Turlock Country Club Offers Unusual Trial Membership

Golf course is in the best shape it’s ever been

By Lowell McCoy

The business of private golf country clubs is struggling to maintain dues paying members after a period of overbuilding and in the midst of an economic slowdown. Country clubs in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties are seeing declining membership and in response are offering lower initiation fees.

Like the lowering prices of houses, this presents an opportunity for those who have steady income and can now cash in on memberships that are sometimes 75 percent less than a few years ago.

Most country clubs are reticent to reveal their pricing structure because they are in competition with other clubs, but in San Joaquin County there are country club memberships available at the high end clubs beginning below $5,000 initiation fees for full access membership. Social memberships, which allow members full use of the club facilities but a limited schedule of actual golf, are a growing category at most clubs.

“Historically, country clubs didn’t have to market,” said Michael Blevins, General Manager at Turlock Country club. “Prior to 1990 there were waiting lists to get in, sometimes years. More high-end public courses got built when it got popular. Prior to 1991 you played municipal golf or country clubs. Then came the high-end daily fee club.”

Real estate developers added to the golf course glut when it became de rigueur to include a golf course as centerpiece for many new developments. It was considered to be a lifestyle necessity based on the assumption that retiring baby boomers would flock to the fairways. But a funny thing happened. It turned out that a whole lot of retirees gave up golf just as others were taking it up. The growth of players was flat. The number of courses multiplied. Result? Over supply of courses.

During the boom of the real estate bubble, memberships locally increased, but since the demise of the real estate gravy train, clubs have foundered. Some have begun more aggressive marketing efforts that include advertising, which has been virtually verboten in the past.

Woodbridge Country Club in Woodbridge, just north of Lodi, has been running television commercials extolling the virtues of the “Woodbridge lifestyle”. Club managers commented for this story that advertising was not allowable for 5013c corporations, which is the way most clubs are organized. To do so would abrogate some of the tax advantages of that form of corporation, according to managers who wish to remain unidentified.

No one was available for comment at Woodbridge during press time for this article.

Price is one issue, but clubs must compete for a different demographic than has traditionally been curried.

“Most recently we’ve been focusing on young families,” Blevins said. “This has become very important for us. To appeal to a young family you need to have activities that include the whole family.”

“We offer family specific events, like dinner where there are kids’ areas and kids’ games,” Blevins said. “It then becomes a social event where the parents can eat and have some private time to relax. They can see the kids over in the kids’ area still enjoy some adult companionship and a meal.”

Introducing children to the world of golf is the goal of many national golf organizations. To build the future of golf it is necessary to provide an entry point to a sport which can be expensive and time consuming.

“We have an expanded junior golf program,” Blevins said. “Instead of a couple of camps in the summer, our junior program starts in April and goes to October.”
Kellie Corkery, Membership Marketing Manager for Turlock Country Club, said that their membership is holding steady now, but is down from a year or so ago. There is a very new innovation in membership offerings that seems to be working very well.

“The program is a Trial Membership, which began in April 2008 and we are trying it out right now until July 1, 2008,” Corkery said.

“Trial membership allows a person to sign up for membership at the club without paying the initiation fee up front and locking themselves into a membership,” Corkery said.  They get to essentially test drive the membership to see if they will use it enough to make the monthly dues worth it for their family.”

The potential member must be approved by the membership committee and then they have 90 days to be a trial member. They pay the regular monthly dues for the membership category they are “test driving”.

“At the end of three months if they haven’t converted yet we will ask them if they would like to become a member or if they would like to walk away,” Corkery said. “If they choose to become a member they will at this point be asked to provide us with the initiation fee.”

Corkery is also a vice-president with the Northern California Private Club Marketing Association, (PCMA). The PCMA is a nationwide organization.

“We membership marketing directors meet quarterly and compare notes about business and ideas,” Corkery said. “We go to different clubs and actually see what kinds of things they are doing with our own eyes.”

According to Corkery, all the clubs are facing similar problems.

Blevins, who was born and raised in Oakdale and was the Del Rio Food and Beverage Manager 1992 to 1994, said that customer service is even more important now.
“The way we distinguish ourselves from high end daily fee courses is the experience from pulling in the parking lot to the moment they get in their car to leave,” Blevins said.

However, with all that, you still need a topnotch golf course.

“The golf course is the best shape it’s been,” Blevins said. “We contracted out maintenance for the last two years, which doesn’t really translate into saving money on direct maintenance, but does translate to savings on equipment. We pay all the direct costs on all the supplies. They supervise the staff. It’s like employee leasing.”

“Its fairly unusual,” Blevins said, “but it is growing.”
The company that took over the maintenance is based out of Stevinson Ranch golf course and Turlock Country Club was their fifth client. Now they have ten.

This is a highly competitive environment for country clubs, which might make it a highly advantageous time to join one.