Bonnie Briar Country Club (Larchmont, N.Y.) recently passed a $16.5 million capital plan, which received 82 percent approval due to its comprehensive appeal across various membership demographics, especially for the $5.3 million aquatic renovations.
“The new upgrades had something for everyone,” says Joe Napolitano, General Manager/Chief Operating Officer of Bonnie Briar CC. “We did the golf and tennis performance center, so there was something for the golfers and racquet players. We did the pool and splash pad for our young family members. It was an all-encompassing upgrade for our members.”
Demographic Shifts
Napolitano says the membership at Bonnie Briar CC is getting younger, with families making up the majority.
“With younger age comes higher expectations,” he says.
In the past, the club had deferred many capital projects because the board felt membership wasn’t ready.
Napolitano says he felt that, for Bonnie Briar to be competitive and offer amenities equivalent to what members were paying in dues, these renovations were needed.
The high approval rating, Napolitano believes, came from the fact that the plan offered something for every member.
When choosing the upgraded amenities, he says the club knew it didn’t want to create a standard club pool for its aquatic center, but rather a pool area that would promote camaraderie among members.
“Reflective in that design, we chose a pool that has a section for competitive swim, we have dedicated swim lanes, and we have another section of the pool that’s for people that want quiet time and relaxation,” he says.
For the kids, Bonnie Briar CC put in an interactive splash pad—dubbed “Splashtopia”—and a vortex slide.
“We chose the splash pad for a number of reasons. Number one, safety. You don’t need a lifeguard there because the water is so shallow. Number two, it keeps the young ones engaged longer because it’s interactive,” says Napolitano.
For senior members, the main pool was created with a gradual step down to make entering and exiting smoother.
Not only will the new aquatic space benefit current Bonnie Briar CC members, but Napolitano believes the pool renovation will be an “overwhelmingly huge feature for new families.”
Although the club encountered construction issues that delayed the pool’s grand opening this summer, Napolitano says members are already providing very positive feedback.
It’s Okay to Ask for Help
Napolitano says his best piece of advice for other GMs going through a capital plan project like this would be to retain an owner’s representative who acts on your behalf and represents you during the whole construction process.
“The company we partnered with helped me tremendously,” he says. “They were able to go in and look at the plans and identify opportunities for savings in something that might be over-engineered that didn’t need to be, and they really kept us on budget.”
He uses the example of a pool heater that was ordered and sat in the construction zone for months until it was time to install it. At that time, they discovered that it wasn’t the correct pool heater. Napolitano says his owner representative was instrumental in making sure that the incorrect pool heater got sent back while the correct one was ordered.
“We had three different projects going at once with this capital plan, so having an extra set of eyes and hands freed me up to stick to my normal day-to-day duties,” says Napolitano, who also suggests talking to as many club GMs as possible to get their experience with things like different pool contractors.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Napolitano says that during construction, members were updated monthly on everything.
“Whether it was the good, the bad, or the ugly, our members were informed,” says Napolitano.
With construction hiccups, the club missed out on having a working pool for most of the summer. But Napolitano let members know what issues the club ran into and updated members on the progress of each project. Most members were understanding.
He says having three other projects underway—all completed on time—softened the blow of the pool delay.
The golf and tennis performance center that was added gives members a wintertime activity with three garage bays and simulators. Bonnie Briar CC digitized its actual course into these simulators so golfers can “practice” on the club’s course.
The simulators also have large screens where members can watch games and gather.
The new driving range has been equipped with the latest technology, allowing members to read and analyze data based on their golf performance.
The new tennis shop is three times the square footage of the old one, and it offers members the latest apparel and equipment in not only tennis but paddle and pickleball as well.
The club also created a paddle hut that members can cross-utilize, not just for paddle, but for parties or get-togethers.
Napolitano says member feedback on these projects has been overwhelmingly positive, and they’re getting utilized across the board by members.
