Spring time is always well looked forward too

This is the time of the year that I look forward to most.

This column was written in the week that much of New Zealand was hit by a polar blast which resulted in snow in the lower South Island and high and cold winds in many other parts of the country.

Hopefully those weather conditions are behind us and we can look forward to warming temperatures, some fairway run and longer evening daylight hours, now that daylight saving is in place.

It has been a tough year with the arrival of coronavirus. For me personally it has resulted in the cancellation of golf trips to Adelaide in March and to the Gold Coast in August. The Gold Coast is easily my favourite Australian destination.

The two Australian trips I look forward to with great enthusiasm because of the good weather and the camaraderie of my golfing friends.

Now is also the time of the year that golf courses become busier, especially in the area of green fee players.

My club has been experiencing a large growth in green fee players and that is almost certainly due to fees which we reduced.

Now our club is attempting to convert those green fee players to members.

The average age of our golf club members continues to get older — like most golf clubs around the world — and we all badly need some younger blood in our membership. They, afterall, are our future.

It would also be nice to get some younger players into our interclub competition. Interclub competition is a long way from the strength it used to be years ago, especially at the top level.

Our increased number of green fee players has very noticeable to me. I have seen some very stray shots from players who are new to the game.

There has also been a drop in the dress code, bunkers not raked and greens littered with pitch marks. Don't get me wrong, some of our members don't know how to rake a bunker and believe that repairing pitch marks is someone else's job.

But trying to convert green fee players to members also raises other questions.

For example do they want good practice facilities? Do they want access to a golf instructor? Are they properly welcomed when they arrive at the course? Is there sufficient gear on sale in the golf shop? Are the eating and drinking areas inviting?

Obviously the quality of the golf course is the number one attraction but the add-ons make the difference.

Good golfing.