[V.Narayan]

Dear Dieseltuned, glad to hear you have taken a call based on your needs and priorities. And all of us have enjoyed this dialogue on clubs. I can see you are a young man who thinks ahead and has invested in a house. Right thing to do. A club is a similar investment provided it is the right one - proximity, access, facilities, standards etc. If and when you go for a club membership aim for the highest and best you can access. Don't waste your money on the half baked outfits - a club has to be one you feel proud to say I am a member. As mentioned in my earlier post I am not a club wallah but both club memberships have fully paid for themselves on the business front. As your career grows, as it surely will, clubs have some role to play in client entertainment, building relationships, net working, being seen et al. One club in Lutyens Delhi I use mainly for entertaining Govt and PSU guests as they feel at ease there. The other, a golf club, is used mainly for the customers, OEMs, foreigners, MNC executives etc. The clubs play no role in my social life. But I am glad I took the memberships when I did. As for passing it on to the kids - that may be too far off if I live long enough! - not a relevant factor.

[MHG]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Many of you have suggested to go for the membership keeping in mind that the club allows transfer of ownerships to children/wife. But, In my specific case my daughter is just 3 years old and how can I guess where in part of the world she might choose to stay, where she might pursue her education / career ? So, buying that membership keeping in mind that it will be transferable to my daughter seems a bit confusing to me and has me in 2 minds.

Your daughter may only be 3 years old but it is probably a good idea to expose her to various sports in a few years' time (when she is 6 or 7 years old) and see where things go from there. This can have a very positive impact (both physical and mental) on her regardless of whether she decides to take something up seriously. Oh and here's some motivation to pick up a few sports yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

PS: I'm assuming that the gymkhana has facilities for coaching small children in multiple sports. If it doesn't, this post is rather useless

[Subbu]

Rs.1 million is a fair price if the club is worth it. I am a member of two clubs in Chennai and I use, atleast, one of them quite regularly. It could be swimming pool, gym, restaurant and more often that not, bar. Made tonnes of friends. Not necessarily net working. I picked up the memberships for a jaw dropping price. Check, most clubs have many categories of membership. Not necessarily all of them are expensive.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Lazy Driver

Which year is it? 1984?

Clubs are pretentious & obviously a thing of past. I see people commenting here mentioning that your children will benefit 20 years from now, when they want to become members of this club. Your children might not even stay in your city or country (or even earth, if Elon Musk's dream of Mars habitation become true).

You will get all the gym amenities at a competitive price around your house. You just need to logon to Zomato and find out n number of restaurants/bars to try every day.

Clubs are a thing of past, no point putting your hard earned money to something which always reeked of elitism.

Agree with you mostly. Its elitist mentality that the British brought to India and I think even they have discarded it

Since the clubs have a captive audience, they make no special effort other than maintain basic food quality. Friends took me to a couple of clubs, one in Blr and another in Mumbai. Both places the decor was dated and felt like walking into the 80s and clientele were all silver haired. Like GTO mentioned, you run into the same group every Sunday and eat the same food and become oblivious to the latest and greatest spots in your city. Its literally like being in jail

In today's egalitarian society (especially in the US) a club like this is a joke

Having said that, the number one purpose of joining a club is to network with people in the same socio economic class and has very little to do with facilities, discounts etc

[GTO]

Yet another reason why club memberships aren't worth it = modern apartment complexes which have fancier & more elaborate facilities than any gymkhana! My sister told me last night that she + hubby are planning to sell off their membership at a prestigious Mumbai club next year. Reason being, their new house is in one of those contemporary complexes. Among other things, it has SEVEN swimming pools! Who the hell would go to a club 30 - 45 minutes away for lesser facilities?

On a related note, I was at Otter's Club on Friday. My opinion was reinforced. Makes sense only for those who live close by & bought the membership at a lower price.

[neerajdan]

Originally Posted by GTO

! My sister told me last night that she + hubby are planning to sell off their membership at a prestigious Mumbai club next year.

Can you actually sell off the membership? I was not aware of this. Could you please give more details or dm me.

[V.Narayan]

There are clubs and there are clubs and there are members and there are members. It is different strokes for different folks. For many going to the club is not merely going for a swim or a game but the whole socializing bit. For others it is golf. And for still others it is about networking and using it as a place to do business. For me it is the last mentioned almost all the time. 5-star hotels have lost the exclusivity they had 3 and 4 decades ago. So expensive top end clubs have filled that slot. From the little I have seen in Mumbai only Bombay Gym and to a slightly lesser extent the USO Club have really worked hard to maintain a high standard.

[Vikram74]

Oh well real late reply just stumbled across this thread !! Well I shall put in my two bits anyways incase anyone now is facing the same dilemma! Simply put , if you can afford a good club membership and it’s up for grabs , take it !! Your children will thank you down the road !! As humans we want / pine for what’s not attainable, that’s just human nature. Specially in Mumbai no good clubs are open except for corporate memberships !! My dad back in the day had numerous opportunities to take memberships of clubs like CCI, Bombay Gym but for one reason or the other he didn’t. By the time I had come of age these clubs were shut for memberships and no amount of money could get you in. Well I eventually managed to get myself a good club membership keeping in mind my child would not suffer the same fate as me. So yes once again, if you do have the opportunity to get hold of a good club membership, grab it. Your offspring’s would thank you for it !! Peace

[Axe77]

I think a few things come to mind relevant for consideration. Firstly, 10 lakh is not too expensive for a club membership (although take a call on the quality of the club). Consider what kind of affiliations it has for the rare occasion that might be helpful.

But from a day to day standpoint, given our hectic Mumbai lives and difficulty in travel, I would say a club at the very least should be close proximity to your house and have “usable and accessible” facilities that you need. (For instance, it may have a badminton court but can you actually get a booking?)

In today’s world, a lot of clubs have gotten less relevant for the following reasons:

1. Many gated communities have all the facilities that a club used to offer. So these are right at your doorstep.
2. Sources of entertainment are varied with lots of other things you can do without needing a club membership. So dependence on a club for such activities is next to none. Think malls, go karting and what not. Plus lots of focused fitness and gym set ups that are close.
3. Restaurants at most clubs are pretty ordinary and unlike old “gymkhanas” its not cheap either. Earlier with a lot of clubs the food and alcohol was quite cheap because they were genuinely structured as member owned in a manner of speaking. Now you have clubs like MCA etc cropping up which are more like gym memberships. There is an owner of the club and your membership is more like a right to use the facilities for a one time + annual fee. This is a BIG difference that you must take cognisance of regardless of what they call themselves. It has all the difference. For instance at MCA (I am a member of their BKC club), you pay every time you use the restaurant - you don’t get a monthly bill of your usage like old gymkhanas).
4. There are so many fantastic restaurants cropping up all over, I would much rather anyday go to a regular and different restaurant of choice rather than go to the club for a meal.
5. Check whether the membership can be passed on to your kids (should be likely for a lower cost) and whether it is transferable should you find it less useful (unlikely with many).

Personally, for me the most regular use of my club is its lovely 28 mtr rectangular pool that is conducive to doing long lap sessions. But that’s because despite living in a gated community with ALL amenities, our pool is smaller oval shaped pool and as a lap swimmer I simply detest swimming in that.

But for this one feature, I don’t think I’d mostly take out the time to go to the club much.