New Golf Club picked out . . . Now for that handicap . . .

Given the financial climate, it was obvious enough that anyone paying silly money to join a golf club needed their heads looked. Over the last few weeks (as well as most of our snow ridden winter) I've spent a fair amount of time looking at courses within a 45 min traveling distance that fell within a reasonable budget. Again, in golf, typically you get what you pay for. But when you're faced with top quality tracks with annual subs of less than €2k, & in some cases €1k, it would be madness to shell out anything more. I also had to bear in mind that whatever we were faced with cost wise, would be doubled as there are two of us.

I narrowed it down to a few courses, Rob preferring Beechpark out of that narrowed selection. Then we discovered Killeen had significantly reduced it's fees making it a stronger candidate. The distance was further, but the course was worth it (well so Rob told me - I'd not actually played it before). In the end I didn't even get to play it as a trial as at the 11th hour, we discovered South County Golf Club had removed it's joining fee.

Rob loved South County, he had been a temporary member there following the dissolving of Kilternian Golf Club where he was a member for a few years. I'd also even 'played' South County before & we were very closed to joining it the previous year. I say played in inverted commas as the course killed me, I found it hugely difficult.The only thing that stopped us joining SC was the joining fees & the fact another club became a more sensible option due to a few friends having recently joined it. This meant that there was always a group available for company, well it seemed like the sensible option at the time.

With hindsight, it still wasn't a bad thing to have done. Last year we would have been down a few thousand euro to join, then pay a few thousand out between us for the first years fees. This way we got me off the ground cheaply, to make sure I was going to stick with golf & not give up after a few hacking sessions. Now I'm more comfortable with the game, & have played it enough to know I can see myself playing for a few years yet.

Rob made the call & within the week we were fully fledged members. Now to fix that handicap to something a bit more respectable.