''suggestion that you move south to convert the mythical debt-free (via foreclosure and gifting by the bank) Piqua CC to a daily-fee golf club (you seem to be among those who believe golf-only is the way to go).''
What does convert the mythical debt-free Piqua CC mean? Are you confused on how the debt was incurred? Please provide some sort of quote where i said it should be converted into a daily fee golf club? I know you don't like your words twisted and taken out of context, but you love to do it with others. ''Golf-only'', what does that mean? You are inferring that what is good for Dallas National is good for Piqua, which is beyond absurd. I believe in not incurring debt, especially for beautification, repairs are different. You may have to many Yanks in Texas, you also have too many NeoCons. Hillcrest is up for sale. One of the Kotlartczyk brothers wanted to sell and the other didn't. This missed out on making some good money. There is an upscale public Art Hills track in Findlay that put Hillcrest to pasture is my guess.
I should have know better than to engage you, but I will give it one last try.
In an earlier post on this thread, Jerry Kessler provided a link to an article about a Dayton area CC whose principals were trying to donate it to the community. In a later post, I suggested that a potential solution to the Piqua CC debt problem would be for Chase to foreclose on the club thus eliminating all junior debt. It could then donate the facility to the community. "Mythical", "debt-free", "golf-only", "daily-fee" were my words, which I don't think I was trying to twist. The new structure I proposed is mythical because it is nearly a sure thing that Chase would not just walk away from $2Million (though it is just a drop in the bucket corporately); daily-fee because if it was donated to the community (debt-free), it would be for the benefit of the public and not just the former members whose rights were extinguished in foreclosure; and golf-only because there seems to be a strong opinion here that clubhouses, dining rooms, and pools are big money losers.
As to Dallas National and whatever inferences you thought I was making, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. It is my belief that we have an abundance of very knowledgeable back seat drivers on this site who possess incredible vision in hindsight. Decisions made in 1999 may have been quite correct given the information available at the time. Expecting club leaders to anticipate the tragedy of 9/11 and the meltdown of the housing industry in '08 is unreasonable. I know a few things about these matters and wouldn't think of pointing a finger at these decision makers. Sometimes one can make all the right choices and still get run over by a truck.
There is no one club model that works everywhere and every time. There are CCs where the clubhouse and the social activities (read: NOT the golf course) are what drives membership. Dallas CC is one of these. The golf-only model works well for Dallas National probably only 15 miles away. Knowing the type of people that usually rise to positions of authority at private clubs, I give them the benefit of the doubt long before I do some folks on this DG.
You are right about one thing. Texas also has no shortage of "NeoCons". I find these folks rather refreshing as they don't whine like the left or the right, and still have some hope that government can be a force for good. I'd go hunting with Dick Cheney in a heartbeat.
Steve Lang,
My father-in-law was a member at HH. He was a Sheller Globe/Superior Coach distributor so he drove a new Cadillac for two years which Bo Contini would then buy directly like clockwork. Over the years I probably played more than 20 rounds there and bought a couple sets of clubs from Bo. I never played Shawnee, not because we didn't have access, but my F-I-L just preferred HH. Tim Ries was the HP at Shawnee the last time I was there (maybe for dinner) and we had a nice chat about our time at OSU. I never got the impression that the club was snobby, particularly expensive, or all that exclusive. Ditto for Findlay CC.