I came across an interesting article recently in one of the local newspapers regarding golf societies in the area.
It has been suggested that a leader of an association should be nominated to represent all of the golf societies in the area to negotiate discounted prices at the golf courses which could be enjoyed by all members.
Noel Eastwell has written the following:-
This idea in theory is a good one but one that is unlikely to work. Why should anyone take on this enormous responsibility and amount of work for nothing? Why should the clubs even deal with such a person? The most frequent argument I hear for such an organisation is that the clubs that do not deal with “ The Association” would be boycotted. In all likelihood none of the clubs would deal with it, they don’t need to. In most cases they have excellent working relationships with the secretaries of the various societies and therefore have a point of reference if things go wrong, and there are many things that can go wrong, just ask anyone who has been on the committees of our societies and they will be only too happy to relay their horror stories.
Just last week I was at a club where a society secretary made a reservation for 36 players. On the day before in the afternoon the club were told there would be only 12 players playing. Far too late for the club concerned to recover the money they had lost in revenue for such inefficiency. Who would take the responsibility for such actions if such an association as being discussed existed and in the eyes of the golf club who would take the blame?
The history of golf societies dictates that personal relationships and efficiency and loyalty will dictate the price charged to societies in the main. In my time I have been secretary of 2 golf societies and had excellent relationships with the clubs. I always booked nearly 1 year in advance so that the clubs could form their budgets around my reservations and was never more than 4 people short of the promised number when the golfers arrived at their destinations on golf days.
Such a manner of doing business ensured my society members enjoyed the lowest prices of any on The Costa Blanca. Loyalty to a pool of 6 golf courses that were enjoyed by the members also contributed to the low prices our members paid for their golf. I am not saying that I was a perfect secretary, I was far from it, but because of the way I worked my members got the best that was available. My advice to anyone thinking of forming and running this “association” would be to try to develop relationships with clubs that will last and where he or she can get recognition and loyalty from the clubs they deal with as part of a society.
In the main golf clubs in our part of the world are businesses and have to show a profit for their owners. All have seen costs increase substantially over recent years. Spain was in a boom cycle until recently and this saw workers from all businesses seek higher wages which golf club owners were happy to pay to keep good staff. From my many conversations with owners and managers machinery costs and such consumables as fertilizer and fuel and seed have also increased in cost substantially in recent years. Now that recession has hit these costs will not go down anywhere as nearly as sharply as they went up, we all know that.
Written by Noel Eastwell for Round Town News in Costa Blanca 14.05.09
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