By MAURICE BACH
Student golf membership prices in the ACT are high compared to other clubs in Australia. There is no governing body for golf in this country, and prices are set by the clubs themselves. Students are money poor and time rich, the opposite of the golfer that clubs would like to attract.
In the ACT a number of prestigious clubs offeran array of services and club facilities. These determine the prices for membership and green fees. It is fair but golf attracts young people, and as they get older and more time poor golf becomes less of an option.
“Clubs are having to get more progressive with their categories of membership, and I know with our ageing population we have to do more things to retain our younger golfers,” the mManager of technical and membership services for the NSW and ACT Golf Association, Rod Clark, said.
“Traditionally you get younger people, who suddenly get girlfriends or mortgages and they find themselves time poor and therefore golf is not a high priority,” he said .
The result of not having a governing body for golf as a whole makes membership issues a point of contention for some golfers. The clubs are independent businesses and are only loosely affiliated with associations such as the PGA and the ACV Golf Association.
“The clubs might come to us for advice on certain matters, but clubs run independently and they charge what they need to charge,” Clark said. The executive officer for the NSW/ACT Division of the PGA, Melville Proud, said, “The clubs decide themselves what they do about their membership categories and whether they encourage students or not. Junior golf is strongly administered through the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation and the State Amateur Body. These bodies do their best to promote junior golf and young members, because that is the future of the game.”
PGA Professional Murray Blair, from Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club said, “It’s great to see younger members and students playing golf that’s why we have competitive rates here at the Lakes. They are the future of the game.”
