Following its success with the ground-breaking Associate Membership, the progressive Canterbury Golf Club in Kent has launched another innovative form of golf club membership.

For just £360 a year, the new Second Club Membership will provide similar playing rights to the club’s full membership.

To be eligible for Second Club Membership, a golfer must have full playing membership of another golf club and have not been a member of Canterbury for the previous two years.

The combined subscription of the home club and Second Club Memberships will need to equate to at least the value of a 5-day membership at Canterbury. The management of the individual’s handicap will remain with the home club.

Canterbury general manager, Roger Hyder, explains the rationale behind the introduction of the new membership: “We have found that many golfers who are members of other clubs also want to be members of Canterbury without having to give up membership of their home club.

“We believe that the Second Club Membership will give golfers the flexibility they are seeking without undermining our current membership programme. It will allow golfers thinking of changing clubs to try before they buy and will also allow incoming full members to get a feel for what Canterbury offers before making a commitment.”

Located on the outskirts of Kent’s medieval cathedral city, Canterbury Golf Club was founded in 1927 on 160 acres of land leased from the War Office and today is considered to be one of the finest examples of Harry Colt design in England.

Though first laid out as a downland course, the gradual introduction of oaks and silver birches along the fairways have altered the nature of the layout that now has more of a parkland feel, though a little gorse and broom can be found on some holes. Set on undulating terrain, the par71, 6,272-yard layout (off the whites) provides a challenging round of golf with its mix of open par 5s, tight par 4s and challenging par 3s.

The club itself is a hive of activity at the moment as it goes through an exciting period of change and improvement.

Recent appointments have included Ellie Walton as clubhouse manager and Aaron Galbraith as director of golf whilst work has already started on a clubhouse extension

The golf shop operation is being brought in-house and will incorporate a refit by Miller Brown, who have recently carried out similar work at Wentworth, Gleneagles and Trevose among others.