RE: Why join a club
Jon, get yourself another club.
Let's look at the facts:
Your present club is too far away, you don't care for how the club is run, and the dues are high.
Reminds me of a situation I was in many years ago. I had a choice of two clubs. I went with the one that had a nicer field, and better organization.
After two months, I dropped out and joined the club that made going to the field fun (And had much lower dues)