golfers looking to join a golf club are heading towards Old Westbury (great job by Ken Dye on the Overlook and Bluegrass nines along with a reworking of Gil Hanse's work on the Woods nine) or Glen Oaks, Pine Hollow or Fresh Meadow.
Jeff,
I've been away for the past 2 weeks, kudos at redirecting this thread that has turned out to be very informative and exactly the reason why I transitioned from review reader to discussion group poster a couple of years ago.
In response to your above statement, I would suggest in Field of Dreams form that "if you build it, they will come."
In fact, a couple of the courses at the clubs you mentioned quite underwhelmed me when I played them, so I think a lot of what drives club (including course) reputation is social status, or perceived social status. I believe this phenomina can be observed at both Jewish and Gentile clubs, but your point about a limited market available to Engineers is accurate albeit slightly overstated.
For instance, I happen to be among a small minority of gentiles at a predominantly Jewish club and have my reasons for being there, the first and foremost is the course that I simply love, which is the result of the membership's decision to build future of the club around a great (IMO) revived classic course. Yes, we still have all the other things but if you stripped it all away and gave me a sandwich in a brown bag after the round, I would be just as happy if the course continues to improve.
I hope that we see a trend toward focusing more on course quality and less on the non-golfing accompaniments. It sounds to me like Engineers may be thinking of golf first (or very close thereto).
From what I've observed, my generation ("Generation X") and those after mine are less interested in the "full service" aspect that you mentioned and more interested, hopefully and IMO, in a great golf course. I would go to the ends of the earth for a great course and if Engineers revives what I've always thought to be a potentially world class course through this project, their membership should benefit directly.
My mantra for the day . . . Golf before Quiche! (Although I do enjoy a good Quiche)