Country Clubs in Amenities Arms Race
Medina Country Club in Northeast Ohio wants to become a destination for families.
The club recently broke ground on a new clubhouse, complete with restaurant, event center and a brand new, larger pool with water park features for children. The new amenities will complement Medina's Union Performance Centre, which features a golf academy, a chipping and putting lab, golf simulators, and PuttView analyzers.
"The building that we put up will represent Medina County — it will represent the community," said Bill Cosgrove, owner and president of Medina Country Club, in a statement. "We're hoping to make this club a world-class destination for families in the area to be proud of."
The country club industry as a whole continues to ride an upsurge in golf interest and a swell of new members who came aboard during and immediately following the Covid-19 pandemic — even if that growth has slowed in more-recent years.
Millennials in particular increasingly are searching out and joining country clubs, and newer generations are looking for more than just golf. That means clubs are expanding their offerings, whether it’s to appeal to high-end, luxury members or to build out amenities meant to keep the entire family entertained and engaged. In turn, that means renovations, expansions and buildouts have been added to country clubs' balance sheets.
Country club assets — essentially the total value of their amenities, grounds and equipment — have grown significantly in recent years.
The Business Journals reviewed thousands of nonprofit club reporting documents that member-owned or nonprofit country clubs use to report annual data. Information on privately-owned country clubs was not available.
The median nonprofit country club reported assets of about $1.43 million in 2020, according to the data reported to the Internal Revenue Service that was reviewed. That grew to $1.82 million by 2023, a 27% increase.
While country clubs across America have seen rapid growth in their assets, the clubs with the largest asset sums are largely in the South. Among the top 100 clubs by assets, 25 are in Florida, 13 are in Texas and seven are in Virginia. California is another hot spot for properties, with 13 of the top 100 located there.
SPECIAL REPORT: The State of Country Clubs
- Country clubs are investing millions in fresh amenities
- Why this CEO is bullish on country clubs — and looking to buy more
- Country clubs are hitting a generational divide. Not everyone is happy.
- Country club revenue is no longer surging, but there's reason for optimism
- Golf course properties are hot targets for investors — and prices are soaring
Mark Kovacs, a wellness expert and private club adviser, said country clubs no longer are being defined solely by golf or tennis as they evolve into more-comprehensive lifestyle destinations for people with a wide swath of ages.
“The most-successful clubs are leaning heavily into wellness, performance and longevity offerings that meet the needs of a multigenerational membership base,” Kovacs said.
He said private clubs and luxury resorts are including more health and lifestyle options for high-net-worth individuals, such as infrared saunas and cold plunges. Clubs also are integrating more personalized services through the use of technology.
“The definition of luxury is shifting from material exclusivity to optimal health and time well spent," Kovacs said. "Clubs and resorts that can deliver transformational wellness experiences alongside community and sport will thrive. This includes future-forward facilities, equipment, programming and expertise."
Clubs are forced to innovate
For Noah DiPasquale, founder of Epic Golf Club in Arizona, he sees a future of destination golf clubs complete with a wide array of amenities that allow members to stay for an entire weekend without leaving the campus. Those clubs will offer a sense of exclusively and also “through the roof” services to make up for their otherwise remote locations.
Ultimately, high-end clubs will compete with each other for the continued interest of their members even as clubs on the lower end decide to carry on with more simple offerings, he said.
The value of the land on which golf courses and country clubs sit will also continue to impact future operations. As the value of that property grows, it will become more difficult to open new golf courses in or near cities. In places where land is readily available, there could be water restrictions that prevent the creation of a new golf course.
Those forces, combined with the continued popularity of golf, will drive clubs to innovate, expand and make the best use of their resources, DiPasquale said.
“The demand for golf is going to continue to grow,” he said. “The great thing about golf is that you are outside enjoying the weather and enjoying your friends.”
And while the industry is poised to see a net closure of country club and golf club locations in the near term, according to IBISWorld, golf courses are expected to bounce back. From 2005 to 2025, the number of clubs shrank from 11,978 to 9,900. That total is expected to slide further, to 9,839, in 2027 before growing again in 2028 and continuing through 2031, albeit slowly, rising to 9,962.
The days of breakout growth may be over, but dues and fees continue to rise faster than before the pandemic, said Chris Davis, director of data analytics and capital planning at Club Benchmarking, a provider of private club-specific business intelligence tools and services.
The median membership cost for clubs with golf increased 3% from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2020 to 2021. That eventually rose to 9% from 2022 to 2023 before slipping to 6% from 2023 to 2024. The growth rate came in at 5% from June 2024 to June 2025.
Comments
-
I’ve had that Epic golf company beating down my door for 5 years. Great deal, you pay like $25k initiation and like $1k/month and they MIGHT be able to get you a tee time at somewhere legit every now and then.
-
"
Millennials in particular increasingly are searching out and joining country clubs, and newer generations are looking for more than just golf."Ah yes, I can hear the incessant pickleball popping noise now.
-
The High Noon’s and White Claws are always sold out in the clubhouse now.
