Golf<\/a> can deliver it too. Completing a decent round in gale-force sleet may not seem like fun when you\u2019re halfway up the 12th, but it will feel amazing when you\u2019re warm in the clubhouse bar<\/a> afterwards recounting your exploits.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n What absolutely does have to be, simply, fun in golf is being a golf club member<\/a>. If you\u2019re handing over thousands of your hard-earned pounds for a recreational activity, you require it to be fun.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t pay a subscription to Netflix if it showed nothing but re-runs of Brush Strokes. You wouldn\u2019t buy a lame racehorse or a Porsche 911 with a limiter on the engine.<\/p>\n Too many golf clubs have forgotten, or have not evolved to realise, that people play golf for fun and that is what they must deliver.<\/p>\n Taking my club as an example. Members are made to feel guilty about the current state of the finances, the ever-rising subs<\/a> and the lack of new (particularly younger) members. It\u2019s our fault apparently.<\/p>\n Well, I can tell them: It\u2019s not our fault. The principle problem my club, and many other clubs, are currently facing is that it\u2019s simply not that much fun being a member.<\/p>\n \n Golf is supposed to be fun!<\/p>\n (Image credit: Kevin Murray)<\/p>\n ‘At Least 50% less fun’<\/p>\n So many of the missives sent out are negative. \u201cWe need to raise fees. People aren\u2019t using the clubhouse. The bar is closing early as nobody\u2019s come in. The course is closed again. It\u2019s maintenance week.\u201d<\/p>\n Not, \u201cThank you for your investment and here\u2019s what we\u2019re offering you.\u201d More, \u201cWell you bunch of cheapskates, if that\u2019s all we can milk out of you, then this is all you\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The insinuation is that it\u2019s our duty as members to pay more and expect less. That is not a way to encourage people to be supportive. If you make it all about the doom and gloom, why would people want to be a part of it?<\/p>\n We as a club must accept that fees have risen by 50% in under 10 years and the club is at least 50% less fun than it was at the end of the last decade.<\/p>\n That is why clubs are failing \u2013 they are not delivering bang for buck. They must be fun for people to be willing to spend big chunks of their annual income to be a part of them.<\/p>\n The club must be an entertaining prospect. There must be fun events on the course, and all should feel welcome.<\/p>\n![\"Golfers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/m7RXJcG3p9ZcfKhExiAJhP.jpg\")
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![\"Salisbury](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/wYmuV6nuX4k2gyCZd3oJZR.png\")
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