Its hosted a PGA tour stop for over 50 years and its a nice family club? Lou, its way better than that.
This is what I said:
"Though it is described as a short course, most of the good golfers in the big daily game played from the second set of tees. It is much more than a great club course for amateurs, though its flat terrain, only two par 5s, and a bunch of very demanding par 4s reduces its appeal for me.
"Colonial is a great family club."
The last sentence is meant to convey that it is not just about golf. I remember one Friday evening in the summer coming out of the men's grill and noticing all the kids running around and playing in the pool (ok, we we're also appreciating the rather numerous trophy wives as well). I said something to my host about the great life that night and he said that the club was probably having a fish fry, but that it was like that often in the summer. He said that it was one of the charms of the place and a good selling point for the men to get to play a lot more golf. The tennis facility is also nothing to sneeze at.
But what do I know. I had the chance to join Colonial in 1979 and chose Walnut Creek instead (similar costs but closer to my tennis-playing wife who worked in Dallas while we lived in south Arlington- I worked at General Dynamics and she didn't think it would be "fair". Yes, we're still married, and I joined GSW in 1981, though we remained members at WC for awhile longer).
You may find it incredible, but before Sowell bought GSW and brought in your old firm to redesign the course after selling the parts of the old 16th and entire 17th holes to Frank Houseman for apartments, I actually liked GSW better than Colonial. We had several Colonial members who beleived that if the old GSW had half the maintenance budget of Colonial, that it would be a superior course. I thought GSW had a lot more variety, better flow, more interesting greens, and superior soils and topography. I admit that I may have been rationalizing my earlier decision.