This club’s novel approach to membership saw golfers rejoin in their droves

It’s a worrying enough time as it is with golf club membership renewals due without having the doors shut because of a pandemic.

But Haydock Park met the challenge head on – by deciding to move their membership year.

With little prospect of getting back on the course anytime soon as the coronavirus lockdown continues, many clubs have had to appeal for their members’ support while they are closed so they’ve got the cashflow to stay afloat.

Haydock Park’s year runs from April until March and the North West club had only received 15 per cent of their renewals for the 2020/21 year when they were ordered to lock the gates by England Golf.

So they decided to freeze the golfing year and their new 12-month term will begin only when the lockdown is lifted and members can get back out on the course.

To further encourage commitment, business manager Stephen Nicholson promoted a monthly scheme, run by Fairway Credit, and the club pledged to pay the interest on payments for all members during the time they aren’t open.

Nicholson explained: “Our membership year runs April to the following March so the timing of the enforced closure could not have been worse.

“At that point we had only received 15 per cent of the renewals for the new membership year. The Board agreed that members should only pay for when we’re open, so that made the decision to freeze the membership straightforward.

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“The problem with the move to us as a business would be the effect on cashflow. We considered members might not want to pay all the money upfront for their subscription, but the club didn’t want to have multiple and split payment methods.”

Their actions have resulted in more than 70 per cent of renewals now being processed. Haydock Park have also extended membership deadlines and their respective club captains will see their years of office extend into the 2021/22 season.

“We hope to get another 10 per cent of the membership renewing [by a new deadline of April 15] and once this whole crisis blows over the remaining body of the membership who haven’t been able to commit to us will hopefully come back as well,” Nicholson added.

“We had just about managed to stage our Captain’s Drive-In the weekend before the closure which was well attended given the social distancing measures and circumstances.

“Unfortunately, it looks as though a large part of our captains’ respective years will be wiped out and as a result, we have already agreed with all respective parties that their years of office will run into 2021/22.

“We felt we needed to be decisive to help appease our members during this difficult time and that decisiveness looks to have paid dividends.”

What have your club been doing to alleviate their coronavirus concerns? Let me know in the comments or tweet me.

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