Bill Shock and the Death of Little Treats: Why Golf Clubs Must Double Down on Quality

My wife sent me a Guardian article this week, it's been bothering me all week. It's about a £5 coffee.

Not a special coffee. Just a bog-standard oat milk latte from a chain in Berkshire. Five pounds. And the writer - columnist Gaby Hinsliff - describes the shock of it, that moment when you look at the card reader and think "Christ, really?"

She's right to be shocked. But it's not just coffee. It's everything.

She goes on to point out, a family lunch at Pizza Express now routinely breaks £100.

We're all seeing it, aren't we… a pub main that was £13 three years ago is now £20. The little treats that used to brighten ordinary days - a magazine for the bath, cinema tickets, fresh flowers; they increasingly feel like guilty extravagances.

Hinsliff calls this "bill shock" - when our internal sense of what things "ought" to cost can't keep up with inflation. Market researchers Savanta found that 43% of diners across 160 high street chains admitted to experiencing it, up from 30% in 2017.

And here's what got me: she describes how it makes life feel "grey and drab," how it undermines optimism about the country more broadly. For many Gen Xers and millennials, it feels like sliding backwards to our childhoods, when eating out was strictly for special occasions.

I feel this personally. I’ve began to notice the price of things more and more of late. Like many, I'm concerned about what the November budget might mean for the hospitality industry. I think next spring we might see some really tricky trading conditions; what that means is… I worry we're accelerating toward a world where eating out becomes genuinely unaffordable for ordinary people.

So what does this have to do with golf clubs?

Everything. Because your members are feeling this squeeze everywhere else in their lives. And they're making choices about where to cut back.

The Temptation (And Why It's Wrong)

The obvious response is to drop prices. Cap your coffee at £3.50. Do meal deals. Be the "affordable option."… the trouble is, it's a race to the bottom.

I think that's a death spiral.

Golf clubs can't compete with Wetherspoons on price. You shouldn't try. Your operational model - qualified chefs, proper facilities, membership overheads - makes budget pricing impossible without sacrificing quality.

My view on bill shock is: it's not really about the price. It's about the value.

People don't feel shocked when they pay £5 for exceptional coffee, beautifully made, in a lovely environment. They feel shocked when they pay £5 for mediocre coffee in a tired setting with indifferent service.

The shock is the gap between what you paid and what you got.

What Members Are Actually Cutting

When people tighten their belts, they don't cut spending randomly. They cut the mediocre first.

The inconsistent. The overpriced-for-what-it-is. The places where they feel taken for granted.

They protect the spending that feels worth it.

Your job - our job as an industry - isn't to be the cheapest. It's to be the spending members choose to protect.

Show Your Working

I believe the solution is communication and transparency.

Your members aren't idiots. Many are business owners, professionals, people who understand economics. They know things cost money. What they resent is being taken for a ride

So show them you're not.

Your menu and service style shouldn't just list prices. It should justify them.

"Our bacon roll is £6.50. That's free-range bacon from [local farm], dry-cured for 14 days, on sourdough from [local bakery], made fresh to order by a qualified chef."

Not defensively. Proudly.

When you break it down - food cost, labour, overheads, a modest margin that goes back into improving the clubhouse - members get it. They respect it.

What they don't respect is paying £4.50 for mediocre coffee with no explanation of why it costs that much.

The Three Things That Matter

If you're serious about combating bill shock without racing to the bottom, focus on these:

1. Consistency - Tuesday's club sandwich must be identical to Saturday's. No surprises, no disappointments, no "oh, the chef's different today." Make predictability your superpower.

2. Sweat the small stuff - Fresh flowers, immaculate toilets with nice soap, proper coffee. These cost pennies and communicate everything about whether you respect members' spending.

3. Explain everything - Don't assume members know you're using good ingredients or understand your pricing. Tell them. Show them. Be proud of what you're doing.

The Economic Reality

None of this is about being nice at the expense of commercial reality.

Golf clubs have a structural advantage: membership subscriptions cover most overheads. That means F&B can focus on value perception and member satisfaction, not maximum margin extraction.

But that advantage only works if you use it properly. If you deliver mediocre quality at high prices, members will stop using the clubhouse. They'll play golf and leave. Your F&B revenue dies.

If you deliver genuine quality at fair prices with transparent pricing? They bring guests, they stay for lunch, they use it as a meeting space. The lifetime value is exponentially higher.

Quality is defensible. Price isn't.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Members ARE cutting back. The article is right about that. And given all the noises… November's budget will make things harder, not easier.

But they're not cutting back on everything equally. They're cutting the stuff that doesn't feel worth it.

Your job is to make your clubhouse the spending that feels justified.

Not through cheaper prices.

Through unambiguous quality, transparent pricing, consistent delivery, and attention to detail that makes members feel respected rather than exploited.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

In an era of bill shock, that distinction matters more than ever.

The Challenge

This is harder than price-cutting. It requires better suppliers, better trained staff, consistent standards, attention to detail, and transparent communication.

But it's also the only sustainable path.

Because you can't win a race to the bottom against chains with massive purchasing power. But you absolutely can win on quality, consistency, and making members feel their spending is justified.

The Guardian article ends with a brilliant line: "But it might be time to get a Thermos."

I disagree.

It might be time for golf clubs to prove that some treats - done properly, priced fairly, delivered consistently - are still worth it.

What are you doing to combat bill shock at your club? Not through cheaper prices, but through undeniable value? I'd genuinely love to hear what's working.

Quick one — if you’ve not done this yet, my scorecard helps you spot gaps across guest experience, costs, and day-to-day ops. Takes a few minutes and you’ll get a proper report at the end.