Wentworth golf club in Surrey becomes UK’s most expensive with £125,000 membership fee
One of the UK's most prestigious golf clubs is set to increase its joining fee for new members to £125,000 – making it the most expensive in the country.
Wentworth golf club in Surrey, bought by the Chinese Reignwood Group in September 2014, will charge existing members £100,000 to stay and double their yearly membership fees when it introduces the new prices in April 2017.
New members must currently pay £15,000 to join and £8,000 in annual membership fees.
The exclusive club is based in Surrey's stockbroker belt and reportedly counts celebrities such as Sir Michael Parkinson and Sir Bruce Forsyth among its members.
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Former owner Richard Caring sold it to Reignwood last year for £135m.
The investment group's chief, Chanchai Ruayrungruang, is a Chinese-Thai billionaire who built China's first private golf club, the Pine Valley Golf Resort in Beijing. It's also the country's biggest golf resort.
Wentworth's new membership scheme is being introduced to finance a multi-million pound investment into its facilities.
An unnamed member of the club said:
This is fantastic news for the future of Wentworth Club. Members for years have been asking for improvements to our courses, facilities and services.
However, others were less convinced. Member James Wyatt told the BBC: "Money needs to be put into the club, and the money needs to come from somewhere. Last night we found out that the money is coming from members' pockets…people were completely shocked."