Your confusing the game of Golf which is an excellent sport and a very good way of keeping fit (burns about 1,000 cals) per round, with the high percentage of absolute wanks who play the game, and generally sit on committees. I play just short of £300 pcm for Gleneagles membership ( including club membership) which is a sizable outlay, but I only drink once a week and have a 5-figure income. Generally speaking the top end golf clubs ( Gleneagles, Turnberry, even Muirfield) are very customer focused. It's the pretentious wannabe clubs with delusions of grandeur which normally house the golf club wankers.
With the Gym thing, I actually quit my membership at Bannatynes for the council Gym, got disillusioned by the inferior equipment, stopped attending and put on 14 stone. I like how the Bannatynes membership allows me to use the health clubs in Edinburgh I've I'm running late. I've been around 40 times already this Jan, so I don't see the £47 PCM as a poor value.