When do you know it is time to resign from a club?

[John Kavanaugh]

I have resigned from many a club. The last was when I moved close to a club where I was a national member. I asked them what my options were and they told me that to not tell anyone that I had moved would work best. I resigned on that call. Then their greens died. I'm sorry but that made me very happy. I have a few other examples but I'm on an iPad and had a few of the same. Elmer T. Lee to be exact, highly recommended. So, when is it time to drop a membership?

[Duncan Cheslett]

When no-one puts their name next to yours on the competition rota?

When you walk into the bar and no-one acknowledges your presence?

 

[Melvyn Morrow]

When I look into a mirror in the changing rooms and see John Kavanaugh looking back at me. It's not just a new club but a new life I would be seeking.

Melvyn

[Joe Bausch]

I joined a club about 12 years ago when five of my golfing buds from school did at the same time.  As clubs go, the investment was very cheap.

But when these same friends all decide to resign from the club after two years and go back to a local muni, I joined them.  It was a combination of things to not renew for a third year, with travel time being more than 30 minutes to the club, and, quite frankly, my friends found the course too difficult and penal with many holes lined with evergreen trees that were not limbed up even a few feet.

But the club atmosphere was also not quite in phase with us.  The straw that broke the camel's back came when one of my member friends called me late Saturday morning from the club, asking if I wanted to play with him.  He knew I had a work obligation late the previous night, and I had not planned on playing until that afternoon (and I could avoid the darn mandatory weekend cart fee!).  But I knew my friend wanted a game so I jumped in the car and was out with him on the first tee within an hour.  Of course, on the first tee I asked him why he didn't join a group earlier.  All were foursomes he saw as he stroked some putts and chips, except for one threesome.  When he inquired if he could join the group, they said 'no'.

[Jud_T]

When you tire of the course and/or the dues bill...

[Mark Johnson]

where there are major maintainence issues and noone cares.

[JMEvensky]

where there are major maintainence issues and noone cares.

How about major maintenance issues caused by practices instituted by the Green Committee?

[Tim Martin]

When you start trying to figure out what the per round cost is it`s time to walk away. Additionally when there is a men`s locker room project aspiring to change the perfectly fine lockers that were replaced just five years ago to teak wood imported from Burma run don`t walk to the exits and draft your letter of resignation. Payment for said project will be in the form of an assessment near the bottom of your bill for the next 16 quarters under "House Improvment".

[Sev K-H Keil]

If you haven't played a course in 2 or more years AND have no desire / plans to go back in the foreseeable future...

[Jud_T]

When you get a GCA clue and realize that the course you once thought was the money is really an overpriced, overwatered, overmanacured dogtrack with a ton of money wasted on faux gourmet food, a huge clubhouse, and an overabundance of service that has nothing to do with golf?

[Bob_Huntley]

When you get too old and lame, when you need a driver to reach a couple of the three pars with a driver, when the guys you played with for nearly forty years are all dead, when the annual minimum Dining Room fees are three times the annual cost of dues when you joined and not one resident working guy in town can afford to join.

Bob

[Ben Sims]

...and not one resident working guy in town can afford to join.

Bob

And people wonder why many private club memberships are on the fritz.  The FIRST thing I checked on when deciding to join a club was how healthy the local membership was vs. the national membership.  Twice a year types don't carry a golf club. 

[Joel_Stewart]

where there are major maintainence issues and noone cares.

How about major maintenance issues caused by practices instituted by the Green Committee?

This is what caused me to resign.  This classic course was being modernized out of existance by a bad / rogue superintendent and everytime I went out there I was pissed off.  Then I would get my monthly bill so I voted with my checkbook.

My kids miss going out to some of the functions and family dinners but I figure I have saved $20,000.

[Anthony Gray]

When you have your daughter on the weekends and she is four.

[Mike_Trenham]

When the Green Chairman anounces the motto for this year is "Soft and True" true story.

[Michael Whitaker]

If you haven't played a course in 2 or more years AND have no desire / plans to go back in the foreseeable future...

Or... when you ask your wife to book something at the club so you can entertain a group of guests and she informs you that she stopped paying the dues four years ago!!!   

[Joel_Stewart]

If you haven't played a course in 2 or more years AND have no desire / plans to go back in the foreseeable future...

Funny story.  A few years ago, when Martha Burke was battling Augusta, her group published the name of every member at Augusta and asked people to call the members to complain.

A guy I knew pretty well at the time finds out that one of his best childhood friends is a member.  So he calls him up and berates him that he is a member at ANGC and never invited him.  The member says he hasn't been there for 5 years.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

When they accept me as a Member. lol Barny, seriously, I think it is when you do not use a club enough to justify costs or find pleasure in the time you spend there. The second is more important than the first. i never spend enough time at a club to pass the cost test if there was another vote other than mine in the house.

[Tom ORourke]

When the board makes major bad decisions and then starts sending out notices of assessments need to cover the mistakes they just made. Followed by more assessments needed to cover the members that left after the first assessment. And when they start sending out notices to people who have resigned their memberships, but still have a bond that has not been returned because there are no new members, and start charging them assessments because, even though they are not members, they are still owners. Actually , at that point it is probably too late to leave.

[cary lichtenstein]

When your back or knees prevent u from playing, or you no longer like your games, or the costs get out of control

[Jay Flemma]

When the Korean owner (Mr. Park) decided not to put any money into maintaining the golf course at all (Crestwood) and it because an infestation of weeds.

He got his just deserts this year, though.  The EPA showed up and complained that he had to do something to clean up the ponds and creek.  He tried to tell them, "I'll get to it when I get to it."  They promptly told him, you'll get to it now, or we'll shut you down and fine you back Korea, pal.  He got to it all right.  Since he bought the course in the late '80s, he's lost nearly every member in the joint and it went from a great private club to a $20 public goat track with no one on it but beginners.  Shame...it was 7000 yards and terrific in the '80s before he bought it and ran it into the ground like the dictator he is.

He won't even sell the course.  I know several people that wanted to buy it, but he won't budge.  We're waiting for him to die so we can buy it from his poor son, who cuts the grass, runs the pro shop and takes all the heat for his father.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40394.msg849346/topicseen.html#msg849346

[Mark Chaplin]

Sounds along the same lines as The Addington became over the years.

[Mike McGuire]

When only one person signs up for the Senior Club Championship.

[David Cronheim]

When only one person signs up for the Senior Club Championship.

I think that'd be a reason to stay, Mr. Senior Club Champion.

[JMEvensky]

When only one person signs up for the Senior Club Championship.

Our place is just the opposite.The "competitive" players are the older members--it's the newer members who have no interest in the Club Championship.

I'd be curious which of our clubs has the more common breakdown of younger/older competitive guys.