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By Kyle Darbyson
When their marketplace underwent contraction, two Kansas City private clubs worked hard to woo a suddenly deep pool of prospective members
It’s never a good news story when a club is forced to close. An oversupply in many markets means it’s a story that will unfortunately continue to be told. There is, however, a silver lining for the clubs that remain solvent. Smart, proactive operators can capitalize on the situation and watch their membership numbers swell.
Steve Specht is general manger at Canyon Farms Golf Club just outside Kansas City. The metro area’s low cost of living and stable employment situation had made it particularly attractive to builders during the boom. Of course, no place is immune from the realities of changing demographics, and declining participating numbers left many private clubs scrambling for solutions.
“I think we’ve all known there was a bit more supply than demand,” Specht notes. One prominent club nearby ceased operations in late 2014. Then, less than a year later, another private club closed, too, and was sold to developers.
Specht says hundreds of members at those clubs instantly became highly qualified prospects. “After years of uncertainty at these clubs, there were a lot of people just looking for a bit of stability.”
Canyon Farms had just undergone an ownership change, and the new owners were primed to take advantage of the situation. “They were already in the process of transitioning the club to fully private,” Specht says. “Everyone felt with the nature of what was going on in the area, it was the best turn for this facility.” The course was built for sub-14 handicap players, meaning public play was also extreme slow play. “It really was built to be a private club.”
The course, built around an abandoned quarry, boasted more than 220 members while it was still semi-private. When the decision was made to pivot to its private model, club officials also decided to raise rates on those members. “We wanted to be aggressive with our pricing, but also realistic to what the market would bear,” Specht explains.
Close to 50 individuals decided not to renew, but stakeholders expected—and even planned for—such attrition. “We priced a lot of people out, but were confident we would more than make up for it,” recalls Specht. Pent up demand, both from the “free agent” members from the bankrupt clubs and from others keen to make Canyon Farms their home club, allowed the club to grow fast. “We’re already up to 340 members,” Specht says.
Across town, Milburn Country Club general manager Tim Mervosh estimates more than half of the 152 new members his club has picked up in the last 18 months are from the defunct facilities. “It’s a case of good timing and good planning,” he admits.
With the abundance of doom and gloom in the market, many clubs entrenched and prepared to ride out the storm. Milburn did the opposite, spending on capital projects and upgrading its amenities. “We reinvested in the right places at the right time,” Mervosh says.
Officials at Milburn knew there was an opportunity to become the destination of choice for these prospects affected by the closures. “Our club already had a great reputation and a great location,” says Mervosh. A new clubhouse packed with modern amenities was built to attract younger players, and a bubble built over some of the club’s tennis courts provided year-round recreation. “All those things combined have put this club on a path to really capitalize on what’s going on around here,” Mervosh says.
Milburn also activated an aggressive referral program, offering members significant credits when they sponsored new members. “It’s not really about the reward,” says Mervosh. “It’s more about raising awareness amongst our membership of their role in growing the club.” The club spent significant dollars in the nine-month campaign, sending direct mail, emails, newsletters and investing in a smartphone app. “It was old school, hand-to-hand, combat-style marketing,” remarks Mervosh.
Each club is aggressively going after these club-less prospects because both Specht and Mervosh know that recruiting them can be exceptionally lucrative. “When you get one, you most likely get at least one or two of their friends, too,” says Mervosh.
Specht calls it the snowball effect. “A lot of these guys have been playing together for years, so getting one to commit invariably leads to more.”
Both of the shuttered courses are set to become massive developments, bringing housing, hotels, shops and green spaces to the surrounding community. It’s a sliver of good news in an otherwise difficult situation.
Milburn Country Club and Canyon Farms aren’t dwelling on the negative. Instead, they’re doing everything in their power to attract new members and turn the page on this dark chapter of private golf in Kansas City.
Kyle Darbyson is a Vancouver-based freelance writer.