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Industry News & Trends

The Fall Season Advantage: What Equestrian Clubs Teach Every Membership Team About Scarcity, Loyalty, and Land

How private equestrian, riding, and polo clubs build membership economics on land, season, and lineage — and the marketing playbook behind them.

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Social & City Clubs

The City-Club Comeback: How Urban Social Clubs Became the Hottest Membership Category in America

Why urban private social clubs are booming post-remote-work — the new-wave clubs, the legacy houses modernizing, and the membership playbook behind the revival.

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Industry News & Trends

Monterey Car Week and the 75th Pebble Beach Concours: How Private Clubs Own the Peninsula in August

For one week every August, the Monterey Peninsula becomes the most expensive square mileage in the collector economy — and almost none of the best rooms in it are for sale. The lawn at the Concours, the paddock hospitality at Laguna Seca, the shaded terrace where a nine-figure collection changes hands over lunch: these are […]

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Industry News & Trends

U.S. Amateur 2026 at Merion: The Championship Hosting Case

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.

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Industry News & Trends

The 172-Club Operator: Inside the KSL Invited Heritage Golf Deal

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.

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Industry News & Trends

Budget Season Starts Now: How Top Clubs Build the 2027 Budget and Set Next Year’s Dues

The 2027 club budget is built in July–September. Inside the calendar, the dues math, and why the 9% era is over — with Sawgrass, Carolina GC, and Capital City CC.

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Industry News & Trends

The $530 Million Question: What Versant’s Full Swing Deal Reveals About Who Really Owns Your Club’s Golf Operation

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.

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Industry News & Trends

Food & Beverage Minimums Explained: How Clubs Structure Them in 2026 — and Why Some Are Walking Away

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.

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Club Profiles

The Junior Summer: How Camps and Junior Programming Became the Family-Membership Engine

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.

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Industry News & Trends

The Open at Royal Birkdale: What America’s Private Clubs Can Learn From Links Golf’s Biggest Week

The Open at Royal Birkdale is a masterclass in scarcity, heritage, and data capture. Here is how US private clubs turn Open week into a membership engine.