100k Initiation Fees

[Rick Sides]

So I was looking at some clubs in the NJ area and It's hard to believe in these economic times some clubs are still asking 100+k as an initiation fee- and I'm not talking some top 100 clubs. Would anyone here really put up 100+k for an initiation fee for a decent but not great club? Just curious.

[Dan Herrmann]

Rick,
100K is nuts, even in a good economy.   Cripes - you could fly from NJ to Bandon or Ireland or Scotland many times for that amount of money.   Or invest it.  Or give it to a deserving charity. 

[Michael Whitaker]

As my grandmother used to say, "If you have to ask the price you can't afford it." These high entry fee clubs (like most other "exclusive" products) keep their prices up to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Its not supposed to make financial sense... that's the whole point!

[Steve_ Shaffer]

These clubs must be in North NJ. If you've got it, flaunt it.

[Mike Sweeney]

There is a good article in today's WSJ about Montammy GC in NJ if you can access it:

How Clubs Are Surviving Now
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124182691791402525.html

"The worst-case scenario we looked at was the loss of 70 golf memberships out of the 258 we had in September," said Mr. Claisse, who lives near the club but commutes daily to his job as a perfume executive in Yonkers, N.Y. But when the club reopened in March, it fared better than that, losing only about 40 golfers. (It also has about 140 nongolf members.) Still, the loss of so many golf members hurt, because each was typically spending $22,000 to $30,000 a year at the club, including monthly dues, food and beverages, and assorted other golf and entertainment fees. Their departure (or conversion to nongolf status) represented a revenue loss approaching $1 million on a budget of around $8 million.

But in some ways the challenges facing New York City-area clubs are more intense than elsewhere, and thus more instructive to examine. For one thing, many are unhealthily dependent on the faltering financial services industry. For another, they tend to be expensive, and thus have farther to fall. According to a recent survey of more than 100 area clubs by the Metropolitan Golf Association, the average initiation fee in 2008 was $51,500, which is more than twice the national average. The average sum lavished on golf-course maintenance was $1.3 million, also much higher than normal.

[Dan Herrmann]

Mike W - I'm proud to count myself as chaff

[Jason McNamara]

Rick,
100K is nuts, even in a good economy.   Cripes - you could fly from NJ to Bandon or Ireland or Scotland many times for that amount of money.   

But if your constrained resource is time, not money, then it's a different equation.

And if the membership is basically full, why bother dropping the price?

[Mark Chaplin]

I fail to see how $100k seperates the wheat from the chaff, I've met dozens of t*ssers with money and dozens of good, decent, fun  people with nowt.

Clubs that think pure money spells class clearly lack it already!

[Michael Whitaker]

I fail to see how $100k seperates the wheat from the chaff, I've met dozens of t*ssers with money and dozens of good, decent, fun  people with nowt.

Clubs that think pure money spells class clearly lack it already!

Mark - I didn't mean to imply that it identifies "class." Just that it identifies the potential members who have the wherewithal to support the club. And, let's face it, a $100,000 initiation fee will immediately eliminate all but a small percentage of the potential member pool within a given area.

[Mark Chaplin]

Mike.

I understand supporting the club is one thing but should never be the exclusive a marker of a decent person. A well known South East course opened with a joining fee around £25k, the literature was all about exclusiveness, etc, etc. The club held a couple of European Tour events and the clubhouse and members tent had a good number of heavily tattoed types present.

258 members turning over $8m that is an amazing figure. At many Scottish clubs 258 members would do well to turn over £258k all in.
 
Looking forward to seeing you in Toledo.

Mark