SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT ON
PUTTENHAM Puttenham Golf Club, nestling in the foothills of the Hogs Back just off the A31 in Surrey celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2019.
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he club ran many very well supported events throughout the year to mark the milestone, however the most popular decision that was made by the club to celebrate 125 years was to reduce the full membership subscription to just £1,250 (not just for new members but for existing members as well) and to fix this price for a three year period. Twelve months into this three-year plan and Puttenham Golf Club is definitely a club on the up and looking forward to its next 125 years. Across all categories over 100 new members joined Puttenham Golf Club in 2019 and the start of 2020 has been just as buoyant. Gary Simmons the Secretary/ Manager at Puttenham said “Embarking on the Puttenham 125 Project was a calculated risk. The club
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was effectively giving away considerable guaranteed income by reducing existing member subscriptions by offering both new and existing members the same price of £1,250 and fixing the price for three years. Too many businesses reduce prices to new customers who they don’t know from Adam and expect their loyal customers to keep on paying the full rate. We aim to reward customer loyalty and our retention rate has been phenomenal since the launch of Project 125”. Les Bygrave who became a member at Puttenham in April of 2019 described his experience in glowing terms, “You know what it’s like, you’ve been a member at a club for years and you feel comfortable, you know the course, the staff, even the management! Well, that was me up
until April 2019. I play regularly with my brother, so we both decided to go and visit Puttenham for a game – let me say at this point, it really was the best golfing decision we’ve ever made. As we stood on the 3rd tee, with its risk and reward tee shot beckoning, and with those superb views across the hog’s back laid before us, my brother turned to me and said – “I’m joining, this place is fantastic”. That was in March 2019, and now coming up to the end of our first year at Puttenham I can only reinforce those initial favourable impressions. Members have welcomed us with open arms, giving us opportunities to join in with one of many ‘roll ups’ the club operates over every weekend. Competitions are plentiful, the course, which is predominantly based on sandy soil drains extremely quickly
SURREY GOLF MAGAZINE
