I haven't been to very many of the cavernous and sprawling clubhouses of the storied old courses with the tudor styling, or cape cod on steroids like buildings. But, the ones I've seen, inorder to be great in my opinion, need some other quirky touch ancillary to golf that sets them apart.
Most appealing is a dark and musty smokey-wooded foyer with thread bare persian rugs, and an old creaky staircase leading to secret member-only rooms where one can only speculate what goes on up there. And, a smoking room off to the left with old leather winged chairs and cases of golf and philosophy and economics books and a hand carved bar with only 10 or so bottles displayed of the finest whiskeys and liquors of the drinking world. Then, to the right, a small comfortable dining room that seats no more than 50 and serves a couple of world reknowned specialty dishes consisting of meat and fish. Finally, a grill-room to the rear overlooking the 1-10-9-18 tees and greens with a patio nearby where one can watch the play on the course, or play cards. They should have a small but quality selection of beers and wine and make sandwiches and pub grub that is as good as the best NY or Philly deli shops. They need a very wise old and talented lady who doesn't even know why people play golf to make soup. There should be all kinds of club centric memorablilia displayed and framed about the room giving recognition to the clubs founders.
I think of David Feherty's description of the clubhouse at Scrotswoods as the perfect setting. The club president should be some guy like his character, Uncle Dickie who was a commander in the Boer War, or if you can't get him, Boab Huntley.
