After a 100-year flood threatened to wipe out its tennis program for good, Radley Run CC set a new strategic course for recreational excellence.
Famine and pestilence, fortunately, are not high on the list of club managers’ concerns. But fire and flood certainly are. And when fire strikes, it’s usually a given that a burned structure must be replaced. When a flood occurs, however, the next step may not be as obvious—particularly if the damage is not to a clubhouse or golf course.
That was the decision facing Radley Run Country Club in West Chester, Pa., after an overnight deluge at the end of September 2010 caused creeks bordering the property to spill their banks and swamp the suburban Philadelphia club’s four Har-Tru tennis courts, while also damaging three holes of its picturesque, Albert Tull-designed golf course.
“It was pretty contentious,” says General Manager/COO Joseph Mendez, CCM, of the debate that took place after what qualified, because of the intensity of the moving water, as a 100-year flood on the FEMA scale, and came within a foot or two in depth of being a 500-year event.
“The issue became, should we rebuild the courts, or just become basically a golf club,” Mendez explains. “We couldn’t just redo the courts in the same place and at the same level as they were before, because we wouldn’t get a permit for that, now that they’d been shown to be in a flood plain. And there was nowhere else on the property to put them.
“We ran financial scenarios to see how we might be able to exist with just a primary emphasis on golf,” Mendez continues. “But our tennis program had been active, and the projections showed we’d need to keep increasing fees to make up for what we’d lose if we didn’t have it—and that eventually, things would snowball to where we’d price ourselves out of the market.
“More importantly, many felt strongly that the future of the industry is in full-service clubs,” Mendez says. “There may be a select few in each market that can still ride along just on their golf reputation, but most clubs now need to have more well-rounded offers for their long-term success.”
In fact, the debate on how to respond to the flood damage prompted a much-needed refocusing on long-range planning and strategy at Radley Run, Mendez adds. “It showed us that we needed to stop just being reactionary, and helped us get on track to form a complete master plan and focus on implementing our vision in a way that made financial sense,” he says.
Rising to New Levels
A key first step in this plan was to restore Radley Run’s tennis program—and to make a bold statement in doing so. “We felt it was vital to not just rebuild our tennis facility, but to make it, and our program, even more special,” says Mendez.
“Special,” though, also applied to the requirements that Radley Run would now face to secure permission to rebuild Har-Tru courts in the same location on the property. The ground level on which the new courts would sit would have to be elevated several feet, and the area around the courts would have to be protected and reinforced with a variety of structures, drainage systems and impervious materials designed to meet what had become much stricter flood-plain standards.
The resulting architectural and engineering challenges took Mendez into management areas he had never encountered in his hospitality training or career, and for which there were no existing examples within the club industry, or anywhere else, that he could draw on for guidance. “It took us a year and a half [to arrive at the final plan], and we probably went through 100 designs and redesigns,” he says.
The trickiest and most extensive work involved removing the hill that had sloped from a parking area to the courts, and digging a 15-foot-wide trench in its place to support a 12-foot-high masonry wall, from which ramps and steps would now lead down to the courts. “It was $200,000 for the wall alone, ” Mendez says.
All told, Radley Run’s new facility came with a $1.6 million price tag, primarily due to new protective measures that are now ready to withstand a “10,000-year event,” Mendez says, only half-jokingly. (It has already proved its mettle by standing up to several severe tests, including rains brought last fall by Superstorm Sandy while it was still under construction.)
But the club also spared no expense in creating new comforts—including viewing and social areas, new bathrooms and changing rooms, Epay decking and solar lighting—for members and guests, as part of its commitment to take a “first-class, top-notch” approach to the rebuilding process, Mendez says. That commitment was backed by a one-time, $1,500 member assessment to help cover costs beyond what was recovered through insurance or grants secured from the United States Tennis Association and environmental groups. (The club also renegotiated its mortgage to help build capital reserves.)
The commitment also extended to how Radley Run rebuilt its program to match its new facility. Most notably, Nathan Healey, a 12-year veteran of the men’s pro tour who also coached former world number-one player Lleyton Hewitt and coached and captained Australia’s Davis Cup team, was brought in as the club’s new Director of Racquet Sports, to bolster a staff that is “unparalleled in teaching quality and playing ability,” Mendez believes.
Also, having already been “on the path to add paddle tennis” before the flood, according to Mendez, the club bought two refurbished courts and engaged Laura Hissey, a club member who is a former national champion and part of what Mendez calls “the royal family of paddle,” to start and direct a new program that’s already “grown phenomenally,” he says.
The new look of tennis at Radley Run has also done its part to spur overall growth for the club. After membership in the sports/social category fell to under 60 during the time without a facility, it’s seen a rapid revival, Mendez reports, after the opening of the new courts, and simultaneous arrival of Healey, this spring. Excitement has also been generated by a variety of popular new events, including a bus trip to the U.S. Open, guest appearances by Billie Jean King and other top names brought in through Healey’s extensive connections, and new spectator events and exhibitions. Membership in the sports category is already back up to 85, Mendez reports, and he expects to approach a net gain of 50 in time for Radley Run’s 50th anniversary celebration in July 2015.
Tennis’ revival at the club has also spurred renewed interest, he adds, not only in golf, but also other recreational activities, even in the absence of a fitness center (one is included in the master plan). Yoga classes are now held three times a week in the club’s distinctive Mansion House, and interest has grown for programs such as cardio tennis and a 5k running club.
“We’re growing really well,” Mendez says—to the point where he now recalls the overnight flood as a time “when I went to bed, got a 6:00 AM phone call from our superintendent, and came over to find a different place. And while it seemed disastrous and took a lot of work and time, we’ve gone from that place to one that’s in a much better position for the future.”
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