Essex, Myopia, and TCC

[Travis Dewire]

A gentleman told me over the weekend that;

"Essex County Club is a poor man's Myopia and Country Club"


Thoughts? Comments?


Do people think this is true? Or was he being arrogant

[Brad Tufts]

In terms of what?  Status of membership or golf course?

In status of membership, I would say TCC and Myopia are about equal, with Myopia being more difficult to get into due to having fewer members to recommend you.  Essex is a half-step below, just because it seems a more "local" country club.

As for golf courses, they are all very similar in quality, with TCC having the ability to be stretched and modified for championships using the composite course.

[Travis Dewire]

Brad,

I knew I could count on you to chime in!

I do not know if he was referring to the course or membership. This gentleman is not a golfer, so I am assuming he meant in terms or membership. I agree that the status of membership at Myopia is certainly different than that of Essex's, but we are comparing apples to oranges, aren't we? Myopia may have a smaller membership, but I would take a pretty good educated guess to say that dues, are higher at essex than myopia. And I would also guess that the initiation fee at Essex would be more than Myopia's. Please correct me if you have any information to the contrary. Has myopia touched their clubhouse since I was there last and it was pretty much going towards neglect?

But here we have Myopia, TCC, and Essex, three of some of the very best courses in the state. While the anglican membership at Essex may no longer be existent, to say the membership is poor, based on Myopia membership, is very baseless. They clearly can afford to play golf at Myopia, if they play at Essex. Or is that wrong? I don't know much about what is being offered up north by you. Perhaps you can share some more light on their equality in due and initiaion fee structures, or their inequality.

If I were to call a club a "poorman's" , (first I wouldn't), second, wouldn't it be a club, that a) was cheaper to get into, b) had much less clout, and c) was a significantly worse course. When you really get into it, what seperates these clubs besides their course? And don't answer history DUH!

do you get what im saying? Yeah there is a difference in the clubs, as myopia and tcc are different than all Mass clubs, with maybe the exception of Dedham. And I believe those differences are solely based on elitism

[hick]

I know a gentleman that belongs to The Country Club and Dedham as well as others that i will not mention. Sometimes it comes down to friends or other connections. I have not heard the term Anglican Membership in a while. what was the context of the conversation.

[Travis Dewire]

Guy was just trying to be a hot shot know it all. I agree it comes down to friends and connections, and that places like myopia dedham and tcc have a certain clout about that, that is special and unique to them, this is all my opinion in my humble observations. These are the premiere clubs. Not to say Essex is not a very high regarded and esteemed club with a course rivaling any in the state. Its not the same as some clubs in terms of their membership. However, that has nothing to do with personal wealth. Simply put.

these are my feelings, and my humble opinion

[Brad Tufts]

Travis,

First things first, I speak only as a former employee of Myopia, and as an acquaintance of several members of ECC and MHC as well as staff at both.  I know the TCC course better than the club, so I'm not as up on that one.

When we talk of the three clubs in terms of membership, exclusivity, cost, etc., we really are comparing apples to apples.  These three clubs have a number of members that belong to two, or even a couple that likely belong to all three, so these people exist in the same circles.

Costwise, I imagine they are relatively similar.  None of them are cheap, but none are as expensive as quality or ranking would indicate.  I don't know the exact numbers, but Tedesco is $30K to join and it's in the same ballpark cost-wise.

The statement "poor man's Myopia or TCC" is not really accurate concerning ECC.  The three clubs just operate on slightly different planes of exclusivity.  Myopia has fewer members, Essex is in the normal 18-hole club 300-350 range, and TCC likely has more due to 27-holes and additional sports facilities.  TCC obviously has the highest national profile, followed by "mysterious Myopia," then ECC is #3.  

The national profile thing is what I mean when I say ECC is "a more local club" where someone moving into Manchester today would theoretically have a prayer of joining someday.  I don't get that feeling at Myopia or TCC in 2011.  

ECC still has the "town golf" membership where Manchester residents can pay a fee to be able to play after 4pm on certain summer weekdays...the other two clubs have nothing like that.  Rumor has it that town golf at ECC exists in exchange for perpetual lease of a tiny slice of town property near the 7th hole...but I digress.  

[hick]

where does Salem Country club fit in that area. My uncle has been a member since the 70s. Is it a different Membership than the others.

[Brad Tufts]

Hey Mat,

I put Salem right next to Tedesco in the scale of exclusivity, maybe a tick higher because of their golf course.  Salem is a regular country club full of regular people.  I would guess Salem has a few more people on the waiting list that we do (we dont really have one at the moment) due to the course's status in New England as one of the best.  I know a good number of Salem members, and Tedesco shares a couple tournaments with SCC.  

Salem and Peabody have always been more middle-class towns than Manchester/Brookline/Hamilton, all traditionally very wealthy areas.  Salem was also established a bit later, and the first members were those coming into money several decades after Boston's elite already belonged to the other three.

If you want to extrapolate even further, Lynn never ended up with a private country club as it was primarily a working class city.  They did end up with a very interesting Stiles design owned by the town though.