5 Things That Annoy Me About My Golf Club

I have been a golf club member for almost my entire life so feel I am well versed at discussing what is great and what isn't quite as rosey about belonging to a golf club.

I will preface this article with the fact that I love being a golf club member and see it as a non-negotiable. After my mortgage, council tax and energy bills, my golf membership is one of the most cast-iron payments that goes out each and every single month without any consideration.

From the rights to the course, the competition, playing with my close friends and seeing the same friendly faces every week, the golf club is my sanctuary where I can enjoy the game, socialise and ultimately take myself away from the stresses and pressures of everyday life.

I absolutely love the place, but I am a golfer so I do of course love to complain occasionally - and these five things in particular annoy me about my chosen golfing establishment...

The bar

The bar is where I spend a fair amount of time, and money, at my golf club as the post-round pint is the perfect way to unwind after 18 holes, add up your scores and have a laugh with your playing partners.

It is supposed to be a very comfortable place where you feel welcomed and happy to be in, but my golf club's bar has sometimes felt like the complete opposite.

It's always a bit touch-and-go whether you'll be able to get a drink at 8pm in the summer months and we've had moments where we'll finish up a twilight round and have to head straight home.

I also once heard a staff member utter the phrase "It's my Saturday, too" one evening when they seemed desperate to boot us out, again at that grey area time of around 8pm.

Sadly, at my club there has often been the feeling that the staff can't wait to get rid of us so they can close up and go home. The day's tee sheet is printed out behind the bar so they know when they can expect to clock off and I've even seen the use of binoculars to look onto the course to see if they're able to close despite golfers still playing.

Surely staff members should be on set hours to work as late as necessary to ensure members can get a drink whenever they please in the evenings? It's not a pub so shouldn't be open until 11pm, but I can't imagine it would cost a great deal extra to have someone working the late shift to keep the members happy.

A friendly staff member who is more than happy to keep serving you drinks later in the evening and isn't desperate to boot you out would make a huge difference to the overall vibes of a golf club bar.

Clubhouse in general

My clubhouse only has one TV, and it can only be viewed from a certain area of the bar.

Clubs want to increase their revenues, so surely a simple way to do that would be to make the bar as comfortable and 'cool' a place to hang out in as possible.

I've played a fair bit of golf in the US and their bars are fantastic, with multiple TVs and a relaxed atmosphere that we don't seem to have in the UK.

If there's football, golf, F1 and rugby on, we should be able to have four or five TVs to ensure as many people as possible can watch the sport they choose to.

At my club, if there's rugby on the TV that a certain section of the membership is watching but you want to watch the F1 race or the DP World Tour conclusion, your best option is to go home.

I was thinking the other day of my dream clubhouse, and it would have 8-10 TVs and we would have golf on at ALL times. Whether it's live DP World Tour action or highlights from the previous day's PGA Tour event, a golf clubhouse should surely show golf all times.

Then we'd have multiple other TVs, maybe another five or six, showing the other sports channels.

We'd also have one or two pool tables, a modern darts board and perhaps even a shuffle board. The bar would have bar stools to sit around as well as sofas and comfy arm chairs, and the food would be reasonably priced and varied.

I'd want to spend a lot of time there, even when I didn't play golf, and I'm sure others would, too.

Social events

With my club being committee-run, it naturally leans older and we see that with the social events.

Whether it's jazz nights or tribute evenings, the social events are skewed to the older generation and I can honestly say I've never been to a single one - and it's the same for many of the other members under the age of 40 at my club.

We do nothing for The Masters, The Open or Ryder Cup, we never have poker nights, pool or darts nights (as we don't have any pool tables or dart boards) or any evenings catered to people under the age of 60.

They might be doing well now, but I do fear for clubs in the coming years if they continue to show no desire to make the clubhouse a fun place where people want to visit.

Halfway hut

My club has a halfway hut that I have an unpopular opinion about.

It is universally loved, but I think it lacks a lot of things that let it down. It serves cheap filter coffee and has the same mundane menu every single day.

If you like a sausage or bacon bap then you're in luck, but there are no paninis, sausage rolls or pasties and never anything that pleasantly surprises you.

I've had many thoughts about what the halfway hut would look like if I took it over.

I would serve top quality coffee in cups with my club's logo on. I would invest in a grill press to serve artisan toasties, baguettes and paninis, and I would mix up the menu where possible with homemade items, pizza slices, hot dogs, candy cups and other things. Let me know what your ultimate halfway hut would serve in the comments section below.

A halfway hut is essentially a restaurant, so it should create the best experience possible. At my club, and others to be fair, it seems to be a bit of an afterthought.

While the current set-up is absolutely fine, that's all it is.

Tee booking

Booking a tee time has become a stressful ordeal where you have to log in at the exact moment next week's tee sheet opens and be fast with your finger.

We're not allowed to pre-book anything at our club, including matches in the knockouts. This left me playing in a foursomes match right in the middle of four-balls and a roll-up around 10am recently and caused quite the scene when we were let through about five groups.

Tee sheet booking is very handy, but having it open a week in advance is tricky. Perhaps open it up to two weeks in advance? I also think some members employ AI bots to book theirs, as I logged in at the exact second it opened recently and was genuinely shocked to see how many times were unavailable at an instant.

What annoys you about your golf club? Can you relate to any of these irritations? Let me know in the comments section below