The Club’s new membership structure commenced in 2020 after the members overwhelmingly agreed to it at a Special General Meeting in 2019.

A comprehensive review of the new membership structure and its effectiveness thus far was presented to the Board by the Membership and Marketing Committee (MMC) in August 2021. (8-page document).

The review found that the simpler membership structure with a single Ordinary category is working well.

The positive outcomes of the new membership structure include:

  • Increased membership numbers and subscriptions income.
  • Increased rounds played and competition fees.
  • Increased revenue in other areas of the Club.
  • More reliable budgeting and financial planning.

The MMC noted that due to the positive outcomes the Board could potentially look favourably at limiting any fee increases for 2022.

Our current membership numbers are robust with the latest membership report recording 910 men and 202 women of which 1046 are playing members of all category types and 66 non-playing members. The total number of 1112 is 96 more than for the same time last year. The current 935 Ordinary and Restricted members (excluding 9 Hole members) are 186 more than the 749 Ordinary and Flexi-7 numbers used as the baseline for the new membership model proposals. The numbers are tracking in line with our Strategic Objective 5.1 which states “The Club will aim to achieve its agreed Ordinary membership targets (1040) by 2025.”

It was also noted that the outcomes associated with the new membership structure had also been influenced by COVID-19 travel restrictions. This meant that the members were playing more golf than usual because their normal work and holiday travel schedules were not possible.

The MMC established that there were no current reasons to change the new membership structure. The committee also recommended that no changes be considered until the Club had at least two years of operational outcomes that were not significantly influenced by the pandemic restrictions. This would help avoid making change based on outcomes that are in part abnormal.

The committee also commented on the longer than normal waiting lists during the Winter months for the Wednesday and Saturday competitions. Upon review of these competition days, it became evident that despite waitlists prior to the day of competition, on the actual day there were in fact a few timeslots that ended up being available. This trend of longer waiting lists was also reflected in a recent newsletter from Golf Business Advisory Services (GBAS) that talked about many golf clubs having to manage the increased rounds demand brought about by COVID.

The MMC identified the following management tools to help alleviate long waiting lists on some competition days:

  • Restricting the number of Wednesday and Saturday invitation days (the Club has done this).
  • Better policing tee time booking/cancellation policies (the By-laws have been amended to help overcome the practice of ghosting on time sheets).
  • Using Provisional membership restrictions for new male playing members (the Club implemented this from 1 August 2021).

The MMC also highlighted several other longer term management tools that could be used if the waiting lists for men’s competitions continue to be extended. If they should be required, the Board will look at these options next year when the annual membership attrition rate has been established. The available options include the Premium Booking charge for members who validly can only play on a certain day(s) of the week, Nomination fees, membership waiting lists and nominal limits on some playing member numbers.

The Board is continually reviewing all of these options and, has directed the MMC to review the membership structure again in 2023.

Sue Quiñones
President
17 September 2021