London - cost of golf membership

[Mark_Rowlinson]

My younger son, aged 27, is shortly moving to London, following promotion. He is currently a 9-handicap member of Wilmslow GC, but he will not be returning to Wilmslow sufficiently to justify retaining his full membership. Is London golf prohibitively expensive? Which clubs are short of members and might do generous deals? Would he be better trying for country membership of a club some distance from London? He has two golfing friends who have already moved to London, so there might be three potential new members.

As it happens his company runs occasional golf days for staff at such wonderful courses as The Addington, Beaconsfield, Hankley Common, West Hill, Denham, so he'll get some decent golf.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Mark - I suspect at 27 he might find some clubs that do an under 29 membership, a lot do around my area now, but not all clubs, so probably it will be just a case of finding the nearest clubs and sifting through their fees. London is a big area and to get value out of anywhere's membership proximity will play a big part, sometimes its nice to get a late nine in, on limited time you wont want travel time eating.

[Mark Chaplin]

Mark the big question is whether he intends to stay in London for a considerable length of time - 5 years plus? That makes the joining fees palletable. Most good clubs have under 30 rates and the joining fee is considerably cheaper, at some you do not have to pay the remainder of the joining fee at 30.

I know Worplesdon has a strong under 30 presence, a weekly roll up called The Hat at weekends which help people mix. It's also accessible by train and taxi.

If he is still 27 by 1st Jan 2013 I'd strongly advise joining the South Eastern Juniors (www.southeasternjuniors.com) they play at very fine venues and are a great way of meeting members at the better clubs around London.

[Tony_Muldoon]

I think a lot depends on where he intends to live and his future plans.

They are plenty of great deals. E.G. Hainault Forrest with two Taylor/Hawtree courses that I really like would cost £400 pa last time I heard.  I return he'd have to accept limited club access time and put up with 5 hour rounds, and some 'interesting' members.  There are similar deals to be had but sadly the more renown a course has the more likely it is to attract beginners with a catastrophic effect on weekend pace of play. Playing early in this situation is recommended.

With that handicap and age profile I think you'd be surprised how many GCA favourites would find a vacancy for him.  Entry fees could be £2-£5k. Annual dues £1200-£1800.  I doubt there’s fewer than a (couple of?) dozen clubs who’d insist he waited in line and come up with the requisite letters of support.  Of course a major problem for both parties is that he wonders how long he’ll be in London.

A decent suburban club could cost £1200 entry and similar annual dues, but you need to select carefully. Many, IMO, are getting worse places to join as they enter the death throws caused by the changing democratic and the aging members are growing increasingly blind to reality. 

I’ve tried all models and currently favour a local friendly club which allows a lot of P&P, keeping fees low, thus allowing me also to enjoy country membership elsewhere. He could get to Deal from East London, or Burnham and Berrow if near the M4, in 1.5hrs. 

PS Congrats to him on his promotion to the big smoke.

[Martin Toal]

Does he plan to live in London, or live outside and commute in? There are many choices in the home counties outside the M25, and his cost of living might be a bit lower too.

[Philip Gawith]

Mark, huntercombe is very keen to attract younger members. Happy to help if your son wants a look round. It is 50 min drive from London. Much depends on what character club he would enjoy.

Philip

[Bill_McBride]

Mark, huntercombe is very keen to attract younger members. Happy to help if your son wants a look round. It is 50 min drive from London. Much depends on what character club he would enjoy.

Philip

And a good opportunity for Philip and Giles Payne to thrash you on a regular basis!

[Tony_Muldoon]

Mark, huntercombe is very keen to attract younger members. Happy to help if your son wants a look round. It is 50 min drive from London. Much depends on what character club he would enjoy.

Philip

And a good opportunity for Philip and Giles Payne to thrash you on a regular basis!

Bill, you know not everyone over here enjoys 'the english vice'.


ON second thoughts, perhaps you were referring to golf?

[Duncan Cheslett]

Mark,

Is he set on club membership, or does he just want to play regular golf?  There are plenty of opportunities these days for organised and competitive nomadic golf.

This is just one - there are many others;  www.thesocialgolfer.com

I can't help feeling that the expense and commitment of club membership is something that could wait until he is more settled, both career-wise and domestically.

[Will Peterson]

I spent 15 months in London getting a Masters at age 26-27 (2007-2008).  I looked into joining a few clubs that were near train stops.  I was living in central London, and didn't have a car.  All were willing to let me join with no wait, initiation, and dues under $1000 gbp / year.

Due to my handicap (0), I was able to skip over some of the normal processes of joining, and only one club offered me a reduced rate (the under 25 rate).  I was told or it was implied at each club that I was to play on the club's team in matches against other local clubs.

My experience was amazing, and I loved my club.  It was also refreshing to be at a club where people seemed more concerned about your game than your job/wallet/name/etc.  It seemed that within no time at all everyone knew about the new American (I was one of two), and wanted to have a game.

With a little research and a few visits, he should have no problem finding a place and whatever price he is looking for.

[Scott Warren]

I can't understand this mindset:

I can't help feeling that the expense and commitment of club membership is something that could wait until he is more settled, both career-wise and domestically.

I joined my local club at 12 years of age and remained there through my childhood.

After leaving home and living a number of places over 11-12 years -- rural NSW, Sydney, London, back to Sydney -- I have always belonged to a golf club and that has always enriched my life, enabled me to meet good people in new places and at times even helped professionally.

London has clubs of all types and there's undoubtedly one for every golfer.

I understand the views of those who embrace "nomadic" golf, but I suspect most of them view the game very differently to the way I do.

[Bill_McBride]

Mark, huntercombe is very keen to attract younger members. Happy to help if your son wants a look round. It is 50 min drive from London. Much depends on what character club he would enjoy.

Philip

And a good opportunity for Philip and Giles Payne to thrash you on a regular basis!

Bill, you know not everyone over here enjoys 'the english vice'.


ON second thoughts, perhaps you were referring to golf?

Perhaps I was channelling Tom Brown's Schooldays!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thank you all for responding - obviously until he's decided on where he's living he can't make any decisions, but I'm sure these suhhestions will help focus the mind.

[Tom Kelly]

Mark,

Sorry for the essay in advance...I hope at least a few of my comments might be useful.

I'm 26 and have recently moved down to the Surrey/Hampshire border so I've just gone through a similar thing. I was looking at courses along the M3 corridor so can't offer much help elsewhere in London but if where I looked is anything to go by although still relatively expensive compared to the rest of the country there are quite a few decent deals available. If he is looking to stay in the area for at least a few years it is good time to get into a nice club that wouldn't have been possible only a few years ago.

If living in the west/southwest of London and are willing to travel a little bit some of the clubs I looked at might be feasible for him.

If he is not too bothered about the quality of the course as you probably know there are heaps of places offering reduced subs and minimal or no joining fees for 'intermediate' age groups with most staggering the fees from 18-30 year olds into a few different groups. For a 27 year old in the Surrey-Berkshire area they will be anything from £500-£800 a year for a fairly average course, or maybe even cheaper if you can find a country membership offer that he would be eligible for. The better courses start around £800 subs but will nearly always have a joining fee, usually between 25%-50% of the full fee with the rest payable when becoming a full member upon turning 30-ish.

I ended up going for Liphook. Being abit further south and not possessing a Surrey or Berkshire postcode it works out a shade cheaper and better value for money. They were also willing to spread the initial joining fee out over a few years rather than asking for a lump sum which was a big plus. If the my situation permits at 29/30 I'll have to pay the rest of the joining fee. With subs and joining fee I will be paying around £1000 a year for the first 3 years, which is still alot of money compared with my past membership subs in Nottingham, but I intend to make up for the past few years of playing  virtually no golf and know I’ll be doing it on a great course. For the sake of a 20-25% more in fees I feel I am getting a far better course than the cheaper options I looked at which will probably make me play more and enjoy it more.

A few other options I looked at as examples;

Hankley Common had a great yearly rate of £750 but they wanted a £2250 lump sum joining fee and then another £1800 at 30.

Camberley Heath had a good looking deal (though it seems to change each week!) of around £800 a year with no joining fee if you sign up for a minimum of 3 years, though when moving to full memberhsip a joining fee would be expected and the subs go upto £1500 until 35 and then just shy of £2000 after 35.

West Hill had restricted play for intermediate members on weekends, Worplesdon didn't respond to my emails whilst North Hants said I would need club members to propose and second me. East Berkshire looked like it offered a good cheaper deal without a joining fee that I considered, but I wasn't sure about the course. The next level up like Woking etc were out of my price range with fairly big joining fees.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Many thanks, Mark.

[Mark Chaplin]

Tom - Hankley is around £500pa cheaper for full members than the 3Ws, which soon pays off the joining fee. Shame you didn't send out a message when you were looking as this site is a great resource for getting pointed in the right direction. It still remains the case it is relatively easy to join many of the better SE clubs when under 30 especially if you are going to be in the area in the longer term.

I bet some of our overseas friends nash their teeth at the thought of a "steep" $3000 joining fee at a top club.

[Bill_McBride]

Tom - Hankley is around £500pa cheaper for full members than the 3Ws, which soon pays off the joining fee. Shame you didn't send out a message when you were looking as this site is a great resource for getting pointed in the right direction. It still remains the case it is relatively easy to join many of the better SE clubs when under 30 especially if you are going to be in the area in the longer term.

I bet some of our overseas friends nash their teeth at the thought of a "steep" $3000 joining fee at a top club.

Yes to the gnashing of teeth over US initiation fees.

I think Tom did jut fine, I really loved playing at Liphook.   Great course, seemed like a nice club.

[David_Tepper]

"I bet some of our overseas friends nash their teeth at the thought of a "steep" $3000 joining fee at a top club."

Mark C. -

Indeed we do.

DT

[Tom Kelly]

Tom - Hankley is around £500pa cheaper for full members than the 3Ws, which soon pays off the joining fee. Shame you didn't send out a message when you were looking as this site is a great resource for getting pointed in the right direction. It still remains the case it is relatively easy to join many of the better SE clubs when under 30 especially if you are going to be in the area in the longer term.

I bet some of our overseas friends nash their teeth at the thought of a "steep" $3000 joining fee at a top club.

Liphook is even cheaper than Hankley!

Unfortunately University and a year or two 'travelling' has destroyed what little savings I had so any lump sum fee was a no go and I wanted to get playing again asap, hence Liphook seemed like the sensible option. Plus I'm not 100% certain where I will be in 3 years so I didn't want to tie myself down too much and the Liphook situation seemed like a good go-between. To be honest if it wasn't for this site I may never have looked there as I had never heard of it before the BUDA pictures and tours went up last year. I did think about asking a few opinions on the merits of Hankley vs Liphook and the 3 W's but really my wallet made my decision for me and I think its worked out well as Liphook is just my 'cup of tea', you can't beat fun, quirky heathland golf!

p.s. I still can't get my head around how much golf memberships costs on the other side of the pond?!

[Mark Johnson]

"I bet some of our overseas friends nash their teeth at the thought of a "steep" $3000 joining fee at a top club."

Mark C. -

Indeed we do.

DT

Even more gnashing at the $1800 pa dues as well.

[Mark Chaplin]

Indeed, a friend is pondering the $150k to join a nice Long Island club and that's reasonable compared to the neighbours. What I don't understand is in some areas the course is shut for 3-5 months a year, the fees are sky high yet everyone gets a nice day off on a Monday WTF is  that all about?

I was shocked at the lack of reply from Worplesdon as I've a few mates there in their 20 & 30s. Hankley is in a different class to Liphook although Liphook is a cracker with some wonderful holes. It's a shame it runs out of steam when you'd defied death to play the last 4 holes.

[Mark Pearce]

Hankley is in a different class to Liphook

you have played Hankley far more often than me.  However, on the evidence of BUDA, I agree with this statement but have Liphook above Hankley.  I certainly wasn't the only player at BUDA who thought this, indeed I suspect it was the majority view.

[Bill_McBride]

Hankley is in a different class to Liphook

you have played Hankley far more often than me.  However, on the evidence of BUDA, I agree with this statement but have Liphook above Hankley.  I certainly wasn't the only player at BUDA who thought this, indeed I suspect it was the majority view.

Liphook >>> Hankley by a good bit for me.   I didn't see anything wrong with the finishing quartet, although I lost 3 of 4 to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory v. Chappers. 

[Sean_A]

Hankley is in a different class to Liphook

you have played Hankley far more often than me.  However, on the evidence of BUDA, I agree with this statement but have Liphook above Hankley.  I certainly wasn't the only player at BUDA who thought this, indeed I suspect it was the majority view.

I got this impression as well.  Does Hankley get a massive boost because the course is essentially on its own heath?  Hankley was one of those must sees for me, but pix don't suggest it is worth the increasingly handsome green fee.  That said, I do get the message Chappers is sending - after 13 Liphook is patchy and the roads don't help.   

Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

SEan,

Hankley is, perhaps, the most visually striking heathland course I have played and that must help.  It's also tough and certainly more "resitant to scoring" than Liphook.  However, I felt that it wasn't a thinking golf course.  On each hole it was clear what shot was required, there wasn't much in the way of alternatives, or the need to think carefully about what shot to play.  I thought Liphook was much better at this.

Some great holes at Hankley though, if for their heroic nature (the par 3 7th being the best).