GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group
Artisan Members
David_Tepper:
"Are artisan members a UK phenomenon or an English phenomenon? I have not seen them in Scotland, Wales, or N I.."
Dub O'Neil -
A full list of all the clubs in the Artisans' Golf Association is available at the Association's website (see link in my first post above).
While I am not an expert on British geography, to my eye it appears all the artisan clubs are in England.
DT
Sean_A:
--- Quote from: John Kavanaugh on July 01, 2011, 08:49:43 PM ---
--- Quote from: Mark Chaplin on July 01, 2011, 05:17:36 PM ---John K - tell me how many local "working" people get to play at Merion, Cypress Point, Chicago Golf or National Golf Links on a regular basis?
In the UK the local butcher, sparky or truck driver maybe a member of a club with access to courses such as Royal St Georges, Rye, Walton Heath, Swinley Forest and many more great tracks.
Artisans are not inferior members but members of their own club with access to a great course out of peak hours for a minimal annual sum. Part of the deal is usually an hour or so a month divoting or working on the course. Some of the longest waiting lists to join clubs in the UK are at artisan clubs.
--- End quote ---
Mark,
I have a strict policy of never asking a man what he does for a living. I find it rude and boring so I have no idea if members are "working people" or not. I find your caste system of defining a man as disgusting. What is most strange is that I care far more who plays on my course than who enters my clubhouse. If I were to be a snob I could see allowing the man who paints my barn to seek comfort inside from a passing storm, but for him to ride my horse on a sunny day when he could be painting only seems to promote rot. This is why I would never as a man who wants to borrow my horse if he can paint.
--- End quote ---
JakaB
You are one strange duck. In all my experience of artisans and people speaking of them you are the only one who has stated he against the concept. Perahps if you think of artisans as just another club using a course such as it is done on some of the public courses in Scotland the idea would be easier (why it needs to be easier is a great mystery) to swallow. Besides, I recall you were gonna put up or shut about British golf. See the quote below.
Burnham used to have an artisans club which as Chappers relates about other such clubs, had some very good golfers. The main club disbanded the artisans many years ago and invited them to become full members of the club.
Ciao
Mark Chaplin:
Gradually the working staff of the Club was expanded and in 1882 the Dunbar Castle Golf Club was founded. Resembling an artisans’ club, the DCGC was strictly for Dunbar residenters who were unable to afford the main Dunbar Club’s fees or to survive the notorious black-ball methods. The Castle Club had an entirely separate constitution but, somewhat to the irritation of the “senior club” soon began to produce the stronger players, very often from the caddie ranks. The Castle Club prospers to this day but by now its members are required to be members of the main Club.
The Dirleton Castle club play at Gullane and the Aberlady artisans at Kilspindie.
There are Irish artisan clubs.
John it would be naive to think there isn't a caste system operating on your side of the pond. $10k+ subs at some clubs quickly exclude 90% of the population from the club.
Tony_Muldoon:
The Artisan Club is now somewhat out moded relic. Charming and part of the history of Golf but I can’t see more than a handful surviving. They survive at only a few , mostly old clubs ,where the population has grown up around the course making them highly desirable areas to live. If they continue to police the live within x miles of the club then only people who can afford to pay full dues will qualify. So the recent member of artisans clubs I’ve met include, Software consultants, Surgeons etc. These folk choose to join Artisans Sections.
The no of Artisans Clubs has drastically fallen in the last 40 years (By 2/3rd?) and I know of several cases where offering full membership of the club has been the way of disbanding them.
David_Tepper:
"The no of Artisans Clubs has drastically fallen in the last 40 years (By 2/3rd?)"
Tony Muldoon -
There are currently 70 member clubs of the AGA, which sounds like a pretty healthy number to me. Do you really think there might have been over 200 artisan clubs 40 years ago?
DT
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