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Shhh! Fees at America’s 25 elite private courses
Our sources: Some golf clubs aren't shy about publicizing their initiation fees. Clubs affiliated with upscale real estate, for instance, are willing to talk since membership typically figures into the price of buying a home. But as far as most private golf clubs are concerned, what they charge for membership is nobody else’s business. So, we contacted well-placed golf insiders around the country—head golf professionals, regional golf association executives, industry consultants, even club managers—for well-informed estimates of initiation fees, based on their first-hand knowledge of club members and management, with a guarantee of anonymity.
Big golf follows big money. Nearly all the clubs on our super expensive golf clubs list are clustered near upscale zip codes—the New York City suburbs, South Florida, Scottsdale and Palm Springs. For instance, number one on our list, Sebonack, was built just a few years ago, right next to the hallowed ground of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, one of the world's best golf courses.
See our slideshow of Most Expensive Private Golf Clubs.
You won't, however, find Shinnecock on this list. Nor Augusta National, Winged Foot, Seminole, nor any other old clubs. Initiation fees for these bluebloods are, generally speaking, relatively low—usually less than $100,000, often even under $75,000. They’re old-school equity clubs, which means they're essentially non-profit and owned by the membership. Since they've been catering to their well-heeled members for quite a while, they rely on annual dues and food and beverage sales to stay afloat or make capital improvements. (Having a world-famous tournament every spring, as Augusta does, helps pay a few bills.) As far as joining those classic, invitation-only golf clubs, sometimes "who you know" doesn't even matter: The waiting list for membership at Crystal Downs, for instance, in far-off Frankfort, Mich., is said to be 17 years deep.
Our list is divided up almost evenly between equity clubs like The Bears Club (#2) and non-equity clubs like Liberty National (#3). "Equity" means just that: ownership of the club by its members; while "non-equity" means someone else is selling the right to use the club. Many golf courses that are centerpieces in real estate developments start out as non-equity, but are then bought by the membership—like our #13, The Vintage, in Indian Wells, Calif. Typically the developer will wait until the club is full, which can take as long as 10 or 20 years.
Which is better? Most seasoned clubbers will express a preference for equity—for one thing, usually at least a part of the non-equity initiation is non-refundable. (Trump National at Bedminster returns 85 percent of the golfer's initiation.) And equity members have the ability to pass on memberships to children.
See our slideshow of Most Expensive Private Golf Clubs.
On the other hand, whenever the club needs capital improvements, such as rebuilding sand bunkers or upgrading the swimming pool, members are assessed an additional amount. However, members of plenty of non-equity clubs have also seen their dues steadily increase over the years. Still, with fewer decisions to be made, a non-equity club provides far less of an opportunity for the kind of internecine struggles that can make club life less than relaxing.
Our list varies by region. In the Northeast and Florida, clubs like #1 Sebonack generally adhere to the traditional model of a standalone golf club. But in Arizona and Southern California, it's unusual to find a newer golf club that isn't the centerpiece of a real estate development. One difference between the two is that the clubhouse at a real-estate centerpiece is more likely to boast additional facilities and activities. There are plenty of choices for everyone: You won't find a pool at Liberty National, in Jersey City, N.J., across New York Harbor from Manhattan's financial district, but the dining experience created by consulting chef Tom Colicchio is sure to attract the city's elite.
Clubs tend to have different categories of memberships. For example, the Mayacama Golf Club (#18), based around a Jack Nicklaus course in California's Sonoma Valley, offers a $150,000 "national" membership to residents outside a 250-mile radius of the club, in addition to the $250,000 it charges for local and Bay Area residents.
As with any market, prices fluctuate. After a few years of steady increases, a select few high-end memberships have declined in price. While Sebonack's entry fee has apparently increased to "nearly $1 million," according to one insider, Liberty National, once going for $500,000, is down to $450,000.
But don't join one of these clubs if you’re looking for a bargain. In addition to initiation, members pay annual dues plus a monthly dining minimum ranging from $100 to $1000. Dues are usually a fixed amount that can range from around $10,000 to… well, a lot more. Reportedly, members in at least one club in Connecticut's Fairfield County pay $50,000 in annual dues, while Trump Bedminster costs $18,500. But at some equity clubs, like Dallas' Preston Trails (#24), for example, operational expenses are tallied at year-end and divided by the number of members. That can run into quite a sum for a small club devoted to pristine conditioning (nearly $2 million one year at Preston Trails).
How authoritative is our list? It doesn’t take in some of the ultra-private clubs, such as the nine-hole Dunes Club in New Buffalo, Mich., built by Bandon Dunes developer Mike Keiser for a membership number in the dozens. And, a number of reported fees had only one source (such as the Vineyard Golf Club on
See our slideshow of Most Expensive Private Golf Clubs.
