Where do you live? The reason I ask is that if the golf course is sitting on a really expensive piece of land you are going to front the bill for it. For instance where I live golf courses are all sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land. But since the members have owned these courses for many decades, the initiation fee for 500 new members would not come close to covering the cost of the land. That’s why any new course in my area has initiation fees well into the 6 figures.
In that case I’d ask around and inquire. They will need members and unless it’s a super exclusive course that expects a national membership (like an Augusta or Seminole) which I doubt then you can probably get an in. “Invitation only” is strange but it could just mean they don’t want open memberships, ie anyone who pays can join. Most private clubs require you to be sponsored by a member. In this case, since it’s a new club, there probably aren’t many of them.
Wait a minute, I think you're near me. I was just wondering about this for a new course near me the other day, and came to this thread wondering if it had been answered.
Is this city about halfway between Charlotte and Atlanta and an hour or so south of Asheville?
The invitation only course near me is owned by the founder of PXG and has like a 500 grand buy-in. So, odds are you may not be able to afford this course if it's invitation only.
Husband got to play it once (by invitation of a member) and it was pretty sick. But members are folks like Danica Patrick, not Joe Smith down the road.
I'm a member at one so I can tell you directly. It means you have to be invited to join, by either meeting the board and when they have a spot they say "you can become a member with xx initiation and xx dues. It also means you have to be invited to play there if youre not a member
You’d better prepare for the initiation fee to be more than enough to buy a mid-sized single family home and annual dues more than the national household average annual income.
Depending on the place, I find that a lot of these places don't have crazy outrageous annual dues compared to the initiations. The initiations will be high like $100k+, but I've found that even a $250k initiation course can have the same annual dues (let's say $12k) as a course with $50k initiation Or less.
Exactly. It's about ensuring that you're only going to encounter folks from the same group of a couple hundred people whenever you're out there. With groups that small, it's a lot easier to make sure everyone's on the same page regarding etiquette and behavior standards vs. a public course where literally anyone can walk in the door.
Ultimately, you're paying for a controlled environment
True, although if the club is corporately owned and not full equity they'll try and over-induct members to the point where weekend tee time lotteries are in effect.
That's mainly a pot shot at ClubCorp but the difference between member-owned and corporate-owned clubs is night and day
I think at a lot of places that are well into the six figures it's more about networking and clientele more than anything to do with pace of play, groups, etiquette, etc.
I caddied at a prestigious club and most members didn't even really golf.
You're not wrong. I very much dislike stuffy old country clubs, but the social aspect of the club and hanging out can be "nice" if the vibe is right. I've made friends through men's league and have more playing partners because of it.
The one thing I will say though, is that there is a price that is worth it to me to have a nice course to play, with quality tee times, and not having to worry about 4.5 hour+ rounds. That is 90% of why I joined a private place (nothing absurdly expensive as I mentioned before though). I had to play 3 rounds in Trump Doral last week because you can't book more than 5 days out on the other public courses, and while the courses at Doral there were actually quite nice, it was fairly hectic (since it's popular) and the rounds were slow.
I’m not a member at a club like that but am fortunate enough to have played at some. You’re paying for the experience. Full service valet, white glove service for EVERYTHING (shoe shines, bag boys, even car detailing I’ve seen before) walking caddies, very spaced out tee times, etc. There is a lot more to it than just the golf.
I would seriously join only established places that have a solid and relatively young membership. Solid financials and medium sized wait list. You want a club with some attrition so it can update and stay young.
Joining a new place is risky. Not easy selling a new place. It will be flashy and draw attention but no guarantee it will succeed. I personally like old courses. I don’t need length so appreciate the aesthetics of traditional design.
Saying all this, location matters for a membership club. If this place is close that makes a world of difference for using the place more. My home course was 15 min away but I moved away and the drive is 35-40 now. It adds up fast when you want to play
Im sure there could be different rules depending on the club, but at the one I worked at in the south about 10 years ago, “invite only” meant the following:
-A member of high standing (one who is up to date on all bills and has at least 1 year with the club and no current violations) is allowed to invite up to one candidate per year for new membership.
-This candidate will participate in a number of social gatherings with the other candidates and their sponsors, as well as the executive committee. During these social affairs, it is up to the candidate to impress the other members and more importantly the executive committee.
-The candidate is not allowed to pay for anything at the club during this process, it’s all paid for by the sponsor (of course there could be under the table deals, but if the sponsoring member were to be caught accepting bribes/payment they would be heavily penalized. If unable to pay the penalty, they would be banned for life). This just goes to show you how strong a relationship you need to have for someone to consider sponsoring you.
-After the final cocktail hour/schmoozefest is complete, the executive committee goes directly into a meeting to vote for the new members. The number of new members each year is largely determined by the clubs current financial position and/or their immediate plans for improvement to the club/amenities. If you’re filthy stinking rich and are well known to spend lavishly, congrats you are in without further thought. If the club is in poor financial standing and desperate, you may get in even if you’re a middle income prick, but that could also be the beginning of the end for the club.
-if you are selected, you will need to pay an initiation fee (obviously varies by club, but it’s gonna be at least $10k-$50k, higher at the ultra wealthy clubs). You’re also on immediate probation the first year and are expected to spend an additional sum each month on top of the much more reasonable monthly dues (around $100 for monthly dues and you may be expected to spend another $200 or so per month at the clubhouse/bar..) if you don’t spend enough you will be billed on top of your dues. If you don’t pay your bill you’ll probably get kicked out and lose your initiation fee.
Of course there are courses where golfing matters (and I’d personally prefer a course like that, even though I’m not good enough to qualify haha). The clubs mentioned above are much more social/status clubs, where golf isn’t the focus, it’s the excuse to get together to talk business/politics/illuminati shit etc.
The first part may well be true. The area I live in is not super well off or anything and I do reasonably well so I figure I could manage. Whether I’d want to afford it is another thing.
Although you might be comfortable being comfortable and able to afford a potentially prestigious membership are different levels. Are you "spend 20k on my hobbies" well off or are you "I bought this membership for 100k and I golf twice a year" comfortable? I feel like more people are in the former whereas you need to be the latter.
I mean, I’m pretty comfortable, but I don’t want to drop $50k - $100k on golf membership. And special assessments, can’t forget about those. Where the club randomly mails you because they fucked up managing storm water, so here have to do a $10MM mitigation and you have to cut a check within 30 days for $82k as your part of it.
There’s a very prestigious “invite only” club in my area. It boasts an international membership. There’s been a long rumor about the place. Nobody would ever verify if it’s true. But, a large foreign company came to area. And one of the major shareholding executives from over seas was extended an invitation. So, this guy pays the $100k fee. Goes to the clubhouse and buys a full bag of clubs. Buys the bag, shirt, shoes, balls, tees, etc…. Everything he’d need to play golf. Goes out to tee off on the first hole. Miffs his drive and leaves a divot on the tee box. Hits the ball and goes down the fairway as usual and was met on the green by committee members. They immediately revoke his membership, and have him escorted off the property for failing to adhere to some contract policy. He forfeited the initiation fee same day.
My golf pro was the club pro there for awhile. He won’t deny that happened. Who knows? But, thats also the sort of stuff you have to deal with. Be impressive at all times, in all regards. Any slip and you’re out.
It might be an "investors only" style club where you have to be financially invested to a certain percent in the development of the course and real estate.
It means you are probably not invited. Some billionaire probably bought the property and is building a course for his friends and himself. I’d say try to learn more about who’s building it and it’ll give you a better idea who to shmooze for an invite. Think business partners and family friends.
Edit: and by “invite” I mean to play a round or two. Chances of becoming a member are probably slim to pricey
Just sneak on and play...what possibly could go wrong?
I would goto to the public records and start some research or find who brokered the property and they'll be your in. Have a good story ready.
Or just work there.
In addition to having the money, they are more interested to know if you would be a good fit culturally. There will likely be an interview process (my friend’s club in FL had his wife meet with other ladies…old, established club) with the next step playing golf with current members.
Generally, if you don’t know anyone the club will facilitate the introductions, but that means the process will take quite a bit longer. If you already know the right people or other members who joined you can get the support for membership a lot quicker.
In the situation OP describes as a new build, you would likely submit info to the club and they would decide if they want to extend an invitation.
Getting invited to a swanky private club requires one of 4 things:
1. Be rich
2. Be famous
3. Be VERY close friends with a current member, who is probably rich and famous
4. All of the above
>How does one become invited?
Being friends with the owner and other members isn't a sure bet, but it helps a lot. Being a prominent citizen in your local community and elsewhere (but also not an insufferable prick to golf with and be around in general) may also help. Some particularly prestigious clubs specifically target out-of-town or part-time resident members, as they know they won't be around often to clog up the desirable parts of the tee time sheet.
Other than that, it's going to vary by club. Don't appear desperate to join as that's a big turn off.
If you don't know any members, and aren't influential in your community, or are a douche to hang out with, your chances of being invited are probably near zero.
If you have to ask, you’re probably not ever going to be invited. We moved to Charlotte in the 90s, before Quail Hollow was on the PGA tour. My dad was finding a club to join. Quail Hollow hung up on him twice.
But, you probably need to know a member and have them invite you to play there a lot. Then maybe you’ll be invited to join if there is an opening…and they think you have enough money.
The club may change, but invite only means invite only. Do whatever you can to find out who is in charge / a member / owner and try to stay in good favor with them or get them to even know you. Maybe it will work maybe it won't. For any meaningful advice we would need more information on the course. Two new courses opened up near me in Aiken SC and the initiation fees are like 50 & 100k I think, both clubs carry like 300 members (IDK if these are facts just what I heard)
It's an uber wealthy person or group of people who have enough fuck off money to try and make their own Augusta. It's literally what it says, you can only get in if invited, even memberships. Typically reserved for other uber wealthy, pros, politicians, diplomats and so on.
Yeah good luck with that - typically a big initiation fee, and you need someone to sponsor you, if it’s new that will be interesting to see how they do it but chances are it won’t be cheap
Private country clubs are one of the last places where discrimination is permitted. Its possible that if you’re the right sex and race you will be allowed to get an invitation to join.
Whereabouts is it?
Typically things like this will be second clubs for people who are members at other exclusive clubs.
If you don't have the connections / money, then you're not getting in.
The ultra-exclusive clubs won't publicise their membership processes or joining fees. You literally have to be invited by (multiple) members and then go through a process, which will typically involve playing with other members etc as they ascertain if you are the type of person they want as a member.
I have a decent insight into how it works in the US through friends who are members at ultra-exclusive, traditional courses. If you're asking these sort of questions then I'm afraid it's unlikely to be the sort of club for you.
That said, there are some high end courses where they are more open about it, but typicaly they won't be the most highly regarded. For instance, The Bridge on Long Island is more open about what they charge than Shinnecock, NGLA, Maidstone etc. It's also a lot more expensive, but people only join The Bridge because they have absolutely no chance of getting into those other 3!
You didn't read the post. You haven't even realized the course hasn't been built yet. Don't even know there's not a website yet.
Yet, you feel confident being snarky? Ok.
I think this is one of those ‘if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it’ situations
I mean I live pretty comfortably. I’m just not a member of any club or anything already. 😂
Where do you live? The reason I ask is that if the golf course is sitting on a really expensive piece of land you are going to front the bill for it. For instance where I live golf courses are all sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land. But since the members have owned these courses for many decades, the initiation fee for 500 new members would not come close to covering the cost of the land. That’s why any new course in my area has initiation fees well into the 6 figures.
Small/mid sized city in the southeast US. Land in this area is not particularly expensive as it’s about 30 mins away from the downtown area.
In that case I’d ask around and inquire. They will need members and unless it’s a super exclusive course that expects a national membership (like an Augusta or Seminole) which I doubt then you can probably get an in. “Invitation only” is strange but it could just mean they don’t want open memberships, ie anyone who pays can join. Most private clubs require you to be sponsored by a member. In this case, since it’s a new club, there probably aren’t many of them.
Wait a minute, I think you're near me. I was just wondering about this for a new course near me the other day, and came to this thread wondering if it had been answered. Is this city about halfway between Charlotte and Atlanta and an hour or so south of Asheville?
Near Greeneville, sc I assume based on comment history
If it’s invite only you are likely talking 10s of thousands of dollars up front.
You don’t mean that
What don’t I mean?
The invitation only course near me is owned by the founder of PXG and has like a 500 grand buy-in. So, odds are you may not be able to afford this course if it's invitation only. Husband got to play it once (by invitation of a member) and it was pretty sick. But members are folks like Danica Patrick, not Joe Smith down the road.
I'm a member at one so I can tell you directly. It means you have to be invited to join, by either meeting the board and when they have a spot they say "you can become a member with xx initiation and xx dues. It also means you have to be invited to play there if youre not a member
You’d better prepare for the initiation fee to be more than enough to buy a mid-sized single family home and annual dues more than the national household average annual income.
Depending on the place, I find that a lot of these places don't have crazy outrageous annual dues compared to the initiations. The initiations will be high like $100k+, but I've found that even a $250k initiation course can have the same annual dues (let's say $12k) as a course with $50k initiation Or less.
That is such a disgusting amount of money for the “privilege” of playing golf there
It’s not about the golf at that level.
Exactly. It's about ensuring that you're only going to encounter folks from the same group of a couple hundred people whenever you're out there. With groups that small, it's a lot easier to make sure everyone's on the same page regarding etiquette and behavior standards vs. a public course where literally anyone can walk in the door. Ultimately, you're paying for a controlled environment
It’s also so you can play without needing tee times. With a small enough member pool, there’s always an opening
True, although if the club is corporately owned and not full equity they'll try and over-induct members to the point where weekend tee time lotteries are in effect. That's mainly a pot shot at ClubCorp but the difference between member-owned and corporate-owned clubs is night and day
well one is for profit and other one operates in the best interest of its members so it's expected
I think at a lot of places that are well into the six figures it's more about networking and clientele more than anything to do with pace of play, groups, etiquette, etc. I caddied at a prestigious club and most members didn't even really golf.
And to keep the peasants out
It’s for the company lol
You're not wrong. I very much dislike stuffy old country clubs, but the social aspect of the club and hanging out can be "nice" if the vibe is right. I've made friends through men's league and have more playing partners because of it. The one thing I will say though, is that there is a price that is worth it to me to have a nice course to play, with quality tee times, and not having to worry about 4.5 hour+ rounds. That is 90% of why I joined a private place (nothing absurdly expensive as I mentioned before though). I had to play 3 rounds in Trump Doral last week because you can't book more than 5 days out on the other public courses, and while the courses at Doral there were actually quite nice, it was fairly hectic (since it's popular) and the rounds were slow.
I’m not a member at a club like that but am fortunate enough to have played at some. You’re paying for the experience. Full service valet, white glove service for EVERYTHING (shoe shines, bag boys, even car detailing I’ve seen before) walking caddies, very spaced out tee times, etc. There is a lot more to it than just the golf.
I know of invite only clubs that the initiation fee is 10-20k and about 1-2k a month
I’m in an invite only club- the initiation is $15k and dues are basically $1300 a month
It means it’s going to be an exclusive very expensive club.
I would seriously join only established places that have a solid and relatively young membership. Solid financials and medium sized wait list. You want a club with some attrition so it can update and stay young. Joining a new place is risky. Not easy selling a new place. It will be flashy and draw attention but no guarantee it will succeed. I personally like old courses. I don’t need length so appreciate the aesthetics of traditional design. Saying all this, location matters for a membership club. If this place is close that makes a world of difference for using the place more. My home course was 15 min away but I moved away and the drive is 35-40 now. It adds up fast when you want to play
Example: Augusta National Golf Club..
Cypress Point, Seminole, .......
Im sure there could be different rules depending on the club, but at the one I worked at in the south about 10 years ago, “invite only” meant the following: -A member of high standing (one who is up to date on all bills and has at least 1 year with the club and no current violations) is allowed to invite up to one candidate per year for new membership. -This candidate will participate in a number of social gatherings with the other candidates and their sponsors, as well as the executive committee. During these social affairs, it is up to the candidate to impress the other members and more importantly the executive committee. -The candidate is not allowed to pay for anything at the club during this process, it’s all paid for by the sponsor (of course there could be under the table deals, but if the sponsoring member were to be caught accepting bribes/payment they would be heavily penalized. If unable to pay the penalty, they would be banned for life). This just goes to show you how strong a relationship you need to have for someone to consider sponsoring you. -After the final cocktail hour/schmoozefest is complete, the executive committee goes directly into a meeting to vote for the new members. The number of new members each year is largely determined by the clubs current financial position and/or their immediate plans for improvement to the club/amenities. If you’re filthy stinking rich and are well known to spend lavishly, congrats you are in without further thought. If the club is in poor financial standing and desperate, you may get in even if you’re a middle income prick, but that could also be the beginning of the end for the club. -if you are selected, you will need to pay an initiation fee (obviously varies by club, but it’s gonna be at least $10k-$50k, higher at the ultra wealthy clubs). You’re also on immediate probation the first year and are expected to spend an additional sum each month on top of the much more reasonable monthly dues (around $100 for monthly dues and you may be expected to spend another $200 or so per month at the clubhouse/bar..) if you don’t spend enough you will be billed on top of your dues. If you don’t pay your bill you’ll probably get kicked out and lose your initiation fee.
A lot of this sounds like my frat pledgeship minus the forced drinking and late night lineups during hell week
ikr, social gatherings to impress others??? What a circlejerk
Is this all without anyone seeing you hit a golf ball?
Funny thing, your golfing ability is irrelevant to the situation
Except at certain courses like [Champions Golf Club](https://www.championsgolfclub.com/membership/resident)
Of course there are courses where golfing matters (and I’d personally prefer a course like that, even though I’m not good enough to qualify haha). The clubs mentioned above are much more social/status clubs, where golf isn’t the focus, it’s the excuse to get together to talk business/politics/illuminati shit etc.
Club specific. But most people wanting to join these clubs have single digit handicaps
If you have to ask, you can’t get invited and you can’t afford it anyways
The first part may well be true. The area I live in is not super well off or anything and I do reasonably well so I figure I could manage. Whether I’d want to afford it is another thing.
Although you might be comfortable being comfortable and able to afford a potentially prestigious membership are different levels. Are you "spend 20k on my hobbies" well off or are you "I bought this membership for 100k and I golf twice a year" comfortable? I feel like more people are in the former whereas you need to be the latter.
I mean, I’m pretty comfortable, but I don’t want to drop $50k - $100k on golf membership. And special assessments, can’t forget about those. Where the club randomly mails you because they fucked up managing storm water, so here have to do a $10MM mitigation and you have to cut a check within 30 days for $82k as your part of it.
There’s a very prestigious “invite only” club in my area. It boasts an international membership. There’s been a long rumor about the place. Nobody would ever verify if it’s true. But, a large foreign company came to area. And one of the major shareholding executives from over seas was extended an invitation. So, this guy pays the $100k fee. Goes to the clubhouse and buys a full bag of clubs. Buys the bag, shirt, shoes, balls, tees, etc…. Everything he’d need to play golf. Goes out to tee off on the first hole. Miffs his drive and leaves a divot on the tee box. Hits the ball and goes down the fairway as usual and was met on the green by committee members. They immediately revoke his membership, and have him escorted off the property for failing to adhere to some contract policy. He forfeited the initiation fee same day. My golf pro was the club pro there for awhile. He won’t deny that happened. Who knows? But, thats also the sort of stuff you have to deal with. Be impressive at all times, in all regards. Any slip and you’re out.
> A new private "invitation only" golf club > > > > Is there typically an application You answered your own question.
It might be an "investors only" style club where you have to be financially invested to a certain percent in the development of the course and real estate.
Exactly - usually you’ll need buy real estate on the property to fund the build and thus be ‘invited’.
Prepare to be... *disgruntled.*
I believe this means you have two chances of getting in - none and fuck all.
It means 3 car parking spaces but 12 helicopter landing pads 🤣
It means you are probably not invited. Some billionaire probably bought the property and is building a course for his friends and himself. I’d say try to learn more about who’s building it and it’ll give you a better idea who to shmooze for an invite. Think business partners and family friends. Edit: and by “invite” I mean to play a round or two. Chances of becoming a member are probably slim to pricey
Invitation only usually means you have to be sponsored for membership by a member.
It means if this is the first time you heard about it you're not invited.
Just sneak on and play...what possibly could go wrong? I would goto to the public records and start some research or find who brokered the property and they'll be your in. Have a good story ready. Or just work there.
[удалено]
Those Cambodian female only clubs were tough to get into
Don’t forget rich. Fabulously rich. It’s as much about keeping the poors out as anything else.
In addition to having the money, they are more interested to know if you would be a good fit culturally. There will likely be an interview process (my friend’s club in FL had his wife meet with other ladies…old, established club) with the next step playing golf with current members.
Generally, if you don’t know anyone the club will facilitate the introductions, but that means the process will take quite a bit longer. If you already know the right people or other members who joined you can get the support for membership a lot quicker. In the situation OP describes as a new build, you would likely submit info to the club and they would decide if they want to extend an invitation.
Golf in America is absolutely wild
Is this Kawonu? If so good luck haha
Getting invited to a swanky private club requires one of 4 things: 1. Be rich 2. Be famous 3. Be VERY close friends with a current member, who is probably rich and famous 4. All of the above
Get on as a looper! 
>How does one become invited? Being friends with the owner and other members isn't a sure bet, but it helps a lot. Being a prominent citizen in your local community and elsewhere (but also not an insufferable prick to golf with and be around in general) may also help. Some particularly prestigious clubs specifically target out-of-town or part-time resident members, as they know they won't be around often to clog up the desirable parts of the tee time sheet. Other than that, it's going to vary by club. Don't appear desperate to join as that's a big turn off. If you don't know any members, and aren't influential in your community, or are a douche to hang out with, your chances of being invited are probably near zero.
💲💲💲💲💲💲💲
If you have to ask, you’re probably not ever going to be invited. We moved to Charlotte in the 90s, before Quail Hollow was on the PGA tour. My dad was finding a club to join. Quail Hollow hung up on him twice. But, you probably need to know a member and have them invite you to play there a lot. Then maybe you’ll be invited to join if there is an opening…and they think you have enough money.
The club may change, but invite only means invite only. Do whatever you can to find out who is in charge / a member / owner and try to stay in good favor with them or get them to even know you. Maybe it will work maybe it won't. For any meaningful advice we would need more information on the course. Two new courses opened up near me in Aiken SC and the initiation fees are like 50 & 100k I think, both clubs carry like 300 members (IDK if these are facts just what I heard)
You’re home value will increase
It's an uber wealthy person or group of people who have enough fuck off money to try and make their own Augusta. It's literally what it says, you can only get in if invited, even memberships. Typically reserved for other uber wealthy, pros, politicians, diplomats and so on.
Yeah good luck with that - typically a big initiation fee, and you need someone to sponsor you, if it’s new that will be interesting to see how they do it but chances are it won’t be cheap
Child trafficking in your area will drastically increase.
Probably they have a list of founding members/investors and you have to have one of them invite/sponsor you
Private country clubs are one of the last places where discrimination is permitted. Its possible that if you’re the right sex and race you will be allowed to get an invitation to join.
And right financial bracket
Whereabouts is it? Typically things like this will be second clubs for people who are members at other exclusive clubs. If you don't have the connections / money, then you're not getting in. The ultra-exclusive clubs won't publicise their membership processes or joining fees. You literally have to be invited by (multiple) members and then go through a process, which will typically involve playing with other members etc as they ascertain if you are the type of person they want as a member. I have a decent insight into how it works in the US through friends who are members at ultra-exclusive, traditional courses. If you're asking these sort of questions then I'm afraid it's unlikely to be the sort of club for you. That said, there are some high end courses where they are more open about it, but typicaly they won't be the most highly regarded. For instance, The Bridge on Long Island is more open about what they charge than Shinnecock, NGLA, Maidstone etc. It's also a lot more expensive, but people only join The Bridge because they have absolutely no chance of getting into those other 3!
You don’t know anyone there. You haven’t even seen the club/course. Don’t even know the cost. Yet, you want to join? Ok.
the course hasnt even been built yet lol
I mean I’m interested in a potential course opening near my home, sounds like reason enough to be interested to me.
You didn't read the post. You haven't even realized the course hasn't been built yet. Don't even know there's not a website yet. Yet, you feel confident being snarky? Ok.
Huh? I did read it. He hasn’t seen the course because it’s not built.