Debit Finance Collections (DFC) plc, a leading UK leisure debit service company, believes that monthly membership debits can reduce the decline of municipal golf clubs.
Middlesborough Municipal Golf Centre adopted DFC’s debit service when the use of municipal golf courses was in decline as private members clubs in the area widened membership criteria. In the past private clubs were more exclusive but as competition increased the membership rules were relaxed.
The Centre did introduce its own self-operated monthly membership service but found the administration of the cheque based system, including debt collection. very time consuming.
The introduction of the DFC service increased monthly membership payments from 40 to 287, which allowed the Centre to forecast its income over the year. DFC operates six debit services for the centre, which encompasses the different memberships available ranging from seven-day tickets to juniors and senior citizen deals.
Debit Finance Collections plc specialise in instigating, operating and managing monthly debit collections for a wide range of private and public leisure clubs. The system removes the need for time consuming administration of payments at clubs, while DFC’s excellent default collection service ensures all payments are received.
Maurice Gormley, golf centre manager, said,“Monthly membership payments have to be an option in this day and age if municipal leisure services are to compete with private clubs and provide a high quality service to its users. I had seen the system in use at leisure centres but we could not find a service that would suit a golf club until we began dealing with Debit Finance Collections.
“We were seeing a decline in use of the course when private clubs were made more accessible and we needed to offer golfers an equalled service. The service stemmed the drop, has proven very popular with our members and importantly helped us forecast the future of the Centre, which is promising.”
John Raftery, Local Authority area sales manager from Debit Finance Collections, said, “Municipal clubs never had the opportunity before to be able to forecast accurately the income its services will bring. Our service can bring stability to a municipal facility as it allows the ability to forecast income over an increased period of time, allow investment for the benefit of users and help clubs continue to do well against its private competitors.”
“As the nature of private golf clubs membership changes,” he added, “then municipal clubs must also change. The aim of a municipal club is to be available to everyone – this cost effective way to pay makes that possible and helps ensure a future for public operated courses.”
Debit Finance Collections www.leisure-finance.co.uk