The indoor season starts here.

Every year the same thing happens. The nights draw in, the course gets heavy underfoot, and somewhere around the middle of October your golf quietly stops. Not because you decided to stop. Because it got dark at half four and nobody fancied it.

British Summer Time ends on Sunday 25 October. That is the date the outdoor season effectively closes for most people in Derby.

So we are launching two things this week, and they are really one thing.

Four new memberships

The first is a new membership range at Darley Abbey Mills. Four tiers, and the whole point is that you pick the one that matches how you actually play rather than how you wish you played.

Off-Peak is £99 a month and gives you unlimited daytime golf, Monday to Friday 6am to 5pm plus weekend early mornings, in 90 minute sessions. If you work shifts, work from home, or you are retired and would rather have a quiet bay, this is the one. Four daytime hours a month and it has paid for itself.

Peak 8 is £139 a month and is new. Eight peak hours a month, evenings and weekends, in two hour sessions. Those same eight hours pay as you go would be £240.

Gold 8 is £179 a month and is the all-rounder. Unlimited off-peak play plus eight peak hours, so you can go whenever suits rather than checking the clock first.

Golden Eagle is £249 a month. Unlimited play, off-peak and peak, three hour sessions, two live bookings at a time. No limits on anything.

Every tier is monthly rolling with 30 days notice. No annual contract. Every tier gets your first guest free each session, then £5 for extra guests, because you are booking the bay rather than a seat.

There is a two question picker on the memberships page that will tell you which one fits. It takes about ten seconds.

And a reason to use it every week

The second thing is a competition, and it is free.

The Classic Four is four of the most famous courses in Britain and Ireland, played indoors on TrackMan, one a week for four weeks. You play in a team of two, as a scramble: both of you hit, pick the best ball, play on. Rounds are scored with your TrackMan handicaps, so a pair of beginners can genuinely beat the good golfers on points, and your best three of the four weeks count towards the Order of Merit.

Each course is live for its full week, 6am to 11pm, every day. Play whenever suits you. Miss a week and you keep the weeks you played, and only your best three count anyway.

It is free to enter, there is no cap on places, and it is open to anyone. First place on the final Order of Merit wins a £75 American Golf voucher each, second takes £50 of Eagle Bay credit each, third £25 each. You will find it on the in-bay TrackMan menu under its official name, Classic British & Irish Courses.

Entry is free. Playing is a normal bay booking. That is the honest version and we would rather say it plainly. £25 an hour off-peak, £30 an hour peak, pay as you go. If you are a member, your rounds come out of the hours you already pay for, so the four weeks cost you nothing extra.

Why both, and why now

A membership without a reason to use it is a direct debit you feel guilty about. A competition without somewhere to play it is a poster.

Together they are a season. Four weeks, four courses, one partner, and a bay that does not care what the weather is doing. The final round finishes on Sunday 25 October, the same day the clocks go back.

Grab whoever you always mean to play with and never do. That is genuinely the hardest part.