Massive cost increase from last year to this year

[cwilk]

I'm a ClubCorp member in the Houston area and our dues haven't gone up (yet).  I've had encountered no issues from too many members, not enough available tee times, etc.  We even got credit during the first few months of Covid despite us not being locked down and the course remaining open.  

[theebdk]

Since this has turned into a Clubcorp conversation I will add my opinion.  First and foremost, Clubcorp is owned by Apollo Global Management.  Apollo Global Management is a private equity firm.  Most private equity firms look to invest and then cash out of their investments at around 5 years.  Since the purchase was in 2017, five years is in 2022.  How does one improve the investment; increase the profitability/EBITDA, cash flows, and working capital.  Will they cash out in 2022 by selling to another firm, selling to a golf company like Troon, or take it public?  Or perhaps they keep it longer.  I have no idea.

 

Back to dues increases.  If you have a product that demand exceeds supply then how do you balance that?  Increase the dues as much as you can.  How do you set the price for any product?  You understand what people are willing to pay.

 

I am not a member of a Clubcorp club.  However, our private club was sold to new owners back in 2018, they invested more in the club then the purchase price, added a ton of amenities, and increased the membership significantly.  They publicly stated that they were going to keep the dues reasonable even after adding all of the amenities.  They have kept their promise and our dues increase was reasonable.  But now we have to deal with too many members, booking tee times early and figuring out the slowest times at the range/short game area.

 

 

 

 

[oneunderbogey]

Our clubcorp dues went up ~50 bucks.  No better options in my area unfortunately.  Getting a traveling tee time isn't nearly as easy as clubcorp makes it sound in their advertising.  I dont think most courses are overrun with traveling members, just to many local members at lots of them.   

[drewlaws]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:24 PM, CMCSGolf said:

I believe Lost Creek in Austin did the same thing.  Doubled their dues and lost dozens of members over night, so I guess it's a national clubcorp thing?

Lost Creek member here. My dues doubled to $760/mo and my outside cart fee increased to $1,650/yr. Initiation for new members is $15k now. I wish they had increased dues more like 50% and jacked up the initiation to $25k, which would have been more fair to the current membership.

 

Exact same situation as what was stated up thread. They are trying to get the number of golf members down and improve access to the tee sheet. Many people quit, but tee sheet access doesn't seem much better than it was previously. They're still taking new golf members but they never got down to the number they were trying to get to in the first place.

 

They are making club improvements, but we're not seeing anything remotely close to what would justify the increase. Food has improved somewhat. They are clearing out a lot of brush which looks better. However, several tee boxes are worse than I have ever seen them and the fairways and greens are just OK. I want to see big improvements in course conditions.

 

However, I am trapped. I live in the neighborhood and can drive my cart to the club. The convenience factor is off the charts. I have a group of friends that I play with who all stuck around. It's like a game of chicken. I bet if any one of us decided to bail, we all would. The problem is the other three private courses near by are $100k+ initiation, but all are very high quality. The opportunity cost on that $100k is just too hard to justify in my 30s.

[oneunderbogey]

They also just devalued the ONE program starting 4/1.  I will probably drop that and just keep my local membership, they own the only 3 clubs within 30 mins of me unfortunately.  

[Pepperturbo]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:43 PM, bluehose said:

Interesting.... a club I was looking at is now charging an initiation fee in 2021 but decreased their dues slightly.  Still trying to figure that one out.

Initiation fees are typically assigned to a Capital expense category, like new greens, tees boxes, sprinkler systems, pumps and clubhouse remodeling, etc.

 

January fees and monthly dues are assigned to departments and monthly operational and payroll expense categories.   But it depends on how the Charter is written, WHO owns the club and how he/they want funds distributed across the P&L.

[MGOBLUE67]

I've been a member for 3 years and my club in NC has been designated a GREEN club. Clubcorp purchased 2 other clubs in my area which are now designated ORANGE clubs. First they've increased the monthly twice in the last 2 years (+$25/mo recently). While that seems a small amount, the $300 extra per yr plus this increase to double my network clubs price seems too much. Obviously doing the math - a round for 2 at an ORANGE course went from $50 cart fee to an additional $50. And it remains difficult to get tee times at my home club regardless of cost. I'm seriously weighing the pros and cons of my membership, and feel these increases outweigh the good for a recreational golfer. I think I'm going to give it up 4/1.

[Joselo]

in my club in MX we are on the verge of an increase of 20%

demand is huge and not enough tee times

some improvements around, few tees being repaired, automatic water system in some fairways

the club added a 9-hole course par 3 'executive course' but only few people seem to be interested  in that

 

we are 2 foursomes that play on saturday morning fixed tee time 8am.

we are stucked, other courses around are massively overprice way out of our range $

[Ereim]

Our dues went up by $50 Monthly to $800, and we had a 2k assessment this year.

[Mow84]

ClubCorp here in Bay Area - dues went up from 469 to 529 last year, and now they are announcing no more YEX program and dues will be $810!! It’s not even a super nice club Corp course either…..

 

they should just get rid of the stupid discover golf / associate golf and bump imitation way up… thinking about cancelling and joining a super legit club instead as dues there would be the same price as here now…

 

any way we can get initiation fees back? As in the original contract they said YEX until 46, but now they are removing it??

[nitram]

Back to the Op's original question; with 20 year old 1800 sq. ft. homes going for a half mil and $5.00 gas, do you expect them not to increase given the new popularity of golf?