Country clubs are luring golfers with reduced rates

As the oldest club west of the Mississippi — opened in 1894 — Tacoma Country and Golf Club is old-world ambiance, old-money stability.

It's a place where James Barnes, winner of the PGA, U.S. Open and British Open, was the head professional, where the 1961 U.S. Women's Amateur was staged, where you still don't need tee times and can play almost any afternoon by yourself.

So stately, and so unapproachable.

Until now.

Private golf clubs have lost members, to an economy that won't seem to improve, to new, high-quality courses open to the public, to a culture that doesn't seem to value joining as much as it once did.

Ten years ago, memberships at TCGC were priced at $25,000, if they were available, and if you were approved to buy one. Today, you can buy a membership for $11,000 — $5,000 of which is equity in the club and can be recouped should you sell.

While Tacoma represents a substantial savings, the opportunity to join clubs like Mill Creek north of Seattle and Oakbrook, near Tacoma, represents a revolution.

"There is no question that it is a buyer's market," said Loren Pippin, general manager at Oakbrook. "We want people to try the lifestyle. For avid golfers, we think they'll grow to really appreciate what we are offering."

For $100, you can become a member at Oakbrook — a course that two years ago held the Washington State Open and has been a local qualifier for the U.S. Open — and play golf, tennis, swim in the pool, enjoy a champagne brunch, the things country-club people do.

After a year, you would need to upgrade to a regular membership, which is still only $2,500.

At Mill Creek, where the members don't own the course and the initiation fee to join the club has run about $10,000, a trial, one-year membership is $1,000. A standard membership is only $4,000, and as many clubs are doing, Mill Creek offers a junior-executive membership for those under 35, which is also $1,000 and has lower monthly dues.

The established clubs — Seattle Golf Club, Broadmoor and Overlake, those with both history and location — are apparently doing well.

"We have a history of riding above the market," said Bob Hollister, general manager at Overlake in Medina. "We have location. People haven't got the time to drive for hours to play golf."

Elsewhere, memberships have tumbled from the free-wheeling '90s, when the costs were as abnormally high as they are now low.

According to various reports, memberships in most clubs have declined by about half since the salad days of instant millionaires; Sahalee from something more than $80,000 to $40,000; Inglewood from $60,000 to $30,000; Sand Point from $70,000 to $40,000.

Buyers are apparently moving in to take advantage of the lower prices.

"Actually, we are doing well," said Pete Stollwerk, interim general manager at Sahalee, the site of the 1998 PGA Championship where memberships have risen from a low of $35,000 to just less than $40,000. "Right now, we have the sale of eight to 10 memberships awaiting approval."

After all the attention Sahalee got following the PGA and the NEC championships, you might have thought there would have been a waiting list to join the club. But those days seem to have gone the way of wooden drivers.

While most memberships involve ownership of the club, the clubs often exact what is called a transfer fee at the time the membership is sold, normally about a third. So a membership purchased for $35,000 would ultimately yield just $20,000 to the member upon its sale for the same price.

What clubs fear most is members walking away from their memberships, unable to sell them and unwilling or unable to pay dues.

The cash flow of the clubs depends on monthly dues, which aren't cheap. Even at Oakbrook, where it costs $100 to join for a year, monthly dues are $356 for a single membership, and $415.70 for a family membership. Both figures include a monthly food bill of $45 that is charged whether you use it or not, and appropriate taxes.

The dues at Mill Creek are $336 for an individual membership, and $359.50 for a family. At Sahalee, they are $345 for an individual member, and $460 when a spouse is included, plus a quarterly meal charge of $155.

But, of course, there are no greens fees.

There is a chance to play a few holes after work; to work on your game at the club's practice facilities; to have the staff know your name when you show up; to play a round in four hours instead of six; to have greens and fairways that are consistently puttable and playable.

The challenge has come from upscale public courses like Washington National, which tries to offer some of the same service normally seen only at clubs.

Clubs also suffer from charging dues all year when some members decline to play in the winter because of poor weather. Or head to Arizona or Palm Springs, Calif.

"There has been a misconception that it was illegal to market a private club," said Pippin, the general manager at Overbrook. "We've placed ads in local papers. We are trying to be pro-active."

Which, to the golfer, readily translates into affordable.