Outside membership – A reader raises the option.
February 16th, 2009
We were recently emailed by a reader who raised the question of outside membership. Having spoken since our original correspondence he says “I was rather hoping that the prospect of a regular annual income of a few hundred thousand euros might tempt the management in these troubled financial times, without unbalancing the structure of the current set-up” – We requested permission to post his original email as we thought it would be of interest to our readers, and that some of you might wish to comment, and we also passed the email to Stuart Thomas over at Calida International Properties for his comments, which you can find below. We’d like to take the opportunity to thank all our readers for their time and comments, both here and in email.
Both my wife and I are regular players and Academy users (both myself and my wife have had lessons with Niki). We were thinking that in order to move the golf from a “just” a course to more of a club environment, outside memberships should be offered, in addition to owners packages.
Even a limited number of outside memberships would encourage a greater feel of community, and give the course a less souless feel, especially around the club house, which tends to arise as the course is widely used by societies, and owners guests. This would also create a regular annual flow of income for Roda Golf and encourage local players to feel part of the club.
In the current economic climate and with the number of local clubs open/opening, a regular annual income (even 100 members would bring in say €200,000 pa) must be a beguiling option?
Thank you for your enquiry and an interesting proposition.
I am assuming you are not a property owner at Roda Golf? If you do own property at Roda then apologies for my incorrect assumption.
Whilst your suggestion certainly has merits, I feel I must tell you that there is already a strong traditional golf clubhouse feel about the golf course and clubhouse. This is mainly amongst property owners of course, with regular competitions being held and gatherings taking place, as well as regular celebrations at the club house – such as Christmas and new year.
There are regular coffee mornings held at the Roda Golf clubhouse on Mondays, at about 10am, to which I am certain all are welcome, even non-owners. This would be a great opportunity for you and like minded people to come along and introduce themselves and start to feel a part of this tremendous resort.
Nikki, the golf pro also holds regular “ladies coffee mornings” on Thursdays, and I am certain your wife and all ladies would be very welcome.
Many apologies for not posting this information sooner, I will also pass on your suggestions to the management team at the club house.
Finally I would suggest that you introduce yourselves to Michael McGhee in the sales office as you walk to the golf course and clubhouse. He will be able to make you aware of any events and competitions in the near future. You could also ask in the clubhouse if you can be added to their regular mailing list.
- Clubhouse , The Course
- Comments(3)
I, with my husband, am an owner of a house in Roda Golf. I agree to the suggestions that Roda should be opened up to non residents. Out of season the atmosphere is less than fun -except on sunny lunchtimes! At night it is rather forlorn and we could do with extra diners around.
Hi Pam,
Thank you for your comments, always appreciated.
We would like you to know that Roda Golf is open to all non-owners and non-members, in fact Roda Golf is the number one destination for all local golf societies, there is actually a golf competition at Roda Golf today as we write this.
We have passed the comments along to DeVere at Roda Golf who thought it was a very positive suggestion, that, along with a number of other very positive and exciting ideas are being considered at this time.
Roda Golf is a brand new resort that is growing all the time, more and more people are completing on their properties as well as a lot more holiday makers visiting the resort, very soon you may well wish for those quiet “forlorn” nights again, we feel Roda Golf is going from strength to strength!
Many congratulations on your purchase at Roda Golf and please feel free to contact us at any time.
I agree it would be good to have Roda more of a members club rather than having as many societies as they do, who I might add spend little time or money in the clubhouse as most are linked to bars or restaurants.
As the first poster commented, it would be great to have up front fees paid in advance and make good business sense. trouble is Roda along with many other Spanish golf clubs do not go down this route.
There would be one more final problem and that is the fact there Roda decided to offer Golfing Rights for 25 years in line with some other clubs which entitles holders to purchase one year subscriptions, having paid a not inconsiderable sum to purchase these, the current rights holders would probably feel even more dilution of their investment.
Perhaps the way forward maybe to offer these rights holders increased benefits in order to attract more buyers and then offer outside members a deal at a higher fee to equalize it out. Much better to have money upfront rather than rely on societies or a pay and play course which Roda is better than.