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June 6, 2024

355: Balancing a Small Membership with Public Access w/ Mark Iwinski, Old Corkscrew Golf Course

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What does it take to manage a golf club through economic highs and lows, and how do you keep the greens vibrant despite unpredictable challenges? Join us for a captivating chat with Mark Iwinski, General Manager and COO of Old Corkscrew Golf Club, as he walks us through his remarkable journey since the club’s construction in 2005. From the economic downturn that struck shortly after its opening to the influx of new members who saw opportunity amidst adversity, Mark's insights provide a unique look at the resilience needed in the golf club industry.

Mark peels back the curtain on the staffing issues, operational hurdles, and surprising setbacks—like the mysterious halt in greens growth last year. Despite consulting with experts, the cause remained elusive, yet the club's strategic choices and resilience led to a full recovery. Mark's stories underline the importance of adaptability and determination in overcoming the unpredictable nature of the business.

We also explore the fascinating evolution of Old Corkscrew Golf Club, from its origins to its current hybrid model, balancing a small membership with public access. Mark shares his personal philosophy and joy in the semi-private club environment. 

This episode offers a deep dive into the shifting dynamics of private golf club membership and management, enriched by Mark's nearly two-decade tenure at Old Corkscrew.

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Chapters

00:00 - Private Club Industry Trends and Updates

10:03 - Challenges in Golf Course Management

19:16 - Club Origins and Economic Challenges

38:41 - Golf Club Membership and Trends

Transcript
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Hey everyone, welcome to Private Club Radio, the industry stores for news trends and updates.

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Whether you're brand new to the private club industry, welcome.

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Or a consummate professional, welcome back.

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The show dives into all topics private golf and country club related.

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I'm your host, denny Corby.

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Thank you all for being here.

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In this episode I chat with general manager COO of Old Corkscrew Golf Club, mark Iwinski, and I got linked up with him through my really good friend, Jason Becker from Golf Life Navigators and I was down with Jason and I just got done speaking at a MDASF events Marketing Directors Association of Southwest Florida.

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Shameless plug for myself.

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If you or your club is looking for some amazing entertainment, a really fun evening, I have the Denny Corby Experience Magic, mind Dreaming and Comedy the most fun you and your club are going to have guaranteed.

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It's a really great time.

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If you're interested in learning more, head over to dennycorbycom.

00:00:58.746 --> 00:00:59.950
Holler at me.

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I'm always on LinkedIn and the socials as well.

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Anyway, I was chatting with Jason and I was driving to the airport and he said hey, you have to go chat with my friend, mark Iwinski over at Old Corkscrew.

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He's really great dude, really good story.

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It's a really cool course.

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So this is just a fun conversation me and Mark had there in person.

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My big butt broke one of the chairs.

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It has that like webbing netting.

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It was a time, uh, we are talking outside and people ended up coming and some things happened.

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So the noise, background noise there.

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There there's a little bit uh, conversations, a little little all over the place, but still just a really fun, fruitful, um, human to human conversation I had with my new friend, mark Iwinski.

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How long have you been?

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here for I started the golf course, came with the group.

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You started the club yeah, yeah, it was 18 years ago.

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The original investors and players in the club that were part of the group this was back in, back in Okay.

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Okay, yeah, it's just going to be easier Okay.

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Is this good enough?

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Yeah, so back in.

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Oh, I was hired by the entity in 2005, late.

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We started construction in 2006 and then opened a soft opening in late 2006, 2007.

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What a time to start a club.

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Yeah, and that's part of the story.

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It's.

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I think we caused an economic downturn back then once we opened our doors.

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It was just an omen or maybe something.

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Once we opened the doors, that was it.

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That was the tilting point.

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I guess you'd say, but no, we came out of the gates really strong.

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I mean gosh, we were.

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And this is back in 2005, and charging almost the same rates we are today.

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And so that puts kind of a little depiction of where we were back in the economy, back in the heyday I mean down here it was.

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You know, I always tell folks, I think, what happened in this market and I don't know how much Southwest Florida itself influenced the whole market, but there was the Wall Street Journal, Cooker's here.

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Oh, that's, all right.

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No, they're ready.

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Those go back to 2006.

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So there you go.

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So there, you didn't want to move.

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Now I'm glad I didn't break you, let's put it that way.

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But no, we're fine.

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Danny, but it was interesting times indeed.

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So we came out of the gate.

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It was shortly after that that the economy turned and you wouldn't have recognized this area back then.

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I mean there were clubs, big players in this market who went belly up.

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I mean it was across the gamut, belly up.

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I mean it was across the gamut and it was a fortuitous thing for a lot of these private clubs, for the members there, because they were able to get in on the cheap and purchase these clubs.

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And now it's just a complete reversal.

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You're just not coming up the road here, oh yeah.

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And you know not a golf course being constructed in sight.

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I don't know if you've studied the area, but everything now is moving inland and I mean inland 30, 35 miles, big projects.

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I believe the Colliers have something going on the golf and rod and gun club, very high-end private initiation and it's also part of a development that they'll have out there and there's talk.

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We were you know I had several entourages out here.

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Oh, certain something.

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We have a small membership and we're also open to the public here.

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How many memberships do you have?

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Oh, I might be stretching at 60.

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And it's sweet for them because they get that royal treatment and it's nice.

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They get that royal treatment and it's nice.

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There is some feeling of ownership here with these folks that this is their place and it's fun having them too.

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So my background was actually in the summer.

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Private club industry was actually in the semi-private club industry.

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I have a background of a few clubs I've worked at in the market here.

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Sorry about this you know semi-private and then both of them have converted to being fully private.

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But I like this world.

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I like dealing with you know fresh faces every day.

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What's it like?

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Being at the same place since 2005, 2006, 2007 it just doesn't seem that long when I say that 18 years, one of these folks I try not to embellish at all, but it was.

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We're in 2024 and this was yeah, it was 2005.

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So that's have I got my math correct?

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I hope 30 years to 2005, weird.

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No, 30 years, 20 years, so yeah, yeah, there you go going on 20 years.

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Maybe I tried to forget it.

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You know, since I go Go on 20 years, maybe I'd try to forget it.

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It means I'm having the children too.

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No, but it's.

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I think rare to see people in the same position for so long.

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It has to be something to.

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You must be doing something wrong.

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Yeah, it's dodging bullets you know laying low, no, it's.

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I've always had this way about me.

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You know, treat everybody the same.

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I mean it's genuine, what you see is what you get.

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So you don't ostracize folks.

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Or you know, treat people with preference and then the other group not, because I've always come back to you and that's what happens in a lot of clubs.

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I know many good friends who are quality guys and that, but they may have rubbed that wrong person, you know, in the wrong way and that person is then the chairman of the club board and I've never actually worked for a board head of clubs, so I don't know.

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Yeah, so I've had the fortune of working for ownership private owners, it's nice.

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00:08:39.530 --> 00:08:48.312
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00:08:48.312 --> 00:08:49.774
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00:08:49.774 --> 00:08:52.028
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00:08:52.028 --> 00:08:57.753
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00:08:57.753 --> 00:09:06.965
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00:09:06.965 --> 00:09:17.682
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00:09:17.682 --> 00:09:23.144
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00:09:23.144 --> 00:09:33.836
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00:09:33.836 --> 00:09:37.869
Set up a confidential call with Peter Danula and that's it.

00:09:37.869 --> 00:09:39.331
Simple as that.

00:09:39.331 --> 00:09:45.663
Also, be sure to check out our episodes of Board Chats here on Private Club Radio, brought to you by our friends.

00:09:45.663 --> 00:09:47.789
You guessed it Concert Golf Partners.

00:09:48.961 --> 00:09:50.687
It's a back and forth flow.

00:09:50.687 --> 00:10:03.606
You're not being segmented into different committees that will answer this, and I respect those guys that work at those types of clubs.

00:10:03.606 --> 00:10:04.568
It's a lot, it's hard yeah.

00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:05.090
It's hard.

00:10:05.331 --> 00:10:05.991
Yeah, it's hard.

00:10:06.211 --> 00:10:07.134
Yeah, it's hard.

00:10:07.134 --> 00:10:09.767
I don't know if I'd really do it.

00:10:09.767 --> 00:10:11.431
There's so many, I know so many.

00:10:11.431 --> 00:10:14.466
When people say they may have like 300 bosses.

00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:15.289
Yeah.

00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.323
Yeah, all the credit to them.

00:10:18.323 --> 00:10:19.368
It's a lot of work.

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It really is.

00:10:20.945 --> 00:10:28.823
Just recently here there were some clubs.

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Their opportunities have opened up.

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You know they're in certain positions and I was serious.

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These folks, I was at a club I previously worked at and I could see where they were going.

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I just shook my head.

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No, anything to do with meals in the evening.

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You know, when you have night dining and that it's that opens itself up to a lot of challenges.

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You know you've got staffing issues and folks leaving there.

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You know, at midnight, close to it, who knows if they're going home, type of deals.

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Oh yeah, no, this is enough and it's a lot of fun.

00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:04.162
Are your now?

00:11:04.162 --> 00:11:04.947
Are there houses on the course here?

00:11:04.947 --> 00:11:05.510
No, no, and it's a lot of fun.

00:11:05.510 --> 00:11:06.860
Are there houses on the course here?

00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.962
No, no, it's a core golf and a little history.

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This was actually a project that was started by the Bonita Bay Properties back in the day and this was going to be an auxiliary course for all their golfing communities.

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So they saw the demand, or at least they had forecasted there would be enough demand that there would be some overflow.

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So this is where those overflow folks would end up.

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And there was a previous turn, a little blipip in the market, and they put the project on hold and the group that hired me.

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They saw the opportunity, they purchased the property.

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Everything was laid out.

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It was almost too easy, like cheating.

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Nicholas had already done all the engineering the layout, sight lines were drawn and it was technically a shovel-ready project so we were able to start on the way saved us a lot of time.

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We built it I say start to finish in less than 10 months.

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That's pretty quick.

00:12:24.942 --> 00:12:26.605
That's pretty quick.

00:12:27.268 --> 00:12:29.273
That's pretty quick, can be done.

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There was a rock underneath there so we didn't have to do any blasting.

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That's one thing you run into in Florida.

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You hit the wide rock and next thing.

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you know you're having to not just dig but blast as well.

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So that was For the TNT, yeah.

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So it was nice for the construction of it that was doing that.

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They had a nice go at this and then they were able to mold the fairways and sculpt it the way that they want without any impediments.

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So that also expedited the process.

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You guys have a lot of really good reviews online as well.

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We do yeah.

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To see people who have more than 20, maybe even 100 Google reviews.

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You've done this 500.

00:13:26.985 --> 00:13:28.431
Yeah, that's not really good.

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I was happy to see that.

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I appreciate that.

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Yeah, we're sensitive to, of course, the patrons coming out.

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A lot of challenges we have here.

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You know the severity of the course.

00:13:41.168 --> 00:13:51.792
And then last year we had a little reversal at the most inopportune time when our grass on our greens decided not to grow any longer.

00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:53.083
Yeah, and who knows?

00:13:53.345 --> 00:14:04.998
Anyone's guess I mean people say fungus, I'm not going to fungus, I don't take fungus, but it was the trying time last year at this time.

00:14:04.998 --> 00:14:05.519
So what did you do?

00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:10.086
So we pretended like we were in good shape.

00:14:10.086 --> 00:14:13.163
No, we just put on.

00:14:13.202 --> 00:14:18.922
You know, I tell folks, you know my kids I had enough Disney in me.

00:14:18.942 --> 00:14:36.148
you know you put on the Mickey Mouse costume and, yeah, a lot of refunds back last year at this time and people and actually it's so funny because out of that, in that period I met some really great folks.

00:14:36.148 --> 00:14:53.423
I mean that you know they were upset but then, after chatting with them and taking care of them and, you know, nursing them back to our side they know this established nice relationships that carry on yeah to this day.

00:14:53.562 --> 00:14:55.746
But yeah, it was what we have.

00:14:55.746 --> 00:14:57.750
Was it all the grass?

00:14:57.750 --> 00:15:03.947
It was, I tell folks it might as well have been it was.

00:15:03.947 --> 00:15:10.434
It would have been better, I think, had all the grass disappeared, because then you know what you're up against.

00:15:10.434 --> 00:15:10.655
You're.

00:15:10.655 --> 00:15:16.924
You're basically putting on dirt, the ball's rolling, true, and and that, but it was, uh, yeah.

00:15:16.924 --> 00:15:29.216
So, um, we, uh, yeah, we were able to, you know, find the person, the superintendent, and get it back in track.

00:15:29.216 --> 00:15:34.446
There's something about, you know, obviously Florida and the sunshine Grass wants to grow down here.

00:15:34.866 --> 00:15:35.087
Yeah.

00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:37.059
So again, kind of a mystery.

00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:53.958
We had experts, I mean the leading guys in this field, you know, come down here and again you know various opinions and that you know the standard permutant decline.

00:15:53.958 --> 00:16:01.767
Well, okay, that's a fever, like what's causing it, you know.

00:16:01.767 --> 00:16:10.308
So our owner, great gentleman David Hoffman, I begged him.

00:16:10.308 --> 00:16:15.043
I said, whatever you do, don't re-grass the greens, we'll get these back.

00:16:15.043 --> 00:16:16.447
And he believed me.

00:16:16.447 --> 00:16:19.947
And we're in much better shape.

00:16:19.947 --> 00:16:22.706
The horse is in really good condition.

00:16:24.270 --> 00:16:27.629
So you had some sick grass, sick grass, sick grass, yeah.

00:16:29.721 --> 00:16:32.811
So anyone's guess, you know, is still a mystery.

00:16:33.581 --> 00:16:34.567
So what did you end up doing?

00:16:36.201 --> 00:16:38.225
Well, you get out of, okay.

00:16:38.225 --> 00:16:40.791
So again, you know this is happening.

00:16:40.791 --> 00:16:45.908
Last year we had a couple of weather revers reversals.

00:16:45.908 --> 00:16:48.381
You know you have these fluctuations.

00:16:48.381 --> 00:16:58.582
You know the very cold days followed by high uh, humidity days with uh, you know, higher temperatures.

00:16:58.582 --> 00:17:15.593
So the grass goes dormant for a while, not totally off like up north, but you know your Bermuda will really go to sleep on you and once that is, if you're losing your grains, then the grass is going to sleep.

00:17:15.593 --> 00:17:17.006
It's pretty much game over.

00:17:17.006 --> 00:17:26.871
So we had, yeah, so as the temperatures came back and rose, you know the conditions were more in line to growing grass.

00:17:26.871 --> 00:17:34.993
You know the greens start to pop and, just you know, start doing good horticultural practices.

00:17:38.540 --> 00:17:43.132
Luckily, yeah, did it happen all like, does it happen all at once?

00:17:43.132 --> 00:17:48.406
Or was it like or was it like you know, like a little thing here and there and like, so it happened.

00:17:48.406 --> 00:17:49.862
Oh, that's, that's wild.

00:17:50.123 --> 00:17:51.326
No, no, you know.

00:17:51.326 --> 00:18:04.506
That's an excellent question, denny, because again, it's not my field and and I I won't say I know enough make myself dangerous because I know more than that.

00:18:04.506 --> 00:18:09.875
I know, but you know it's, I understand.

00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:13.891
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00:18:13.891 --> 00:18:15.727
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00:18:15.727 --> 00:18:26.336
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00:18:26.336 --> 00:18:34.032
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00:18:34.032 --> 00:18:44.454
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00:18:44.454 --> 00:18:47.364
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00:18:47.384 --> 00:18:52.325
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00:18:52.325 --> 00:19:01.431
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00:19:01.431 --> 00:19:08.087
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00:19:08.087 --> 00:19:09.874
You're going to have a chat with Paul Dank.

00:19:09.874 --> 00:19:11.077
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00:19:11.077 --> 00:19:12.123
He's a great guy.

00:19:12.123 --> 00:19:16.586
Also, be sure to check out our episodes of member vetting here on Private Club Radio.

00:19:16.866 --> 00:19:33.939
You started the club yeah, yeah, it was 18 years ago and the original investors and players in the club that were part of the group this was back in, back in.

00:19:34.481 --> 00:19:37.567
Back in Okay.

00:19:39.557 --> 00:19:41.142
Yeah, it's just going to be easier.

00:19:41.142 --> 00:19:42.065
Okay, is this?

00:19:42.164 --> 00:19:44.758
good enough, yeah, so back in.

00:19:44.758 --> 00:19:50.086
Oh, I was hired by the entity in 2005, late.

00:19:50.086 --> 00:19:58.848
We started construction in 2006 and then opened soft opening in late 2006, 2007.

00:19:59.455 --> 00:20:00.401
What a time to start a club.

00:20:01.336 --> 00:20:03.825
Yeah, and that's part of the story.

00:20:03.825 --> 00:20:05.896
It's.

00:20:05.896 --> 00:20:12.449
I think we caused an economic downturn back then once we opened our doors.

00:20:12.449 --> 00:20:16.282
It was just an omen or maybe something.

00:20:16.282 --> 00:20:18.007
Once we opened the doors, that was it.

00:20:18.007 --> 00:20:20.540
That was the tilting point.

00:20:20.540 --> 00:20:24.374
I guess you'd say, but no, we came out of the gates really strong.

00:20:24.374 --> 00:20:26.240
I mean gosh, we were.

00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:48.201
And this is back in 2005, and charging almost the same rates we are today and charging almost the same rates we are today, and so that puts kind of a little depiction of where we were back in the economy back in the heyday I mean down here it was.

00:20:49.182 --> 00:21:04.971
I always tell folks, I think, what happened in this market and I don't know how much Southwest Florida itself influenced the whole market, but there was the Wall Street Journal Over here.

00:21:05.330 --> 00:21:06.270
That's all right.

00:21:06.290 --> 00:21:07.571
No, they're ready.

00:21:07.571 --> 00:21:10.032
Those go back to 2006.

00:21:12.304 --> 00:21:12.990
So there you go.

00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:17.521
So there, you didn't want to move.

00:21:17.521 --> 00:21:20.909
Now I'm glad it didn't break you, let's put it that way.

00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:28.246
But no, we're fine, Danny, but it was interesting times indeed.

00:21:30.035 --> 00:21:30.194
You know.

00:21:30.194 --> 00:21:30.757
So we came out of the gate.

00:21:30.777 --> 00:21:38.744
You know it was still, it was shortly after that that the economy turned and you wouldn't have recognized this area back then.

00:21:38.744 --> 00:21:43.507
I mean, there were clubs, big players in this market who went belly up.

00:21:43.507 --> 00:21:59.059
I mean it was across the gamut and it was a fortuitous thing for a lot of these private clubs, for the members there, because they were able to get in on the cheap and purchase these clubs.

00:21:59.361 --> 00:22:09.028
Yeah, and now it's just a complete reversal you did not come up the road here, oh yeah and, and you know not a not a golf

00:22:09.088 --> 00:22:23.085
course being constructed in sight I don't know if you've studied the area but everything now is moving inland, and I mean inland Thirty, thirty-five miles, Big projects.

00:22:23.085 --> 00:22:40.902
I believe the Colliers have something going on the golf and rod and gun club very high-end private initiation and it's also part of a development that they'll have out there and there's talk.

00:22:40.902 --> 00:22:58.045
We were you know, I had several entourages come through here, you know, because there are groups looking to purchase and that I was certain somebody would jump at the opportunity, because it is not an opportunity.

00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:04.508
But we're fine, we're very pleased with how things are going.

00:23:05.474 --> 00:23:07.182
We're kind of a hybrid mode.

00:23:07.182 --> 00:23:13.733
We have a small membership and we're also open to the public here how many memberships do you have?

00:23:13.733 --> 00:23:18.626
Oh, I might be stretching it's 60.

00:23:18.626 --> 00:23:26.479
And it's sweet for them because they get that royal treatment and it's nice.

00:23:26.479 --> 00:23:36.104
And there is some feeling of ownership here with these folks that this is their place.

00:23:36.104 --> 00:23:39.304
And it's fun having them too.

00:23:39.304 --> 00:23:46.263
So my background was actually in the semi-private club industry.

00:23:47.817 --> 00:23:54.739
I have a background of a few clubs I've worked in in the market here Sorry about this, you know semi-private.

00:23:54.739 --> 00:23:55.123
And then here.

00:23:55.143 --> 00:23:55.849
Sorry about this.

00:23:55.849 --> 00:23:56.213
Some are private.

00:23:56.213 --> 00:23:59.721
Both of them have converted to being fully private.

00:23:59.721 --> 00:24:02.182
But I like this world.

00:24:02.182 --> 00:24:05.018
I like dealing with fresh faces every day?

00:24:05.038 --> 00:24:07.703
What's it like being at the same place since 2005,.

00:24:07.703 --> 00:24:08.327
2006,?

00:24:08.556 --> 00:24:09.547
2007?

00:24:09.547 --> 00:24:11.619
It just doesn't seem that long.

00:24:11.619 --> 00:24:13.800
When I say that 18 years.

00:24:13.800 --> 00:24:18.915
One of these folks I try not to embellish at all, but it was.

00:24:18.915 --> 00:24:33.170
We're in 2024 and this was yeah, it was 2005, so that's uh, I've got my math correct.

00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:41.124
I hope 30 years, this is 2005, weird, no, 30 years, 20 years.

00:24:42.838 --> 00:24:44.557
Yeah, yeah there you go, Go ahead.

00:24:44.557 --> 00:24:45.279
20 years.

00:24:46.414 --> 00:24:47.621
Maybe I try to forget it.

00:24:47.621 --> 00:24:49.361
It means I'm having a child.

00:24:49.361 --> 00:24:50.837
No, but it's.

00:24:51.940 --> 00:24:55.428
I think, rare to see people in the same position for so long.

00:24:55.428 --> 00:24:57.621
So it has to be something to.

00:24:57.621 --> 00:24:58.703
You must be doing something wrong.

00:24:59.394 --> 00:25:03.185
Yeah, it's dodging bullets you know laying low?

00:25:03.185 --> 00:25:03.757
No it's.

00:25:03.757 --> 00:25:07.189
I've always had this way about me.

00:25:07.189 --> 00:25:08.855
You know, treat everybody the same.

00:25:08.855 --> 00:25:12.361
I mean it's genuine, what you see is what you get.

00:25:12.361 --> 00:25:26.434
Genuine, what you see is what you get and that so you don't ostracize folks or, you know, treat people with preference and then the other group not, because I will always come back to you and that's what happens in a lot of clubs.

00:25:26.596 --> 00:25:47.667
I know many good friends quality guys and that, but they may have rubbed that wrong person, you know, in the wrong way and that wrong person in the wrong way and that person is then the chairman of the club board and I've never actually worked for a board at a club, so I don't know.

00:25:47.667 --> 00:26:02.023
Yeah, so I've had the fortune of working for ownership private owners, and it's nice.

00:26:02.023 --> 00:26:02.904
You know it's a back-and-forth flow.

00:26:02.925 --> 00:26:14.208
You're not being segmented into different committees, that we answer this and I respect those guys that work at those types of clubs.

00:26:14.208 --> 00:26:16.554
It's hard clubs, it's hard it's hard.

00:26:18.586 --> 00:26:19.953
I don't know if I'd be able to do it.

00:26:19.953 --> 00:26:28.904
There's so many people say they can have like 300 bosses yeah all the credit to them.

00:26:28.904 --> 00:26:34.444
It's a lot of work, it really is just recently here.

00:26:34.695 --> 00:26:35.721
There's some clubs.

00:26:35.721 --> 00:26:38.724
There were opportunities that were open.

00:26:38.724 --> 00:26:42.826
You know they had certain positions and I was serious.

00:26:42.826 --> 00:26:47.963
These folks were at a club I previously worked at and I could see where they were going.

00:26:47.963 --> 00:26:49.000
I just shook my head.

00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.555
No, anything to do with meals in the evening.

00:26:53.555 --> 00:27:00.333
You know when you have night dining and that that opens up a lot of challenges.

00:27:00.333 --> 00:27:10.022
You know you've got staffing issues and folks leaving there, you know at midnight, close to it, who knows if they're going home, type of deal.

00:27:10.022 --> 00:27:13.744
So no, this is enough and it's a lot of fun.

00:27:15.699 --> 00:27:17.545
Are there houses on the course here?

00:27:17.694 --> 00:27:21.577
No, no, it's a core golf and a little history.

00:27:21.577 --> 00:27:36.775
This was actually a project that was started by the Bonita Bay Properties back in the day and this was going to be sort of an auxiliary course for all their golfing communities.

00:27:36.775 --> 00:27:46.550
So they saw the demand, or at least they had forecasted there would be enough demand that there would be some overflow.

00:27:46.550 --> 00:28:02.201
So this is where those overflow folks ended up and there was a previous turn, a little blip in the market, and they put the project on hold and the group that hired me.

00:28:02.201 --> 00:28:05.541
They saw the opportunity, they purchased the property.

00:28:05.541 --> 00:28:07.320
Everything was laid out.

00:28:07.320 --> 00:28:09.423
It was almost too easy, like cheating.

00:28:09.694 --> 00:28:11.903
Nicholas had already done all the engineering.

00:28:11.903 --> 00:28:14.699
The layout Sight lines were drawn and it was technically a shovel-ready project.

00:28:14.699 --> 00:28:23.305
Already done all the engineering, the layout, sight lines were drawn and it was technically a shovel-ready project, so we were able to start underway saved us a lot of time.

00:28:23.305 --> 00:28:32.402
We built an I-safe start to finish in less than 10 months.

00:28:34.555 --> 00:28:34.979
That's pretty quick.

00:28:34.979 --> 00:28:37.173
That's pretty quick, mm-hmm, that's pretty quick.

00:28:38.115 --> 00:28:39.903
So can be done.

00:28:39.903 --> 00:28:47.529
Yeah, there was a rock underneath here, so we didn't have to do any blasting Nice, and that's one thing you run into in.

00:28:47.691 --> 00:28:47.993
Florida.

00:28:48.355 --> 00:28:56.707
You know, you hit the live rock and next thing, you know you're having to not just dig but blast as well.

00:28:56.707 --> 00:28:58.990
So that was For the TNT.

00:28:59.190 --> 00:28:59.570
Yeah.

00:29:01.877 --> 00:29:06.346
So it was nice for the construction of it.

00:29:06.346 --> 00:29:07.648
That was doing that.

00:29:07.648 --> 00:29:22.463
They had a nice go at this and then they were able to mold the fairways and sculpt it the way that they want without any impediments in the bottom up, so that also expedited the process.

00:29:23.275 --> 00:29:26.083
You guys have a lot of really good reviews online as well.

00:29:26.083 --> 00:29:36.368
We do, yeah, surprisingly, I shouldn't say that, but to see people who have more than 20, maybe even 100 Google reviews.

00:29:36.368 --> 00:29:37.638
You've run this 500.

00:29:37.638 --> 00:29:39.044
Yeah, not really good.

00:29:39.044 --> 00:29:42.861
I was happy to see that I appreciate that.

00:29:43.015 --> 00:29:48.048
Yeah, we're sensitive to, of course, the patrons coming out.

00:29:48.048 --> 00:29:49.882
A lot of challenges we have here.

00:29:49.882 --> 00:29:51.780
You know, the severity of the course.

00:29:51.780 --> 00:29:54.329
The severity of the course.

00:29:54.329 --> 00:30:02.406
And then last year we had a little reversal at the most inopportune time when our grass on our greens decided not to grow any longer.

00:30:02.694 --> 00:30:05.195
Yeah and who knows, anyone's guess I mean.

00:30:06.097 --> 00:30:09.847
People say fungus, I'm like fungus, I don't know, okay, fungus.

00:30:09.847 --> 00:30:15.613
But it was the trying time last year at this time.

00:30:15.613 --> 00:30:16.134
So what did you do?

00:30:16.134 --> 00:30:23.618
So we pretended like we were in good shape and no, we just put on.

00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:29.509
You know, I tell folks, you know, my kids I had enough Disney in me.

00:30:29.568 --> 00:30:46.789
You know you put on the Mickey Mouse costume and, yeah, a lot of refunds back last year at this time and people and actually it's so funny because out of that, in that period, I met some really great folks.

00:30:47.095 --> 00:31:02.765
I mean that you know they were upset, but then, after chatting with them and taking care of them and, you know, nursing them back to our side, they uh know to establish some nice relationships that carry on, yeah, to this day.

00:31:02.765 --> 00:31:05.856
And uh, but yeah, it was what we have.

00:31:05.856 --> 00:31:08.382
Uh, was it all the grass?

00:31:08.382 --> 00:31:14.538
It was, um, I, I tell folks it might as well have been all I mean it was.

00:31:14.538 --> 00:31:21.001
It would have been, I think, had all the grass disappeared, because then you know what you're up against.

00:31:21.001 --> 00:31:27.462
You're basically putting on dirt, the ball's rolling, true and that, but it was yeah.

00:31:28.256 --> 00:31:39.830
So we, yeah, we were able to, you know, find the person, the superintendent, and get it back in track.

00:31:39.830 --> 00:31:47.762
There's something about, you know, obviously, florida and the sunshine Grass wants to grow down here, yeah, so, again, kind of a mystery.

00:31:47.762 --> 00:32:08.123
We had experts, I mean the leading guys in this field, you know, come down here and again, again, you know various opinions and that you know the standard permute and owner, great gentleman, david Hoffman.

00:32:08.123 --> 00:32:20.939
I begged him.

00:32:20.939 --> 00:32:25.340
I said, whatever you do, don't re-grass the greens, we'll get these back.

00:32:25.340 --> 00:32:30.547
And he believed me and we're in much more better shape.

00:32:30.547 --> 00:32:33.304
I'm in really good condition.

00:32:34.875 --> 00:32:36.320
So you had some sick grass.

00:32:36.762 --> 00:32:43.946
Sick grass so anyone's guess, you know, still a mystery so.

00:32:44.207 --> 00:32:45.169
So what did you end up doing?

00:32:45.169 --> 00:32:47.096
So what well?

00:32:47.116 --> 00:32:47.538
you.

00:32:47.538 --> 00:32:48.839
You get out of, okay.

00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:51.383
So again, you know this is happening.

00:32:51.383 --> 00:32:56.490
Last year we had a couple of weather reversals.

00:32:56.490 --> 00:32:59.000
You know you have these fluctuations.

00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:09.190
You know the very cold days followed by high humidity days with, you know, higher temperatures.

00:33:09.190 --> 00:33:26.207
So the grass goes dormant for a while, not totally off like up north, but your Bermuda will really go to sleep on you and once that is, if you're losing your grains, then the grass is going to sleep.

00:33:26.207 --> 00:33:27.641
It's pretty much game over.

00:33:27.641 --> 00:33:45.630
So as the temperatures came back and rose and the conditions were more in line to growing grass, you know the greens start to pop and just you know, start doing good horticultural practices.

00:33:46.315 --> 00:33:50.026
There we are back at it, luckily, yeah.

00:33:51.556 --> 00:33:52.419
Did it happen all like?

00:33:52.419 --> 00:33:53.723
Does it happen all at once?

00:33:54.154 --> 00:33:55.861
It seems like it or was it?

00:33:56.423 --> 00:33:59.019
like you're like a little thing here and there and like, so it happened.

00:33:59.140 --> 00:34:15.119
Oh, that's, that's wild no, no, you know that's an excellent question, denny, because, um, again, it's not my field and and I I won't say I know, not make myself dangerous because I know more than that.

00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.742
I know, but you know it's.

00:34:19.925 --> 00:34:21.467
But you had some plumbing issues.

00:34:22.007 --> 00:34:23.730
Yeah, yeah, we have.

00:34:23.730 --> 00:34:42.478
You know, we are that far out removed from civilization out here that we have to create our own septic system, drain field and also our own well water, that we uses our potable water really nice, yeah, it's.

00:34:42.478 --> 00:34:44.922
Uh, it's a nice spot really.

00:34:44.922 --> 00:34:46.824
Is so you know?

00:34:46.824 --> 00:34:52.398
So, uh, situating this market here, and you're probably aware of what's going on.

00:34:52.398 --> 00:34:58.230
I I mean there's no availability of any memberships Anywhere.

00:34:58.230 --> 00:35:03.423
I believe the Forests might be open.

00:35:03.423 --> 00:35:05.889
Have some openness.

00:35:05.889 --> 00:35:10.083
I could be wrong there, but I know in Collier not at all.

00:35:10.974 --> 00:35:13.083
No, just waiting, waiting.

00:35:13.083 --> 00:35:15.340
I was just taught who was just telling me.

00:35:15.340 --> 00:35:21.269
Now, there was, there's clubs, there was, uh, you know, people were waiting to being told two years.

00:35:21.269 --> 00:35:22.574
They put down everything.

00:35:22.574 --> 00:35:27.835
Now it's like two more years, like their two years are coming up, and then, oh, and also you, you owe us more.

00:35:27.856 --> 00:35:33.684
Like it's just wild um, I wanted to start a business.

00:35:33.684 --> 00:35:41.125
I I was talking to a buddy and I said why don't we just start a club in waiting?

00:35:41.125 --> 00:35:44.465
Like never, like this fictitious club.

00:35:44.465 --> 00:35:47.463
Have people believe that it really exists.

00:35:47.463 --> 00:35:53.887
Send us deposits for a you know, to be this member in waiting.

00:35:53.887 --> 00:35:56.643
You know how absurd it gets here.

00:35:56.643 --> 00:35:59.784
Denny is that there is actually I forget who.

00:35:59.784 --> 00:36:11.226
It was a friend in one of the more affluent clubs here and he goes yeah, we have a waiting list, non-refundable $5,000 or $10,000, whatever the fee was.

00:36:11.226 --> 00:36:21.487
So that's the privilege of being on the waiting list, and I think they throw them a bone If it's summer they might let them play for a few rounds.

00:36:24.099 --> 00:36:26.927
After 1 pm on a full moon lunar cycle, yep.

00:36:29.518 --> 00:36:31.525
And oh, by the way, that list is full.

00:36:31.525 --> 00:36:35.826
Now, However, we have the waiting list to get on the waiting list.

00:36:35.826 --> 00:36:37.358
Now there's no.

00:36:38.496 --> 00:36:41.762
I said please tell me you don't charge a fee.

00:36:41.762 --> 00:36:53.521
No, we're kind of lenient there, but and yeah, if you get off the list you lose your money and if you were to change your mind you go to the back of the bus.

00:36:53.521 --> 00:36:55.177
Yep, so it's.

00:36:55.177 --> 00:37:00.809
You know, I was chatting with a friend who's involved in real estate down here.

00:37:00.809 --> 00:37:02.722
He actually sells up the road.

00:37:02.722 --> 00:37:05.739
Are you guys getting any?

00:37:05.739 --> 00:37:13.610
Are you seeing a trend now of folks who are non-golfers versus a golfer variety?

00:37:13.610 --> 00:37:17.025
Because what are you telling these people that come down?

00:37:17.025 --> 00:37:25.206
And I know several that are in that limbo state, that are in a situation just waiting to get into some club.

00:37:25.206 --> 00:37:31.427
So you have Mr Fortune 100 CEO coming down here.

00:37:32.655 --> 00:37:33.737
You're going to tell him to wait.

00:37:34.177 --> 00:37:43.980
Exactly, you are but boy what's that club on the East Coast?

00:37:43.980 --> 00:37:47.552
Million Dollar Initiation have you heard of them.

00:37:47.552 --> 00:37:51.226
It used to be the Diplomat, I can't remember.

00:37:53.297 --> 00:37:57.782
Isn't Michael Jordan's course, isn't his club, that's maybe only 250.

00:37:58.686 --> 00:38:00.438
Yeah, what's the name of his?

00:38:00.438 --> 00:38:02.161
Grove 29?

00:38:02.963 --> 00:38:03.485
23.

00:38:03.485 --> 00:38:04.166
23?

00:38:04.166 --> 00:38:05.177
Isn't 23 his number?

00:38:05.177 --> 00:38:06.963
I think maybe Was it Grove 23?

00:38:06.963 --> 00:38:07.264
, I think.

00:38:07.284 --> 00:38:11.458
I don't know and he's.

00:38:11.458 --> 00:38:15.525
I learned a couple of kind of few tricks of the trade.

00:38:15.525 --> 00:38:22.019
You know just indirectly from what he does there, like his merchandise, whatever he does.

00:38:22.019 --> 00:38:28.987
I mean you're paying premium plus, like a cap there might cost you $120.

00:38:28.987 --> 00:38:40.128
Easy, yeah, easy, and everything you know, the whole experience is so off the charts and unique that yeah, he's.

00:38:41.210 --> 00:38:46.324
Mr Murtaugh, I just had a guest on my show.

00:38:46.324 --> 00:38:51.364
She helped open the Ahupi Match Club up in Georgia.

00:38:51.364 --> 00:38:52.648
I don't know if you've heard of that.

00:38:52.648 --> 00:38:54.641
It's like a little private club, privately owned.

00:38:54.641 --> 00:38:55.164
It's like a little.

00:38:55.164 --> 00:39:05.487
It's like a private club privately owned, right, like it's like a guy and a couple buddies, but every year your membership has to get re-approved.

00:39:05.487 --> 00:39:07.922
So I think that they what did she say?

00:39:07.922 --> 00:39:11.405
They have like a no asshole policy.

00:39:11.405 --> 00:39:12.797
Oh yeah, that's their thing.

00:39:12.797 --> 00:39:19.039
That's why every year it's like you have to get like invited back to, I believe it, which.

00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:33.280
I think is a good idea, that's yeah, I wonder the number of membership directors down in Naples how they're cutting out a living these days.

00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:36.623
There's a lot of those positions were commission based.

00:39:36.684 --> 00:40:02.440
you know base and commission, so I was just at uh, just at a club, and I asked, I asked the marketing person that that same question I go how do you not in like a negative way, but like if you have a wait list cause it was actually it's a, it's a questions like popped up, like if you have a wait list, why do you need a membership person?

00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:03.083
Yeah, like how does that work?

00:40:03.083 --> 00:40:22.025
Um, but I think, just like everybody they take ownership of like what they do and how they do things and like so she, like it was, she just uh, just through how she did the tour, I can just automatically tell like the type of personality, like it's not just it's the, she's very engaging still with the actual members, because you know they're a source of source of referrals and all of that.

00:40:22.025 --> 00:40:32.244
But just like how she engaged with like the membership and like so it's not just bringing in the membership, it's also, you know, keeping them engaged and making them check in the pulse of things.

00:40:32.425 --> 00:40:41.400
No, I could see the value to somebody like that because you have all the records and you know that person knows all those folks and that.

00:40:41.815 --> 00:40:51.664
But you do probably have people who just see it as oh, I'm here to sell a membership, oh, I don't have, I don't need it, it's not going to do well here.

00:40:52.561 --> 00:40:55.422
When I was at Miramar Lakes, I played a dual role there.

00:40:55.422 --> 00:40:59.344
I was the head pro and the membership director.

00:40:59.445 --> 00:41:00.166
That's hard, I loved it.

00:41:01.038 --> 00:41:04.824
Yeah, it was a lot of fun, so we were just starting out back then.

00:41:04.884 --> 00:41:05.105
Yeah.

00:41:05.614 --> 00:41:11.106
That was before here and it was, yeah, it was fun.

00:41:11.106 --> 00:41:12.541
So we shared the course.

00:41:12.541 --> 00:41:16.081
We were somewhat private at that point, but they're one of those clubs.

00:41:16.081 --> 00:41:25.494
Now they're pretty much maxed out and eventually I believe that club will turn over to the members.

00:41:25.494 --> 00:41:34.163
It's owned by a private owner now and really nice spot, nice design, member-friendly type of course.

00:41:34.675 --> 00:41:37.818
If you want to get detailed, detailed, we're all in the membership business, like it's all.

00:41:37.818 --> 00:41:46.726
Every position is technically, yeah, making you know as a sell and all that, but yeah, no, it's, it's a golf and clubs.

00:41:46.726 --> 00:41:57.719
Wild times now, but things are starting to level back out, at least in the rest of the world naples and in florida, here by you know is is definitely its own own unique animal.

00:41:58.422 --> 00:42:03.155
Um, but that's been a fun not not a but uh, seeing his clubs boomed.

00:42:03.155 --> 00:42:04.860
Everybody had wait lists.

00:42:04.860 --> 00:42:06.603
Now everything's are going back to normal.

00:42:06.603 --> 00:42:14.840
So the clubs that weren't doing well financially or for like whatever reasons you know, they had their, their, their potholes patched, like you know.

00:42:14.840 --> 00:42:23.965
Oh, we have a wait list, now we got this and now it's oh, there's not a wait list anymore, and we weren't really keeping track of all of those people who were on the wait list.

00:42:23.965 --> 00:42:24.706
Now they moved.

00:42:26.536 --> 00:42:29.045
So now all the holes are coming back Deceased.

00:42:29.045 --> 00:42:31.320
That's how it is.

00:42:33.978 --> 00:42:39.849
But you know, some clubs are starting to go know where they were pre-pandemic and back to issues and struggles.

00:42:39.849 --> 00:42:43.204
But you guys have a whole set of unique problems down here.

00:42:43.695 --> 00:42:48.347
And it's, you know, it's very interesting in this market again.

00:42:48.347 --> 00:42:51.679
You know, when I first came here, it was I'd say 70-30.

00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:54.121
It was I'd say 70-30.

00:42:54.121 --> 00:43:11.436
70 would be your public, semi-private type of arrangement, 30% would be your fully exclusive, whereas now it's probably 10% public and 90% just private.

00:43:11.436 --> 00:43:20.284
That's why this area is really what you'd call a true golfing destination for the group of guys, even though we do see them coming down.

00:43:20.284 --> 00:43:27.708
Yeah, but I can name the four courses, maybe three Ourselves Salt Leap and Tibberall.

00:43:28.010 --> 00:43:29.391
I was just there this morning too.

00:43:29.670 --> 00:43:30.050
Were you.

00:43:30.050 --> 00:43:32.152
Yeah, so you know their situation.

00:43:32.152 --> 00:43:33.355
Same deal.

00:43:33.355 --> 00:43:34.617
You know they have two courses.

00:43:34.617 --> 00:43:41.007
They flip them out between the members there and the hotel guests and they take outside rounds.

00:43:41.748 --> 00:43:42.909
Have you been to Salt Leaf?

00:43:42.909 --> 00:43:46.295
No, it's interesting.

00:43:46.295 --> 00:43:50.047
I was formerly known as Raptor Bay, tied in with the Hyatt.

00:43:50.047 --> 00:44:01.007
I believe the Hyatt relinquished their ownership, or half of it, but with an agreement that the course has to stay available to the hotel.

00:44:01.007 --> 00:44:01.708
I'm not sure.

00:44:01.708 --> 00:44:04.041
That's what I thought I heard.

00:44:04.041 --> 00:44:13.748
But now they're building these Ritz-Carlton residences around there, yep, and you know, starting at $10 million, $12 million and up.

00:44:13.748 --> 00:44:19.547
So those folks will be clamoring for their own private course at some point.

00:44:19.547 --> 00:44:21.260
So we'll see what happens.

00:44:21.922 --> 00:44:22.784
I didn't even think about that.

00:44:24.315 --> 00:44:33.121
And yeah, I don't know, it's going to be interesting to see it's down the road a little ways.

00:44:33.121 --> 00:44:36.985
But yeah, there's, you know, denny, nothing really going on.

00:44:36.985 --> 00:44:41.266
I mean, the price of real estate is just way too high to really make.

00:44:41.266 --> 00:44:44.922
Well, I take that back.

00:44:44.922 --> 00:45:00.768
I guess you could do it, but I don't know anyone other than some of these folks that are staking their claim way out west or east of us here into the.

00:45:00.768 --> 00:45:05.782
I guess the Collier family has a lot of land still out east.

00:45:07.425 --> 00:45:09.630
you know coming up, so you might see.

00:45:11.054 --> 00:45:29.148
And then there was another project, center of the State, kind of like a stream song idea, but very, very exclusive, very private, and the gentleman that shared this with me, I mean this was literally just off the charts.

00:45:29.148 --> 00:45:33.838
I mean it was the whole concept, everything, the whole concept, everything it was.

00:45:33.838 --> 00:45:46.487
I don't really know the player or the name of the person, didn't identify, but a well-heeled individual that wants to have his own little paradise out there.

00:45:47.635 --> 00:45:52.007
And I mean you're packing three lunches to get there.

00:45:52.007 --> 00:45:58.443
I mean it's, and that's why I scratch my head.

00:45:58.443 --> 00:46:01.864
At what point are folks?

00:46:01.864 --> 00:46:07.528
Is there going to be a turnoff, with people being forced inland?

00:46:07.528 --> 00:46:08.715
You know what I'm saying.

00:46:08.715 --> 00:46:15.045
Unless it's that super nice and exclusive and brilliant.

00:46:15.045 --> 00:46:18.184
It won't matter.

00:46:18.184 --> 00:46:21.717
Only time will tell.

00:46:21.737 --> 00:46:23.260
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.

00:46:23.260 --> 00:46:24.360
Thanks for listening in.

00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:29.728
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00:46:29.728 --> 00:46:31.990
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00:46:31.990 --> 00:46:35.980
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