Alliss and Jones support new club initiative

PETER Alliss, the veteran golf broadcaster, and Sandy Jones, the long-serving chief executive of the PGA, have thrown their weight behind a new membership concept for the "modern-day golfer".

The De Vere Club, a 1 million project launched by the hotel group, offers membership at 11 venues, comprising 16 courses, for 295 and is being aimed primarily at "nomadic" golfers, namely those who either can't afford the time or money to take out a traditional membership.

The new scheme, which has been in the pipeline for nearly a year, has been rolled out at a time when, according to a leading sports marketing survey company, memberships at golf clubs in the United Kingdom are static at 1.2 million despite subscriptions being reduced.

For their joining fee, members of The De Vere Club will receive points that will enable them to play a certain number of rounds per year at venues that include The Carrick on Loch Lomond, Slaley Hall in Northumberland and Carden Park in Cheshire.

The number of rounds, which can be played at more than one venue, will vary depending on whether the member prefers to play at the weekend or during the week but, on average, the figure is likely to be between nine and 14.

Alliss, who has taken up the post as honorary captain of the De Vere Club, says he sees its benefits at a time when he believes everyone in the game has to move with the times.

Speaking at the club's launch yesterday at Oulton Hall, on the outskirts of Leeds, Alliss said: "The game has evolved over the last 100 years or so and it has certainly changed in the last few years. I am looked upon as a dinosaur but I'm a pretty slick-moving dinosaur. I get annoyed when people live in the past and don't see the change.

"I'm a great believer in keeping certain standards (in golf] but, at the same time, I think a lot of clubs need to change. The De Vere Club concept could change the way people become members of a golf club for years to come."

De Vere has invested 25million in the golf side of its business in the last three years. A fair chunk of that was pumped in to The Carrick.

Jones welcomed this new attempt to help the growth of the game. "This sort of membership should not only bring back those who have been lost to golf but also bring families and new golfers into the game," said the PGA chief executive.

"Over the last 120 years we've had a club environment in golf that stayed the same way and there are core values that have remained the same and, hopefully, will continue. However, we need to place golf in a modern era and it didn't take long for the PGA to endorse this."