WHEW! Finally caught up. Some excellent comments and ideas discussed throughout this thread and great hearing from our Millennial contributors. I found many the talking points raised by SBusch relatable and spot-on. To add to what's already been shared and discussed, let me offer my own personal mico-case example to add to the mix.
Up until this year, I had been a member at a private SE Michigan club the past three years. I loved and still love the course, the historic clubhouse we had, the men's locker and grill, our gorgeous dining hall, swimming pool, staff, but most of all, the membership. Having caddied at two private clubs growing up - one of which being Oakland Hills - I saw first-hand how pretentious and high-falutin much of the membership at each was. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of humble, generous, kind, funny and respectful members at both clubs, but there were enough of the former personality types to know that if I ever attained that type of wealth I probably wouldn't mix well with that group. Fast-forward 30 years and the club I eventually joined was closer in mindset and spirit to my college fraternity than it was the stuffy, elitist clubs I worked at as a kid. I felt right at home and my family and I enjoyed our time together there.
Regrettably and tragically, our iconic clubhouse (built in 1926) caught fire and burned down last June to the shock and dismay of everyone. While virtually everything inside the building was lost, we all pulled our boot-straps up and did our best to make the best of a difficult and unpleasant situation. Sadly, when it came time to renew my membership for 2019, I had a lot of tough decisions to make. For starters, I had no choice but to become a Class A member this year, which meant an increase in monthly dues in exchange for equity, whatever that really means in today's day and time. In addition, where I was previously assessed at 50% of the assessable amount, I would now pay 100%. To offset some of some of these costs I had hoped the club would reduce our annual fees seeing that a number of amenities we were paying for, i.e. private locker, sauna/showers, men's grill, patio, etc. were lost in the fire. While the club rented temporary lockers following the fire, which they placed in a separate building unaffected by it, you couldn't keep anything in them overnight, thus it was a poor substitute to having a personal private locker. In short, the club was losing it's cost-to-value proposition, as I would now be paying much more than I previously had in return for less in the form of amenities and services.
What sealed the deal for me leaving this club was the season walking pass offered by Washtenaw Golf Club (aka Washtenaw Country Club) a once private now daily fee course which was 15 min. closer to my home and every bit as good, if not arguably a better course than my private club. For less than $2k I receive unlimited golf, unlimited use of the driving range/practice facilities and a full-size private locker - including use of the locker room facilities. Having formerly been a private club, Washtenaw had all the amenities of my private club minus the swimming pool (which they shuttered two years ago) and tennis courts, which our club allowed to fall into disrepair and become an eye-sore. Do the math, I was paying over $12k annually at a second-tier private (including food/beverage) and would now pay a fraction of that at my new club, even with food and beverage thrown in. In addition, I could carry my bag or walk with a trolley whenever I wanted, which I couldn't do at our private club until after 3 PM. It was either get charged to use a cart or caddie if you were teeing off prior to that.
Having gone the daily fee route last year boosted Washtenaw's revenues. So much so that the owner who was operating it and the Polo Fields of Ann Arbor (a private golf club), sold the latter late last summer, which should tell you something. There are a lot of Millennials I see on the course at Washtenaw - especially on the weekends. That generation is very visible and well-represented, which bodes well for the game. In fact, at 54, I feel like one of the old guys now whereas at my former private club I was the median age. The one thing I don't receive with my pass (they refer to it as a membership) is preferred tee times, which isn't that big of a deal to me. Whether the club is making money or not is another question, but given how many weddings, banquets and events it hosts throughout the week and weekends, I have to believe they're doing okay.
After Washtenaw's clubhouse burnt down in 1981, the membership at the time had to borrow money to the tune of $1,000,000.00 to finish construction of its new clubhouse. Unfortunately, they could not pay the debt note off when it came due and when the great recession hit they ended up being sold to the Polo Fields group, where they continued operating as a private club for several years prior to going the semi-private and ultimately daily fee route. That said, a lot of former members still play there and, like me, are annual season pass holders.
I've heard through the grapevine that my former private club will have to borrow money to complete construction of its new clubhouse, which they haven't even begun building. In the meantime, revenues there are decreasing mainly due to attrition in the membership ranks (social and golfing), which as a byproduct affects golfing rounds, food/beverage purchases, pro shop purchases, etc. while expenses remain high as a result of the clubs decision to erect, maintain and operate a temporary clubhouse/dining room, kitchen and bathrooms. I suspect some of you can guess how this story will end, as in many ways it mirror's Washtenaw. However, I bring this up because it is an interesting contrast and case study of two diametrically opposed business models. Without seeing financial statements from either entity it's hard to know which is working and which isn't. All I know is that as a consumer, I prefer Washtenaw's model given the attractive cost-to-value proposition. In fact, other once private and semi-private clubs in my area such as Radrick Farms (Dye) and University of Michigan (MacKenzie) have adopted this same business model and now offer season golfing passes to the public at a greatly reduced rate to what a private membership would cost.
I'd be curious to hear of other once former private clubs having gone this route and to what degrees of success or failure they are having? In many respects, the creation of the annual golf pass mirrors that adopted by the ski industry years ago. Nearly every ski resort and operator in the U.S. offers some type of discounted annual pass. You'd be hard-pressed to find one that doesn't. A lot of these operators also belong to national/international ski pass networks, such as Epic (Vail Resorts), Ikon and Mountain Collective giving access to these resorts and destinations to non-locals. Perhaps we'll see a similar multi-pronged business and marketing approach adopted by private, semi-private and daily fee golf clubs whereby consumers have access to them on a local level, in addition to regionally, nationally and internationally via a mix of membership networks and holding companies (Club Corp.)? All I know is that nothing remains static forever and I suspect we're in the early phases of a major transformation taking place in the golf industry, which hopefully brings with it more affordability, accessibility and flexibility. Only time will tell.