Private club membership - from junior to regular member

[klebs01]

1 hour ago, david.c.w said:

 

Located in the Atlanta area.  Been around since 1969.  Non-equity, member owned.  Under 36 years old pays over $25k initiation.  You are going to get a lot of pushback on your bolded statement.  In my experience it is the opposite.  Younger members use the club 4x of older members.  This is also the experience of my peers at other clubs.  I am under 50 (barely).

 

the bolder statement is absolutely true. The members that show up and keep to themselves usually don’t last long. I’m guess the members you are talking about have engrained themselves in to social

asp of the club. 

[david.c.w]

3 minutes ago, klebs01 said:

the bolder statement is absolutely true. The members that show up and keep to themselves usually don’t last long. I’m guess the members you are talking about have engrained themselves in to social

asp of the club. 

 

I still believe it has to do with your financial investment in a club.  Are there young people with FU money who drop $30k and move on?  Sure.  They are not the norm.  If you invest that kind of money into a club in your 20's or early 30's, you likely have set down roots in your home, your community, and your club.

[daegyu]

18 minutes ago, david.c.w said:

Can you give a range of the check that you had to stroke to be one of the 75?

Was 3-4k depending on age bracket for junior executive. I think I recall seeing that both those figures went up $2k since I joined 2 years ago. 

[david.c.w]

1 minute ago, daegyu said:

Was 3-4k depending on age bracket for junior executive. I think I recall seeing that both those figures went up $2k since I joined 2 years ago. 

 

Ok, so very minor starting investment.  That seems like a very low IF for an equity club that charges $700/month dues.  

[klebs01]

5 minutes ago, david.c.w said:

 

Ok, so very minor starting investment.  That seems like a very low IF for an equity club that charges $700/month dues.  

just depends on market conditions. I’ve seen $10k down that could get waived if the club would be a second club, but dues were annual and $12k. All different situations. 

[daegyu]

11 minutes ago, david.c.w said:

 

Ok, so very minor starting investment.  That seems like a very low IF for an equity club that charges $700/month dues.  

 

Dues when I first joined was $490/mo. Dues for junior executive went up 42% in the last 2 years. Dues for regular members went up 22% in the same span. Maybe they want to lower the number of junior members and we're not all that important after all lol. 

 

At any rate, I'm starting to realize private club membership is like real estate, hyper localized. Golf in Southern California got hit hard by the Covid boom and there are lots of younger golfers out there trying to join private clubs. If I resign my membership I doubt it'll take them very long to find someone to take my place. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by daegyu

[ChipDriver]

12 hours ago, daegyu said:

 

I guess "cheap" is relative. Junior executive rates are around 30% less than full member rates, which still comes out to around $700/mo. 

 

You're comparing apples with road-apples.

 

"30% less" than that specific club's full-adult-fare is the operative comparison.   If the $700/mo is more expensive compared to other adults at your club - I would agree - but that's a decision you made a long time ago.

 

As I mentioned in my first post - there is no savings or smart way to do this.  It's a private club - it almost never makes good financial sense - it's a luxury.

[ChipDriver]

7 hours ago, daegyu said:

 

Dues when I first joined was $490/mo. Dues for junior executive went up 42% in the last 2 years. Dues for regular members went up 22% in the same span. Maybe they want to lower the number of junior members and we're not all that important after all lol. 

 

At any rate, I'm starting to realize private club membership is like real estate, hyper localized. Golf in Southern California got hit hard by the Covid boom and there are lots of younger golfers out there trying to join private clubs. If I resign my membership I doubt it'll take them very long to find someone to take my place. 

Sadly you're right....and the Jr. Members are a good way for a club to pay for improvements - knowing that people will pay to play "temporarily" b/c of the exact situation you are talking about.  When faced with "do you want to join "again" - there are many that simply won't.   But they got to play private-club-golf for a while; and the full-members got some subsidy.   Win/win.

[T_Golf_23]

1 hour ago, ChipDriver said:

Sadly you're right....and the Jr. Members are a good way for a club to pay for improvements - knowing that people will pay to play "temporarily" b/c of the exact situation you are talking about.  When faced with "do you want to join "again" - there are many that simply won't.   But they got to play private-club-golf for a while; and the full-members got some subsidy.   Win/win.

deleted

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by T_Golf_23

[J_Birdie]

My current club has no jr membership period but I can tell you how another local club I almost joined told it to me. 

 

This other club the jr. initiation was 5k while the regular initiation was 30k. Upon turning 40 you would then pay the balance of the current initiation minus the 5k you already put in. 

 

Thus you had an option on signing day: 

 

1) Pay junior membership initiation and wait to see what the current one would be (in my case 12 years down the road) at age 39

 

or

 

2) Pay the regular initiation now and be done with initiations forever.