights a week. But being in Indiana, we can only play 7 or 8 months a year (more if we have a mild winter). I don’t know if our membership is worth it or not, but we like the flexibility of being able to play a few holes any night we want to… that’s the only reason why we buy in every year.
Whole year for the UK but we allow visitors to book tee times for a green fee at nearly all member courses. It’s a lot different to how you do golf in the states but generally cheaper and more accessible to your average joe
So I pay £1500 ($1800 maybe?) a year in the South East of the UK. For that you get members tee times reserved for members until about 12.30, the ability to enter club competitions, get and update a handicap, play for the club against other clubs, etc. It is not fully private - you can play for a day rate but you can't get a tee time before 12pm as I say and the other benefits aren't available.
Fees at clubs in the US are also on a major bubble with the golf boom + inflation + plenty of people willing to live on credit. Many members/clubs are going to have a very hard time the next real economic downturn.
Don't have enough time with having a young kid. But the place I was a member at before got took over by new owners. They put membership up from 1200 to 1500. Which was fine as you could see them investing in the course. They then put it up to 1750. I decided I couldn't justify paying that when I wasn't able to play much. But they also confirmed that they would continue to raise fees at the same rate until year 2025. This means it will be 2500 quid. Absolutely ridiculous. Considering other courses close by, at the same or higher standard is less than half. Yeh I understand they own it, their choice. But there should be some kind of regulation from the golfing unions IF the courses are affiliated. Anyway seemingly they are purposely trying to drive members out in order to free up space for corporate players.
£75 a month, only got to play twice a month to cover it, seems fairly obvious to me. Sometimes there are temp greens and carry only but we live in England what do you expect 🤷🏼♂️
I’m in rural Iowa and family pass with cart costs me about $1400 a year. No monthly fee and the membership is good for the course in the neighboring town too which is owned by the same group. Never have to call for a tee time just pull up to the course and you can play all day. One payment of $40 to play league on Thursday nights. I bet Living in a big metro area would make it much more expensive and difficult to get on the course. No thanks.
Im lucky enough i play in the south east my club has only.been completely closed once this year gravel sand based course only one in my area so mebership is at a premium ...i play 6 times a month and for me its worth it ...£1250 joining fee then i pay £100 a month ...the amouht i play is worth it as pay and play around my area had gone up a lot so makes better semse to join a club 👌
I justify membership fees by telling myself - people pay this kind of money to travel for a week or two every year. Membership is my 365 day holiday to myself
Golf can not shake off that exclusivity banner, it is still a status symbol for people with loads of cash, who are not going to miss 1500-2k a year and to be brutally honest they don't want the kind of people to join who are worried about expense. It's one of the reason golf is in danger of dying out.
I’m starting to see less for my money each year. £850 per year for a course that used to be locally renowned for its condition but is now a bit neglected. Clay underneath the turf, it normally closes for days or weeks at a time due to flooding or just to preserve the surface. The club spent 30k on a simulator recently (£15 per hour for members) which should really have been spent on improving the drainage
The club I’m a member of is virtually never closed, we have had a full winter league mixed in with other comps. We always play on real greens. Now yes it gets wet under foot but we play all year as long as there isn’t snow on the ground. Now being in North Cheshire it gets very muddy but we’re open.
get a part time job at your club of choice, just be the starter for one morning a week. In doing that, you will get free unlimited golf at the course, and youll be paid to do it.
£1400 for my local club. With young kids, manager of a youth team and running around driving to activities for the kids and working full time……it’s not affordable/worth it. Golf clubs need to wake up. There average age isn’t that young
Its not a £1000 at most places any more. All courses around me age 35+ full member is £1300 at least and some of them courses are terrible. It is the same as golf equipment/apparel etc.. becoming a very elitist sport again.
Use it or lose it‼️ These courses you pay green fees that are so much better than paying for a full year that you may or may not get full "value for money" from.... Oh crap they're all shut down and been re wilded or built on because of the lack of membership because they had a bad winter three years running.... Support the game while it's still there otherwise you'll turn around and it won't be there. Stop putting a relative value on everything and look deeper. Memberships are the lifeblood and core income of most clubs and probably wouldn't survive without them.
Clubs are dying anyway. I have just finished a membership at two clubs because half of the year they are shut due to the crap weather. Both of those courses have had some days open but the courses are now in such a poor state you wouldn’t want to play them. Both have put the fees up to over £1000 to be shut for 6 months or unplayable. I am now trying to convince a local course to let me have a twilight membership, I only play after 3pm twice a week, so just can’t justify that money anymore. Dwindling membership has made clubs greedy in my opinion. Such a shame as golf is the best sport ever invented
@@al1356 My 14 year old is the only junior member my club has, my fees are £980 P/A and they charge me £175 for him. The course has been open 3 weekends since mid October! Courses need to be more flexible, a summer membership as say three quarter the cost of full and juniors up to 16 should be free with a "full" adult membership.
honestly, given how precarious employment is these days, I can't see myself plopping down any big payments that I might lose if I can't make a future payment to some club. It's the primary reason why all the golf courses/clubs in new england are dying. no new members, since the old members played evil business games with every other generation. Enjoy saying goodbye to your friends oldster losers. 😂😂😂
We play 12 months of the year here in Australia, and your view is in regard to the UK. You have a lot of viewers all of the world so maybe you should be more open as to not muddy the views of people wanting to get into golf outside of the UK. Maybe you should change countries if you want to play every month of the year?
I neverb lked peter finch much and when he starts off calling cricket evil shows he is a tit . If i could still play cricket i would be, Still , i just cancelled my membership for they claim to want to encourage membership and then stuck the fee's up by 10%.They also encourage as many societies as they can taking prime tee times . whilst claiming the course is in marvellous condition .In reality its in crap condition mostlybdue to overuse by people who do not care about the place
