Dallas / Fort Worth Private Clubs

[Texassippian]

Curious to get everyone's thoughts on Dallas and Fort Worth private clubs.  What are the best overall in terms of course, quality of members, clubhouse, and location?  

[gs1184]

I have looked at most of the private clubs in SW Fort Worth. They are all within 10 miles of each other. There are nice details on the DFW thread about many of the private golf courses in the area.

 

Colonial - probably the most well-known because of the pga tournament. One of the more prestigious courses. Fun and challenging to play. Going to go through a major renovation of the course and facilities that will close it for a year+. Initiation is going to skyrocket once it is finished. 

Ridglea - 2 golf courses. One course is the "family" course (North Course). Other course is the mens only course (South course) with its own clubhouse and restaurant... basically glorified men's locker-room.  They do have womens only days in the north course so its not all good old boys. Facilities are nice. So far I played the South course, which was nice. Will be playing north soon.

Mira Vista - My favorite overall vibe. Fun golf course that has many undulations. Reasonable initiation costs. Amazing men's locker room. Only course on the list located in a gated community.

Rivercrest - Another fun golf course. Up there in price but not as much as colonial and Shady. Outstanding gym and facilities.

Shady Oaks - Probably the most prestigious course in the area. Where Hogan passed away.  Extremely difficult to get a golf membership. I am hoping to get my foot in the door soon but it is hard.

 

Because of the influx of people into the metroplex, a few of those clubs are starting to vet their prospective members harder. They ALL have waiting lists so you would not have golf privileges anytime soon.

Edited May 24, 2023 by gs1184

[GolfinDave]

You may want to check out avid golfer for a summary (March issue online I believe). If you have good connections and can get into a top club then do that - but since you're asking I'm assuming you don't (me neither). There are a ton of Club Corp (now Invited) clubs around town and they've driven the market up with their consolidation. Everyone on here seems to have a low opinion on them. I'm near Gleneagles and it's 80k to join and the parking lot always looks crammed. I've sort of just given up on joining a club at the moment and we'll see if golf has another turn down. 

[Texassippian]

Thanks for the information.  I have seen the Avid Golfer's rankings and am just trying to validate personal experiences to the rankings and what you can find online.  I have played at a few of the courses they list as the top here in DFW and they were great overall but wanted to get a wider sample as well based on other personal experiences.

[slprince67]

The top clubs in Dallas..... BrookHollow, Northwood, Dallas CC, Preston Trail, Lakewood, Dallas National.... all have long waiting lists and a fairly extensive vetting process.....  that gives you plenty of time to do your research.   I have played all of the ones that I listed, it really depends on what you want in a club for us to give you a good response.

[RoyalMustang]

On 5/24/2023 at 5:47 PM, slprince67 said:

The top clubs in Dallas..... BrookHollow, Northwood, Dallas CC, Preston Trail, Lakewood, Dallas National.... all have long waiting lists and a fairly extensive vetting process.....  that gives you plenty of time to do your research.   I have played all of the ones that I listed, it really depends on what you want in a club for us to give you a good response.

 

I'm interested at what they vet. I understand the financial part of it (should the club need to make an assessment) but beyond that, what would they look at? Assuming that you are a nice person and other members would enjoy being around you (which seems like an obvious requirement). I've interviewed a lot of people at my consulting firm and outside of the obvious baseline capabilities of a candidate (being able to quickly assess a complex situation with incomplete information and hypothesize paths forward), it often comes down to "if I were in an airport and my flight was delayed, would I enjoy having a couple of drinks with this person?". Is it similar in the world of invite-only golf clubs? 

Edited June 1, 2023 by RoyalMustang

[North Texas]

5 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

I'm interested at what they vet. I understand the financial part of it (should the club need to make an assessment) but beyond that, what would they look at? Assuming that you are a nice person and other members would enjoy being around you (which seems like an obvious requirement). I've interviewed a lot of people at my consulting firm and outside of the obvious baseline capabilities of a candidate (being able to quickly assess a complex situation with incomplete information and hypothesize paths forward), it often comes down to "if I were in an airport and my flight was delayed, would I enjoy having a couple of drinks with this person?". Is it similar in the world of invite-only golf clubs? 

 

I'm guessing that the actual vetting process varies according to level of the club being joined. In other words, the more it costs you to get and the more you have to pay on annual basis, the more a potential member gets vetted. If you are joining a club that costs $5000 or less to join and has a monthly of $400 or $500, the vetting process is mostly a financial thing and little else. 

[ElGatoGrande]

Back in NJ, my club required 7 member sponsors of the applicant with written letters. I heard of Baltusrol being 12+ sponsors. If you didn’t know enough people your main sponsor come drum up some sponsors for you but it was taken very serious. If you acted like a jerk, part of the responsibility was on the sponsors. And before you think everyone is well behaved, I witnessed an event that got a member kicked out and heard of a couple others. Suspensions were not uncommon either, mainly relating to treatment of staff, drunk behavior, things like that. 
 

I would think the DFW top club vetting is similar? “Many” people might have the money to get in, but what culture is the club building. It matters 

[RoyalMustang]

5 hours ago, ElGatoGrande said:

Back in NJ, my club required 7 member sponsors of the applicant with written letters. I heard of Baltusrol being 12+ sponsors. If you didn’t know enough people your main sponsor come drum up some sponsors for you but it was taken very serious. If you acted like a jerk, part of the responsibility was on the sponsors. And before you think everyone is well behaved, I witnessed an event that got a member kicked out and heard of a couple others. Suspensions were not uncommon either, mainly relating to treatment of staff, drunk behavior, things like that. 
 

I would think the DFW top club vetting is similar? “Many” people might have the money to get in, but what culture is the club building. It matters 

 Oh yeah, even at my club, a couple of people went on suspension for being drunk and rude to employees. 

 

Acting like that is totally un-excusable. I mean, who are these people?