Long time reader of this forum. Just wanted to add my two cents as an employee of two country clubs in Southern California. One is a very prestigious country club and I'd say all full golf members are 35 and over with the majority being over 50. The only way to bring in new younger members is to lower the fees which they won't do. Working there is like working at a high school at lunch time. They all have there cliques. There is nothing that seems to be enjoyable from the social aspect of it. The excellent part is you basically have a beautiful golf course all to yourself. The members constantly bitch about dress code, and cell phone use. It just feels way too conservative and very old fashioned. It seems like it's used more as a social status than as a place to hang out and enjoy life.

Well you can see why young people aren't drawn to the game. What you describe is exactly how millennials see country clubs, and to some extent golf in general.

I basically only have one rule.

Let me play through.

Other than that, I don't care if people are running around naked and smoking crack while blaring music and yelling into their phones.

If you care about how other people act and dress (with certain exceptions of course, if they're punching you in the face you should care), then I probably just don't want to talk to you.

there are a lot of different clubs at there, my club is mostly self employed small business owners, salesmen, local executives and retires of the same. it is not stuffy, it is conservative but I think that tends to go with wealth and age, it is actually a great bunch of guys. I joined at 38 and was one of the youngest but over the last 10 years we have added a solid amount of 30 to 40 yr olds and they have been a great addition.

I don't believe you will find a large amount of 25 and lowers at any club just due to cost and time of life...but they will grow up like the rest of did as well!!

I am a regular guest at 2 of the top courses in the country that are located in our town...I find them to be stuffy and well really they need to lighten up. the courses may be great but the people there have an additude towards outsiders that just sucks. They accept members at other clubs with no problem but if you are a "public golfer" no time for you...I love to visit and play course but wouldn't want to join there.

3 things I need from a club, a very good course, easy to get a game when you need one and quality mens rooms with a weekly mens night! They are great ways to meet people play some cards and set up a game for the weekend.

So anything short of punching in the face everyone should be ok with... got it.

Grunching

I'm lucky enough to be born to parents that were able to join a relatively exclusive private golf and country club.

One key thing is that the club self-designated as a family club, so memberships are family-based, not individual-based. So, despite the wealth and exclusivity, having young people around was expected. Sure there are rules about when young guys can play (e.g. not weekend mornings), but having young people around and on the course is the norm so complaints aren't common. It's still a stuffy place, all things considered; Dress code everywhere is basically proper golf attire ie tucked in collared shirts, not hats or cell phones indoors, that type of stuff. Usual complaints are about pace of play and excessively in appropriate behaviour (cheating re handicap, throwing clubs, kids not behaving reasonably well, etc, all of which are so rare I only heard of it once in ten years).

Recession hit membership hard, but the club isn't in any real financial trouble and in fact, just did some major capital spending. Kids grown up there and remain as members in their adulthood.

I know other clubs in the area are doing okay, despite the brutal winter having shut down some of their courses for the whole summer.

Tl;dr: family memberships are a good way to keep clubs bringing in fresh blood and keep the club as a place to spend time (and therefore money).

LOL Amateur golf is BUILT on handicap events. Join the Pepsi tour, play in all the local scratch championships. You can join a scratch players e-club to get in competition with better players. remember scratch players are < 1% of am golf. Good luck.

Nails it.

Country Clubs are by definition exclusive/they are private. in the past it was gender and race based, still is in some cases, regardless of what the laws state. Now the exclusiveness is mostly monetary based. Most 20-40 year olds are working hard, starting families and don't have the money even if they do have the time to join a private course at current rates. My observations is the old blood courses members have so much money they will always be exclusive. You think Cypress or Fisher's Island are hurting for members/or money? Its the newer private courses, with new money that are hurting financially, because they don't want to lower their initiation fees due to ego. Mainly because to attract new members you would be looking at 4-5 times lower fee then what the current members paid a decade ago. So LOL at the sorta rich pricks with 'tude and their decaying courses.

My club is aggressively discounting membership for younger (under 45) members. The membership is somewhat older (I'd guess average age pushes 60) but there is an increasing group of 40 and younger players. The golfing members are very accepting and we have several groups that play together in different formats and games and people get along quite well. I'm 38 and am thrilled I joined the place 5 years ago. It seems that the club will have a future with the younger people who are starting to make their way onto the board and committees.

I joined a cc this year because they had a reduced membership fee. I don't think I'll be back next year, though. For one the course, while pretty nice, is an older one and while the greens are excellent the fairways are pretty weak. I usually like to gamble when I play but I mostly avoid it at my course because you get such crappy lies in the fairway all the time. It's also a pretty short course and not a great design in my opinion. They've got a renovation plan to improve some of the holes in the works but having played there for the year I don't think there's all that much they can do to make the layout all that interesting. The course also has no range, which is pretty much my biggest issue. I thought I could make it work but ultimately I rely on that bucket of balls before a round to get in the groove and hitting into nets just doesn't cut it.

As for the other members they are pretty much exclusively older and white, but there are some younger people in there now thanks to the reduced rate. However I don't really know any of them and it is pretty cliquish. I actually know a few older members, which is why I joined there, but even in knowing them I don't really fit into their groups very well. They all do complain about the place a lot, though, especially about the food and service, and the pace of play. One member called the pro shop to complain about my group when I had three guests out there when we were on pace for a three and a half hour round. That was pretty annoying and two of my three guests don't want to return as a result. There was another situation as well where I invited my sister to come for a drink after a round and a member complained to the manager because her husband was wearing a tee shirt, so they don't like coming back any more either. Both incidents were pretty uncool in my opinion.

So long story short, I spent 5000 to join and it was worth doing, but the previous year I had an 'afternoon only' membership at a top public course in the area for 2200 (cart included, which it's not at the cc) and I was much happier there. It had an excellent practice facility and is a great course, and there isn't any of the social stuff you get at the cc, it's just pure golf. Plus where I live the summer is short but we can easily start at 3pm or even 4pm and still sometimes get in even 36 holes. The downside is that it's public, but it's also an expensive green fee (120) so it's not like there's a bunch of slobs coming all the time. Overall it's a close call but the country club wasn't for me.

I'll just add to my post by pointing out that this whole concept of golf's history and its 'traditions' are to me a load of crap. Lets not forget that a large part of the game's history when it comes to clubs and private courses was more about keeping the 'wrong' type of people out, and that that list included blacks, Jews, or anyone else that the members felt didn't have the right sort of 'breeding' to associate with them. And as far as I'm concerned the sooner we can get away from that BS the better both the game and the world will be.

Obviously some traditions are horrible such as discrimination. Some traditions are great. But anybody who states that history and traditions are worthless doesn't truly understand golf. Or perhaps life for that matter.

BO

No excuse for the discrimination that you describe, but it is also not a reason to tear down the game's other traditions that many people still find worth preserving.

Also, I personally have played a few awesome clubs in my regional area which were founded by, in your words, the 'wrong' type of people because they couldn't get into the other clubs in the area because they were Jewish. An awesome outcome of a bad situation, and I'm sure that happened all over the country.

That said, the whole country club mentality, as others have said, is like a fraternity, and yes, a discriminatory fraternity. Either you can afford the place and fit in, for whatever reason, or you don't. I wasn't sure I'd have fit in where I'm at, but I gave it a chance and I do. Other places I thought I'd fit in perfectly, and I hated.

I think the clubs that thrive for the next 20 years or so will work on getting in younger people by walking the middle of the road, relaxing some rules but enforcing others that will keep that particular club moving forward. Some places can afford to be more rigid than others. Every place has its own dynamics.

This reminded me of Seaview (LPGA Shoprite Classic venue). You won't find it printed on the walls in the hotel/resort where it's almost a museum of history, from Presidents that would stay there from the 10's to the 60's etc, but the word of mouth was that there was a guy that couldn't get into Linwood CC because he wasn't Jewish, so he build the Seaview property and said "no jews".

Anyway, that was a long time ago. I don't know the membership process or requirements for Linwood, and Seaveiw is a public golf resort/hotel now.

Or maybe they understand both better than you.

Bottom line most traditions are bullsh*t. Do you mark your ball when you putt? Wear tweeds and plus fours when you play? Use a titanium driver? Seems like there are plenty of 'traditions' that no one gives a crap about. Except the one where people have a need to feel superior to others -- that ones going strong.

Wait, what's that about marking your ball when you putt?

lol

You seem to be stymied.

Well, since you've already stated you think golf traditions are a bunch of ****, I see no need to attempt to educate you. Please continue to wallow in ignorance while those who have been in the golf business all their lives actually try to understand and appreciate it's history.

I get so sick of children on this forum continually ****ting on history and tradition. Perhaps if parents and teachers taught their kids properly, it wouldn't happen so much.

BO

Some traditions are linked with respect and morality. Like a tradition of shaking a player's hand when the round is finished. Like being quiet when someone is hitting.

Other traditions aren't. Like wearing expensive clothes. Or being a white, rich, established male.

It's okay to question the validity of old traditions and decide if there was any moral and logical reason for them to exist in the first place.

NitBo and others I think you misunderstand Dino's post. His stance is traditions like exclusive clubs to make yourself feel superior to others is crap. WTF is wrong with that?

and I think you're misunderstanding BO's post. He isn't talking about feeling superior. It's about BEING superior <3

Please, I've probably been around golf longer than you, so spare me the condescension if you don't mind. It's just a game after all, a ball and some sticks.

Maybe try getting over yourself, you might play a little better.

I think this tradition of counting every stroke is BS. Time for mulligans. One per hole. Who's with me.

It most certainly is, but when someone posts crap like this...

I'm going to step up and defend golf and inform the poster they are full of ****.

I think some things should be questioned, but the problem is whether or not some people actually have the knowledge and hindsight to make an educated decision. Many times when people don't have the knowledge to comprehend, they merely say it's a load of crap.

BO