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Artisan Members
Duncan Cheslett:
I'm vaguely aware that there is a tradition amongst many golf clubs in the UK of 'Artisan' sections, whereby golfers with a useful trade or skills to offer do work in exchange for limited playing rights rather than paying for their membership in hard cash.
The subject cropped up in the bar after our afternoon round today. A large proportion of our membership are tradesmen of one sort or another, and the feeling was that it could well be in the individual's and the club's interests if some such scheme could be put in place in the right circumstances.
So do any golf clubs still have artisan members, or are they a throwback to the Edwardian era?
As a carpenter and cabinet maker myself, the idea of building new lockers and honour boards in exchange for my full membership over the next few years does have a certain appeal!
David_Tepper:
Duncan -
There have been at least a couple of threads on clubs in the UK that have Artisan members. If you do a search, you might be able to find those threads.
There was a lengthy article about Artisan clubs in Travel & Leisure Golf magazine that was published several years ago. It featured the Artisan club affiliated with Walton Heath.
Here is the website for the Artisan Golfers' Association: http://www.agagolf.co.uk/
Here is a link to the T&L Golf article on the Artisan club at Walton Heath:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/a-tale-of-two-clubhouses
DT
Dub_ONeill:
Wallasey and Birkdale both have artisan members. They have separate clubhouses at both courses and limited playing privileges. They do not participate in club events with the non-artisan members. When i played there we had caddies who were artisan members at both clubs. I got the impression that the work they did was more on course than carpentry etc.
Scott Warren:
Mate of mine is an artisan at a top surrey club and for about 300 quid a year and an hour or so of divoting once a month in summer he can play at any time other than between 8am and 4pm on weekends.
Artisan club has its own clubhouse (with VERY cheap beer) and runs its own comps, including an interclub with the other top surrey clubs.
The only terms are that he must live within a certain distance of the club (5 miles, I think) and cannot be a member of any other club.
All the artisans I've ever met are very happy with the arrangement they have, which trend to be much the same as what I have detailed above.
Tim Martin:
--- Quote from: Brian Sheehy on June 30, 2011, 03:28:05 PM ---When I first joined Royal Mid Surrey I heard about the "artisans" occupying a separate clubhouse and got the impression they were treated as second class citizens and full time servants of the club. I later realised that they spend a couple of hours a week doing some basic course maintenance tasks in return for being able to play usually early in the morning or late. I spoke to someone recently who was an artisan at St George's Hill - he basically runs his own business but replaces divots for 2 hours every Friday evening in return for playing rights (and not insubstantial ones at that). The catch is you need to be living within 5 or so miles of the course. But what a great option if you live really close to a great course and either have flexible hours or work for yourself (or are unemployed). At some of the better clubs (like SGH), there is a proposing and seconding system but presumably not as rigorously enforced. I wish I lived closer to Swinley forest. I might consider a 4 day week if I did!
--- End quote ---
Gents-Sounds like a great deal for both the club and the artisans. Having a separate clubhouse with cheaper beer must be a gigantic hit with the artisans and not so much with regular members. The 5 mile radius sounds like a good idea or there would be more artisan members than regular`s. Barter is age old where everyone seems to come out ahead.
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