Membership to Club in Chicago

[Walkerdb7]

I am a Kemper member. Kemper's layout is an extremely challenging. It's hosted a men's and ladies' major. It does not have country club amenities though, if that maters. The course is very well maintained, but not sure what country clubs are in "bad" shape.

Kemper is not a men's club, but without a pool and being a hard a** golf course, the majority of the faces in the bar or on the course are men.

Also, Kemper is part of the Troon network. If you travel, you can look to get a round a round at another private club managed by Troon.

 

[underwaterDMS]

On 3/19/2024 at 4:03 PM, bankdiddy05 said:

Thanks for the detailed response. That gives me a lot to think about. RM has a higher initiation and monthly dues but also has the pool. Although I don't think my kids would be loving the 30 minute car ride to get there. I would play the Glen a lot with that setup.

Yeah.  It sounds like you need to be thinking about what exactly you're looking for and how you plan to use whatever club you wind up joining.  Is it a family play?  Is it strictly a golf play?  Proximity to where you live?  While I really like the course at RM, it would never work for me from a proximity perspective.  From a family play, they have all the other "stuff" like pool, paddle, pickle, etc.  Speaking of, if you do any of those racquet sports, they recently build new paddle and pickle courts and pickle hut.  Obviously if you/your family don't use that stuff, the value added is zero.  Assuming you have a short commute to the Glen (which I figure you do coming from Wilmette), I'd almost consider a membership at RM like a dual membership with the Glen.  You can wind up playing there ridiculously cheap.  And you'd still have more of a full-service country club at RM with the pool and racquet sports for the family.

 

Finding the right spot wound up being a long process for me.  Very recently, I finally joined a full service country club as opposed to just a golf club, as I hope/anticipate that as my children get older, they will get into golf, tennis/paddle, etc.  I'm in the city, so the reality is, 20-30 minutes commute is kind of a bare minimum for any places I was considering.  Is the 30 minute commute for you to RM a deal breaker when it comes to taking the kids to the pool, to play racquet sports, etc?  Obviously from where you live in the North Shore, there are much closer full-service country clubs, but you'd be talking about a massive increase in downstroke compared to RM...

[Marlo989]

On 3/19/2024 at 12:19 AM, bankdiddy05 said:

Think I’m about to pull the trigger and join Kemper lakes. I live in Wilmette so a little bit of a drive. I think royal Melbourne has reciprocity with the glen club for very low dues which would be nice every once in a while. I feel pretty good about Kemper but curious for thoughts on royal melbourne vs Kemper from strictly golf course point of view.

I'm a member at RM and have several friends at Kemper so have played it 10+ times. Strictly golf, I would definitely choose Kemper. Better golf course design than RM. There is OB and water everywhere as they had to fit it in to housing and around wetlands. It's definitely pretty. Both courses always in great shape. Have a family so RM is a better fit with pool and events. Definitely nice to have the Glen Club recip with RM though. Hawthorne Woods too but that's further for you

[psygolf]

On 4/8/2024 at 3:31 PM, Marlo989 said:

I'm a member at RM and have several friends at Kemper so have played it 10+ times. Strictly golf, I would definitely choose Kemper. Better golf course design than RM. There is OB and water everywhere as they had to fit it in to housing and around wetlands. It's definitely pretty. Both courses always in great shape. Have a family so RM is a better fit with pool and events. Definitely nice to have the Glen Club recip with RM though. Hawthorne Woods too but that's further for you

The Kemper Course was built way before the land was sold for housing developments around it.

[Marlo989]

41 minutes ago, psygolf said:

The Kemper Course was built way before the land was sold for housing developments around it.

Yes, I was referring to RM for the OB, wetlands and housing. I wasn't very clear