“There shouldn’t be any surprises when you get to the
course. At Oxley, we would charge an extra $15 and
they (remote members) would be fine with it.
“But Howlong shouldn’t be singled out. There would
be another 50 clubs in NSW offering similar
cheaper memberships.
“iGolf is not an alternative to membership, it’s more of
an introduction.”
“The way it’s been impacted in Sydney comes back to
social clubs as well. NSW is the only state that doesn’t
allow social clubs to directly affiliate with their
state association.
Golf NSW CEO Stuart Fraser said there were issues
with golfers living in Sydney taking out cheap remote
memberships so they could play in open days at
metropolitan clubs.
“Metropolitan golfers who take out cheap country
memberships are not playing within the spirit of the
game,” he said.
“There is nothing stopping a club from putting a
stipulation on who plays in their open days.
“In other states, the cheap-style membership –
whether it’s at a club or a remote club or access to a
handicap via a social club – is prominent.”
Still, Fraser does think Golf Queensland’s iGolf
membership scheme has merit because it does not
allow current or past club members (in the past 24
months) to join the club.
“I think that model is a very good one,” he said.
“Perhaps they can limit the number of games these
players play, but it’s up to them how they run
their business.”
Fraser said the concept of cheap remote memberships
was nothing new.
“It’s not an issue that has just cropped up,” he said.
“It’s been around for many years.
“It has probably come to light more recently with
metropolitan clubs losing members to remote or
country clubs when they reside full-time in Sydney.
“It’s not going to be an option for people to go into
that cheaper style of membership unless they have
genuinely been out of the game for two or more years
or new to the game.”
Rebbechi believes the major objection to remote
memberships is cost.
“They feel because our $99 membership is going to
stop them paying $1500 or $2000 for a membership,”
he said.
Golf Industry Central Spring 2014
15