I am doing research into golf membership behaviors.

I need both states ? a member prospect as well as a member that is
very close or very likely to quit their membership.

I suspect that the reasons can be explicitly identified ? which then
leads me to query what behaviors could lead to either joining or
quitting.

For example, most people could list reasons to join, social needs,
golf improvement interest, exclusivity esteem etc. The question is
what behaviors might be evident in a person who has the social needs
that are likely to be met through a golf membership

Another example might be that people quit because of cost, lack of
access for specific tee times, health deterioration etc. The question
again is what behaviors could be observed that might result in a
person quitting because of cost..

So reasons are very helpful and behaviors are the holy grail!

I'm an individual in the position of making a "join the club"
decision.  I've been contemplating for some time.  Contact me if you'd
like to discuss the issues as I've discerned them.

Interesting situation for you I'm sure. I was a member of a golf club
for about 5 years. There are several reasons I joined and several when
I quit. While my personal reasons and yours might be indicative of the
general population, my enquiry was more along the lines of collecting
core research data.

In terms of my reasons to join, they were:

1. I hoped my kids would play with me (they felt golf was uninteresting)
2. I hoped it would be an easier way to get good tee times (turns out
I had better luck getting primo tee times at most local public courses
when I couldn't get a good tee time at my own !!)
3. I thought I would learn the game by playing more. I did accomplish
this objective.

Reasons to quit:

1. Got tired of getting nickeled and dimed for every thing at the
course (pay x for keeping handicap, pay y extended membership, got
levied a charge for paying dues on credit card (subsequently was
reversed, but damage done), pay another fee for using a cart and told
I had to use a cart on weekend mornings..)
2. Found out that the "relationship" thing between my self and other
members didn't pan out - as much me as the rest of the group, but be
prepared for a "clik" that may be hard to get through.
3. Financially I could never recover the monthly fees vs. the number
of times I played.. Ultimately the growth of local public courses has
been so huge that tee times are never a problem and I end up saving
money by playing a variety of courses.

Hope this helps.

Let me know if you run across any research