Fitness and Wellness as the future of golf clubs

[Ronald Montesano]

Private golf clubs used to be the social epicenter of member family lives. Kids learned golf, tennis, swimming, and other elements of society and sport.


Today, kids play hockey here, lacrosse there, soccer around the corner, and on and on.


To play those sports, kids need balanced training instruction.


Imagine if LA Fitness or some other, large-scale fitness outlet made a pitch to unite fitness facility with golf club.

[Ira Fishman]

Perhaps the only goal that unites the participants on this site is to promote well-designed golf courses and the growth of the game. That means whatever it takes, whatever the circumstances. I would prefer a club with a great course, no pool, no health club, no tennis...and the best Grill Room in America. But in the D.C. Area where I live, that means one place which would result in a divorce because it is Male only.  If a club gets a boost from a health club, paddle tennis, bocce, ice staking, bowling, billiards, etc, more power to them. But all of those steps only address the small percentage of people in the US who can afford private clubs to begin with. Perhaps golf and great architecture here can manage a shrinking base, but it would be a shame if that is the end result.

[Howard Riefs]

WSJ covered this very topic this weekend:


https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-yoga-save-the-golf-club-1488628801

[Jason Thurman]

A conversation at a golf club in 1902, probably:


Horace: This golf course is almost 6300 yards! It's much too long for anyone to enjoy!


Fred: You're right for now. But in just over a century's time, there will be a website called GolfWRX full of golfers who drive the ball over 320 yards, and they'll actually think the course is too short.


Horace: But that's preposterous! Who would even want to hit the ball that far? It would take forever to walk to it.


Fred: They won't have to walk at all! They'll simply drive a golf cart.


Horace (sarcastically): Oh, okay Fred. They'll just drive a golf cart. But just where exactly will this golf cart be stored? You need a lot of space to store golf carts, Fred.


Fred: Why, the golf carts will be stored in a basement garage in the clubhouse of course! The clubhouses of the future will be massive!


Horace: Will they? What will they do with all that space? I mean, besides storing these golf carts of course.


Fred (incredulous): What will they do?! They'll make money by selling burgers and craft beer! It'll be a goldmine!


Horace: But won't people be able to get food and beer elsewhere? Closer to home? At better restaurants with more variety? Without having to wear club attire?


Fred: Oh Horace, do you really think people of the future will want to eat in public? Let me remind you that minorities are allowed in public, to say nothing of the hordes of women one encounters there. Surely the people of the future would rather spend their money on overpriced food and drinks that can be enjoyed in the company of other white men.


Horace: I don't know. I'm skeptical.


Fred: Even if clubs never serve a single pint of craft in their clubhouse, they'll host weddings! They'll have so many of them that there will be waitlists to get married, just like there are to join the club today!


Horace: Can't people get married in churches though? Or city halls? Or with the advent of air travel, on beaches in exotic destinations? Or at White Castle? Do you really think weddings are golf's way forward?


Fred: Of course! And after the wedding, couples will have children. So they'll join the club so that the kids can use our pool while dad plays golf!


Horace: Who's going to watch the kids in the pool if dad is playing golf?


Fred: Don't be an idiot Horace. Mom will watch the kids.


Horace: I don't think mom will like that arrangement.


Fred: Mom literally doesn't get a vote, Horace. Who cares what she likes?! Besides, clubs of the future will offer yoga and fitness centers for mom! She'll love the club just as much as dad does!


Horace: She will? I'm not sure mom will feel comfortable wearing Lululemon gear and twisting into various bent-over postures in a building full of dirty old men.


Fred: There are plenty of young men at the club too Horace!


Horace: You may not know as much about the future as you think, Fred. Anyways, I don't doubt that clubs of the future will try to offer food, beverage, weddings, pools, and even yoga. But it just seems like there will always be other places that do all those things better and cheaper. Shouldn't clubs just focus on golf?


Fred: Don't be ridiculous - in the future, no one will focus on golf. Hell, no one will focus on anything. Golf will be like everything else - an activity that exists more as an excuse to drink, listen to music, and to help foster good Instagram and Snapchat posts. People won't buy Lululemon because they think it's a quality product. The fabric is see-thru for Pete's sake! They'll buy it because it looks great on a Facebook feed.


Horace: Ok, fine. But this is all going to backfire when people realize how uncool golf carts look.


Fred: No, no. You're forgetting about the Golfboard...

[Wayne_Kozun]

The success of fitness at the golf club will very much depend on the local characteristics.  I belong to a club within the city of Toronto.  I live less than a 5 minute drive from the club but the bulk of the members live more than a 20 minute drive away.  They will haev many other options for fitness, either near the workplaces or near their homes.  People are willing to drive 30 minutes + for golf, especially when they live in the inner city.  That is not true for fitness.  But in a smaller city where traffic and proximity is less of an issue then this makes more sense.


And many/most of the clubs here have curling rinks, including some of the top ranked clubs in the country like St. George's.

[Jeff Shelman]

Per Wayne's point, this story ran in the WSJ at some point in the past few days.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-close-do-you-need-to-be-to-your-gym-1490111186

It basically says that a gym has to be unique or very nice for people to drive more than about 4 miles to visit. People are willing to drive further to specialized spots like Flywheel or Soulcycle, but not to just to to an average gym.

I do wonder if people would drive further to work out at the golf club if the other option is paying for a separate fitness facility.

[Steve Lang]

   Does the WSJ article say whether folks use their gyms more before or after work?  Either way, seems convenience rules going to or coming from getting sweaty or hitting balls.  I swim at a Y next to my office, but its 45 minutes away, so its either early before work or during lunch for me...


I don't see the number of folks using our gyms as being able to truly support the facilities provided for them... and there's several good options close by with much larger offerings.  So in turn, I don't see fitness and wellness as the "future" of golf clubs,  small sustaining impact maybe, but the golfers mainly just want to golf and relax afterwards to talk about it.   

[SB]

Private golf clubs used to be the social epicenter of member family lives. Kids learned golf, tennis, swimming, and other elements of society and sport.


Today, kids play hockey here, lacrosse there, soccer around the corner, and on and on.


To play those sports, kids need balanced training instruction.


Imagine if LA Fitness or some other, large-scale fitness outlet made a pitch to unite fitness facility with golf club.

Actually there are two good examples, each with multiple facilities:


http://www.greatlifegolf.com/
https://www.bayclubs.com/

I think they are fairly successful, but have never been to either.

Country Clubs have long had multiple amenities to attract members for as long as they have existed, in some cases golf came after the club.  While many people on this board do not appreciate anything other than golf, I'm guessing your wives do.  For example, on the Philmont thread, someone said his wife loved the pool improvements and that he was joining.  Probably not a coincidence.  And if you're 40 something and the wife says you're joining XXXX club, you're probably joining XXXX club.

I've heard a stat that 75% of the time, the woman in the household is the one who makes the call on which club to join (probably not true for golf clubs).  Based on the clubs I've run, that sounds about right.  Not that all clubs should be adding fitness, only those where the demographics make sense (4 miles sounds about right to me), the club is already targeted at families, and the facility can be added for a reasonable cost.  Not long ago, I saw a club for sale that was basically golf only, not in a great part of town.  They added a $3M fitness facility for some crazy reason, and basically had the same number of people using the facility as before - 0.  But I've also seen clubs with 1,000 fitness members.  They basically subsidize the golfers.  Every club is different.