In the thread by Tom Doak discussing what's left in golf course business models, John Kirk mentions his home club - Pumpkin Ridge as having two courses, one public and one private.

Palmetto Hall in Hilton Head may have changed since I was last there, but they rotated their two courses on a bi-weekly basis, one private, the other public.

From JK's description, I like Pumpkin Ridge's model very much for a 36 hole club.

Where are other such clubs in the US?

Eric - there's one here somewhat near the SF Bay Area - Ridgemark GC in Hollister.  It's been alive for a number of years now under this model, so it must be working at least to some extent.  They also switch daily.

They do run membership specials all the time though, so just HOW successful it is remains debatable.

They do have two pretty fun courses - nothing earth-shattering great, lots of housing tract golf - but still worth playing.  

TH

Isn't Ballyneal going to add a public course to compliment the existing private one?

Redstone here in Houston.

Tournament course is public and the former tournament course is now private. They have separate locker rooms and pro shops as well.

Vanderbilt Legends Club has operated south of Nashville in this model for 16 years.  Two 18's by Cupp/Kite with one for the exclusive use of the members and the other available for daily fee play and corporate outings.  Initially, the courses were rotated, but for many years now the northern 18 has been private and the southern 18 open to the public.  Weekend a.m. tee times on the "public" 18 were reserved for members who could also play any other time there.  Nice dining room (lunch only) available to the public as well as members (discounted).  Range/practice memberships available on an annual basis to the public with members and the public having teeing grounds on opposite ends of the range.  Massive number of corporate/charity outings at a separate pavilion with food and beverage capacilities and separate parking.  

Vanderbilt University purchased a 51% interest a few years ago, buying out the foreign investors who developed the club.

Interestingly, the membership was just notified that the entire premises will go private on January 1st.  

Mike

Lake Las Vegas has 3 resort courses and one private course for the members.  There are 2 or 3 hotels as well.

Does this model work best with:

 2 golf courses of equal quality / variety
(these can be rotated public/private)

 or

do you purposely make the private course stronger?  
(This model would not include rotating the courses from public to private)

Royce Brook in Hillsborough, NJ features two Steve Smyers designs. The West Course is strictly private. The East Course is available to members as well as the public. Both courses have received numerous accolades. The West is rated as one of the top courses in NJ by Golf Digest and the East Course is recognized as one of the "Best Places to Play" in NJ. Both courses are operated out of a common clubhouse. Certain areas of the 14 acre practice facility are reserved for "Members Only". Since acquiring the course in June we have attempted to identify more "Member Only" areas for F&B service.

Oakmont(although the East may be closed?)Stonebriar  north of Dallas has a members course and a hotel resort course.

rchesnut,

            There was a thread about a potential second course at Ballyneal called Grateful Dunes.. here is a quote from an article..

"Today, the Ballyneal golf club experience (like that at Sand Hills and Dismal River) is largely available only to the well-heeled or well-connected. Ballyneal is restricted to members and guests. But the O'Neal brothers hope to change that, soon, and expose the charms and challenges of links golf to others by building a public course.

While the public links -- which they intend to call Grateful Dunes -- will likely have a few cart paths, the brothers want it to retain the deep, blowout bunkers and the natural feel and contours of the private course. They have started planning the public course on land near the current facility, and hope to open it in the next few years.

"We are excited about that," Rupert O'Neal said one evening, sitting with friends, family and club members at the restaurant at Ballyneal. "We want to be able to offer this type of golf to more people and we want to create more jobs in the community."

If so, the public course could extend the lure of golf in what remains a largely remote part of the country. For now, Ballyneal sits as an oasis on the high plains."


Has this changed?  I certainly hope not.

Chateau Elan in Braselton, GA north of Atlanta.  Two public courses, one private (Legends).  All three are good golf.

Reserve Vineyards &GC near Portland, OR has 36 holes, shared clubhouse, and rotates the public/private side on the 1st and 16th.

When I played there in 2000, they were rotating on a daily basis.  That day, the Cupp course was the public one, hence what I played.

Doug,

Thanks for the reminder. Camelback does indeed have local members and the cost is fairly high for a non-private experience.

The Wigwam resort also operates in the same manner.


Also, Troon North has memberships but I'm not sure if they alternate courses.