$750 membership at The Meadows !!!

[golfisforfun]

I know this course is not the best in the city, but at $750 for unlimited golf, you can't find a better deal!!!

Maybe other courses will follow suit and start offering reduced price memberships.

I hope to golf 25 times this year and most of my golf is last minute golf. The Meadows is less than 20 minutes away.

$750+ HST = $847.50, or $33.90 per round for me next year (25 rounds)

Look forward to seeing other courses react...

[John]

Yeah I don't know how 750$ can be beat!

[golfisforfun]

It is dirt cheap! I have no clue what the averages are, but maybe the average discount golf club member plays 25 rounds at $20 each, and after paying their membership of arpund $275, they spend $800 or so.

$750 is crazy crazy low!

[big mac]

I think this is just going to be the start of it

[XTOUR]

I can say that the course this year was always in great shape! Great fairways and rough, greens were always green but need to run faster lol

[golfisforfun]

I think for the amount of tournaments they host the course is in amazing shape!!!
Yes, greens are slow.
Bunkers could be better.
But it is always green and from the tips, it is a challenge!

[Wilster]

This is the best deal in the city by a long way, I'll be there next season, at this price , you cannot go wrong , good course , great staff and a lot of fun.

[DecoyOctopus]

I think I'm jumping on this, any idea how long the offer lasts?

[Duff]

I took part in Men's night this past season with 3 other buddies and we had a great time. Agreed that the greens are on the slow side, but from what I understand it's mainly because of the # of tournaments they hold (and yes, they do hold quite a few). With that being said, I agree that the proximity, the fact that they have 36 holes and that the course is very well maintained, they've certainly hit a sweet spot with the $750 Annual Membership.

I know what I'm getting for Christmas this year!

[Marcos]

Always enjoyed playing Meadows. Thought it was challenging enough for me.This is a crazy deal for sure.

[BC MIST]

I think for the amount of tournaments they host the course is in amazing shape!!!
Maybe other courses will follow suit and start offering reduced price memberships.

Don't count on it. With reduced play on many courses and expenses gradually rising, it's apparent that many clubs are currently struggling to make ends meet. Why would they suddenly decide to reduce their revenue even more?

The fact you presented, "for the amount of tournaments they host," allows them to offer the low membership fee. If all 18 hole, semi private clubs, charged $750 for the annual fee, without dozens of office/charity type tournaments, they would go broke.

By all means take advantage of the bargain and enjoy The Meadows as is an enjoyable place to play. It will be interesting to see if any other courses follow suit.

[sabzor]

I'm in the same boat, thinking about jumping on this. As someone who lives in the downtown area and would like to jolt out to play in the evenings the meadows is fairly close and accessible. I have only ever played once in a tournament (so only two of the four 9s) and my main questioning is layout/conditions.

Granted, for the amount of times that I bounce over and play at Champlain/Chateau Cartier/Vieux Moulins it can't be much worse.

Again, do we know how long this lasts?

[jimmyc]

The only thing that scares me off this deal is the sheer number of cheap golfers we are blessed with in our great city ( of which I am one). It may end up being unbearably slow and packed at that rate. Great for the course, horrible for golfers.

[spackler]

The only thing that scares me off this deal is the sheer number of cheap golfers we are blessed with in our great city ( of which I am one). It may end up being unbearably slow and packed at that rate. Great for the course, horrible for golfers.

I think that's the big downside for sure. What happens if they sell 1200, or even 2000 of these? It's entirely possible, probable even, if they don't cut it off at a certain point. It's awful cheap though, you'd put up with a lot more for that kind of price.

[BogeyGolf]

Yes, I suspect that with the price, you may end up having 500-1000 members all looking for tee times Sat and Sun morning at 8am...should be interesting...you may want to play at 8am, but all u will get is a 11:30 tee time...

They are really taking a big stick to many of the other courses in the area with this deal, as well as the discount golf clubs (RM, EG, etc...). It will be interesting to see what the rates will be for the 2016 season, if they do they get 800 members now, and then raise the membership rates to $1000.00 for 2016, or just a modest increase each year... time will tell..

[Big Juicy]

You get what you pay for..... Sure it ends up being a "great deal" if you divide it up by the number of times you hope to play, but does that deal include notoriously slow greens and the most corporate tournaments hosted in the city making it tough to book a time (think The Canadian).

As someone already mentioned in this thread, the green fees are plummeting and expenses are skyrocketing at the local courses. Its only a matter of time before some courses start closing their doors. And when they do, a simple supply and demand equation will allow the remaining courses to re-position themselves. Not trying to be a downer but this has already happened all over the states. I'm all for people getting the most out of their dollar but $20 rounds with the expectation of fast greens, playable bunkers, decent pro shop service and regularly maintained surfaces is not realistic.

[shortdrive]

The golf industry as a whole is trending downward. The possible thought process towards lower membership fees is to get people on your course. When you have the traffic you will also get the residual income from carts ,food etc. When you do not have a good membership base you also loose out on this extra income.

Terry

[big mac]

To be fair, I called the Meadows and talked to Mark for about 1/2 an hour and he answered all my questions...First of all it is not a membership--it is a season pass---much like a ski pass. They are putting a limit on the number of passes sold---300 for the first offering and 300 for the second. Yes this is a marketing toll and the early bird gets the worm. Thanks Mark for answering the questions.

I did mention that if they oversold there will be a problem--he said he realized that and said that will not be a problem.

I am sure there will be a lot more offerings coming and everything that has been mentioned above is true.

[spackler]

A limit of 600 sold makes this an even better deal.

[Wilster]

I'm in the same boat, thinking about jumping on this. As someone who lives in the downtown area and would like to jolt out to play in the evenings the meadows is fairly close and accessible. I have only ever played once in a tournament (so only two of the four 9s) and my main questioning is layout/conditions.

Granted, for the amount of times that I bounce over and play at Champlain/Chateau Cartier/Vieux Moulins it can't be much worse.

Again, do we know how long this lasts?

It's one of the most underrated courses in the city for conditioning , tee to green it's excellent , the greens are a bit shaggy , but still in great shape. The 4 nines are different from each other but , lots of water and trees make it a challenge from white and blue tees
I played most of my golf here last season , and I never had a problem getting at tee time.
The men's night was a blast with guaranteed tee times and a lot of fun every night we played.
With this deal , I'm sure it will get a lot busier but I'm sure it could handle the extra traffic no problem

[sabzor]

The comments of the greens being relatively slow scares me a little bit. Also looking at the card it seems like there are a lot of 'short' ish holes. Can anyone comment on the playability of the course?

[Kak]

This sounds like a great deal, better to have 300 members at $750 than 30 at $2000. Looks like one owner finally figured this out.

[jeffc]

The comments of the greens being relatively slow scares me a little bit. Also looking at the card it seems like there are a lot of 'short' ish holes. Can anyone comment on the playability of the course?

Greens are generally on the slow side. It's always been my biggest complaint about the course. Other than that, its always in great shape tee to green. There are some shorter holes and it's not a bombers course by any sense. I like it as it gives you options off the tee but don't expect to hit driver on every hole. The 4 nines means lots of variety and if there is a tournament on one 18, the other is usually open for regular play.

If I was retired I would buy this in a second. It's pretty tempting as I live about 7 min away but I do like a variety of courses and I only play 25 times or so a year and play with a regular group so we'd all have to join.

[golfisforfun]

Looks like The Links group have come up with their own Players Pass program...

http://www.emeraldlinks.com/#!players-pass/c1jxq

$400 for the program and greens fees that look to be about 40% off is tempting also... Still not $750 for unlimited golf...

[sabzor]

So close to pulling the trigger on this...

A lot really depends on how hard it will be to get there around 4pm from downtown and whether or not I want to pretty much commit to the same track most of the summer (along with constantly jumping on as a single to strangers groups)

[mizzyboy]

It's a great deal and I have played after 4PM from downtown there but having to group up could be the issue. The course isn't the longest but it does present enough challenges to keep you entertained. There's also a lot of courses that have twilight deals around that time and it's always good to change it up unless you know enough people at the course you're considering...

[Golfen Fool]

Hey I want to address your concerns here. Now in the interest of full disclosure I did use to work on the maintenance crew there but before that I was a regular there every weekend. I actually had chosen The Meadows as my home course when I came back to Ottawa from after living in Calgary for 25 plus years. Now I played a lot of different course that 1st year back and half way through the summer had settled on the Meadows for the following reasons.

1) close to home
2) great pro shop staff ( mind you most have moved on since that year)
3) always well maintained
4) price
5) practice facility

Now on the surface the course does seem a little on the short side. but to combat that the rough is long for the most part a lot of the fairways are narrow, as well the fairways are usually a little soft so not much roll to them so a lot of times the holes play longer than they measure. As to playability the course is very walkable with very little elevation change. A couple of the par 5s are reachable in 2 but with some risk reward to them. There is plenty of variety between the 4 nines . Granted the greens are slow and that won't change until a new superintendent comes along. But he does work very hard to keep it up for what he is given and he deserves any and all praise.

I'd put the Meadows up against any course in the area in the same price range ....
And with what they are charging for next season a better place to play you will not find.

[Duff]

Glad I signed up when I did. The price is now $999 + txs. Even at that price it seems like a great deal!

[headcase]

Smart move by the ownership of the Meadows and Darrell Buchanan. Smart clubs make smart moves.

Headcase
Deep River.

[BogeyGolf]

The price for 2016 season has been released at $999 + taxes for the Unlimited Golf Card at the Meadows.