Dye comes to the UK

No not Mrs Dougherty, but an announcement of plans for a new "tour" course designed by Dye Designs. Would a course similar to TPC Sawgrass look out of place in north London? Or would it make a welcome change from the ubiquitous collection of Colt, MacKenzie, etc layouts to be found all around the south east?

http://www.hiseman.com/media/releases/shire/tdl051113.htm

In one respect I'm really pleased as it will make a great difference for many to the normal parkland tracks most of us tromp around.

However I have a certain bit of anger as this will be a track for the few and imagine it will be a fairly exclusive club? Does anyone know if the other 'top exclusive club' has opened yet, I belive its around the St Albans area and you need to buy shares to be a member?

Would doubt there'll be much active participation from Pete Dye himself, in all probability anyway - he'll be 88 next month so who will actually head up the "design" is anyone's guess.

We have a "Jack Nicklaus Design" course locally - nothing special, which is hardly surprising as the great man came up here about twice, once to be seen with a shovel and once scissoring the opening ribbon.

Doc wrote:In one respect I'm really pleased as it will make a great difference for many to the normal parkland tracks most of us tromp around.

However I have a certain bit of anger as this will be a track for the few and imagine it will be a fairly exclusive club? Does anyone know if the other 'top exclusive club' has opened yet, I belive its around the St Albans area and you need to buy shares to be a member?

It's now called "the Centurion Club". It isn't open yet for play, but you can join now. It's a corporate owned club, so subject to management changes - and no doubt is very expensive. I'd imagine most people in that area would consider Moor Park, Brocket Hall, the Grove or the Buckinghamshire a better bet - at least until it's established. Forking out £10K + isn't much fun if the club only lasts a couple of years before someone decides to throw a six and start again.

One of my London friends predicts this will be tied up in an approval process for a long, long time. Still, good for Dye ...

If its run by the people that own The Shire, then should not be that expensive and open to pretty much anyone to play. Suppose that something these newer clubs are looking at. Attract people to play as a venue course rather then an everyday one, and not be to restrictive or old fashioned in terms of when and who.

In favour. Why not especially if it's a bit different. If they pitch it properly no reason it can't succeed and be a great place to go and play.

Does anyone know whether the intent is for it to host a tour event?

When doing some research recently, around problems golf clubs were experiencing due to the economy since 2008. One thing that stood out for me was the amount of people/investors and uba-rich who had a different business model ready to go.

Most golf clubs were/are struggling to keep members and entice new members. Most of these clubs are doing different payment systems and even new types of membership systems based upon points, number of rounds, number of weeks etc, etc, etc. Then there were the established well managed and well rum members clubs that still retained 'joining fees' and were still enjoying sucess, even though this type of club has seen many casualties, as it depends on the locality and demographic footprint.

The new breed of club however is the exclusive variety, where the more affluent amongst us who can afford to lose £10k or more, can enjoy the feeling of exclusivity and enjoy lush surroundings and not have to worry about booking a tee time, or having to deal with visitors, pay and players, society gigs etc. There seems to be more of these clubs going through planning permission than anything else at the moment.

Would I consider joining one of these establishments? ...... Yes if I could afford it and it was local to me, because I'm peed off doing 5 and 6 hour rounds behind society groups constantly at my club.

I guess the real question has to be, is this exclusive model sustainable?

No, the exclusive model probably isn't sustainable. First and foremost, there aren't that many rich people for all the really exclusive clubs that are springing up. Second, those people who are really attracted to joining an exclusive club will have no loyalty, and will jump ship when they perceive something better coming along. Third, serious golfers (even if they can afford it) aren't likely to join because most of the members will be "all the gear and no idea" types. So the club struggles to gain a reputation for good members.

There's always a demand for an exclusive club in each area but there are too many being built in some areas, especially in London.

That's a very good point, where do all these rich people come from to join these exclusive clubs? Queenwood is new and super exclusive - it would be interesting to know how well it is doing given its proximity to some well established Surrey clubs.

The Centurion club opened in the summer, although it only has a portacabin clubhouse. It's only open to members and guests, but someone I know played it and said it was very impressive.