Otago golf clubs have been lukewarm over a New Zealand Golf-promoted project aimed at halting the slide in club membership.
The Golf Nation initiative was NZ Golf's response to falling membership.
NZ Golf estimates at least 60% of clubs are in financial difficulty, at a time when membership numbers are dropping but labour and course maintenance costs are on the increase.
Club membership has fallen at an average of 2% a year in recent years at a national level, with numbers dropping from 129,902 in 2004 to 123,924 this year.
But membership in Otago is bucking that trend, with Golf Otago executive officer Doug Harradine saying growth in Central Otago club membership was keeping playing numbers in the region healthy.
He said the reaction from Otago clubs was positive initially, but many clubs had yet to put pen to paper.
St Clair has signed up to the scheme, and Otago Golf Club general manager Evan Robb said the club had accepted the proposal in principle but had to change its constitution for it to work.
Chisholm Park was still thinking about the proposal, while Taieri Golf Club had joined the scheme.
Clubs joining Golf Nation will commit themselves to a series of criteria, including transferable memberships, which will enable members to play at other clubs for no or minimal additional cost.
In all, 83 of this country's 392 clubs have indicated they will join Golf Nation.
Harradine said many clubs were apprehensive about losing money from not being able to charge green fees for non-club members.
The tee times made available for non-club players would be outside peak times and should not impact on people playing on club days.
He said club membership was slipping nationwide, more as a result of players leaving the game than new players coming into the game.
Clubs in Otago should talk to Golf Otago and could give the proposal a go for a year, Harradine said.
"They have to remember when they sign up they are not locked in for 10 years. They can step away."
He believed for the game to become popular again, nine-hole golf had to be taken seriously.
"More recognition has to be given to nine-hole golf. Look at twenty/20 in cricket. Thirty years ago if you had suggested that, you would have got a cricket bat wrapped around your head. But look at its success."
NZ Golf chief executive Bill MacGowan said he was happy with the response, although there was concern about pockets of resistance at the top of the South Island and north of the Harbour Bridge in Auckland.
