How do you like your home course?

[Stephen Lee]

I'm looking to move again next year back to the US but I'm looking for a club that fits my needs. I've previously lived in Daytona Beach, FL and played at LPGA International (36 holes, amazing practice facilities, amenities are ok, $267 per month no cart fees after 3pm no initiation) and now I live in Colima, Mexico (18 holes, average practice facilities, 5 star amenities, great membership community, $221 per month no initiation $50 a month cart fees). Unfortunately it seems like I'm in a very small minority that picks a course and then moves based off of that. It's extremely difficult to search for memberships when I have no real criteria for my location and 99% of clubs don't put membership pricing online. It results in a ton of time spent emailing people often getting no responses and researching. That being said, I am willing to move pretty much anywhere but i don't even know where to start. Drop some suggestions below if your club or one you know of fits most of my criteria.

• Under $350/month including everything (I am 26 so qualify for a young executives membership or something similar in most places). Initiation fees also a minimum ideally because I tend to move around a lot.
• Cart fees included or able to be paid monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. I play 4-5 times a week and even if cart fees are $5 it ends up being a massive cost
• 18 holes in fairly good shape and long enough for me to properly prepare for courses i'll face in tournaments. I play some tournaments at 7,500+ yards so a 6,000 yard course just doesn't give me enough preparation for that
• Able to play year round and not hate my life out there in December
• Some strong membership would be nice with the ability to challenge myself against other members that are in the neighborhood of scratch or better, some membership tournaments, etc. 
• Good practice facilities would also be nice. 3 practice holes at LPGA International allowed me to actually practice hitting wedges into greens and shots off the tee into the fairway and that was huge. But at the end of the day, a good short game area is what my game really needs
• A solid gym that has actual free weights not just machines and dumbbells

Drop some suggestions for me!

 

PS- i don't understand why a website like this or a service doesn't exist, I feel like it would be mutually beneficial to both the clubs and people inquiring. It's on my to-do list to start a website like this but it's a long list

[tony@CIC]

4 minutes ago, Stephen Lee said:

PS- i don't understand why a website like this or a service doesn't exist, I feel like it would be mutually beneficial to both the clubs and people inquiring. It's on my to-do list to start a website like this but it's a long list

I totally agree - last year we were looking for a place in Florida and emailed numerous Clubs. Sometimes they answered and most times they didn't.  I don't have a specific list for you but it seems like except for the higher end Clubs the $300/mo is a pretty good target and the Clubs we looked at had a reduced fee for under 30. However, you may want to add another item to your list and that's housing since the Club that provides the most value may not be in a reasonably priced area.  Since October 2020 condo's similar to ours in Florida are going for 20% more. 

. 

 

[Stephen Lee]

9 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

However, you may want to add another item to your list and that's housing since the Club that provides the most value may not be in a reasonably priced area.  Since October 2020 condo's similar to ours in Florida are going for 20% more. 

Agreed, that's definitely on the list for myself but I'm ok with a 20-30 minute drive if need be. Usually in that range I can find something that's affordable. I'm also moving in with my girlfriend right now so rents now have a nice 50% off sale!  Also on my list is an affordable enough airport nearby but I live 2.5 hours from the airport now and it's not the worst thing in the world. So pretty much anywhere has some sort of a major airport in that range. However both of those are things I will strongly look into as well

Edited July 19, 2021 by Stephen Lee