Membership: Recruiting the Best

In the face of increasing competition from new high-end public courses, one club fights back by flipping the switch from public to private.

by Jamie L. Scheppers (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
September 2005
 

Across the nation, many clubs are struggling to keep their membership numbers healthy. Long-time members move away for retirement or simply pass on, and younger people aren’t stepping up to fill those holes quickly enough, as the demands on their wallets don’t often allow room for club dues. And then there’s the initiation fee. For some, it’s an extremely difficult decision, especially at a time when people are becoming more and more conservative with their spending.

So why, then, would a club in Chicago’s northwest suburbs want to enter the world of private clubs, when it had already established itself as a high-end public golf club? It makes perfect sense, in the eyes of Will Kernahan, Marketing and Membership Director at Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Kildeer, Ill.

Going Private

 

“We’re in an area that is growing. The population is increasing and many new home developments are going up. It’s an affluent population,” Kernahan says as he explains Kemper Lakes’ decision to go private. “Chicago has seen a dramatic rise in the number of high-end public courses, so the competition has gotten pretty tight. The northwest suburbs do not really have a high-end, private-only golf club.”

The process is two years in, so far. At press time, the club had attracted 154 members. The club’s immediate goal is to have 225 members. Once that goal is reached, Kemper Lakes will make the switch to fully private. In the meantime, a semi-private model is being used: Tee times during the most popular time slots (Friday afternoon, and weekend mornings and midday) are blocked off for members, and those members can make tee times 30 days in advance, while the public is limited to 14 days. These considerations were made to alleviate concerns that members might not be able to play when they want.

Members also have a private lounge to use. It was added as part of the physical change the club underwent to better fit the bill of a private club. The staff has had to completely change the way it operates. Eventually, management would like to see a caddy program added, but ultimately it’s up to the members—a way of thinking the staff will have to get used to promoting.

Special financial considerations are also part of the transition process. Since members don’t really have the full private experience yet, they don’t have to pay their full initiation fees. Until full conversion occurs, new members are able to spread payments over three years. Not only does this help alleviate the financial strain for members, it’s psychologically easier to handle.

Attracting New Members

The Kemper Lakes course was built in 1979, so it’s mature and comfortable in its surroundings. The club also hosted the 1989 PGA Championship, so there’s no shortage of tradition, even if it was a public course. And since it was public for so long, “Most people in the area have played the course, or at least heard of it,” says Kernahan.

For those who haven’t yet played the course, its semi-private nature now makes it very easy to do so. While doing so they can meet other members and take a test run at the dining options, without having to secure an invitation from someone who’s already joined.

Kemper Lakes has also been aggressive with its advertising, choosing to use non-traditional methods like radio and print. Typically clubs use much less public means, such as word of mouth, and targeted direct mail campaigns.

Kernahan invites prospective members to play a round with him or another staff member. This provides the opportunity to ask questions, instead of just playing as a regular public user. To prevent abuse of this nicety, though, Kernahan does an initial screening by phone. If he thinks the person is just trying to get a free round of golf at the course with no intention of ever joining, he’s less likely to offer a free round.

Toward the end of August, Kemper Lakes had an open-house event. In keeping with its desire to stray from the ultra-traditional, a Jimmy Buffet tribute band was hired for entertainment, and seafood was served. Sure, the club’s in the Chicago area, but there are plenty of people there who like seafood, and Jimmy Buffet, too. The stuffy, gated club atmosphere is not something the club wants to embody.

Going All the Way

Remaining semi-private isn’t really an option Kemper Lakes wants to consider. “Other clubs in this market do the semi-private thing, but the response has been a little questionable as to the benefits of a membership,” Kernahan says. “We want to make sure our members know this is going to be their golf course. People look at the semi-private arrangement with a bit of skepticism, especially in this market. It’s also more of a challenge to operate a semi-private club.”

Kemper Lakes hopes to overcome this hurdle by setting strict guidelines for when it will turn fully private. This way, less will be left up in the air, and both members—and potential members—will know that the club is serious about moving out of the necessary transition phase.

And what about those golfers who’ve grown accustomed to playing at Kemper Lakes, but either can’t or don’t want to take the plunge into full membership? “Our guest policy is going to be pretty liberal compared to a lot of courses,” says Kernahan. “We’re not going to dissuade members from bringing guests. We will even allow a certain number of unaccompanied guests to play, but that will be somewhat restricted.”

“The goal,” he concludes, “is to be user-friendly.” C&RB

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summing It Up

• Your club’s success depends on the market you are in. Try to differentiate your club without alienating it.

• If you are planning a transition from public to private, set specific guidlines for when the switch will be final.

• You have to attract whole families these days.

• Make it as easy as possible for potential members to try out the club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get the Family on Board

There has been a clear change in country club memberships in recent years. Many clubs are no longer the domain of the man. And to top it off, it’s a big investment that is hard to justify if the man is the only person who will benefit from the membership.

Mike Roby, General Manager at Thunder Canyon Country Club in Washoe Valley, Nev. thinks the decision to join a club is harder than buying a house. It’s easy to think of it this way when you look at the time it takes to resell a house versus the time it can—and often does—take to resell a club membership. So, in order to sell those club memberships, you have to get the women on board and show that you have something to offer each and every member of the family. —JLS

Nothing Cushy About the Job

As part of—or in response to—new directions being taken by many hotel chains to upgrade their accommodations (and justify significant hikes in their room rates), there’s a clear trend among clubs and resorts with sleeping rooms to load up each room with thicker mattresses, overstuffed pillows, more luxurious bedspreads and comforters, and a much bigger assortment of amenities such as scented soaps, shampoos, lotions, shoe care products, and specialty teas and coffees.

But club and resort managers who are upgrading their properties in step with this trend should be aware of a growing backlash among hospitality labor advocates over the added strains—physical and mental—that housekeeping staffs say these changes are creating.

In Illinois, the union representing housekeepers cited the additional physical burdens tied to changing heavier bedding, plus the increased strain of trying to keep up with extra per-room chores while sticking to demanding work-pace schedules, as the primary reasons for pushing for a new state law that guarantees two, 15-minute paid breaks per day for housekeeping personnel. The union advocates said the bill would improve productivity by reducing days missed due to injury.

The new law passed and was scheduled to take effect in August, but was then put on hold through a temporary restraining order, after hotel industry officials argued that the breaks, plus the additional paperwork required to document them, would hurt profitability and profits.

In a Chicago Tribune article about the issue, one housekeeper in a city hotel said the added burdens had given her a sore shoulder and back and forced her to begin taking painkillers.

The Tribune article noted that the trend toward more luxurious (and higher-priced) rooms began in 1999 when Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide introduced its “Heavenly Bed,” a 10-layer pampering that has proved to be so popular, the company has sold 4,000 of the overloaded beds for home use.

Hilton Hotels, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Marriott have since responded—Marriott with a $190 million program to change out 628,000 beds this year and offer “softer sheets, plusher mattresses, stylish duvets, more pillows” and touches such as feathered mattress toppers and decorative bed scarfs.

Some properties have tried to mitigate the extra housekeeping burdens created by these changes by also instituting programs that give customers the options of keeping the same towels and sheets for multiple-night stays. But Phyllis King, chair of the occupational therapy department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the co-author of an ergonomic guide for hotel housekeepers, told the Tribune that the overall workload for housekeeping personnel has still increased, and that there is a link between injuries and the added sheets and bedding. —JB