Crown Golf, the UK’s largest golf course owner/operator, has introduced a special ‘credit crunch membership initiative’ in response to the economic downturn.
For the first time the group has added a redundancy clause to its membership packages allowing golfers to suspend their membership if they lose their job.
In addition, the group is also allowing members to transfer membership to another player if they can no longer afford it.
The initiative has been brought in by Crown Golf to respond to the needs of their members across their club network – which amounts to more than 22,000 golfers at 34 golf clubs across the country.
Announcing the initiative, Crown Golf chief executive officer, Stephen Lewis, said today, “We recognise that taking an annual golf club membership can be seen as a big commitment, so we are determined to give added value to our members – both those renewing memberships and those taking new ones.
“This is the first time we have brought in a redundancy clause and allowed golfers to transfer memberships to another player if money gets tight. Crown Golf is a very forward-thinking organisation, we care about our members and we feel this is the right thing to do in the current climate.
“Members are the lifeblood of the club. We appreciate their commitment to us and it is vital that we build long-term relationships with them by offering membership products that are attractive and fit their lifestyles. As an industry we have to recognise the situation that many golfers may face in the coming months.”
Their ‘credit crunch’ membership initiative also allows an individual club member to play up to eight rounds of golf a year at each of the other clubs in their network.
Crown Golf www.crown-golf.co.uk