National Memberships - Best Deals????

[BG5]

Hey Gang,

 

I am considering getting a national membership in the next few years and wanted to start researching possible options. I would probably not play more than 10-20 rounds of golf there and would use it as a place to just "get away".

 

I have become some what of a golf "snob" as I have gotten older and want to play the best of the best. With that being said I am curious as to what are some of the best deals out there where I can get the most "bang for buck"

 

I would prefer to keep it under 15k annually if possible but with that being said I could probably handle 25k a year if necessary.

 

Any options out there that I should be considering??????? I live in Michigan but can travel anywhere

[TravelingGolfSticks]

Clubcorp Travel is one of the best bang for your buck. Won't necessarily have a home club, but you can still play multiple rounds for the ful price after you play your 2 cart fee only rounds. Could play at Mission Hills in Palm Springs for a fraction of the actual price to join or dues. Could do different places as well. Not sure how much of a golf snob but you could stick to the higher end clubcorp clubs and get away to different places.

 

Also check out Dormie golf. 6 clubs in total with a very good national program.

[Schley]

A couple obvious questions are:

 

1. what states/cities do you have family or extended family that you presently travel to?

2. do you travel for work to a certain destination?

3. do you presently belong to a club? If so would this money best be served upgrading to a more desirable club in your area?

4. cost of travel to your national club has to be a factor, for not only you, but your family/friends who may join you.

5. would you really pay 25k a year for a national membership? That is very high IMO.

6. do you want a place to go in the winter for the crap weather in Michigan?

 

Those are starters. In your city of Portage I looked and you are not very far from Point O Woods, Lost Dunes, Dunes Club. I would first think of wanting to upgrade my local club if possible.

 

Other than that you have to consider travel costs, do you want to be able to drive there? If you have a club that you go to 5 times a year let's say for 2-3 days each, but it costs you 500 bucks each trip for plane ticket/car rental then that is another 2500 bucks in costs, not counting lodging. That has to be part of the equation.

 

If you are just looking for the best club offering national memberships, then you will see some familiar names. Prairie Dunes, Ballyneal, Dismal River are relatively easy to get into from 8500-20k initiation. Dues about 3k or so. In Michigan I would target the top clubs north of you where you can drive to. Olympia Fields has a good membership offer, I'm biased because I have one there. Crystal Downs (very tough), Kingsley etc. would be great clubs.

 

If you already have a club ask around to your members and management there what they know or would recommend as well.

[Zeverson]

We have a few really great clubs in Texas that have a significant non-resident membership demographic

 

1. Dallas National Golf Club

2. Bluejack National Golf Club

3. Whispering Pines Golf Club

4. Boot Ranch

5. Escondido

 

All would certainly satisfy the golf snob in any of us.

 

Other clubs:

 

Floridian National

Victoria National

Wade Hampton

[Schley]

Wade Hampton? Is that really accessible? Very tough to get in as very limited membership.

[hangontight]

Chechessee Creek Club Near Bluffton, SC.

 

Coore & Crenshaw design should satisfy your snobish side. Between Charleston and Hilton Head. Very much a national membership club.

[DanMN]

Haven't had the opportunity to visit, but I've always had my eye on Forest Creek in Pinehurst - two Fazio courses in the Sandhills, pretty great looking locker room. Flights into RDU are plentiful and just over an hour from the airport by the looks of it, so fairly accessible.

 

Club has gone through some changes in the last couple years - was on track to be bought by a company out of CA before Fazio joined up with a couple of members and bought it. Initiation appears to down to $25K from $50K at the moment, so could be some uncertainty to its long-term future.

[jkd9977]

Won't find a better deal than Prairie Dunes.

[toy cannon]

Secessions Golf Club in South Carolina. Can play all year. Most members are National Members. Most members are single diget golfers and it's a walking only course. When you join you and thank me with an invite.

[golfdummy]

A couple questions.... Are you willing to go thru a process to join? Also are you looking for somewhere to go opposite your golf season in Michigan? Many clubs have national memberships that are affordable. Philly Cricket, Merion, Prarie Dunes, Sherwood CC, Baltasrol, and many others. Just really depends on what your looking for.

[MichaelJScott]

maybe check out the troon memberships. I think they have 2 options one is prive and i cant remember the other.

[Dancin]

TPC San Antonio usually runs a deal around $5k for national members in the spring before the Valero. That gets you onto other private TPCs around the country too. A member at TPC Treviso Bay in Naples, Florida told me it's around $3500 + $400 for food minimum for the year for national members with the same TPC courses membership deal.

[vallygolf]

I would also recommend the Ballyneal, Dismal River, Prairie Dunes trio, but I wouldn’t spend the money unless they were an opposite season club (which they are for me). Living in Michigan I would not even consider a national membership that wasn’t a warm weather destination. Nothing worse than having both home courses under two feet of snow.

 

 

Edit: actually, having three home courses under snow would be worse.

[FairwayFred]

Won't find a better deal than Prairie Dunes.

 

+1 to this. Also very playable 10 months of the year. They r on temp greens January and February but you can get good weather in December and March.

[HackerDave]

I have heard good things about Succession Club. Another thought, and perhaps less money, is Berkeley Hall near HHI. Two 18's and cottages onsite. Also close proximity to the SAV airport.

[BG5]

Prairie Dunes is really looking like a solid option although I am not sure if they are looking for new members or how difficult it is to get an invite to the club.

[CMCSGolf]

Prairie Dunes is really looking like a solid option although I am not sure if they are looking for new members or how difficult it is to get an invite to the club.

 

I would only consider PD if you can get direct flights from where you live to Wichita. It's a great course with an awesome vibe, but if you're driving from KC or connecting in Detroit/Chicago, that is going to get annoying very fast.

[Schley]

Prairie Dunes is really looking like a solid option although I am not sure if they are looking for new members or how difficult it is to get an invite to the club.

 

Questions to help you decide again:

1. what states/cities do you have family or extended family that you presently travel to?

2. do you travel for work to a certain destination?

3. do you presently belong to a club? If so would this money best be served upgrading to a more desirable club in your area?

4. cost of travel to your national club has to be a factor, for not only you, but your family/friends who may join you.

5. would you really pay 25k a year for a national membership? That is very high IMO.

6. do you want a place to go in the winter for the crap weather in Michigan?

 

PD just got full this summer for national memberships but I would imagine their waitlist moves pretty fast as they have over 100 national members IIRC. Played there in August and very nice facility with more cabins being built.

[golfdummy]

Schley is spot on. All of these are very important. 25k is very high as well. You can get a great place for 1/4 of that a year.

[BG5]

Agree that 25K is pretty expensive. My thoughts were that would include travel, food, etc. I currently do not belong to a club but I find that my time is limited and therefore joining a club at the national level would allow me to get a good deal along with ensure that I would use it.

 

I have also thought about just hopping around to resorts like Bandon, Whistling Straights, Sand Valley, Erin Hills etc with the budget I proposed. The only problem I see with that is pace of play and I would assume at most private clubs the pace of play is great.

 

I appreciate all the advice that you guys have given me especially about travel.

[Dancin]

Agree that 25K is pretty expensive. My thoughts were that would include travel, food, etc. I currently do not belong to a club but I find that my time is limited and therefore joining a club at the national level would allow me to get a good deal along with ensure that I would use it.

 

I have also thought about just hopping around to resorts like Bandon, Whistling Straights, Sand Valley, Erin Hills etc with the budget I proposed. The only problem I see with that is pace of play and I would assume at most private clubs the pace of play is great.

 

I appreciate all the advice that you guys have given me especially about travel.

 

Yeah the pace of play at resorts will be hit or miss. They usually do a good enough job to keep people moving and it should be rare you would get a 5 hour round, but with the number of people that go to them and how busy they are, there's only so much they can do. Unless you're first off, you'll never get a 3 hour round at those whereas that should be doable fairly regularly at a private destination course. You'll likely spend a lot more going the top resort route due to the usually required on site accommodations vs. being a member at a private course somewhere you can vrbo/airbnb.

 

One other option if you're going the resort route I'd throw out is going to Ireland. You can get flights and more days of golf all in for less than the high season cost of a stay at Bandon.

[Schley]

Agree that 25K is pretty expensive. My thoughts were that would include travel, food, etc. I currently do not belong to a club but I find that my time is limited and therefore joining a club at the national level would allow me to get a good deal along with ensure that I would use it.

 

I have also thought about just hopping around to resorts like Bandon, Whistling Straights, Sand Valley, Erin Hills etc with the budget I proposed. The only problem I see with that is pace of play and I would assume at most private clubs the pace of play is great.

 

I appreciate all the advice that you guys have given me especially about travel.

 

If you take golf trips would you go alone or with family / friends? I have been to just about all the major ones (Bandon, WS, SV, Pinehurst, Pebble, Palm Springs) except for Streamsong. They are great for a group as I usually go with my dad and brother. If I was going to play by myself I would look at a national membership and play with other members and get to know some folks. But if your goal is play with your buddies and they can afford the resorts with you, that is a great option especially if you can mix in a trip to UK, Scotland, Ireland every 3 years or so.

 

Have you looked into Michigan clubs yet since you said you aren't a member yet anywhere? If you join a place with some creds your pro can call or other members can refer you to their buddies/network etc.

[BG5]

A few courses in Michigan I have considered that I would qualify for a national membership would be Kingsley Club which is outstanding. I have had a chance to play it a few times and its a little under 3 hours to drive to Kingsley. True North is another but that is a little farther of a drive (4 hours).

 

I do have a few privates by my area with Battle Creek CC being the best of the bunch.

 

Just not sure I would use it all that much as my life continues to get busier by the day

[WestCoastHacker]

Agree that 25K is pretty expensive. My thoughts were that would include travel, food, etc. I currently do not belong to a club but I find that my time is limited and therefore joining a club at the national level would allow me to get a good deal along with ensure that I would use it.

 

I have also thought about just hopping around to resorts like Bandon, Whistling Straights, Sand Valley, Erin Hills etc with the budget I proposed. The only problem I see with that is pace of play and I would assume at most private clubs the pace of play is great.

 

I appreciate all the advice that you guys have given me especially about travel.

 

Yeah the pace of play at resorts will be hit or miss. They usually do a good enough job to keep people moving and it should be rare you would get a 5 hour round, but with the number of people that go to them and how busy they are, there's only so much they can do. Unless you're first off, you'll never get a 3 hour round at those whereas that should be doable fairly regularly at a private destination course. You'll likely spend a lot more going the top resort route due to the usually required on site accommodations vs. being a member at a private course somewhere you can vrbo/airbnb.

 

One other option if you're going the resort route I'd throw out is going to Ireland. You can get flights and more days of golf all in for less than the high season cost of a stay at Bandon.

 

The biggest advantage to national membership is not having to book so far in advance. When I go to Bandon with a group of 8 guys I need to book a year out in order to get the tee times you want. The lead time isn't anywhere close to that with my national club.

[1b!ggolfnut]

Join Battle Creek CC and open up doors to other clubs... Inverness had a great national program a couple years back, but it is going to be hard getting accepted into any national membership program without having another club. Club's anticipate that national members won't use it on a primary basis. With you not having another club that is a serious red flag... 

[jshel]

BG5,

I think there are a lot of questions being asked here.

In terms of "best deals," I will simply say this: The best deal is a place where you are going to use it.

Questions only you can ask:

- Are you looking for a place to get away during the summer? Or during the winter?

- Do you anticipate driving? Or flying?

- Do you need lodging? Expect it onsite?

- Is it a club filled with national membership? Is it a more local membership that has some national members?

- Do you travel for your job? Are you going to use this for business reasons?

- Do you anticipate bringing a group all the time? Or are you going to go solo?

I'm a national member at a club and I'm happy to discuss how and why I decided to join where I did. Happy to answer any questions.

[WRX8802]

I would suggest joining a place like Victoria National, which is very inexpensive as a national member, and giving it a test run. If you don't use it, you're not out much. As for where to join, if you're a self-described golf snob, I'd join the best club you can get in, though you're going to face an uphill climb at the high end clubs if you're not already a member of a top-tier home club. Good luck!

[Thuh Dream]

Northland Country Club, Duluth ,MN

Donald Ross 1899

half way through a complete re working to its original design. Links style, unbeatable views of Lake Superior, golf centric club with a good bar, food, practice facility and pool.

cyrrently $1500/yr national membership.  No minimums.

 

[Seth Pistol]

dormie network?

[greyman09]

What is current cost of the Dormie network?