I think we are all agreeing with each other, but if you had 150 members that played every day you can only have 150 members. RV with 350 when it should have 600 is getting near to what is the opposite of Utopia.
If it costs £400,000 to run the course, let's say the clubhouse washes its face. The £400,000 has to be divided.
And as Sean Arble will quite rightly point out that is without saving anything for a rainy day. Ideally you need a £100,000 in the coffers just incase.
The high users might think it is unfair but it is not. High users just look at it from that position because they can vote with their feet, but the problem is growing as clubs membership decline and income shrinks. The pattern that you are experiencing will grow and we will hear more about it.
The over-riding principle is about fairness and whilst it is lovely if 10 people go out for a meal and divide the bill by 10 and if Charlie Foxtrot only has 1 course whilst Marky Parky has 3 courses. What happens after a few meals is Charlie Foxtrot gets fed up and eats on his own, Mark Parky coninues until such time as their is no one to feed him. The situation where CF will continue to eat with MP for an extensive period will not continue (unless they are family).
Every golf club has a PPR. That is the unit cost per round that it costs to run the course. So divide your costs by the number of rounds, quite often £400,000 divided by 28,000 is a good number. ie £14.28.
When you have a £14.28 PPR and a membership fee of £895. High volume play is after 63 rounds per year.