Recent reports from the governing bodies and home unions paint a rosy picture of golf’s current position and its future.
Participation is up, more juniors are playing, the game is growing globally, golf’s popularity has never been higher. The jolly announcements keep on coming.
The overall outlook seems highly positive if one is to believe those in charge of the game at a global, national and regional level.
So why is it that at average, second-tier golf clubs around this country the mood is far from upbeat? Our membership fees are going up; we can’t get new members and are struggling to retain members, costs are skyrocketing and the only way to cover them appears to be to ask both members and visiting golfers to dig deeper into their already empty pockets.
We’re having a challenging time but apparently that doesn’t warrant a mention in dispatches.
The top-level clubs who can command triple-figure green fees are raking it in. The rising costs (they also face them of course) can be covered by their increased income from what are now, frankly, obscene round and day rates. They are just fine, thank you very much!
But those clubs that don’t have the reputation of a championship venue are not. They may attempt to bump up their green fee rates to keep pace, but they risk pricing themselves out of their own (domestic) markets if they go too far.
As it is, our local clubs (the beating heart of golf in this country) are walking a tightrope to try and find a fee level for both members and visitors that keeps them relevant and keeps them solvent.
On top of this financial predicament, we have also been saddled with the (in my opinion) hugely unpopular World Handicap System (WHS,) which is putting long-term golfers off competitive golf, making club membership a less appealing prospect than it once was.
Golfers and clubs are expressing their dissatisfaction with WHS, but nobody seems to be listening… “It’s all going terribly well, isn’t it?” Is all that seems to come back.
Average member-owned and run golf clubs, which means most golf clubs in this country, are being overlooked.
It may be the case that total participation is up – It’s great that more people are playing at Top Golf or at the crazy putting but that puts money in the coffers of the businesses that run them and doesn’t do much to help the golf clubs.
Let’s not forget that those clubs are the custodians of our most important golfing assets – The historic and wonderful golf courses across the British Isles.
If the local clubs fail, then those courses will be lost. One only need to look at the example of Welsh rugby to see what happens when the grassroots clubs and their playing fields falter. The pathways that once existed disappear and that has knock on effects right up to the elite level.
The governing bodies hope to inspire youngsters through the performance of top-level players, and it can work. Kids who see Rory, Tommy, Fitzy or Bob playing on the loftiest stages are encouraged to pick up a club.
They might go to the range; they might play on a simulator but then they need to progress and get out on a golf course. They need the local clubs to exist if they’re to take that next step.
The average UK golf club needs help. We need the governing bodies to invest heavily in promoting the benefits of being a club member. We need funds available to save and support clubs that are really struggling to make ends meet. We need a collective effort to ensure that every community has a golf club with attached course that survives.
The unions must take their focus off the macro and look to the micro. Stop telling us that golf is thriving overall and look a little more deeply. Hundreds of clubs across Britain and Ireland are facing a difficult future.
Unstoppable increases in subscription fees will make membership prohibitively expensive for greater sections of the population year on year (particularly younger people.) If that trend continues then clubs will fail, courses will be lost and the heartbeat of golf in this country will stutter and eventually stop.
It’s time for those in charge to stop brushing that reality under the carpet and start thinking of campaigns and solutions to do something about an obvious but largely ignored problem.
