Private Club Marketing
No American course has been asked back by the USGA more often than Merion, and the U.S. Amateur 2026 at Merion adds another line to that record. For general managers, the lesson is not about golf — it is about capital discipline, staffing depth, and protecting the one thing members rate above all else.
How private racquet clubs are turning the pickleball boom into membership growth without alienating tennis members. Data, tensions, and a marketing playbook.
How full golf and country clubs should market membership, run waitlists, and position dues and initiation fees when demand outpaces supply.
A single operator with 172 golf and country clubs touches roughly 5% of the commercially relevant U.S. club market — and something near 40% of the for-profit universe. The KSL Invited Heritage Golf merger doesn’t make independent clubs obsolete, but it does change who they’re competing against. Here’s the arithmetic, the real advantages on both sides, and the board-level defense that actually works.
August decides your fall. Four plays for private clubs — programming the late-summer cliff, winning renewal season, the summer-to-fall handoff, and keeping seasonal staff.
Versant just paid $530 million for a simulator company. It already owned Golf Channel, GolfNow, GolfPass — and the software that runs private club memberships. Five vendors are becoming one, and most boards have never run the risk analysis.
How private clubs structure F&B minimums in 2026 — monthly, quarterly, annual — why they exist, and why a growing number of clubs are killing them or productizing them.
October is America’s #1 wedding month and December corporate dates fill by August. Why your club’s fall private-events calendar is decided in July.
Junior programming is the most underpriced acquisition channel in the club industry. The under-45 family joins for the kids. Here is how to price it.
Capital dues, operating assessments and special assessments are not the same thing. How each is levied, what members actually owe in 2026, and what separates a clean capital ask from a costly one.