Background

I am member of one of great Eastern Suburbs golf club in Sydney (at this stage I make the name of the club anonymous ). A few year back our family decided to move further west to get our first step of the great Australian dream: having our own home and we move further west. After a year there, it turns out that driving almost around 100km return for a round of golf is rather tiring, so I decide to put my membership on hold and play nearer course instead. Yes, there is a scheme to put my membership on hold for a few years, so I don’t lose my joining fee when I want to go back to your club later on. And there starts this story.

The Bungle

Let say I pay $150 per year for holding the membership, while the full member rate is $2000 per year (Yes, the number is not the real one for anonymity, also I drop all the frills: house fee NSW GA affiliate fee, etc for simplicity). And also let say the membership year is fixed from January to December (all member have the same membership period).

So, by paying this $150 I am entitled to not paying my full rate for 12 months without losing my joining fee (no need to pay joining fee again when I become active member again next year). Let us also say that after 6 months of holding off my membership, I cannot stand it anymore, I want to go back and play in the club again. The question is how much now I have to pay to become active again?

Well, when I ask the question before, the answer is “it will be pro-rated”.  So, I make a quick calculation: (6/12) x $2000 = $1000. Guess, what? Nooooooo…

I was asked to pay: $2000 – (6/12) x $150 = $2000 – $75 = $1850 for 6 months membership -or- $308 per month. While the standard rate is $2000/12 = $166 per month. They do the pro-rata calculation only on the holding fee and refund the rest, but the full year rate still need still to be paid in full. WTF ?

Let’s do another extreme example: let say I want to be back at the club at November (leaving only 2 months on that year’s membership cycle), how much I have to pay? Yes, you get it right: $2000 – (2/12)x$150 = $1,975 -or- $987.50 per month for 2 month membership… Who want’s to pay $1975 only for 2 months while other pay $2000 for 12 months?

The more normal approach will be (2/12) x $2000 = $333 for 2 months – may be plus some $50 administration fee or something.

Strange Policy, Arrogant or Just Silly ?

I ask that question “Who want’s to pay $1975 only for 2 months ?” to that officer from the club that attend, and his answer was “I would advise that you just wait another 2 month before activate your membership back” … Haloooo ????  In other words, the club prefers to get only $150 from holding fee rather than $483 ($150 holding fee + $333 2-months membership) -  more than 300% income from that member.

I also asked, why the club having the policy. And listen to the answer… which is “to be fair for the rest of the member“. To tell you the truth the the lamest excuse I can even thing of. The club is saying since active member pay $2000 for 12 months membership, then it is unfair for them if other member who only enjoy half the membershipperiod (6 months to pay only half. Can somebody tell me where is the logic here ?

And it become more absurd when he added “what if someone have some financial difficulties or something that want only to pay half for half year, it’s not fair for others” – Well, again absolutely against any sane thinking: when the club agreed to be paid $150 holding fee , the club giving the member a pause of membership due for the full 12 months. If that member  wants to return to the club before 12 months, that a bless for the club as additional income is the direct result. As for the fairness, what kind of fairness more fair than “half benefit, half pay – full benefit, full pay”? Furthermore just at a matter of “financial difficulties”, what wrong if a sport club is helping member that is under financial difficulties? – unless of course if the purpose of the club is to rip-off member.

From commercial/business point of view, this matter also really out of the norm. Since when, a commercial entity refuses to get some more income that not only legal, but also show the spirit of fairness and even sportsmanship more than anything else….  I really cannot understand.

Conclusion

I would say that the whole policy about this issue is not only strange, silly and arrogant with it could violate some fair trading rule (Although I have not check with fair trading as yet – I’ll comeback with it later here). For me, I don’t want to pay that extra premium rate that they want to rip-off from member, I just wait the next cycle. I just can sigh: $1000 is Better than $150, Silly!

Who Is Kenny Perry?

James Kenneth Perry is a professional golfer from Kentucky, USA. He became professional at the age of 22. At first, he struggled to qualify for PGA tour: failed his first 2 attempts and does not even have money to continue. He had to beg around find a local sponsor and church at his locality and finally able to borrow even just $5,000 to continue his golf career. Only after 5 years later finally he received substantial prize money that he used to pay off the loan. He got his first win 4 years later at 31.

Before this week, I would doubt a lot of people outside golf world would ever heard his name until the final round of The Masters 2009.

What happened at The Masters ?

Final day of The Masters, Kenny shared the lead with fellow American, Chad Campbell of 11 under par to play final 18 holes. He was almost 49 years old and he will become the oldest major winner in history should he win.

A few hour earlier before his tee off, Tiger Wood and Phil Mickelson leads the player to fight for the title. But with consistency and spectacular calm he maintain the lead with 3 birdies and 11 straight par and even had not make any bogey for the last 22 holes he played.

Unfortunately, on hole 17 his chip into the green run too far and make a bogey – the first for the day. He was still on the lead and just need a par on the last hole to grab the green jacket, the symbol of the winner. But he make another bogey after too long bunker shot. This situation create a 3 (three) way tie between him, Chad Campbell and Angel Cabrera. The playoff ran for 2 holes and we know that Angel Cabrera won the green jacket.

What we learn from Perry?

Yes, Perry did not win the tournament, but he is the true champion that we need to learn from:

1. Perry showed that age is not everything. At almost 49 years old he can still compete at the highest level of golf where all the best of the best fight for excellence.
2. He took full responsibility of his own failure, learn from it and move on
   “That putt on 18, I’ve seen Tiger make it, I’ve seen so many people make it,” he said. “I knew exactly what it was and that was probably the most disappointing putt of the day because I hit it too easy.”You’ve got to give that putt a run. I mean, how many chances do you have to win the Masters?”"You know what, I might not get this opportunity again but I had a lot of fun being in there. I just didn’t get it done today.”
   “I’m not going to hang my head for this,” he said. “I fought hard. I was nervous, but I’m proud of the way I hung in there.
   “I’m looking forward to [the US Open at] Bethpage Black, to the British Open, to the PGA. I know I can do it now, because it was fun.”
3. Although he is not winning, he is still full of gratitude.
   “I was proud of how I played, I really was. I played great and I just kept chugging along.”
   “I may never get this opportunity ever again, but I had a lot of fun being in there.”
   “I got my mom struggling with cancer, my dad’s struggling [with heart problem], I got a lot of people hurting right now, and here I am playing golf for a living and having the time of my life.”
4. He has shown a great sportsmanship and nobody has ever shown at this high level.
   Have seen any player so genuinely congratulating his opponent? Yes, Perry did. Not only his hand clapping but he even high-fiving Angel Cabrera to congratulate him… Such a great sportsmanship and humility !
5. He live beyond himself. Since he has to borrow that $5,000 and pay it off, he has donated more than $1.4 million to Lipscomb University, a Christian school in Nashville to give scholarship and sponsorship the way he received it before…. The nut has never forgotten its skin…“That’s a pretty neat deal there, to see how that’s grown and how people have benefited from that,” Perry said. “It’s been pretty special to me.”

With this great attitude, I am very sure that we will see Perry still making a news in the short future and I am looking forward to write about him again….

And oh, Perry’s driver is the new TaylorMade’s R9. He has lost around 8 meters in distance in exchange to more consistency and straightness which he is happy to do.

Hope this has been a great story to motivate all of us…

Source: Wikipedia, Various published interviews.