Renovations are routine in the club space. Finishing one almost exactly on budget is less common.
Countryside Golf and Country Club in Naples, Fla., recently completed a $15 million renovation of its clubhouse and surrounding amenities. After nearly three years, the project closed out $1,700 under budget, a narrow margin that reflects careful cost control throughout the process.
Joe Smith, General Manager and COO, attributes the outcome to steady communication with members, a project committee that included member representation, and practical efforts to keep members informed and engaged during construction.
Building on the momentum
Coming up on its 40th anniversary, the club includes 1,133 homes, with 850 tied to mandatory golf memberships and 283 to mandatory social memberships. Smith says the average age of the membership is between 70 and 75, though he has seen that trend skew younger in recent years.
When Smith joined Countryside nearly eight years ago, the club had just completed the first phase of a capital plan that added a wellness center and four tennis courts. It was entering phase two: a $5.5 million golf course renovation, followed by a clubhouse renovation.
Smith was tasked with moving the clubhouse project forward. He began by forming a conceptual committee made up of members to work alongside the project architect and provide input on behalf of the community.
“Over an 18-month period, we did close to 50 focus groups, neighborhood informational meetings, where we would go out to the neighborhoods and provide a Q&A to explain to them what we’re thinking for the project, how much it’s going to cost, and explain what it’s going to provide and the value behind this,” says Smith.
He also produced a series of video interviews, inviting members to ask questions about the project.
“There was a year and a half of just communication on the whole project and how it was going to be funded,” he says. “From there, we put together the master plan committee, and they did another 18 months of work, and then we put together an actual construction oversight committee.”
In total, planning and communication stretched nearly three years before construction began.
Those conversations built trust and clarified priorities. According to Smith, nearly 80% of the membership indicated a desire for outdoor dining and seating. That input directly shaped the scope of the renovation.
The project added approximately 11,000 to 12,000 square feet to the clubhouse, including a larger indoor bar with vaulted ceilings and triple the previous seating capacity, along with additional space for social gatherings and meetings.
An open-air pool café overlooking a redesigned resort-style pool—now featuring a beach entry, lap lanes and water features—expanded the club’s casual offerings.
To meet the demand for outdoor seating, the renovation introduced a patio off the Lakeview Lounge, creating a casual dining area that seats 156 guests. The Main Dining Room and Four Seasons Room were also renovated, providing a fine-dining setting with seating for 168.
“One of the things that got members on board was this idea of having three distinct dining elements under one roof,” says Smith. “We’ve got the bar giving a casual, after golf dining option, the dining room offering a formal feel, and the pool cafe with a different vibe, different menu, and still casual.”
Smith says the variety supports both engagement and operations. Members now have multiple reasons to use the clubhouse throughout the week, and even throughout the day.
From an operational standpoint, the kitchen expanded to 6,000 square feet and now includes a pizza oven and dedicated lines for banquets and à la carte service, all under one roof.
Smith projects that the expanded dining program will significantly increase food-and-beverage revenue.
Camp Countryside
To complete the renovation, the clubhouse closed for two years. Rather than pause operations, the club adapted.
A 50-seat meeting room in the wellness center was converted into a temporary dining room. The club brought in a 28-foot mobile kitchen trailer, two remote coolers, a double-wide trailer for offices and a tent for member use.
“We branded this experience within the club calling it Camp Countryside for two years and our members loved it,” says Smith. “Our survey scores increased year over year during this time and members had a lot of fun with it.”
The club hosted parking lot parties with food trucks and concerts, giving the temporary setup its own identity.
“When we moved to these temporary facilities, I was ultra transparent with members,” he says. “It’s not always easy. When you propose a renovation, the first question is: ‘What are we going to do while the club is closed?’ I hit it right in the face and just told them what we had planned, and let’s try and make the most of it.”
Smith did not position the temporary arrangement as a replacement for the clubhouse experience. Instead, he focused on what it could offer during the transition.
What worked for Countryside
During construction, Smith and his team launched weekly update videos, a practice that continues today. Each Monday, they walk the property, speak with members, and provide progress reports.
He also points to the decision to have a member chair the renovation committee as a turning point. Peer leadership added credibility and reinforced trust.
From a financial standpoint, disciplined management helped keep the project aligned with its budget.
“The CFO did an incredible job at managing funds,” says Smith. “We actually earned a significant amount of interest on our loan proceeds because of some delays. We didn’t draw on the interest-only portion of our loans; we ended up rolling some of that interest back into our contingency. So, we had some additional money to work with that allowed us to do a little bit more that was unplanned.”
Still, Smith returns to communication as the central takeaway.
“Communicate with your members, and that doesn’t mean just telling people what they want to hear, but to be transparent and truthful,” he says.
“Being in hospitality, we don’t like to deliver difficult news and upset people, and when you’re proposing a project like this—especially in the early stages of construction—there’s going to be tough situations and news you don’t want to share.”
He believes directness ultimately strengthened relationships.
“This is their money, and they deserve to know what’s going on with it,” he says.
The renovation also had implications for staff. The club hired 50 additional employees, nearly all through current employee referrals.
“This is always a big question with a project like this—how are we going to operate this?” says Smith. “We’ve created a culture here that employees are almost like ambassadors for us.”
Staff were included in elements of the design process. Bartenders provided input on the bar layout, and managers selected furniture for their offices to create spaces that feel personal and functional.
