Lahinch Bleeding Members: Down 500 In Three Years*

Joe O'Muircheartaigh reports on Ireland's famous Lahinch Golf Club losing 500 "fee-paying" members in the last three years.

*However, they aren't starving for bodies either, at over 2600 still paying dues of some kind.

In 2012 membership dropped by 87 from 2,772 to 2,685, a figure that follows on from the loss of 75 members in 2011, a year in which an additional 98 members were granted leave of absences from the club, although many are expected to rejoin.

In a response to tackle the drop-off in membership, the club last year slashed entrance fees for new members from €25,000 to €10,000 and also proposed a new intermediate category of membership.
However, the financial figures also show that the drop in membership monies have been offset in part by a seven percent increase in green fee income in 2012 to €1.13m.

A collapse in green fee traffic post-2008 saw a decline of 45 per cent in revenues from the €1.87m that was garnered in 2007.