Even Millionaires Queue Up for Top Private Clubs
There are good reasons to join an expensive private golf club, if you can afford it. You will have a say in the running of the club, except in the rare situation in which one person or a company owns the golf club. You will make new friends much more quickly because you see the same people at the club over and over, round after round. Your golf course will be in peak condition all the time because, well, that’s what you pay for. And your fellow members with a vested interest in the quality of the golf course will fix their divots and ball marks whereas non-members and visiting golfers on resort and public golf courses have no such interest and, often, show it. There are many other good reasons that private club memberships offer, some of them intangible (which include feeling good that you can afford it).
Really, the only reason not to join a private club, especially in the golf community where you will live, has always been cost. But now, for folks who would like to become members at a growing number of high-quality and expensive private clubs, there is another reason they cannot join – space. Even those who can afford the entry fee are having to wait…and wait. Membership waiting lists are back, and back with a vengeance beyond where they were prior to the 2008 recession.
In just the last two weeks, I have heard from real estate professionals in two popular Carolina golf communities – Landfall in Wilmington, NC, and Daniel Island outside Charleston, SC – that their waiting lists are in the eight-to-10-year range. A 70-year-old retired golfer, for example, with $1.5 million to spend for a house in Daniel Island, is not going to spend 10 years driving by, rather than on, the community’s two golf courses. Landfall and Daniel Island are screaming examples that golf has rebounded since before the pandemic; they offer 45 holes and 36 holes, respectively, and yet still have those long waiting lists. Clubs that offer that many holes of golf typically boast membership rosters that reach well beyond 1,000, including social memberships. Daniel Island counts 1,600 club members.
This may seem like a wonderful problem for a golf club to have, but for millionaire golfers willing to spend a lot to join these high-end clubs, it is a dilemma. Inventories of homes for sale are currently low in both communities; the few current owners in Landfall and Daniel Island with “transferable” memberships are adding a “surcharge” to their listing prices in order for buyers to assume their memberships – as much as $100,000. And that does not include the club initiation fee which, at Daniel Island, for example, is $125,000 before you start paying your monthly dues.
The golf courses in both these communities are terrific – I’ve played them both – and are ranked among the best in their respective golf-rich states. But not everyone has a discretionary $200,000-plus to spend on golf membership. (I know, that’s an understatement.) There are many semi-private golf clubs, both inside and outside the gates of private communities, where $200K could buy you as much as a 100-year membership. (For example, at Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC, home to a recently renovated Jack Nicklaus golf course, the joining fee for a single membership is just $2,100, $2,500 for a family). True, you will need to arrange your tee times a few days in advance, especially during peak season, and you will share the course with itinerant golfers. But the quality of the course and conditions are close to those of many private clubs and after you play a few times as a member, the bag drop and pro shop employees call you by name – just like at the toniest private clubs.
There are other more mundane yet gratifying options to membership in a club that welcomes outside play. When I am home in Connecticut, I play at the wonderful municipal course in Hartford, Keney Park, ranked by Golfweek as the best public course in the state. (Annual membership for a senior non-resident, which I am, is less than $1,500 per year.) I often drive the 30 minutes from my home and sign-in as a single. I have met some interesting people on the golf course; there is something to be said for meeting new people, as there is for building friendships with people you see at your private club on a repeated basis. Nothing wrong with either situation, but I am comforted by the fact that for what I would pay for an initiation fee at some private clubs – even if they didn’t have endless waiting lists – I can play for another 83 years at a course I love. I should live so long…
Semi-Private Golf Clubs You Can Join Today
Here is a list of a few semi-private golf courses where you can either join for a relatively modest fee or pay as you play. There are many more to explore throughout the Southeast and elsewhere. Contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for suggestions.
Caledonia Golf and Fish Club + True Blue Golf Club
Like the old song “Love and Marriage,” a membership to these two Mike Strantz wonders in Pawleys Island, SC, means you can’t have one without the other. But at a single annual membership of $2,100 – just $1,500 for seniors over 75 – your pleasure is doubled. A couple of notes: Each round of golf, with cart, will cost $30 -- $25 if you choose to walk; but the Caledonia rack rate during peak season can go as high as $200. I’ve played both courses a few dozen times; trust me, the membership is a bargain.
Charleston Municipal Golf Course, Charleston, SC
After a total overhaul that restored this city course well beyond its former glory, tee time bookings are requiring a lot more planning for non-members. But that can be avoided with an annual “pass” which, for seniors 62 and over, is only $1,600. If you live within the boundaries of the city of Charleston, the annual tariff is just $1,000. The golf course, by the way, is less than a half-hour drive from Daniel Island (see main feature above).
Sandridge Golf Club, Vero Beach, FL
My son plays every Saturday at this 36-hole Indian River County municipal layout, and he recently invited me to play in the Saturday “Blitz,” a weekly event managed by the golf course that attracts anywhere from a dozen to a few dozen players. It is a combined Stableford-like handicap event with a skins competition added for good measure. I had one of my three best rounds of 2023 to close out the year and nailed down the winning score among the 14 people who played. That may be one reason I like the courses there but, really, you can’t beat the quality or the price. There is no free (membership) golf at Sandridge, but county ID holders pay a measly $25 to $38 (peak season) to player either of the fine Ron Garl designed routings.
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Alabama
The ultimate semi-private golf membership, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail offers unlimited play on more than 20 golf courses at 11 locations that stretch from Mobile, on the Gulf of Mexico, to Huntsville, about a five-hour drive north. That’s a lot of top-quality golf packed into one relatively small state. Golfers who value both quality and quantity might consider a vacation home in Alabama, if not a permanent residence, just to indulge in a grand buffet of golf. The Trail offers a few different types of membership, but one priced at $2,150 for unlimited annual play on virtually every one of the Trail’s layouts is a bargain.
Happy New Year to All.
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
