Pricey clubs enjoy demand despite glut

On a sweltering Sunday, Bob Baxter can take his time teeing up on the ninth hole at The Founders Club in Sarasota. He's the only one on the course.

The Founders Club is the first of three premium clubs opening in Sarasota this year. 

With an equity investment of $82,500, the club is limited to the very few.

By design, it will be capped at 275 members, a number small enough to keep the facilities available to everyone. Right now there are about 100 members, many of whom spend the summers out of state.

Fast, smooth rolling greens, pristine fairways and no other players in sight is a fantasy dream for most golfers.

Add a caddie program and a fancy clubhouse. Throw in a complete practice facility and maybe a few warm-up holes and you have the makings of a premium golf club, the likes of which have traditionally thrived in places like West Palm Beach and Naples.

Now, the trend is migrating.

All the opulence comes with a price tag that's not for the meek. High-end golf clubs usually have initiation or equity fees of $50,000 and up, with monthly dues and fees ranging from $6,000 to more than $12,000 a year.

Lakewood Ranch getting crowded

The Founders Club is part of a 700-acre residential development by U.S. Assets Group and the Starling Group that will include 262 homesites from the $900,000s. Most of the homes will be along one side of the course and back far enough to keep the course feel rustic.

"One of the things I like about The Founders Club is that there are no tee times," said Baxter, who lives in Lakewood Ranch. Baxter, who also belongs to Lakewood Ranch Country Club, was formerly the consulting managing partner for Arthur Anderson in Philadelphia.

"At Lakewood Ranch, it's beginning to become crowded," he said. "Plus, this is a much more challenging golf course."

Baxter, who carries a 17 handicap and has only played for seven years, enjoys the sparse membership, which gives him plenty of access to the course and the practice range to hone his game.

Having no tee times is common among high-end clubs, said Steve Morrow, partner with McGladrey & Pullen LLP, a national accounting firm based in Bloomington, Minn., with an office in Naples that specializes in golf and country clubs.

The nostalgia factor

The Founders Club also offers a caddie program, the only one of its kind in Sarasota County. Usually, a caddie program means less revenue for the club because it decreases cart rentals at the expense of walkers.

But The Founders Club considers the caddies a perk that will attract the type of high-income member it is looking for. Part of that attraction is the nostalgia factor, big with the huge cadre of retired and soon-retired baby boomers, said Bob Irving, head golf professional at the club.

The club charges $60 for a bag-toting caddy and $25 for a forecaddie. The latter doesn't carry the bag but provides the other caddie services like providing yardage, raking traps, lining up putts and filling fairway divots.

"The forecaddies are really helpful in finding the right line to play the hole," Baxter said.

It's all part of the status of belonging to a club that economically screens its applicants.

"It's like high-end networking for business and family use," said Jim Koppenhaver, president of Pellucid, a Chicago-based golf-consulting firm. It provides a chance for families to golf and socialize with others in the same economic strata.

Elite courses; less rounds being played

Currently there is an overabundance of supply with an increasing number of courses and a flat or even decreasing number of golfers. But the high-end clubs are more insulated from overbuilding than the more traditional club that carries lower fees, said Koppenhaver.

There's more of a problem for the lower-end clubs that have to compete with the abundance of public golf courses and face price discounting as members weigh the cost of belonging versus playing a variety of public courses, he said.

"Members of high-end courses don't do the math to see how much a round costs," said Koppenhaver.

For them, the exclusivity is worth the price.

The Founders Club

Location: Fruitville Road, three miles east of Interstate 75
Developers: U.S. Assets Group, Starling Group
Specs: 6,800 yards, par 72, championship golf course
in a 700-acre community
Membership limit: 275
Equity membership fee: $82,500
Home sites: 262; prices starting at $450,000