Craig Innes, a former Golf Club Managers’ Association ‘Manager of the Year’ finalist, stated that members of clubs will continue to convert to ‘nomadic’ pay-as-you-play golfers if they are only offered limited subscription packages such as either full or five-day memberships, even if they can pay in instalments. The key, he stated, is to offer golfers packages tailored to their requirements, which involves flexible schemes in which golfers pay a relatively small amount to benefit from being a member of a club and then pay reduced green fees every time they play the course.

“People are queuing up to leave golf clubs, not join them,” he said.

“There is a need to offer different products to suit different lifestyles and today’s golfer is fearful for their job security as well as being value-for-money-orientated and technology-savvy. So flexibility is key.”

Craig accepted that golf club committees and treasurers fear flexible schemes, and many members dislike them, but added that they are proven to work and can secure a golf club’s future.

He cited China Fleet Golf & Country Club in Cornwall which, more than 10 years ago, surveyed former members to find that many had left the club because they were playing too few rounds of golf to justify the annual subscription of £600.

The club, therefore, in 2002 introduced a flexible membership scheme where members pay £200 per year plus £8 green fees in the summer and £5 in winter.

The scheme attracted 200 new members in its first 18 months. Ten years on it consists of 300 members who have an average age of 45. The average age of members of the club’s traditional scheme, which also has 300 members, is 59.

“I really do feel most private members’ clubs within the next 10 years will be operating on a flexible membership scheme and unfortunately the best thing that can happen if clubs do not, is if some start going to the wall,” stated Craig.

“I do not wish to see any organisation fail, however all the trends are there and failure is a guaranteed way that will kick-start the thinking process to change, and the product to evolve, for those clubs that are left.

“The average age of full playing members at a club I managed at was 60, and only 5.5 per cent of members were under 40. This is not healthy.”

Craig’s comments support research by golf blogging website LDNgolfplayr.com of 32 clubs in London, in which the average annual membership subscription is £1,189 and the average standard weekend green fee is £41.82, meaning that members need to play at their club at least 28 times a year at weekends for it to be better value for money than being a visitor, and that excludes joining fee costs. For some clubs in the UK, members have to play more than 40 times per year – almost once a week – for it to be more cost effective than paying green fees.

“There are also so many other ways for individuals to dispose of their income. To try and justify one large subscription payment for a few rounds per year does not add up,” said Craig.

“Most private members’ clubs must offer a flexible membership in order to survive. We have become too expensive for a lot of people and we must take that leap of faith to accommodate our customers or we will die.”

Over the past three years the club has built the Norwich Family Golf Centre – a 24-driving range, café and sports bar – plus created a new par-36 nine-hole course.

Bawburgh also offers flexible membership packages to suit all types of golfer and has forged links with the sports academy at nearby Easton College.

The club was awarded GolfMark accreditation, which recognises junior-friendly golf facilities, in 2007 and subsequently secured ‘High Achiever’ status.

Speaking at the England Golf Partnership’s County Golf Development Conference last night at Woodhall Spa, Robert Barnard, GCMA member and managing director of Bawburgh Golf Club, said: “I am over the moon, the competition was very strong and we didn’t expect to win. This is just great for the club and all our team – and now we’ve got to keep going forward.”

Marriott Tudor Park Golf & County Club in Kent and Addington Court Golf Club in Surrey were named as runners-up.

Any affiliated golf club in England can apply to work through the GolfMark process and achieve the accreditation. There are currently 535 golf clubs with GolfMark and a further 561 working towards accreditation.

Dr David Greenshields, 33, a former regional sales manager at the company, has a master’s degree in environmental biology from St Andrews University in Scotland and a PhD in plant genetics from Edinburgh University.

He said: “I’m delighted to take on the responsibility for our research and development programme.

“Having been very heavily involved in our Scottish trials programme, as well as having a special responsibility for developing the racecourse sector, I’m looking forward to transferring my work, knowhow and enthusiasm to the whole of the UK.

“I’m passionate about our trials and applied research and development programme.”

Managing director Paul Johnson stated: “This is a natural next step for David.

“However, Jayne contributed a great deal to our success and will be sorely missed – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her hard work and wish her the very best for the future.”

The construction of the Bushmill Dunes Golf Resort and Spa in Northern Ireland has been given the go ahead, despite opposition from the National Trust and Friends of the Earth, by the country’s environment minister, who said the project would bring economic and golfing benefits. The golf club will include an 18-hole championship course, a large clubhouse, a 120-room hotel, a golf academy and 75 self-catering cottages, and create 360 new jobs.

It could be open for business as soon as 2014.

The hexagonal rock formations caused by an ancient volcanic eruption attract 700,000 tourists every year, making them Northern Ireland’s top tourist attraction.

“The development is an important one for the causeway coast and for Northern Ireland, will help to grow tourism, create new job opportunities, enhance our golf product and continue to protect our natural heritage, such a big part of the quality of our lives,” said Alex Attwood, Northern Ireland’s environment minister.

North Antrim MP, Ian Paisley, added: “The Bushmills Dunes course will be a significant asset for the region and a significant tourist facility. It will become one of the most iconic golf courses in the world, generate employment and write a new chapter in the history of this ancient coastline.”

In echoes of the arguments Donald Trump’s team made to support the building of the ‘world’s greatest golf course’ in Aberdeenshire despite environmental opposition, Dr Alistair Hanna, who is leading the investment consortium behind the project, said the area will be one of the best in the world for golfing provision.

“We believe that with Bushmills Dunes, Portrush, Portstewart and Castlerock, we will have four world-class links golf courses within half an hour of each other,” he said.

“There is nowhere else in the world, except maybe St Andrews, where you can offer that.”

However, Friends of the Earth’s James Orr said that while he supported the building of new golf courses, he was dismayed at the location chosen for this site.

“By all means build another golf resort and hotel, but not here,” he said. “Is it too much to ask that we build it in the right place and in a way that is supported by planning policies?

“Planning policies for that area are very clear – the landscape around the Giant’s Causeway should be protected. Instead, a form of landscape trauma is being permitted at Northern Ireland’s only World Heritage Site. It’s like building a drive-through burger bar at the Taj Mahal. The precedent set today is that our planning system still cannot protect our most special places.”

An emergency ‘drought summit’ was called this week by the government’s land resources agency, Defra, which highlighted the perilous state of the UK’s water reserves. Water companies in affected areas are expected to file for emergency drought orders and drought permits that will impose restrictions on water use.

“The availability of water to golf courses is going to be turned off long before supplies to homes are cut,” said Syngenta’s Dr Simon Watson.

“For turf managers from north Midlands to the south east and including East Anglia, there is the very real prospect of water restrictions on irrigation resources. Many golf courses have already had restrictions imposed on existing abstraction licenses that would normally now be filling reservoirs ready for the summer.”

Defra’s secretary, Caroline Spelman, had earlier said: “We have had the second dry winter in a row. I think that it is more likely that the public water supply will be affected, unless we have substantial rainfall between now and the summer.”

To highlight the likelihood that golf will be hit by any new measures, the Angling Trust reacted to her comments by singling out golf clubs for criticism. “We live in a mad world where purified drinking water is used to water golf courses in a country with one of the worst records for extravagant water use in the whole of Europe,” said spokesman Martin Salter.

Golf venues have expressed concern as to what the extent of any restrictions may be.

“A lot of golf clubs who don’t have their own supply of water will be in a muddle,” said Basil Todd, proprietor of the Wensum Valley Golf Club in Norfolk.

“If they stopped us using water then the greens at every golf club in the county would dry up. We cannot let that happen. But I have got lakes and ponds here and I have an abstraction license and a borehole. If they withdrew those licenses it would give me a problem.

“We are going to put a storage area in to catch all the roof water. That will be 100,000 gallons, which is enough to water the course for a couple of days.”

Dr Simon Watson stated that using available irrigation water more efficiently and ensuring plants can make the best possible use of rainfall will be essential for turf managers to maintain high quality playing surfaces this summer.

“An effective water conservation programme will be imperative, and possibly extended across wider areas of the course than has been considered in previous seasons,” he advised. “Courses that may have got by with heavy watering schedules in the past, will now need to look at better management of resources.”

He added that Glenn Rayfield, head greenkeeper at Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club, which experiences less than 50cm (20 inches) of rainfall a year, and Philip Baldock, head greenkeeper at Ganton Golf Club near Scarborough, “one of Britain’s most hydrophobic golf courses”, have both successfully used wetting agents to cope with arid conditions.

The development follows the recent revelation that Westbury Golf Club in Wiltshire is to double the size of its course using what Chipping Norton describes as ‘imported inert soils surplus to requirements from construction sites in the region’.

As the waste material is so expensive to dispose of and there is pressure to reduce waste going to landfill, organisations will pay for golf clubs to use it. In the case of Westbury, this will fund the entire project.

At Chipping Norton, the club hopes to build a three-hole par three course, a 14-bay driving range, a practice green, a car parking facility and a new pro shop on a section of disused land that the club owns. The club will also build relationships with local schools to encourage juniors to play on the new course.

“In order to shape the new golf course, engineering soils will need to be brought to the course by lorries,” explained a spokesman for Keltbray Golf Environmental, which will construct the facility. It previously designed and built an 18-hole golf course at The Rose Bowl, Hampshire.

“The vehicle movements will average 45 per day and the materials are fully compliant with the Environment Agency. Dust suppression measures will be used and the works will not disrupt the usual running of the 18-hole course while on-site road sweepers will ensure minimal disruption to local routes.”

West Oxfordshire District Council will make a decision on the planning application shortly.

David Roy, managing secretary of Crail Golfing Society, has even become one of just 19 people in Europe to attain the Club Managers’ Association of Europe’s (CMAE) ‘Certified Club Manager’ qualification.

David was formerly a greenkeeper at Taymouth Castle, Royal Burgess and Linlithgow golf clubs. At Linlithgow he took on a more administrative role, before following in the footsteps of Andy Campbell, a former greenkeeper at Carden Park who secured the same qualification after becoming the director of golf at Lough Erne Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort.

David Roy said: “The fact that there is now two greenkeepers who have achieved the award is a clear indication of the quality of workforce that exists today. This is obviously only the tip of the iceberg and I hope we can prove to be an inspiration for others to follow.”

Crail Golfing Society was formed in 1786.

Four years ago Michael Sawicki, the then course manager at Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Club, was appointed its manager. About a year later Ashburnham Golf Club’s course manager Huw Morgan followed suit and in 2010, Chris Lomas, who had been course manager at The Berkshire Golf Club for 11 years, was appointed general manager of Worplesdon Golf Club. Last year Adam McColl, head greenkeeper at Crews Hill Golf Club, was named as the club’s general manager as well.

Kevin Jackson and Mark Rayson believe the traditional approach of merely teaching golfers how to hit balls on the driving range is not effective, and will therefore offer seminars featuring coaches, psychologists and fitness and nutrition experts.

Kevin Jackson, the head professional, said: “In the 13 years I’ve have been teaching people to play golf at Ramside, advances in technology and golf equipment have made the game so much easier to play yet people’s scores and handicaps haven’t improved.

“The average player rushes onto the first tee unprepared without any warm up, practice or a composed mental approach and wonders why they struggle.”

The duo have launched the ‘North East Golf Experts’ series of 10 seminars for 2012. Each one will be followed by a practical skills clinic where golfers can put what they learn into practice.

The series gets underway on February 23 at Ramside Hall with a seminar led by sports psychology graduate Gordon Morrison, an advanced PGA Professional from Linden Hall Golf Club, Northumberland, on improving practice.

The governing body of amateur golf in England, which was formed last month following a merger between the male English Golf Union and the English Women’s Golf Association, agreed months ago that its first president would be female. Its members voted at this week’s annual general meeting that instead of having one president, it would have two, and Paul Baxter and Sue Johnson will jointly be the new association’s figureheads.

Paul Baxter is a past chief executive of the English Golf Union and Sue Johnson is the former chair of the England Ladies’ Golf Association and the Ladies Golf Union. The two presidents will operate in tandem for the coming year.

Sue Johnson said the unusual step will be beneficial for golf in England. “This is history in the making and we are privileged to be part of it,” she said.

“Through our roles we can help to bring men and women golfers together as members of one, united and successful organisation. So, I shall attend some men’s events and Paul will be at a number of women’s events.

“The merger which created England Golf was for the good of all amateur golfers. It is now up to us to make it work.”

Paul Baxter, a former golf club secretary, added that the joint appointments will work. “I have known Sue for a number of years and we have worked together in the past,” he said.

“Creating one organisation provides the opportunity to grow the game at a time when membership of clubs is declining and one of my ambitions during my year as president is to promote the benefits of golf club membership.”

The website, which has seen its golf market grow by 100 per cent in the last year, offers green fees, vacation packages, lessons and equipment to millions of registered customers at a reduced rate. This has given some golf clubs a marketing advantage over others, but there are concerns that it is damaging the overall revenue that is coming into golf clubs.

Steve Rumball believes that Groupon deals are as potentially bad to golf clubs as 2-for-1 promotions that have been blamed on club members converting to becoming pay-as-you-play ‘nomadic’ golfers and clubs sharing revenue with external providers, both of which hurts golf club income streams.

“There is a huge variety of non-golf organisations whose sole aim is to make profits on the backs of the golf clubs of this country, without ever having to make any level of investment back into those clubs themselves,” said Steve. “These 2-for-1, Groupon and other deals are devaluing our memberships and green fees, taking profits out of golf and are one of the reasons why golf clubs lost 42,000 members last year.”

Last week a sales representative from Groupon visited Chalgrave Manor and explained how the site could help market the club. But Steve was appalled by the restrictions that would be placed on the golf venue.

“We’re not allowed to decide how much to set the deal at ­- Groupon tell us that we are to charge £29 for a two-ball voucher or £54 for a four-ball voucher, which includes coffee and a bacon roll plus 18 holes for all players. These rounds could be played midweek or weekends,” he said.

“The end user buys the voucher from Groupon, who keep all the money until it is used at my club. I then have to take the voucher and correctly process it back to Groupon. Two weeks after I’ve provided the food and golf, I get paid 50 per cent of the voucher value from Groupon.

“If the voucher is never redeemed, Groupon keep 100 per cent of the money.”

However, he believes there is a solution, in which golf clubs compete against Groupon.

“If every golf club in the country invested, say, £200 of ‘seed money’ into our own, central business operation, we could create our own online presence and shop that initially offered the same 2-for-1 Groupon-style voucher system to nomadic golfers. After a year or two of marketing our system to golfers with Groupon vouchers at the coal face, we will have proven that our system works, and we could stop using others’ systems and corner the entire market for ourselves,” he stated.

“All of the income from voucher sales and deals would go to the golf clubs. And the clubs could set their own time-bands for each day for when the vouchers, or what percentage discount, could be used.

“We, as clubs, have to accept that there is now a massive golfing population that does not view club membership as a particularly attractive proposition. That is why we need a central organisation that is operated by golf clubs for golf clubs.”

However, he warned: “It all sounds quite simple really and quite frankly it is until you realise that you need to get the majority of golf clubs to work together for the common good in order to be effective. That will be the difficult bit.”