Triangle area club memberships

Tanner25 · July 6

Looking to ease into club membership in the Raleigh Durham area. I see that Croasdaile in Durham offers a 1 year associate membership and Brier Creek offers an associate golf membership with playing golf certain days during the week and weekend afternoons. Anyone try this route instead of dropping 25+K upfront? Any other courses?

bluedot · July 7

On 7/5/2025 at 8:53 PM, Tanner25 said:

Looking to ease into club membership in the Raleigh Durham area. I see that Croasdaile in Durham offers a 1 year associate membership and Brier Creek offers an associate golf membership with playing golf certain days during the week and weekend afternoons. Anyone try this route instead of dropping 25+K upfront? Any other courses?

A couple of fyi’s: There are typically age requirements on associate memberships, which may not be a problem for you? And you decide to join at the end of the term, you pay the current initiation number, rather than the number that was in effect at the time you joined.

bluedot · July 7

I’ll take this a bit farther.

I would urge you to consider some other stuff as well as the membership and price structure. You don’t mention some stuff that matters; family situation, current index and competitive interests, how many rounds you typically play and when you play them, and so on.

Are you looking ONLY for a golf membership for you, or do things like swim/tennis/pickleball matter? Do you primarily want to play on the weekends, or are you more likely to be playing after work on weekdays? Do you want to play in competitive games with dollars involved, or are you strictly “recreational”?

And there are other considerations, too. Using just the two you mentioned, Brier Creek is a Club Corp property, while Croasdaile is member owned. There’s good and bad both ways; I think you’ll have at least some access to other Club Corp properties at Brier Creek, but the membership is going to larger and tee times tougher to get. Croasdaile will limit golf memberships, and tee times will be much easier to get, but an assessment is always a possibility

Tanner25 · July 8

Thanks, @bluedot, my wife and I are considering this next year in retirement. We do hope to play once per week and utilize dining and fitness activities, plus swim in the warmer weather. Thanks, for the additional information on the two mentioned clubs.

bluedot · July 8

2 minutes ago, Tanner25 said:

Thanks, @bluedot, my wife and I are considering this next year in retirement. We do hope to play once per week and utilize dining and fitness activities, plus swim in the warmer weather. Thanks, for the additional information on the two mentioned clubs.

If you’re retirement age, you might not qualify for any of the associate memberships; those are typically available only below a certain age like 35.

Some clubs offer memberships that are for a limited period of time like two years; you pay a reduced initiation fee, maybe 50%, and a slightly higher monthly dues rate. At the end of the term, you have to decide if you’re staying or not; if you do, you pay the remainder of the current initiation then.

Brier Creek has a fitness center; Croasdaile does not. Croasdaile is in the process of finishing a new pool, pool house, and pickleball courts. Both are excellent, well-conditioned golf courses.

Depending on where you live, you might also consider Treyburn. It’s a McConnell property, so there would be some access to the other McConnell courses. Treyburn is also an excellent golf course in great condition, and I believe they have a fitness center, and perhaps a somewhat lower initiation right now. The issue is that unless you live on the north side of Durham, it’s a pretty long drive to a remote location.

TP693 · July 14

+1 on Treyburn but it is a hike from most places. I would shy away from Brier Creek for reasons stated above, but that’s just me.

Unfortunately there is a shortage of private clubs in Raleigh. Most are in the $70k range

bluedot · July 18

On 7/14/2025 at 4:53 PM, TP693 said:

+1 on Treyburn but it is a hike from most places. I would shy away from Brier Creek for reasons stated above, but that’s just me.

Unfortunately there is a shortage of private clubs in Raleigh. Most are in the $70k range

I’m guessing you meant “affordable” private clubs in Raleigh. Preston wood, North Ridge, Raleigh CC, Carolina CC, and MacGregor Downs come to mind, and if you expand out just a bit, you can add Hasentree, 12 Oaks, Devils Ridge, and others. And that’s just Raleigh. We haven’t mentioned Hope Valley, Old Chatham, Chapel Hill CC, and so on.

There’s no shortage of private clubs in the Triangle. Affordability and quality of the golf course and amenities is a matter for each person to decide.

caniac6 · July 18

I worked at Raleigh CC while going to N.C. State. It was way before McConnell got involved, so it wasn’t as high end as it is now. The course always had a great layout. I am very biased towards Raleigh CC.

bluedot · July 18

7 hours ago, caniac6 said:

I worked at Raleigh CC while going to N.C. State. It was way before McConnell got involved, so it wasn’t as high end as it is now. The course always had a great layout. I am very biased towards Raleigh CC.

I don’t know when you were last there, but Raleigh CC is just spectacular now. You’re spot on; the course always had great bones. But MCConnell has made it the flagship of his organization, and has literally spared no expense to make it special.

caniac6 · July 18

4 hours ago, bluedot said:

I don’t know when you were last there, but Raleigh CC is just spectacular now. You’re spot on; the course always had great bones. But MCConnell has made it the flagship of his organization, and has literally spared no expense to make it special.

I saw it after the first renovation after McConnell bought it. It looked great then. The pictures I’ve seen are special. I used to love playing after work.