Competing Country Clubs: CCMO, CCC adapt to Old Hawthorne’s arrival

Last fall, Shelter Insurance agent Mike Messer teed up a deal with Bryan Ninichuck by treating him to a round of golf at Columbia Country Club. Over the four-hour round, they hashed out a plan for insuring Ninichuck’s business, Winegate Environmental Pest Management. The outing made Ninichuck wonder whether a country club membership could help his own business.

“When you’re doing something you enjoy, like golf, you’re just at a more relaxed atmosphere,” Ninichuck said. “We had a round of golf, a beer afterwards, shook hands and finished up at his office.”

Within a few weeks, Ninichuck had decided he wanted to give clients the country club treatment. He joined Columbia Country Club in December.

“I look to maybe buy a lot or something at Old Hawthorne in the future, but right now I’m not going to set aside a $10,000 initiation fee,” Ninichuck said. “When I set my budget, that’s what it is. I think Country Club of Missouri is more for people who are into the actual country club activities in addition to playing golf. The Columbia Country Club is geared more toward the young professional at this point, or the retired professional. It’s not as much sold for the country club mentality.”

Competition for Members
As Ninichuck and Messer gear up to trade the office for the tee-box, all three of Columbia’s private country clubs are competing to attract new members. As Old Hawthorne builds membership, managers at Country Club of Missouri say their location, social groups and renovations have kept defections to the new club to a minimum. Members of Columbia Country Club, which was bought by Eagle Golf in January, hope the new owner will invest in the course’s maintenance budget, which has declined in recent years.

Old Hawthorne has sold about 300 memberships, said Jeff Whitfield, director of golf. It offers local, regional and national memberships, but most of the current members are local.

Whitfield said the increase in membership has been steady, despite the fact that it takes time for people to build and occupy homes. In addition to a country club, Old Hawthorne is a 631-acre residential development that Columbia Board of Realtors Executive Director Carol Van Gorp called one of the most ambitious projects ever planned in Columbia.

The “golf course community” sold record quantities of real estate, while a downturn was beginning in Columbia’s overall residential market in 2006.

“We closed $285 million worth of real estate in 14 months. We have commercial, condo, standard single-family,” and planned urban development, said Don Stamper, a spokesman for Old Hawthorne developer Billy Sapp. “It’s a real blend. We’re a unique niche in the market.”

The club’s golf course has established itself as the best in Columbia since opening last May. Golf Digest magazine has nominated Old Hawthorne in a competition for the best new club in the country. In November 2006, the University of Missouri golf team announced a 20-year commitment to use Old Hawthorne as its home course. As a result, Mizzou will be able to host major golf tournaments, which is important because college golf teams don’t play dual matches.

That’s a point of personal pride for Whitfield, who played golf for Mizzou in the late 1970s.

“We never played in Columbia my entire career,” Whitfield said. “That was a prime motivation in getting involved in this project in the first place. Part of what I was trying to do here was provide a facility for the university so that they could compete on a national level.”

The club is still in the development stage with its other facilities. Owners hope to pick a contractor to build a pool and fitness center by the end of March and open the new facilities by June.

Finding a niche
To stay competitive with Old Hawthorne, Country Club of Missouri is counting on its membership base and its location in south Columbia, the wealthiest area of the city.

“People in Columbia don’t want to have to drive across town,” said Jonathan Tips, head golf professional at the club. “I’ve heard that more than you can imagine.”

The importance of location isn’t unique to Columbia. Tips said that according to Professional Golf Association research, when golfers shop for a private course, they look at location, social groups and course quality, in that order.

Country Club of Missouri has a tribe of loyal members, partly because the members own the club. Social groups have become established. Children who grew up taking junior golf classes joined the club as adults. The club forgoes advertising, preferring
to encourage members to recruit family and friends.

“We’re family oriented,” said Lisa Wright, the club’s general manager. “We have a huge number of kids in youth activities, and families have grown up here in the last 37 years. A lot of our members who grew up here have joined.”

Even the best golfers prefer playing with people they know. Two-time city golf champ John “Westy” Weston says Old Hawthorne is the best course in Columbia. But he prefers to play at A.L. Gustin, where he knows and plays with about 30 other regulars.

“It’s the difference between what’s the best movie you’ve ever seen and what’s your favorite movie,” Weston said. “My favorite movie is The Outlaw Jessie Wales, but I don’t think it’s the best movie of all time.”

Country Club of Missouri completed a series of renovations last year. It replaced its center-row irrigation system, which only watered the tee boxes, fairway and green, with a “wall-to-wall” system that waters the rough as well.

The new system more than doubled the course’s water use, but Tips said the investment is paying off. Many golfers expect the course to have well-maintained grass even on the edges of the rough. He said the new irrigation system and the renovation of the club’s locker room and fitness facilities were proactive steps that helped reduce the number of members who left for a club that was “shiny and new.”

“I remember, one day I was thinking we’re going to lose a lot of people and the next day thinking we’d be fine,” Tips said. “It was uncertain, but we were pleasantly surprised with the result.”

Country Club of Missouri loses an average of 17 members per year, due to attrition. Last year, on April 1, the day members may resign, the club lost exactly that number. Tips said the club lost eight to 10 people to Old Hawthorne.

With Old Hawthorne and Country Club of Missouri charging similar membership dues, Columbia Country Club’s niche as the more affordable alternative is apparent.

“There is a recent insurgence of younger members who happen to be decision-makers in their own industries,” Messer said. “I think it’s a very social club. I’ve played at all the clubs, and some of them have very established groups of people that go back many years. The CCC seems to have kind of an open invitation to all.”

Since the early 1990s the club had been managed by American Golf Corporation. Last October Eagle Golf acquired it and 41 other courses. James Samorian, membership and tournament director at the club, expects the new management to bring positive change.

Clubhouse and course improvements are already in the works, though it’s too early in the planning stage to discuss specifics, Samorian said.

“Eagle Golf is very committed to course condition,” he said. “In the past, it seems like every year our budget decreases. That’s not going to be the case anymore.”

Columbia Country Club plans to increase its initiation fee – though the upfront cost will still be about a tenth of what the other clubs charge – to reflect the improvements.