The 79-year-old club in Kennewick, Wash. has been bought by a new ownership group made up of twenty members and golf pro/GM Clint Ables. In addition to its new name, the golf course will be improved and a new steakhouse and sports bar will be opened in February.
Kennewick, Wash. will get a new steakhouse and sports bar as well as an improved golf course, the new owners of that city’s Tri-City Country Club, which will now be renamed Zintel Creek Golf Club, told the Tri-City Herald of Kennewick.
Twenty members of the club, who formed Save the Club LLC, took over ownership on October 3rd after the club has faced financial difficulties in recent years, the Herald reported.
The assets of the 79-year-old club were transferred outright to the new owners in hopes of saving the club from closure, said Clint Ables, the club’s golf professional and General Manager for the last two years. Ables is now one of the new owners, the Herald reported.
The club was a nonprofit corporation controlled by its 192 members, the Herald reported, and Benton County (Wash.) records show the value of the clubhouse, the golf course and some related buildings at about $2 million. The members voted unanimously to transfer the club to the new owners, Ables told the Herald.
As Zintel Creek Golf Club, the club will be mostly a public venue, the Herald reported. In the past, the course was public, but the clubhouse was private.
The restaurant at the property that is now open only to members will close in January for remodeling, the Herald reported. It is scheduled to reopen to the public in February as “The Edge,” described by Ables as a high-end steak house on one side of the building and a sports lounge on the other.
The plan is for the sports lounge to be open seven days a week and the steak house to be open Thursdays through Saturdays, the Herald reported.
The lower floor of the clubhouse, with access to a swimming pool and fitness center, will remain available to members only, the Herald reported.
Other planned renovations will make the golf course tournament-quality for daily play and allow golfers to shoot to their handicap, the Herald reported. The goal is to have smooth and fast greens that make play more enjoyable, Ables said.
Sand traps, which have been an issue at the course in recent years, will be rebuilt with USGA-approved sand to offer consistent play for golfers, the Herald reported.
The traps will have black sand, adding visual interest to a course already known for its large pines, elms and sycamores that provide summer shade.
The course struggled with its reputation as a country club, with not enough people knowing that the golf course was open for public use, Ables told the Herald.
It had done little marketing and in recent years had not been able to afford marketing, he added.
Among the new owners’ first decisions has been to drop membership prices from $3,600 a year for families to $2,700. A single senior membership now costs $2,000 a year, the Herald reported.
Annual memberships purchased now will be good through December 2018, the Herald reported.
In recent years the club has had to assess members for operating and maintenance shortfalls on top of membership fees, leading to members resigning, Ables told the Herald. The new owners believe the package they can offer now will retain existing members, who will pay less and have improved amenities. They will receive discounts at the new restaurant and sports lounge, have access to a pool and fitness center, and will not have to meet purchase minimums at the restaurant.
Tri-City Country Club, which opened in 1938, is the oldest golf club in the region that includes the cities of Richland and Pasco, in addition to Kennewick, the Herald reported. “We are going to keep its heritage,” Ables said.
But the new name, which references the meandering creek that sustains the old growth trees, drops the reference to a country club.
“We want to be the exciting new place this is welcoming to everyone — that is inclusive,” Ables told the Herald.
As part of that, prices should be more in line with public courses, he added. As Zintel Creek, the club will be one of 10 golf courses available to players in the region, the Herald noted.
The club will now be led by a board of five of the new owners, which should allow decisions to be made more quickly than those previously put to a vote of the full membership, Ables told the Herald.
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