BEERWAH Golf Club is capping memberships for the first time to ensure weekend competitors get a fair go in the wake of the course’s growing popularity.
The club is currently signing about 15-20 members each month.
Beerwah Golf Club’s Keith Knight said due to the increase in members wanting to play on a Saturday and the growing level of full rights members, the club had been required to make the decision to cap numbers at 900.
“Full rights members can play seven days a week and, in all competitions, but on Saturdays we have too many people trying to book in… we have people on a waiting list to play on a Saturday,” he said.
“We are going to have and introduce a member level called provisional members, which will be a member who will pay their full fees and become a member…
“The only difference between them and a full rights member is that they won’t be able to book in for a Saturday game until 72 hours after full rights members can book in.”
Keith added that this change won’t impact members wanting to book in any other day of the week, regardless of their membership level.
“This is only for Saturdays and if there is a spot available after 72 hours for provisional members, they can take that spot,” he said.
“However, this membership cap to 900 full rights members will not include ladies’ golfers, as most clubs on the Sunshine Coast don’t have enough women members, and we want to boost that membership.”
The club is capping its full rights members to 900 with an additional 100 provision members, in the footsteps of other local clubs who have had to cap memberships.
Keith said there were currently about 870 members.
“We gained 17 full rights members last month, and 30-40 new members the month before, so we are getting around 15-20 new members a month, so it won’t take long to get to 900,” he said.