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Would You Join A Resort Course?

Rambler said:
Due to cost, all of my golfing would have to be there.
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I figure I need to play there 10 times per month to justify the cost (based on the cost of my average round.) That doesn't seem too difficult, but I will always want to play other courses.
 
It's funny seeing this thread because my buddy and I were talking about this very thing yesterday as we played a resort course. We both said no. The cost of it doesn't make sense when considering you can play as a member of the public and the benefits you get as a member really weren't all that important to us. At this resort, you are able to play tournaments, get some preference on times and you get a ride to the range, which is about a 5 minute walk from the pro shop. I'd rather take the membership money and use it for rounds, vacations, equipment, etc.
 
Wake said:
I've been lucky where I am, both of our local private courses have been pretty good on pace of play, and getting a tee time hasn't been TOO much of a problem.
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Thats a good thing. Our membership we had at Grand Cypress was far better than our membership at Club Corp. Both on pace, amenities, etc.
 
Rambler said:
Yep, and this is why I haven't jumped-in on either of the two private courses I have looked into. Due to cost, all of my golfing would have to be there. Thus, fewer opportunities to play with friends, and golf trips/events would be out as well. Not worth it, at this time. Now, when I don't have a kiddo at home in 10 years or so? That could change the equation for me.
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It's pretty much my line of thinking, at least playing locally. I haven't 'avoided' playing elsewhere when I get together in Cleveland or Indy or etc with THPers (non-event-style) but if I'm playing in Cincinnati, unless it's a course I've not enjoyed yet, it'll be at home. That said, I've always gone way over value with the amount I play, and the local publics are atrocious for pace of play on weekends. Plus, I heart Arnie.
 
JB said:
Thats a good thing. Our membership we had at Grand Cypress was far better than our membership at Club Corp. Both on pace, amenities, etc.
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I believe that, From what I've heard from both you and others, I don't think I would ever join a Club Corp course. My old course was owned by a founding member who truly had members interests at heart. I was a little concerned when joining the current club that we would run into more problems, since it is corporate owned. But so far so good.
 
There are a lot of resorts (and resort courses) here that have memberships.
I found that, unless there are two courses, where one is dedicated to membership play and one for public play, the benefit is not that great. And the cost is pretty high to get in (eg: The Boulders initiation fee is somewhere around $80k). Phoenician had a nice membership, but my friend who joined (for one year) said that the rounds were ridiculously long (5+ hours every time out, even in the summer).

So my overall answer would be "Maybe."
 
Not really applicable to me here in Denver as there are no resorts but there is a membership choice between private clubs and public access clubs that is similar. I would think that the cost savings to join a resort would have to be substantial over a private club. If not, why not spend the little extra cash and be exclusive? I can not even come close to joining a private club here but the nicer public courses offer memberships but I have not gone that route because I did not want to be locked in to one course.

Assuming you are living where you are surrounded by golf choices would it not be better to play the variety of nicer public courses and save the membership expenses? The only thing I see you missing on would be the social events at a private club.
 
I don't think I'd be able to deal with resort course traffic. For the cost of membership I'd find an alternative
 
milehighgolfer said:
I would think that the cost savings to join a resort would have to be substantial over a private club. If not, why not spend the little extra cash and be exclusive?

Assuming you are living where you are surrounded by golf choices would it not be better to play the variety of nicer public courses and save the membership expenses? The only thing I see you missing you on would be the social events at a private club.
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Usually resort courses (good ones any way) have far better amenities.

My thoughts are the same as private clubs. If one is using it strictly for golf or to try to save money, I think unless its a junior membership of some sort, its not worth it. If you like the faciities, amenities, leagues, etc. Then private or resort are the way to go.
 
Absolutely. Doral, Biltmore and the Breakers in my area. Maybe someday I can afford it.
 
JB said:
Usually resort courses (good ones any way) have far better amenities.

My thoughts are the same as private clubs. If one is using it strictly for golf or to try to save money, I think unless its a junior membership of some sort, its not worth it. If you like the faciities, amenities, leagues, etc. Then private or resort are the way to go.
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What amenities are you looking for in a course?
 
I think the way I see it is that this just sounds like a nicer municipal membership. In that case I wouldn't want to join it. I would want to join a private club for nice facilities and for the ability to have quicker rounds.
 
milehighgolfer said:
What amenities are you looking for in a course?
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Better and more practice facilities, more social activities, better overall club experience. Restaurants, fitness, etc. I dont see the need to join a golf course, to me that seems silly in modern times. Joining a country club/resort is a different animal.
 
MBurnham said:
I think the way I see it is that this just sounds like a nicer municipal membership. In that case I wouldn't want to join it. I would want to join a private club for nice facilities and for the ability to have quicker rounds.
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Can you further explain? I think resort courses have the nicer facilities by a pretty big margin and I am not sure the quicker rounds are there minus some really exclusive small clubs.
 
JB said:
Can you further explain? I think resort courses have the nicer facilities by a pretty big margin and I am not sure the quicker rounds are there minus some really exclusive small clubs.
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I guess the way I am envisioning this scenario in my head is that there are probably a bunch of guests at the resort to play golf so its just as busy as a public course. If they blocked out tee times for members I could see the benefit but what if you wanted to play at a different time? I agree that the resort would more then likely have a nice facilities. I just see certain times really busy because of the resort guests.
 
JB said:
Better and more practice facilities, more social activities, better overall club experience. Restaurants, fitness, etc. I dont see the need to join a golf course, to me that seems silly in modern times. Joining a country club/resort is a different animal.
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I agree that there are two separate choices. Golf only and golf plus all the amenities. For golf only it is silly to join a club or resort unless you have cash to burn. For golf with the total package of amenities, then I think private is the way to go.

I guess you could look at the resort option as some sort of middle ground. But they would have to have multiple courses with access to other clubs. Do Reunion members have access to the other Salamander properties? If so, something like this might work.
 
MBurnham said:
I guess the way I am envisioning this scenario in my head is that there are probably a bunch of guests at the resort to play golf so its just as busy as a public course. If they blocked out tee times for members I could see the benefit but what if you wanted to play at a different time? I agree that the resort would more then likely have a nice facilities. I just see certain times really busy because of the resort guests.
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It might be busier than a private course, although old guard standing tee times are very common at clubs.

milehighgolfer said:
I agree that there are two separate choices. Golf only and golf plus all the amenities. For golf only it is silly to join a club or resort unless you have cash to burn. For golf with the total package of amenities, then I think private is the way to go.

I guess you could look at the resort option as some sort of middle ground. But they would have to have multiple courses with access to other clubs. Do Reunion members have access to the other Salamander properties? If so, something like this might work.
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They do, but not any more than Club Corp has at their facilities. They do have three courses though.
I just do not see too many private clubs that feature the same kind of amenities. Maybe CO has different amenities at private clubs?

Just looking through the Private and Resort in my area, we have Innisbrook and Vinoy as resort and they have FAR better facilities than any of the private clubs.
Going to Orlando you have it split. Average priced private clubs have nowhere near the facilities as the resorts, and until you get to ultra high priced then its not comparing apples to apples.

Then you go north and have Hammock Beach vs Hammock Dunes. Dunes may have a TINY edge on pace, but Beach has 7 more restaurants and better amenities overall. South on one side you have Doral, Breakers, PGA National all to me would be far and away better amenity wise than any of the private clubs without going crazy high end.
 
JB said:
It might be busier than a private course, although old guard standing tee times are very common at clubs.
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I haven't played many resort or private courses so my experience is really based off of the public courses I usually play. In my own mind, which admittedly could be wrong, private courses would be much easier to just jump on and play a quick round.
 
I think so, in the end the membership is for the course and so if it's nice enough I think it would be great to play it all the time.
 
MBurnham said:
I haven't played many resort or private courses so my experience is really based off of the public courses I usually play. In my own mind, which admittedly could be wrong, private courses would be much easier to just jump on and play a quick round.
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Ill be honest and say they are really similar in the ones I have been around both personally and THP Events. Both cater to their members, both fit you in as space permits and I have never had a problem with either. Slower play persisted at the private club more than it did at the resort (in our two instances), but not by much.
 
The resorts that I have played THP events at have been fantastic. To get that level of service and facilities here in CO you would have to go full private. You are blessed to have this kind of decision to ponder. If I was in your shoes it would come down to value. Is the cost savings enough at a resort to share it with non-members? If not, then I would join a private club.

I guess this thread interests me so much because I'm surrounded by snow and daydreaming of belonging to a warm club.
 
milehighgolfer said:
The resorts that I have played THP events at have been fantastic. To get that level of service and facilities here in CO you would have to go full private. You are blessed to have this kind of decision to ponder. If I was in your shoes it would come down to value. Is the cost savings enough at a resort to share it with non-members? If not, then I would join a private club.

I guess this thread interests me so much because I'm surrounded by snow and daydreaming of belonging to a warm club.
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Im actually not making a decision like this at all. Im on the road for 20+ weekends a year at THP Events and business travel. Joining some place is not in the cards. It was in reference to a discussion with a member at Hammock Beach yesterday.
 
I plan on joining Cragun's Legacy courses when I retire in a few years. It's only a couple miles away from where we will be living and they have 36 holes of some of the finest golf I've ever played. Much, much better courses and conditions than my current private club that hosted a Senior PGA Tour event for a decade. The annual cost including cart is only $2100 plus $395 to add my daughter. These are courses that I would rank just below the very best resort courses I've played such as Whistling Straits and the other American Club courses in Kohler. The speed and condition of the greens here are as fast and smooth as I've played including such private courses as Hazeltine National or Medina. The key at this facility is to get one of the first early morning tee times during peak season that runs from mid June to late August. Afternoons and evening are generally pretty dead even during peak season. We played there last June in the afternoon and finished in just over 3 hours as a foursome which is fast considering we had a couple 20 handicappers in our group that found some big challenge with the slope rating of 141. We've vacationed there for the last 20 years and I've logged about 80 rounds on each of the courses and my daughter and I are damn excited to soon be playing 100+ rounds there each year.
 
JB said:
Im actually not making a decision like this at all. Im on the road for 20+ weekends a year at THP Events and business travel. Joining some place is not in the cards. It was in reference to a discussion with a member at Hammock Beach yesterday.
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I understand. It was all hypothetical directed at whoever it may apply to.

I was wondering how many rounds you are able to get in a year with all you have on your plate.
 
I was a full member of Championsgate for 7 years. Loved it and live he courses. Had preferred tee times, access to Leadbetter and discounts in the shop
 
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