ARE COUNTRY CLUBS FADING AWAY?

A recent article by Kelsey Lawrence sent to me by a friend (Why Won’t Millennials Join Country Clubs?) raises a much bigger question:  Are Country Clubs Fading Away?  As anyone who may have read my blog from January 30th of this year or May 5, 2017 might notice, I’m concerned about where golf is headed, especially private golf which in my opinion has a culture problem.

NEW ENGLAND GOLF

Over the recent Independence Day Holiday, we had occasion to visit New England and spend time with our new daughter-in-law’s family.  Being the ultimate golf explorer, I of course took the opportunity to sample the local/regional golf offerings and added 3 new courses to my “resume”.

These layouts in Western Massachusetts and Vermont clearly demonstrated to me the differences in “golf culture” between the different regions of our great country, and beyond.  Not only does the geography provide for differences in the style of the golf course, but the atmosphere can be dramatically different.

Many residential communities have homeowners associations (HOA’s) or property owners associations (POA’s) which govern architectural standards, common area maintenance and community rules.  Since some have golf or club amenities, whether the HOA/POA owns the club or not it has a vested interest in the club’s economics.  Having recently worked on several HOA/POA golf course assignments, we’ve learned a good bit and made some observations that might be helpful.