Kemper Lakes GC Test-Drives Market-Based Pricing

The program allows current members of the Kildeer, Ill. club to sell their memberships at a price set by market demand, with some reselling for as low as $7,500.

Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Kildeer, Ill., has launched a “market-based pricing” program, which allows current members to sell their memberships to new members at a price set by market demand, Chicago Business reported.

Through the membership program, 14 memberships have been resold at prices as low as $7,500. Kemper offers two nonrefundable memberships for $30,000, while the market price for a single, refundable membership is $50,000, Chicago Business reported.

Other clubs in Florida and Arizona have used market-based pricing, but General Manager Janet Dobson told Chicago Business that Kemper Lakes is the first to do so in the Midwest.

“The economy is providing everyone with challenges,” Ms. Dobson said. “Nobody else is doing this here. We wanted to be the first in the market.”

At Kemper Lakes, which has 256 members, the program allows members who want to leave the club go on an exit list to resell their membership. The policy is to sell four new memberships for every one from the exit list. The average wait on the exit list is a couple years, meaning that members have to continue paying $675 a month in dues, Chicago Business reported.

“Since the recession, some people want to get out of the dues obligation,” Dobson said. “Or their lifestyles change, and they no longer use the club. It makes sense to do something like this in this economy.”

Participants in the market-based pricing program will receive a 75 percent refund of the going rate if they choose to go on the conventional exit list, Dobson added.

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