Private Clubs Feeling Pinch

It is the other world of golf, where you pay by the month, not by the round, where women play one morning, men another, where greens are smooth and tee times available.

Country clubs survive despite the growth of fancy, new public fee courses, but there is no question memberships are more available and affordable in the Seattle area than they were six or seven years ago.

Outside the ultra exclusive Seattle Golf Club, there are no waiting lists to purchase memberships as there had been at every club reasonably close to Seattle in 1991.

Even Sahalee, host of the 1998 PGA Championship, has memberships for sale at $47,000.

Mill Creek Country Club wouldn't add names to its waiting list of 50 in 1991. This spring the club sold non-equity memberships for $5,000, half their normal cost.

Fairwood Country Club in Renton, which saw its stock rise as high as $30,000 in 1991, sold its most recent membership for $5,900. Meridian Valley in Kent, site of an annual LPGA event, is down from $34,000 in 1991 to $13,500, Rainier from $30,000 to $12,500 and Wing Point on Bainbridge Island from $22,500 to $10,000.

Joining a club normally involves buying stock and paying an initiation fee. The stock can be sold, although most clubs deduct a transfer fee of from 25 to 50 percent upon sale.

Here's a rundown of Seattle-area clubs responding to requests for membership information:

Broadmoor - $90,000 for stock and initiation fee, monthly family dues $367.

-- Overlake - $65,000 for stock and initiation fee, monthly family dues $275.

-- Sahalee - $47,000 for stock and initiation fee, monthly member dues of $250, plus $75 for spouse and $15 for family members.

Inglewood - $30,000-$35,000 for stock and initiation fee, monthly family dues $281.

-- Bear Creek - $30,000 initiation fee. No stock. Monthly family dues $270. $12,500 associate membership for Monday through Friday play.

-- Meridian Valley - $13,500-$17,000 for stock and initiation fee. Monthly family dues $292.

-- Rainier - $12,500-$13,500 for stock and initiation fee. Monthly family dues $295.

-- Glendale - $37,500-$45,000 for stock and initiation fees, monthly family dues $287.

-- Mill Creek - $10,000 initiation fee. No stock. Monthly single or family dues $245.

-- Sand Point - $37,500-$42,500 for stock and initiation fees, monthly family dues $271.

-- Wing Point (Bainbridge) - $10,000 for stock and initiation. Monthly family dues $170.

-- Fairwood - $6,000 initiation and stock. Monthly family dues $282.