Sean,
Ok, I'm slow on the uptake. Ballyneal was never intended to be anything but a national destination course; even if every rancher within 150 miles joined you couldn't have 100 memebers. So how are the destination members that paid $70K going to feel about the same deal for $1K?
Pete,
Which scenario would feel worse for the original investors:
1. Course/Club closed and they can never play the course or use the club again
2. Course/Club is open and they can play the course and use the club the same as they always have
This stuff is a real issue whenever troubles like this happen but in the end you have to adjust to a new reality whatever that happens to be, the past is the past. There are a few places still where the remaining members would write checks to save the place but I would say that is getting rarer and rarer.
During the "saving my club period" I did a lower cost membership 3k vs say 5k for new folks. A bunch of the old members were quite upset and I understood why but in the end I either needed to do that or charge 7k and 7k would never fly, so in the end that was what was necessary for survival with a plan to meet both categories at 4k eventually if we were successful in year 2 but never got to year 2.
If you paid a high initiation in the past that is worthless today its better for the club to survive and still use it and perhaps recover one day than to lose the initiation and the right to play it and any chance at recovery. Still its a bitter pill to swallow for many. Initiations at inflated rates are like any bad investment, like my internet stocks, no one is going to bail you out of it. Other than highly desirable places the high initiation fee is gone for now and maybe forever without better protection in case of club failure.
Dan