Werneth meeting its challenges head on
Date published: 03 November 2010
WERNETH is a club with a deserved reputation for giving its members excellent value-for-money.
But, like others in the Oldham area, the Garden Suburbs course has been feeling the pinch following last year’s recession and its subsequent economic fall-out.
Werneth officials have been facing a difficult balancing act.
Yet club captain Derek Ashford is confident that everything possible is being done to preserve the number of members and standards at the course.
“There is no doubt that these are challenging times,” he admitted.
“Like everyone else, we are feeling the financial pressure, but we have a reputation for having the lowest fees in the area and we are trying to maintain that – to be a member at Werneth is cheaper than anywhere else in the District.
“That creates its own financial pressure, but we do try to maintain course standards and it is widely acknowledged that our greens are the best in the area.”
While happy with the way Werneth are meeting tough circumstances head on, officials are keen to move with the times.
“We need to remove the stuffiness associated with golf clubs and to that end we now allow jeans to be worn in the clubhouse.
“There were one or two of the older brigade not too happy about that, but we are trying to make this a club which people can enjoy and feel relaxed in and this is one way to do that.”
Werneth have introduced a number of measures to ease the financial pressures on its members.
Membership payments can be made in instalments and if new members join midway through the year, they only have pro-rata fees to meet.
With signing-on fees a thing of the past for most clubs, a percentage of golfers choose to switch clubs from year to year.
But Mr Ashford said that although that situation occurs at Werneth, membership tends to stay at around 400.
“Obviously, we hope to attract even more,” he said.
“And there is a dearth of members in the 20-30 category which can be put down to them taking part in other sports, having first-time mortgages and paying off university fees.”
The hiring of the club for functions and Sunday afternoon catering for families in the Garden Suburbs area are two other ways in which Werneth hope to increase turnover.
