Golf’s membership dilemma

Club membership numbers are dropping but plenty people are still playing golf. Kevin Markham weighs up the membership route against the nomadic green fees option.

The membership figures recently released by the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) do not make happy reading.

The headline stats indicate since the 2007 peak, more than 20% of Irish golfers have left GUI affiliated clubs. That equates to almost 50,000 golfers in a decade.