(A piece from Golf Monthly magazine that’s relevant for every Golf Club these days.)
In these challenging times, it’s more important than ever for the future of our sport that members support their golf club – here’s why.
The golf club is the beating heart of our sport.
For most golfers in this country, a particular golf club will have been instrumental in fostering our burgeoning interest in the game whether as a junior or in later life.
And for most of us, it’s our golf club where we enjoy the vast bulk of the benefits this great sport offers.
For the sport to thrive, golf clubs are vital in attracting, inspiring and then nurturing individuals to experience a long and fruitful golfing life.
The golf club is a hub of the community in which it sits, a sporting and social centre.
The club delivers a chance to make friends, to catch up with old friends, to introduce new friends.
It’s somewhere you’re always welcome as a member, it’s somewhere golf is available on tap, it’s somewhere you can scratch your competitive itch if you so desire.
Each members’ golf club is unique, shaped by generations of local golfers to have its own inimitable character, its own ambience when you walk into the clubhouse, even its own way of presenting the golf course.
It’s these idiosyncrasies, created by location and personalities that give golf such depth and variety.
It’s easy to take the golf club for granted but it doesn’t exist as a provided facility, it’s there because of the fee-paying members.
They provide the facility to the community and that’s something all golf club members should be proud of, and perhaps even shout about a little more.
After a year of various Covid restrictions, many long-term members and those who had stepped away from club membership have been reminded of the benefits a golf club can provide – physical, competitive and social.
The golf club is shaped and driven by its members and, as such, the support of those members is crucial if the club is to deliver the best possible product.
Yes, to a large extent that support is financial through subscriptions, and many clubs saw a boost in membership numbers after the last lockdown… But there are other ways for members to give their support.
Some will find time to sit on the committee, to shape the future of the club, to make sure it’s keeping pace with the requirements of a modern membership.
Every club will, certainly should, offer opportunities for members to volunteer; to help with the junior section, to fill divots, tend the clubhouse garden, run a social event or two.
What all golf club members can do is to promote the benefits of being a club member to friends and family members – to do their bit to make sure club membership numbers stay healthy, bringing people (young and old) into the fold.
At the very top level, the journey of most of our golfing champions has begun at one of our diverse and historic clubs.
The support of club members has been crucial to the success of many of the game’s greatest exponents.
By supporting a golf club, you’re essentially supporting golf.
Your fees go towards maintaining a valuable facility with a contribution to your home union so they can re-invest in the future of the game.
Any efforts you make to assist in the day-to-day running of the club, be it as a volunteer, a committee member or even a team member help to keep the club and the game healthy.
Your very participation in golf club life perpetuates the positive qualities of the sport – It’s a highly sociable, enjoyable and challenging pastime that can be enjoyed by all.
To all golf club members – keep up the good work!