Somerset golf club launches membership for £1 initiative

Orchardleigh G&CC has launched a membership policy in which golfers can join the club for £1. They have to pay the full green fee rate for every round they then play, but for the £1 they’re entitled to all the other benefits of club membership.

The club says that for the pound casual golfers can ‘enjoy all the trappings of membership’ for 12 months, including entry into competitions, and the first 25 to join will not even have to pay affiliation fees to England Golf, which are about £25 per year.

They will have to pay for each round of golf they play, with prices starting at £12 for 18 holes.

Chris Vincent, owner of Orchardleigh Estate, said: “We want golfers of all ages and levels to feel welcomed on our course. Often, expensive membership fees can deter people from taking up and playing golf, and we’ve decided to try and combat this with the introduction of our new ‘Pay per Round’ membership so that everybody can enjoy the sport. I read a statistic recently which suggested that out of the roughly four million golfers in the UK, 3.5 million don’t belong to a club – and therefore have no opportunity to obtain an official handicap, and enjoy the associated benefits of doing so, such as playing in competitions or playing challenging, high end courses, which often set a minimum handicap before allowing you to play.

“‘Pay per Round’ membership enables you to play as much golf as you like and only pay when you play, there are no minimum number of rounds, so you could play just once a year. We still do retain alternative membership options for the ardent golfers out there, but for the causal golfers – it offers an excellent opportunity to embrace a fantastic sport, without needing to over commit.”

He added that the £1 membership will enable members to obtain or maintain an official handicap, enjoy competitions and social functions and play as often as they want.