The Dormie Network is a new national family of golf-only clubs, presently including Arbor Links (Arnold Palmer, NE), Briggs Ranch (Tom Fazio, TX), Ballyhack (Lester George, VA), Dormie Club (Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw, NC), and, as of this month, Victoria National (Tom Fazio, IN). Ultimately, DN plans to own and manage between 12 and 20 high-end, architecturally noteworthy courses spread across the country.
National membership includes
all courses. Limited local memberships are available at each property (limited to 75-100 at each site). DN is investing heavily in course improvements and infrastructure, including four bedroom, four bathroom cottages at all sites (very similar to ours at Ballyhack), new clubhouses at Arbor Links and Dormie Club, and new maintenance facilities and equipment.
Guest and cottage fees are uniform across properties. Guests may visit once a month and no more than four times each year.
Focus is on pure golf, with exceptional lodging, food (including Piedmontese beef (same ownership)), and service. Properties all share convenient interstate and airport access but have the feel of a destination club once inside the gates.
I can attest to significant improvements at Ballyhack. An increased maintenance budget, several new cottages, a new maintenance building and equipment, numerous service-related upgrades, and a fine attention to detail are yielding the best experience yet. Word is that Dormie Club will see at least a dozen cottages and a new clubhouse in the next year. DC will schedule limited public play in 2019, and will become private in 2020.
Many of our members have traveled to play other properties and we often see members from other sites. The Network's first annual Global Member-Guest will be played in October and will rotate through courses year to year. There's lots of talk about inter-club matches and about starting a yearly competition between individual club champions.
As far as I know, this is the first time anyone has acquired a national family of golf-only clubs that combine individually unique attributes with a network-wide culture for service, playing conditions, lodging, food, and beverage.
Of course, as DN certainly seems to understand, none of this works without the centerpiece of great golf. Most resources go directly toward world-class playing surfaces that allow courses that play exactly as they were designed to.
Is anyone aware of any similar effort to build a national set of clubs under one membership? I'm not.
Are there other owners who are acquiring and improving such notable courses on this sort of scale?
I look forward to questions and discussion.
WW
PS Glad to post photos if someone can help. Can't get them to appear for some reason.
PPS George Cup VIII spots are still available. See that thread for details.
