We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Thinking of dropping my course membership. Tell me if I'm sane?

slodsm

slodsm

Hybrid hooker
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Messages
1,058
Reaction score
1
Location
Tyler Tx
Handicap
13.3
Long story short"ish". I belong to a decent local semi private club. It's not ridiculously priced BUT it's definitely not cheap and there are many courses (some private) which cost less per month.

I joined this one due to convenience but after 11 months I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the course.

Constant ground under repair. They can't seem to find a course manager who can keep grass on the fairways. While most of it is in good shape, there are 5 holes that just have huge bare/thin spots from about 220-250 from the tee (guess where I hit).

Tee boxes are made of cement, seriously it takes 25 attempts to get a tee in the ground.

The 15th fairway has been being rebuilt for 5 months, granted it's been a birdie machine for me (par 5, drop your second 210 from the green downhill) but how long will it be closed with no end in sight.

The course plays sloooowwwwww. Many times I've been out there on pace for 6 hour rounds and just given up and left since the marshal seems to do NOTHING to speed up play. Today it took me over an hour to get through the last 3 holes on the front 9 on a Tuesday.

Course "improvements" are killing everything on the course. There are constantly dump trucks, track hoe's, etc in different locations building something. Sure one day it's going to be nice (when I joined, it was nice, they lost their minds this summer and have been "improving" everything) but right now there are track hoe tracks in 3 fairways, come on seriously??

Renting the course for tournaments all the time is getting old. Everything that comes to town they try to snag which closes the course to anyone not playing in the tournament for 2-3 days.

Last but not least, this one almost made me have an meltdown. Saturday the course was packed end to end so I just went to hit some range balls and play on the practice greens. The pro knew I was out there, the course manager knew I was out there, it's 9am on the busiest golf day of the week and they turn on all the sprinklers soaking me and my gear before I can move. I had to get in my truck and drive off or I would have simply been banned and not even had to worry about this.


In another year, it will probably be one of the premier courses in the area for the amount of work they are doing but at the moment, they are charging us like they already are and have demolished the course we joined. They sell discount tee times to non members due to the current construction but those of us who actually keep the lights on are still paying full price. Due to the people I know in the right places, I can leave here, join a completely private club, and actually save 50 bucks a month and have my initiation fee waived. I think I'm about to do it because I can't take the constant mess and the slow play combined with a marshal who doesn't do his job.

Am I over reacting?
 
Nope, I wouldn't overpay for poor conditions and slow golf. The slow golf alone would drive me away. I wouldn't worry too much about the sprinkler incident, probably a case of a low end course worker not paying attention.
 
I agree with Wake, I joined a private club and if they did half what your saying I'd leave, especially the slow play. I go out when I want, never have to wait more than a few minutes and if I want to just bounce to different holes there's no reason not to (provided I'm following etiquette but even then)

If you can go private w/out the initiation fee, why even think twice.

Good luck
 
I get your frustration. It sounds like a lot of the problem is due to the construction and changes. I'm going to assume that to some degree the slow play is also due to the work being done. So the question becomes would you want to be a member after the work is done? Will the pace of play pick up to where you can be happy? Will the fairway issues be addressed? If the answers aren't yes, move over to the other club. Just remember, the grass is not always greener. The private club may have more "personalities" that you may have to deal with as well

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4
 
Have you played the other course? Will you enjoy playing the course? Will the pace of play be resolved? Will they do upgrades in the future?

It sounds like you made up your mind. As long as its convenient and its not too far from your house. Can't beat $50 less a month.
 
I guess it would come down to what it will be like when completed.
It sounds like in some ways the course is stuck here. Not to say they are not wrong, but just stuck. The changes and improvements have to be made to get and keep members. Yet doing so bogs things down for a period of time.

Im not sure what I would do, it would completely depend on how I perceived the finished unit would come out.
 
I skipped my membership this year. The fees were out of hand, and there were no benefits at all.

Next yeah I will be at an 18 hole course that is cheaper than the 9 I played last year. Better atmosphere, better ammenities.
 
I belong to a semiprivate club. They treat us well and play is fast. Last time we played it took 3 hours for 18 on a Sunday morning so I am rather spoiled. With what you are saying, I would be looking for something else.
 
Maybe take a year off to see if the club conditions improve. There's no sense in paying good money for that type of experience over and over.
 
I've played the other course as a guest several times and it's phenomenal. It's about 8 miles further away but I think the drive is worth it.

As far as my current course, I honestly don't think the improvements will make it better than it was before they started. It was already a tough course (when I joined it was a par 72, 7200 from the tips and rated 134/74). They cut one of the par 5's to a par 3 and somehow it was rerated a 69/119. I seriously think it was/is a mistake. The course was extremely technical on most holes with water in play on more than 1/2 the holes, OOB everywhere, blind shots, etc and many of the improvements are making it even more technical. It's quickly being "improved" out of my skill level. I can go play other courses in the area and come through with the same ball I started on more than half the time and maybe lose 1 on an off day. If I only lose 1 on my home course it's almost a record (I've played the same ball for 18 holes 1 time in a year) and it's just generally getting harder.

To me that's part of the problem, this isn't Bethpage Black but they sure seem to think it should be hahaha.

The pace of play is due to the difficulty of the course itself and errant shots are hard to find and harder to recover from.
 
I get the overall impression that even if things improve condition wise that you will still be disappointed in the overall experience for other reasons. You spend a lot of money to enjoy your experience. If it were me I would change until I was satisfied.
 
6 hour rounds would be all it'd take for me to leave.
 
if it was $5 a month cheaper and only 8 miles further, I think I would jump ship in a minute....especially since you don't seem to think all the improvements will make it a better course.
 
That's about what I expected from you guys. I didn't think I was being unreasonable, I'm just not really enjoying it anymore and they are only making harder aka longer rounds.

I believe this will be my last month with them.
 
The reasons you've stated are the reasons I won't join a semi-private course. Your price is lower, yes, but slow play seems to always be an issue and conditions aren't usually the same as private. If you're able to play mid-week and avoid weekend crowds, I could see making a case for it, but for those of us who pretty much play weekends only, it just doesn't seem to add up.
 
syndicate559 said:
The reasons you've stated are the reasons I won't join a semi-private course. Your price is lower, yes, but slow play seems to always be an issue and conditions aren't usually the same as private. If you're able to play mid-week and avoid weekend crowds, I could see making a case for it, but for those of us who pretty much play weekends only, it just doesn't seem to add up.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of great conditioned semi private courses here, but agreed on the pace of play
 
There's no way I'd stay but that's me. If the course is that technical/members skill level that low that it takes 6hrs to play 18 I'd be gone.

The constant construction would annoy me to no end, especially is there was no end insight.
 
I have played a few courses in that area....which ones are you talking about?

The last course I played up that way was Arrowhead...but that was 2-3 years ago
 
I can only talk for this area, but unless the course is totally private I wouldn't do another membership again. I went through the same issues you are going through with my old club at Silverstone. Course was always having tournaments, slow play was a daily issue, course maintenance was lacking, etc, etc. It was great as its the course I live at, but other then that it wasn't worth the money. Only 2 things made me stay 4 years, location and the members themselves. I finally left last year and went to Paiute, only 10 min away, 3 courses so slow play isn't usually an issue and there are only 50-60 full members. We obviously have outside play, but with 3 18 hole courses I can always find a tee time and at worst play a 4.5hr round.

When I leave Paiute it will either be to go to a completely private course like TPC Summerlin, Canyon Gate or Red Rock Country Club or ditch a membership altogether and just play everywhere around town.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
I have played a few courses in that area....which ones are you talking about?

The last course I played up that way was Arrowhead...but that was 2-3 years ago
Click to expand...


Arrowhead no longer exists, it's a driving range only now. UT tried to buy it a couple of years ago and they could have turned it into something great but the guy wouldn't sell. He didn't have the knowledge or ability to run and maintain a course, especially one of that size so it's completely over grown and unrecognizeable now. The one I'm thinking of joining is The Cascades. It's a full private club and every time I've been (I used to take lessons from the old asst pro who's now the pro at Holly Tree) it was just immaculate.

There are a few others here as well that I could work my way into but they are a bit further than I'm willing to drive and the monthly dues are up in the new F250 range. I prefer the dues to be in the nice bass boat payment range hahaha.

Vegan I work 14 days on and 14 days off and rarely play weekends. Pace of play during the week can be that brutal. The weekends I've played have almost made me contemplate suck starting a pistol. I just don't do it anymore. There is a little 9 hole muni right next to my home I will go play if I want to play on the weekend. I can walk it for 12 bucks and I can count on one hand how many times I've had to wait on a tee box.
 
I guess I'm spoiled or lucky. I belong to a semi-private course and while the conditions aren't always perfect, the greens are always spectacular. Sure, there are things that I don't like about it, like a few of the uneven tee boxes, but they've already fixed two of them this year. The cost is pretty good for the amount of golf I play, and since I walk 90% of my rounds and the rules state that we can't walk on weekends until 2PM, I've adjusted my schedule and actually prefer walking in the afternoon to riding in the morning. Pace of play is excellent in the afternoons, and I rarely find myself waiting on anyone. In fact, now that it's football season, sometimes it seems like our group is the only one on the course on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes we will go 7-9 holes without even seeing another group.

Our average time with a group of 4, one being a 72 year old man is 3:15 walking.
 
Sounds like an easy decision to me.
 
Honestly, I'm trying to find a reason why you should stay. Sure, it is closer but the other place is only 8 miles away.
 
Last edited:
I would absolutely jump ship, for 8 miles it seems like a no-brainer. My only hesitation would be the members at the new club which you say you have played so you probably have a little feel for how they are.
 
Sounds like getting out is exactly what you should do.....I don't think sticking around for all the nonsense is really worth it. Wasting years waiting and waiting is no fun. Go find a nice new club and have fun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top