In the Chicago area, ca. 1917, no one seems to have cared about restaurant minimums as the top 22 clubs were rolling in the clover.
Here's an excerpt from an article of that "Golden" era, and the dollars they are talking about are roughly 20 to 1 today:
The assets of South Shore are $1,357,310.22. The assets of Lake Shore are $442,643.18. The assets of Glen View are $336,894.73. The assets of the Chicago Golf Club are $187,886.70; the assets of Midlothian are $166,049.94, of Exmoor they are $200,966.08, and of Onwentsia they are $45,739.40. I think if we state a few figures baldly, just like that, we get the worst over in the way of surprise and may then after a short interval proceed calmly upon our further inspection. The first three of those improvised sets of figures are in their proper order at the top; after that we have just selected a few, but there are others in between. Now there is the land, that land which comes to be reckoned so much in value now. South Shore sets its land as being worth 479 thousand dollars, Glen View's is 170 thousand, Edgewater's 132 thousand, Beverly's 157 thousand, Westmoreland's 128 thousand, and so on. Look then at the buildings. The invincible South Shore has them at 670 thousand, and there is the Chicago club at 182 thousand. If it is a matter of investments Edgewater comes in the winner with twelve thousand dollars, and for "cash and deposits" Beverly, if need arose, could finger 22 thousand quickly, as no other club could do in quite the same way according to the sheet. But wha tit comes to is, that all in all and at a casual reckoning—for an exact one is beyond me—these twenty-two clubs have something like five million dollars of goods and cash among them. They have considerable liabilities; it could not be otherwise. But yet they have mighty surpluses. Soaring South Shore has its 309 thousand, and GlenView its 198 thousand. There is Westmoreland with 129 thousand, and Ravisloe with 126 thousand, Exmoor with 108 thousand, Indian Hill with 85 thousand, and Idlewild with 81 thousand. These are soothing considerations for committees and treasurers. Here are no wolves at the doors of the clubs; want is not in sight. I look upon the case of Riverside. The sheet returns its number of members at only 79, and the surplus at 36 thousand dollars and a little more. Only one of the magnificent twenty-two announces a deficit, and there is a reason for it, while that deficit is such a slender thing that you or I might pay it off and feel not much the poorer. Perhaps, then, we should not mention the club that has it. When we come to incomes and expenditures there are some pretty considerations for us. South Shore gathers in its 266 thousand dollars, of which 153 thousand are from dues and 76 thousand from guests' privileges. (I am fast tiring now of writing down that word "thousand," so continually; henceforth it must be understood.) Beverly has 60, Lake Shore 53, Onwentsia 46, Exmoor 42, Ravisloe 40, and the least of the group is Riverside with nearly six and a half. (After this, and looking ahead, I think I shall leave South Shore out of the reckoning; it seems to spoil the others!) The clubhouse expenses of Glen View are 16 thousand, of Onwentsia 15, of Exmoor 11 and Flossmoor 10. Exmoor spends 22 thousand on the maintenance of its grounds, Onwentsia 20 and the Chicago Golf Club 17. Exmoor puts down 5 thousand for entertainment and prizes and 2 for professional and caddies. Many of the others are from a thousand dollars up for prizes and the like. In all this there is a great story of valuable property upon which presidents and executives and members may gaze with sublime satisfaction. There is a romance of income which must be pleasing to all concerned. Possessions, present and increasing, are fine things. But, so far as we do not see the members waxing corporeally fat on any of it; their pleasures have not been indicated as very material. Their minds may be pleased with what they have, but there is, so far, little effect upon their palates and the internal mechanism away down their alimentary canals. In the "Departmental Accounts," however, there is a glorious revelation. It is not all saving and straining and going without things with the members of the clubs of the Chicago District Golf Association. Here is no asceticism. It appears that they eat, drink, smoke and be happy,and that the executives enter grandly into this excellent scheme, so much so that in all but one* of the clubs which make returns there is a loss shown on the restaurant account! Never was there so much splendour in loss as this. If we must have a loss anywhere, for the sake of the gods and our own well-being gentlemen, let us have it in the restaurant. Let the members, if need be, have a little more than what they seem to pay for. Take it out of the grounds, take it out of the staff, take it out of the rooms and cottages or wherever you please, but give us a little extra for ourselves in the restaurant. This is a most commendable loss. May it continue. Long live the restaurant deficit! Down with the profiteers of the golf club kitchens! Glory to South Shore for its loss of twenty-nine thousand, to Lake Shore for its loss of eleven, to Ravisloe and Skokie for their fives, and Exmoor for its six. We would not have them earn a penny from the plates of their happy golfers. I would like to continue with an examination of more of these amazing figures; but they are overpowering. The bigness of Chicago golf seems to swell and swell, and one wonders what may become of it. We are confused in the thousands and the millions. But one idea remains above them all. Here is our establishment and our fabric. Some thin-minded persons sometimes have said that golf and its kindred associations out of doors are but the whims of an age, and that they will pass. No, they will not pass. Here is the evidence of it. There is an old saying that 'money talks.' Here it is talking for the great game. Here are strength and firmness and endurance. If there are trials to come, as they tell us from the White House and other places, that rich America even shall feel the pinch, and that some of our blessings may be taken from us, I shall in dark moments look, perhaps, on this table of stupendous figures, and shall be comforted.
*The one profitable club was most likely Onwentsia. At the time it was considered to be the largest golf club in the world, with 4 golf courses. It took in over 170k in its restaurants in 1917.