Will You Be Renewing Your Golf Club Membership in 2024

It's that time of year when subscription renewals and reminders will be arriving. 

We asked if you were planning to renew your membership in 2024 and the results were fascinating.

In total, 78% of golf club members who responded to our membership survey indicated that you did plan to sign up for more - more likely with older and more long standing members, with 81% compared to just 74% of those having only just joined a golf club. Our survey went out in October 2023 - 5% of you said you would not renew, while 17% were undecided - that is a worrying statistic.

Back in 2021 following the COVID-induced boom, 89% stated they were planning to renew with just 2% telling us they would stop their membership. 

The 2023 data is similar to previous surveys conducted in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020 with on average 79-84% of golfers stating they would renew and 2-5% considering stopping.

It was expected that a majority of our survey participants faced an increase in golf club membership costs in 2023, with the average membership increasing by 0-5% (42%). 32% reported a 6-10% increase, 16% stayed the same, and 9% saw a more significant rise at over 10%. Surprisingly, 2% experienced a decrease.

We asked:

Will you be renewing your golf club membership in 2024?

Several factors came into play with your answers.

Family

"I might just opt for five-day membership. I like the social interaction of being in a club but am losing the desire to play club competitions at weekends which are busier and intrude on other family opportunities and events."

Cost

"Depends if the subs go up again. 12% last year, surely cannot be another 10% this year."

"Depends on how much it goes up. Currently dearest in the area. Some of the board do not care how much membership costs as they are wealthy and retired. They need to remember that not everyone is in the same position. When you can only play once a week it is now becoming very expensive and am not sure if it is worth it."

"Fees will be around £1,000 and condition and playability of the course is not value for money when only able to play once a week - pay and play a better, more cost effective option."

"For the first time in ages, I am reconsidering my membership as I don't think it's great value. I've enjoyed playing a few different courses and think that I should get a cheaper membership somewhere to maintain handicap and then try to play a few opens and new courses. I will miss the competitions at the home club though.”

"If subs increase by 20% like this year, with no improvements to show for it, then maybe not, and I certainly wouldn't be the only one.”

"The increase in age related subs is basically subsidising the rest of the club subs. Is it ageist to increase one section for older golfers more than the rest of the club?"

Greater Flexibility

"Fees are still very good, but I have been a travelling/visiting golfer for 50 years, either privately or society golf, and I miss it. Getting bored. Cannot afford to do both so a decision needs to be made.”

"I'm getting to the stage where it just doesn't pay for itself. I play many other courses with monthly fourball mates and tend to only use my course for practice and having the ability to get tee times I want. I've never played medals or competitions as I only play for pleasure and recreation/fitness.”

"I will join a different club on a points membership basis that offers better value. Sometimes it is cheaper to play at other clubs of similar quality than the rate it costs me to play at my current club."

The Weather

Course closures due to flooding is a growing concern and it is noticeable that many of you are increasingly finding that wet weather is closing your courses - and that you are still expected to pay for a full 12 months with no offers of compensation.

"Lost a lot of golf due to weather, not club's fault, but feel more could be done to minimise this time. Pay and play would be cheaper option but like being member of club."

"It will depend on the intended increase. The biggest problem is the weather, which unfortunately is causing so many postponements and obviously the course suffers as well. It is very difficult for the club as they still have outgoings in relation to keeping the course maintained and will also suffer financially from the bar, restaurants and visitor numbers being down during the poor weather. However, I think a fairer way now would be to pay a nominal fee and then pay for each round you want to book so you're not paying as much and being unable to play when you pay a yearly fee.”

"This will depend on how greedy they are this year. At the moment my club is closed due to flooding and has been for nearly two weeks. As I have already paid for the year, it is just lost money with the club showing no signs of any form of renumeration.”

“This is my first full year at the club. The social side is good and the course is challenging, but it has been an exceptionally wet year which has meant the course is struggling to recover especially at present, I will see how next year goes and may have to make a decision in 2025.”

"The abysmal weather over the last 18 months meant that our course never really reached 'summer' conditions at any time in 2023. With the grim autumn and anticipated wet winter it won't be open much, and when it is it will be awful. Hard to justify over £100 a month for a swamp.”

"Depending on how weather is through winter, parkland golf in the west of Scotland is not the best.”

Overcrowding

“My club has become so overused by visitors that the standard of play and slowness of play has turned me off as I do not enjoy my round.”

"Tee times are difficult to get at times. The course is closed more than I would like.”

"Too many visitors and pace of play is slow.”

Caution

"Currently plan to continue membership but I get the impression membership will decline as people will drop to five day membership or points based."

"Golf course membership is a matter of convenience and location. I am a member of the best local course, there are better ones further away and worse ones closer. My mates play there and this is a club with strong core membership, not transient one year members and it limits pay and play.”

"Our club panders to visiting groups on Saturdays, our preferred day to play. Getting a time during summer can be difficult, and slow play from visiting groups has meant that on a few occasions we've had to come off after 12-14 holes.”

"Our club is killing golf because it is only interested in making as much money as it can by cramming as many golfers on the course, whether or not they can play golf, sometimes there are twelve people on the tee at one time, we stand around for ages, it becomes very boring, so much so as I may be stopping playing in the future.”

Positives

"I love my golf club but it is getting more expensive each year, however we got a great new head greenkeeper who is making the course next level.”

"My club is the best value for senior golf in the area with a healthy friendly membership, it has invested heavily on a sprinkler system and is currently installing solar panels. I would be silly to contemplate moving clubs.”

“I pay £640 for five-day membership and probably play 100 times a year. So, at £6.40 a round that has to be good value even if it increased to £1,000.”

£640 a year? I want to join this golf club!

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