Club/Resort Features

Fifty clubs have earned Top Ranked status through C+RB’s inaugural search for the industry’s best fitness and wellness facilities and programs.

Clubs that are expanding and enhancing pool facilities and their surroundings are becoming the place to be, by offering members a safe outdoor experience with refreshed accommodations.

Whether for dine-in or takeout, pre-entrée starters or entire small-plate meals on their own, chefs are using innovative flavor profiles and presentations to offer new upfront enticements to club and resort diners.       

The 2020 recipients of the Excellence In Club Management Awards, established in 1997 by the McMahon Group and sponsored since 2005 by Club + Resort Business and since 2018 by the National Club Association, stood up to special tests in an especially challenging year.

With golf’s resurgent popularity expected to continue, Jeff Holden, Director of Golf Operations at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C., shared with C+RB how he plans to deal with the demand for tee times this season.

At Mount Vernon Canyon Club in Golden, Colo., a snow day means something other than skiing or sledding. “I had to stop classes indoors, because of cautions over how many people we could have together,” says Lili Bell Shelton, Wellness and Fitness Director. She started researching the possibilities for outdoor “snow-ga” and discussed the concept…

A boom in paddle-tennis play at Hawthorn Woods CC warranted a facility expansion to accommodate members and guests. 

Clubs are now being viewed as destinations in their own right­ and ones that people and families don’t have to go very far to experience, or be limited in how often they can be visited.

Undeterred by legal and HOA hassles and then the pandemic, ownership and management of the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. property pushed through to unveil its innovative golf concept in 2020, with much more planned for the years ahead. 

With families’ travel plans on hold and team sports cancelled, 2020 saw a significant boost in activity around clubs’ pools. The lessons learned from safely handling the added traffic are now being applied to preparations for another active year.

With the increase in rounds at golf courses across the country last year, superintendents have had to adjust maintenance practices to accommodate the added stress on the turf and properly prepare for (hopefully) more of the same.

With the annual PGA Merchandise Show forced to go virtual in 2021, golf professionals had to change the way they brought in new products for their pro shops.

A long and winding path took Dennis Petruzzelli to his current position at Oronoque CC, but the one constant every step of the way has been the special feeling he’s never lost about the allure of the golf course. 

Yielding to the temptation of justifying or brushing off unhappiness expressed by senior members as “they are getting old” is irresponsible at best. Our responsibility to our membership is from “cradle to grave.” Eventually, every member will be in the same situation as our current senior populations.

Minimal-resistance training is helpful in building strength to improve movement. While yoga and pilates classes can help with flexibility and overall body awareness, they tend to be more than what most golfers are looking for. A variety of fitness options—as well as educating members in basic nutritional knowledge—will increase the value of a membership while…