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New Country Club. Lots of time?

• mmillings 600 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 11:17 AM

  Hi all,

  If there's a previous post discussing this, my apologies for the repeat post.

  For the past month or so, I've been seriously considering starting my own country club. I'm having fun in the club I'm currently in, but want a new challenge. I've done as much research as the forums will allow and have a pretty good plan (in my opinion) thus far. The only thing that is stopping me from sealing the deal is the number of hours per day spent on running one. Like most of us, I have a busy life outside of WGT. I'm thankful to be able to play a round of 18 (in most cases) a day.

  Owners of small, medium and large sized clubs, if you can please chime in I'd greatly appreciate it; how many hours a day you spend running your club? I just want to gauge whether I'll have the time to still play and have fun, as it seems that managing a club can be daunting and/or rewarding.

  Thanks! Shoot Low!

• alosso 21,034 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 12:34 PM

  Me thinks, it costs big time!

  At first, you have few members, and you will be the general dogsbody, setting up tournaments, keeping the Forum alive, inviting and instructing new members.

  You want a homepage? You do it.

  Tournament series need a lot of attention - you do it!

  Members wanna know? You answer.

  Members want ...? You do it or observe it closely.

  The most nerving detail may be that players come and go in this game on short or long term, but they stay members regardless if they joined. Wanna live with sleeping members, or compliment them out?

  And, as a small CC, you have to care for the $%&§$ CC levels (patience vs. credits...)

  With more members, it may be easier. I inherited a 250 members CC a few years ago, and I let it take an easy course. 60 players are active playing, 30 are actively interested in our activities. They run two projects by themselves, but I still have to show the lead, collect ideas and organize things: After our first CC Championship last Winter we are now in a 12-week Tour event with Handicap scoring, and in the community Davis Cup competition.

  BTW: In addition to 180 inactive members, there was a fluctuation of about 160 members in 14 months ;)

• mmillings 600 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 12:56 PM

  alosso, thank you for the input,  as you and a few of the other large successful country club owners are the ones I was looking forward to hearing from the most since you folks are very active, not only as owners, but in the forums as well.

  I'm still fishing for the answer of, on average, how many hours a day can I expect to spend running it, especially until I establish my club and get some directors to help me. Just a rough estimate. If it's hours a day, then forget about it. If it's AN hour a day roughly, that's doable.

  Again, alosso. Thanks for your time.

• steve1248 849 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 3:47 PM

  Hey M           started my club with 3 friends  in late 11/14     just 1/2 hour a week  plus recruiting         by   member 15, it became  1/2 a day   - since we hit 50 it's an hour +per day

  Just passed the 3 hour mark, today and haven't  teed off yet      GL    Steve

• mmillings 600 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 3:57 PM

  steve1248, unfortunately that's the nail in the coffin I was somewhat afraid of. Sounds like it can become a full time job in of itself. 3 hours and you haven't even teed off yet? Not what I was looking for in club ownership.

• Beryman 9,084 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 4:20 PM

  it is not a stroll through the daisies for sure, and can at times require considerable attention even with great members as i have

• thesnakeyes 892 Posts

  Tue, May 26 2015 8:51 PM

  100+ members and up to 2hrs a day and 4 directors to help out when unable to, spread the load especially if you have external website that is where the time is spent as well as filling in excel spread sheets for all the comps

• stevepsheehan 2,791 Posts

  Wed, May 27 2015 4:04 AM

  Our CC - UK Golfers Elite - is run by a group of 5. We created a separate, non playing entity,  and transferred ownership to them. We all have the password, so any one of us can log in as "owner" and do whatever needs doing.

  It's not the most elegant solution, but it does work well, and until WGT gives us genuine shared ownership, it's about as good as you're going to get I think.

  It certainly takes the pressure off one owner having to do all the work, and also avoids trouble down the line, should the owner become unable to continue for whatever reason.

  Steve

• mmillings 600 Posts

  Wed, May 27 2015 7:10 AM

  Steve, that actually sounds like a good idea, down the road. I would need to level up to get the directors first it seems. But a swell idea indeed. Thanks.

• stevepsheehan 2,791 Posts

  Wed, May 27 2015 7:41 AM

  No, doing it that way you can basically give the password to anyone you want, any time you want - the title of Director is an honorary title only, and has no actual "powers" allocated to it at all.