Talking golf

THE decision by a golf club in Wiltshire to expel five ‘grumpy old men’ who between them were paying £9,000 a year in membership subscriptions has become a major talking point in the sport.

It reminds me of a story about a journalist who went to interview a former British Amateur champion, David Curry, who had become a PGA professional in Northumberland.

When they met in his clubhouse at Prudhoe, Newcastle, the journalist said he was surprised to find David wearing jeans.

David asked a rhetorical and logical question: “Do you think we would ever get any youngsters wanting to come in here if we banned jeans?”

That was almost a quarter of a century ago, yet jeans remain a talking point.

Continually moaning about jeans was not the only reason the Infamous Five, all in their 70s, have been kicked out of the Manor House Club.

They had complained about T-shirts and trainers, plus seeing white vans in the car park belonging to builders and plumbers.

Welsh rarebit on the clubhouse menu and ditching monogrammed china cups and saucers in favour of plain mugs were other bugbears.

The most important advice I can give any golfers before they visit or join a golf club is to check out beforehand as thoroughly as possible whether it will suit you or not.

Whatever anybody who works outside our sport thinks of its image, the number one focus is the same as in any other walk of life – customer service is everything.

Tony Longden is an expert on that subject as the volunteer marketing director of the Withington club and, for his job, head of acquisition and channel engagement for Santander Insurance.

He points out golf clubs need to move with the times, be more inclusive and attract a younger and more diverse audience if they are to prosper or even survive.

Against that, Tony suspects both sides over reacted and insists members clubs will always need to draw a line around etiquette, sportsmanship and behaviour.

A lot must have gone on behind the scenes in Wiltshire, but I know what would have happened at my club, Mottram Hall.

Suggestions are put to the members committee and then to the membership to vote on.

We publish the results and act on what the majority want.