GOLF club owner Alec Fernihough doubled his membership with a Utopian scheme – and his vision has won a top England Golf award.

Fernihough, of Gaudet Luce Golf Club, Droitwich, was presented with the membership award at a gala dinner at the England Golf annual conference.

The award recognises Fernihough’s innovation in introducing Utopian Golf, a flexible membership package which is based on a points system, but has no annual fee.

“I am delighted to receive this award,” said Fernihough.

“The way that people live their lives has changed hugely over the past few years and I believe that golf club memberships need to reflect this.

“We wanted to make sure that our flexible membership was as flexible as possible for our customers. We believe that Utopian membership provides this.”

The scheme offers full membership benefits and has had widespread appeal, attracting newcomers to the game as well as time-challenged 20-40-year-olds, juniors and older players who want to continue their membership but are reluctant to pay full seven or five-day fees. In the two years since it was introduced, the club membership has doubled from around 400 to just over 800.