Entry fees tumble as clubs battle to make the cut

Even the quickest glance through the Irish Examiner’s revealing survey of Irish golf clubs will confirm these are times as tough for them as any sector of this country’s still fragile economy.

Yet like many, the golf industry is fighting tooth and nail to keep its head above water. What this straw poll reveals is that different clubs are finding different ways survive.

But one of the common themes appears to be that the era of the entry fee to golf club memberships is coming to an end. Even those that are still charging new members to join their clubs are doing so at considerably lower amounts than they were at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom.