The ultimate goal of any club Membership Director is to have a healthy waiting list. Founded in 1989, Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club in Farmingdale, N. J. has not yet had to start a list—but thanks to a new tiered membership program and the buzz from an impressive new clubhouse, it will probably hit that milestone very soon, according to Membership Director John Beurskens.
The new membership structure was designed to be flexible enough to meet members’ individual and changing needs, Beurskens says. Golf memberships, for example, now range from Charter (with full golf privileges) to Associate (positioned as a “springboard to Charter” or “ideal second club membership”) and Social categories that have more limited golf privileges.
“Younger members with children at home may initially feel they would not be able to fit in golf more than twice a month, so they opt for social membership,” Beurskens explains. “But they soon find they want to come more often. So our tiered system lets them upgrade to Associate or Charter membership—or, if a category is filled, get preferential wait list positioning.”
With golf membership already at around 90%, Eagle Oaks has expanded its facilities and amenities to offer more appeal to the sometime-, or even non-golfers, as well. One increasingly popular option is the exclusive Farmingdale Dining Club, for members who prefer full-course dinners to courses of the golfing variety. The new, 60,000-sq. ft. clubhouse, completed last April, has upped the “wow” factor of Eagle Oaks as a dining and entertaining venue, Beurskens says. Family and corporate Dining Club memberships include invitations to special events and partial clubhouse access.
In addition to local residents, the tiered Golf and Dining Club options have allowed Eagle Oaks to take full advantage of its location near the New Jersey seashore. A couple of years ago, the club conducted a successful direct mail campaign that marketed Eagle Oaks as a “second club” for out-of-towners who own summer vacation homes in the area.
In a different approach, Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, Maine, recently pared down its membership categories as it made the transition from private to semi-private. Instead of the 10 or 11 classifications it previously offered, the club now has only two (Golf and Social), says Director of Golf Jeffrey Bickford.
“Most of the categories, such as pool or tennis memberships, required a tremendous amount of accounting to track,” Bickford explains. “We feel there is enough leeway to meet a wide range of needs by offering Individual, Couple, Junior, Family and Student subcategories under the Golf and Social headings.”
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