In a move that is being repeated across the land, a famed country club in Asheville, NC, that includes a well-respected Donald Ross designed course, is attempting to attract new members with dramatically lower initiation fees.
    The Country Club of Asheville, whose golf course opened in 1928, is offering new memberships at $10,000 now through March 31, compared with the customary $25,000 initiation fee, a reduction of 60%.  In addition, after March, the club will continue its policy of "trial" memberships:  Pay a $1,000 initiation fee, plus monthly dues and assessments ($374.67 for full membership), and you will enjoy full membership for a year.  At the end of a year, you either walk away from the membership or pay an additional $24,000, in installments if you wish, and become a full-fledged member.  Other levels of membership are available, including a non-resident plan at a $6,500 initiation fee with annual dues of $1,763.
    The roots of the club go back to the 1890s when local businessmen formed the Swannanoa Country Club.  At one point in its storied history, the club was located on the current site of the famed Grove Park Inn, which sports its own Donald Ross course (there are four courses by the master designer in Asheville).  
    Today, the CC of Asheville includes a tennis complex of 10 courts and a pro shop, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and a 35,000 square foot clubhouse, in addition to the 6,600-yard golf course.  If you are interested in membership, contact Membership Director Debbie Ponder at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  If you want information on the golf communities in the area of Asheville, please contact me .  I have visited a number of them and played their courses.  I will be happy to send you a copy of a newsletter that includes my reviews of the golf communities.

     This afternoon, a USAirways flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, NC, allegedly encountered a flock of birds just after takeoff, and the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing - in the Hudson River.  I heard an interview with one of the passengers a few minutes ago.  I am writing this shortly before 5 p.m. EST. and it appears all passengers survived the water landing.   
    The passenger interviewed was asked his name and what he was doing on the plane.
    "My friends and I were going on a golf trip," he said.  Certainly, it was a golf trip he and his friends will never forget.