Ogilvy Clayton redesign of Bonnie Doon GC: NEW CONSTRUCTION VIDEO

[Scott Warren]

The club has outdone itself with the new course update video, starring Mike Cocking and his pure golf swing

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=KrBS1V0mpuw

[Brett_Morrissy]

Scottie, that is damn fine - well done Clayts & Co - the presentation & communication the BD members is first class.

[James Bennett]

First class. No umms nor aghs. I didn't expect anything less.

[Scott Warren]

Scottie, that is damn fine - well done Clayts & Co - the presentation & communication the BD members is first class.

Attracting new members with the redevelopment has been a big goal for the club and it has delivered in spades.

We (the club broadly, not claiming any personal role beyond introducing seven people since I joined) have attracted more than 300 new members since December 2010 when I joined the day Ogilvy Clayton presented the final plan to members.

The benefits of that are many: the average age of members has plummetted, we've got a groundswell of support for the delivery of new holes to continue at pace, we've been able to raise joining fees modestly and reintroduce a waiting period for full membership. All of that makes for a healthy club - financially and culturally.

Come May we will have 10 new holes in play (11 if you count the spare hole), Stage 1 holes will be the best they have ever been following some little nips and tucks being carried out currently, and the fescue roughs starting to come along to where they should have been if not for a setback last summer.

And to the club management's further credit, none of this has required any member levies (though that said, some members have volunteered to me that they'd gladly pay a small levy if it meant getting the next batch of holes rolling this winter rather than next, and I'm inclined to agree). That's the kind of enthusiasm and solidarity that any club doing major work wants to achieve.

[BHoover]

Scott, congratulations to your club on what looks to be a job well done. I was shocked to see you say that the redesign work was done without member assessments or levies. It seems that many clubs here in the USA would do well to learn from your club about how things should be done.

I also was struck by your mention of 300 new members. How many members does the club have now that there is a wait list? Yet again, I wonder why clubs here don't look to our friends in Australia for guidance on how things ought to be done. Too many clubs here, IMO, are predicated on having 300 members total (plus social members). That means that dues are higher, assessments too often run wild and clubs run into serious financial problems when membership numbers decline.

It also means that, unlike Bonnie Doon, the average age of club membership is getting older and older. When the Baby Boom generation is gone, there is going to be a dramatic change in the golfing landscape here. Something needs to happen to get younger folks back into the club scene if clubs are going to survive, much less thrive, as yours appears to be doing.

[Scott Warren]

I also was struck by your mention of 300 new members. How many members does the club have now that there is a wait list? Yet again, I wonder why clubs here don't look to our friends in Australia for guidance on how things ought to be done. Too many clubs here, IMO, are predicated on having 300 members total (plus social members). That means that dues are higher, assessments too often run wild and clubs run into serious financial problems when membership numbers decline.

We'd be fairly typical of an active metropolitan club in that we have 700 full male members and about 1300 total when women, children, and limited-access members are taken into consideration.

We get a lot of rounds - up to 200 each day on a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, maybe 100-150 Monday and Friday and then Thursday will often have an 80+ corporate event. That's year-round. You can always get a game, especially in the afternoon field (tee times from 11am-1pm on a competition day). Morning times on a Wed, Sat & Sun are fairly sought after and our online booking system rewards the members with desk jobs and a fast mouse finger!

Our pace-of-play is also really good following a club crackdown led by our captain. We're down to about 4h to 4h10 on a midweek competition day and maybe 4h15 is typical on a Saturday. Makes the golf a lot more fun than when we had crept up to 4h45 for a midweek stableford!

[Brett_Morrissy]

Scott, are you able to pm if not able to post publicly, the joining fees and annual subs - even just a range, to get a feel for how it compares to Victoria - please?

[Scott Warren]

If you're over 40, you'll get enough change from $10k on the joining fee to take your missus for a weekend away to make up for the fact you just dropped almost five figures on a golf club joining fee

Under 40, there is a tiered system based on age. I joined at age 27 and paid less than $4k to get in. And that's all I will ever pay, unlike other clubs that discount the entry fee for younger members but then charge you the balance when you reach a certain age.

Annuals are about $2700 if you're over 40, with a small discount for those under that age.

Some other Sydney clubs as a comparison:

NSW & Concord about $15k to get in and $3k a year
The Aus $28k in and $4.5k or so a year
The Lakes $33k in and just shy of $4k a year
Elenora, I'm told, is $20k in and $5k a year

[Josh Stevens]

Worth appreciating that golf in Australia is a very different economic proposition to that in the US.

We don't have snow or other horrid conditions, and so it is very much a 12 month a year game.  Add good growing conditions to sandy soil and you have a very robust playing surface that can handle many more rounds per year than a course in the northern parts of the US.  Therefore a typical 18 hole course will always have more than 1200 members with a hard core base of say 600-700. Royal Sydney has 6000

Also bear in mind that club golf is based on weekly competitions rather than social rounds as is more the case in the US (I have that third hand, please let me know if that is wrong) .  Typical club would have full am and pm fields on Wed and Sat for men with ladies in charge Tues and Thurs, Friday for knocking off early with some mates or clients, Sunday for the family and Monday for the grounds crew to tidy up the mess from the previous week.

They are very busy places indeed and that does help with cost

[Scott Warren]

Josh,

What you touch on is, I think, at the root of why our clubs work perfectly despite having four-times the golfers of many US clubs.

Members of Aussie clubs like the culture of always being able to get a game with other members, and the healthy competition fields on the main days.

In the US, blessed isolation seems to be more sought-after than it is here (though you can get that by playing after 3pm pretty much any day at my club). To achieve that, many US clubs have a quarter of the members of the typical Aussie club, so it's no surprise that it's not uncommon for a US club to have fees four-times those that we pay.

[Kevin Pallier]

Scott

What do you think of Stage 2 ? When is it all expected to be finished by ?

[Mark Pavy]

If you're over 40, you'll get enough change from $10k on the joining fee to take your missus for a weekend away to make up for the fact you just dropped almost five figures on a golf club joining fee

Under 40, there is a tiered system based on age. I joined at age 27 and paid less than $4k to get in. And that's all I will ever pay, unlike other clubs that discount the entry fee for younger members but then charge you the balance when you reach a certain age.

Annuals are about $2700 if you're over 40, with a small discount for those under that age.

Some other Sydney clubs as a comparison:

NSW & Concord about $15k to get in and $3k a year
The Aus $28k in and $4.5k or so a year
The Lakes $33k in and just shy of $4k a year
Elenora, I'm told, is $20k in and $5k a year

I'm really surprised how expensive the joining fees are.

[Josh Stevens]

Those nomination fees  are Sydney prices.  Cut in half or even down to a third for other cities in Australia for similar standard courses.  The likes of Concord and Elanora probably wouldn't have a joining fee at all if they were in Melbourne

[Scott Warren]

Scott

What do you think of Stage 2 ? When is it all expected to be finished by ?

Stage 2 is outstanding. Maybe the three best holes on the course.

It appears we may not be complete before 2019, but that's doing it without going into debt.

We really need to catch up for a game. Have you seen the new holes at BD yet? You should come up for a hit.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Marvelous video and the work looks great.
Even now more excited about our game in March Scott