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Member Clubs
Golf Management Companies:
The Right Fit for Your Club?
by WILL MACILWAINE
For many years, golf courses
and country clubs were entities
that were largely managed
in-house, with the day-to-day
operations handled by an owner, or a
general manager whose actions were
controlled by a select few, such as a board
of directors. However, in recent years,
many golf courses and country clubs have
abandoned this traditional management
structure for a more modern approach:
the use of golf management companies.
Golf management companies are
third-party entities that provide various
services for golf courses and country
clubs. Some of the most well-known of
these entities include Troon Golf, KemperSports,
ClubCorp, Billy Casper Golf
and others. These entities offer management
services for nearly every aspect of
a golf course or country club, including
management services related to the golf
course, food and beverage, swimming,
tennis, fitness and more. Instead of an
owner—or a general manager controlled
by members—making decisions related to
the day-to-day operations of the course or
club, these decisions are instead principally
made by the golf management company.
The management company typically
reports to the club’s board of directors,
but practically, once retained, the third
party manager rapidly accumulates the
“institutional” knowledge necessary to
make such decisions with less input from
the board.
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PROS
There are certainly many advantages associated
with the use of golf management companies.
One view is that these companies can
ease the stress associated with making ordinary,
but often difficult, business decisions
that golf courses and country clubs face each
day. The idea is that these companies have
ample experience managing an extensive
array of diverse golf courses and clubs, and
thus are in a better position to make these
difficult and often vastly important decisions.
Furthermore, these management entities
can assist in increasing a course or
BIGSTOCK
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V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY/J UNE 2020
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