Prices for membership at top golf clubs

I am not a member of a club but I am an employee of one. We are a privately owned club, not a share holding club. We were voted best country club in Florida this year. We are located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and owned by his family until 5 years ago. There has never been a redesign of the course but the owners have recently purchased a neighboring golf course that closed and is considering a redesign or the addition of another 9 or 18 holes and a new clubhouse. I believe we have around 900 members(not all golf memberships though) I'm not exactly sure on membership dues but I'm fairly certain its about $10,000 a year plus mandatory monthly spending. You do have to pay to play if you use a cart, it is free to walk. Free practice facilities.

[quote name='CountryClubChef' post='2104630' date='Dec 5 2009, 05:42 AM']I am not a member of a club but I am an employee of one. We are a privately owned club, not a share holding club. We were voted best country club in Florida this year. We are located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and owned by his family until 5 years ago. There has never been a redesign of the course but the owners have recently purchased a neighboring golf course that closed and is considering a redesign or the addition of another 9 or 18 holes and a new clubhouse. I believe we have around 900 members(not all golf memberships though) I'm not exactly sure on membership dues but I'm fairly certain its about $10,000 a year plus mandatory monthly spending. You do have to pay to play if you use a cart, it is free to walk. Free practice facilities.[/quote]

Oh, that seems to be a really nice club! Mucho money!

So the annual 10 000 USD should generally cover (??)
* salaries and running costs
* saving in an investment fund for bigger changes and renovation
* the owners interest costs
* the owners profit

Mine is $5k buy in and $340 monthly dues after that plus , of course, minumum $50 a month spent in the restaurant.

[quote name='SUBPARJ' post='2105101' date='Dec 5 2009, 04:23 PM']Mine is $5k buy in and $340 monthly dues after that plus , of course, minumum $50 a month spent in the restaurant.[/quote]

So if demand goes up, can you resell the "share" for a higher price?

Prices here are around 10000 - 50000 USD for the share, and around 2000 USD yearly. No spending req.


But those are prices for "top" courses. You can get a really decent one for 3000 USD shareprice + 1000 USD yearly.

I'd bear in mind that joining a top notch country club, the initiation might be low or the yearly dues might be low now, but as the economy turns the annual cost/dues and monthly minimums might head up to a level that could become out of your price range and you could be out of your initiation fee. I know a lot of clubs are doing one year no initiation trial memberships, that maybe worth doing to see if it is actually worth the price of admission.

Semi-private and top notch public courses can definitely be had for 50% or less of a full private club. It all depends what you want from it I guess. I live in Birmingham and will more than likely be joining the RTJ Trail as a member next year. 1360 + 9% tax for unlimited green fees (cart fee not included) at every RTJ Trail course except Ross Bridge and Lakewood Golf Club. Best bargain in golf I've ever seen.

I think ultimately it depends on your disposable income and what you want out of a home course. Good luck with the search!

Geographic location has a LOT more to do with the cost of membership than anything else. There are plenty of clubs in Scottsdale and Palm Springs that are a $200k+. On the flip side, there are plenty of very famous clubs that are under $50k.

Calusa Pines naples fl $160,000 to join (only 300 members)

There’s a mother load of courses that are 100-250k to join and 15k a year in dues

I think the top 3-5 in Toronto area are 100k CDN initiation

Holy old thread resuscitation, Batman.