Midwest Club Embraces the Family Spirit

A welcoming atmosphere, digital marketing campaign, and brick-and-mortar upgrades are a recipe for success at Hyperion Field Club.

Serving as the leader of Hyperion Field Club in Johnston, Iowa is a homecoming for Evan Summa.

“Hyperion’s truly a special place for me,” says Summa, who has worked at the club for 12 total years and served as its General Manager for the past year. “My folks joined [the club] in 1993. I learned how to play golf here. I learned how to swim, I learned how to play tennis, [I] learned how to act when you go up to a country club.”

In addition to growing up at the club, Summa’s first job was as a bag boy in Hyperion’s golf shop while he was in high school. After earning a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Iowa State University, Summa secured an internship that eventually became a full-time job at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.

“I was kind of unsure about living in the cities,” Summa recalls. “A great place to live during the summer, [but] the winter gets a little cold.”

So when an entry-level position became available at Hyperion in 2012, Summa notes “it just felt right” to return to the place where he learned to swing a golf club and do the Australian crawl.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work my way up the ladder here to GM,” Summa says. “[It’s] definitely a special place for me. A lot of memories here.”

Considering this history, it’s not surprising that Summa and his staff have worked to transform the club from a “golf-centric” facility to one that is family-centered. Summa believes this approach succeeded in the summer of 2023 and hopes the progress continues this year.

As it’s evolved to become a club for all age groups, Hyperion recently invested in a digital marketing effort, sold 30 acres of land that will be converted into a members-only, residential golfing community that will consist of 27 luxury homes, and completed a clubhouse and kitchen renovation.

Located about 10 miles from Des Moines, Hyperion Field Club has approximately 550 members and offers an 18-hole championship golf course, a driving range,  tennis facility, swimming pool, banquet facility, poolside grill, full-service kitchen, fitness center, group fitness center and two dining rooms. Summa notes the myriad changes at the club all contribute to creating “The Hyperion Experience.”

Creating the Family-Centered Experience

Developing a family-friendly atmosphere at Hyperion starts with the employees.

“I’ve tried to create…a very caring and empathetic environment for the staff,” Summa says. “We want them to feel valued, we want them to… be excited when they come to work, excited when they work, and then…feel good when they go home.”

The key is to cultivate a strong connection among employees, as well as between the staff and club members.

“If you care about people, they’re going to care about you, and they’re going to care about their job, and they’re going to take pride in it,” Summa notes.

Fostering a caring and connected atmosphere carries over to employees’ interactions with members and guests. When club employees give a tour to young families, the message is “we’re here for everybody,” Summa shares.

This past spring, the club hosted a Divot Party where about 60 people (adults and children) spent time on a Sunday afternoon helping Summa, the golf course superintendent and the director of golf fill divots on the golf course. Afterward, the 15 families enjoyed pizza and pop as a thank you for their hard work.

“You just take a sense of pride with that,” Summa says. “I’m driving one of the carts that’s got all the seed and soil, and you got these kids coming up there wanting to get dirty. That’s awesome and they take pride in their golf course and their club.”

Last year, the club hosted a Relay Night for the youth swim team where team members and their families competed against each other in a wide range of races and games.

Thanks to the rise in the number of members and the increase in dues revenue, Summa says the club now offers nearly all of its family events to members free of charge.

“I know the membership appreciates it and it drives them out to the club,” Summa says. “If an event’s free, they’re probably going to go to the restaurant and have dinner afterwards.”

An emphasis is being placed this year on enhancing the “Hyperion Experience,” with Summa encouraging his employees to figure out how to build on the successes of last year. At the same time, he wants his staff to assess events that came up short and examine what improvements they can make.

Digital Marketing Effort Boosts Membership

All of these family-friendly events are being publicized and promoted through multiple digital marketing efforts. Summa kept a close eye on the digital marketing tactics of Ben Lorenzen and his marketing team at Champions Run in Omaha, Neb., and became interested in employing some of these approaches. A former club employee later started a company called TH Media, which Summa says has “totally rebranded” the club’s social media, marketing and e-mail communications with the “Hyperion Experience” label.

TH Media puts videos of club events on Facebook that are targeted toward specific people in the community. The club will encourage members to like or share a social media post and by doing so, they will have a chance to win prizes such as a reserved parking spot at the club. Seeing a video of an event such as a wine dinner may help encourage a member to attend a similar program. Podcasts are created and posted on a regular basis, too.

“Our presence on social media, the Facebook [posts], the Instagram [posts], the TikToks…got our message out to the Des Moines area and resulted in a full membership with a wait list,” Summa says. “…TH Media has done a fantastic job for us.”

Megan Martens, the club’s Assistant General Manager/Membership Director, says the digital marketing campaigns have helped bring in more than 200 new members.

“Our digital marketing strategy includes a combination of video production, social media marketing, communications and membership integration highlighting the unique value and benefits of being a part of the Hyperion family,” Martens says.

Jim Sedrel, the club’s Golf Course Superintendent, agrees that the digital marketing strategy has helped the club grow in a significant way.

“I can’t tell you how many of my friends our social media has reached,” Sedrel says. “They’re like, ‘I want to join, it looks like so much fun is being had at Hyperion!’”

Summa adds the club continues to pursue creative approaches to its social media campaigns.

“This will be year five with [the digital marketing efforts],” Summa says. “It’s some of the best money we could spend.”

Luxury Home Project is ‘a Game Changer’

Major changes are also happening in Hyperion’s brick-and-mortar world.

In 1991, the club purchased about 55 acres of land and built a driving range on approximately 25 of the acres. Since then, Summa says, the club has been looking for a way to use the remaining 30 acres. A solution materialized when Scott and Stephanie Denton from Denton Homes approached Hyperion leaders with a plan to purchase the land to build a members-only, high-end golf community called Carmel Hyperion that will have 27 luxury homes. Denton Homes bought the land in summer 2023, the groundbreaking happened last fall, and site work on the wooded lots continued throughout most of the winter.

“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Denton Homes,” Summa says. [This is] really a game changer for the club.”

Summa says they hope to close on the lots in early July and begin digging foundations later in the summer. The developer will soon finish installing roads and utilities on the site, and the city is expected to approve the plat for the project shortly thereafter. The goal is to sell all 27 lots in the next five years.

“Homeowners will be required to be members of the club,” Summa says. “When a lot is sold, the initiation fee is paid to the club, and then they become members right away. Then they begin building their home.”

Homeowners will be allowed to have a golf cart at their home that they can drive to and from the club.

As plans for the Carmel Hyperion development continue, new target greens, a turf hitting mat and a putting green were added to the driving range.

Adam Pritchard, the club’s Director of Golf, says the target greens were expanded and centered up on the range.

“This greatly matches what our members experience on the course instead of the smaller target greens that we offered before,” Pritchard says.

Pitching greens have also been added to the area so golfers can practice short- or medium-range shots.

“Each side of our range features a green about 50 yards off the tee box to help with short game improvement,” Pritchard says.

Hyperion has partnered with Minneapolis-based architect Paul Miller to install a short game area, with the work expected to begin in July.

The previous short game area, according to Pritchard, had a chipping green with a severe break to a player’s right. He says the new area will be “much more dynamic.”

“The plan will be to have a 6,000-sq.-ft. green surrounded by bent grass and uneven lies with two bunkers to address all short game problems,” Pritchard says. “This will be a destination area for our members to try and fix their short game problems.”

The driving range has gone through various iterations, but Sedrel notes the new version “will usher in enhanced short-game areas which will be a big improvement to our offering.”

The sale of the land included a component that is pivotal to the upgrade of the practice area.

“Part of the purchase agreement with the sale of the land requires the developer to do all the grading of the new practice area,” Summa adds.

Survey Responses Lead to Clubhouse Upgrade, New Dining Area

The club conducted a survey of its members in fall 2022. The top two requests? Members wanted to see the clubhouse refreshed and the addition of an adults-only restaurant. Both requests have been fulfilled during the last couple of years as the club used proceeds from the sale of land to Denton Homes to pay for these projects and to purchase equipment for the golf course.

Hyperion recently finished the second phase of its clubhouse master plan. The interior of the building was completely refreshed—including the kitchen, hallways, front entry, lobby, and banquet space. New furniture, carpet and light fixtures were installed in the banquet area and the walls got a fresh coat of paint.

“It really brightens the place up,” Summa says.

The upgrade, according to Summa, makes the banquet space “more marketable for members to host their events here, which we’ve seen an uptick in.”

Martens adds: “The clubhouse refresh is a significant milestone in enhancing the ‘Hyperion Experience.’”

Meanwhile, an existing banquet room space was converted into an adults-only dining area. The restaurant, which is called The Greens, opened for business in the middle of spring. This new project illustrated another way in which Hyperion is trying to meet the needs of all of its members.

“We had one restaurant and it was for everybody,” Summa explains. “We’re a family club…but there’s also a portion of the membership…that want a space that they can go [to], have dinner and it’s just adults. That’s what we’ve delivered on.”

The Greens has 40 seats in the dining room, about 10-11 seats around the bar, and uses a reservation system.

“People are excited to come up here [to The Greens],” Summa says. “Maybe they put on a sport coat and dress up a little bit…[It’s] a little more entree focused…It’s still a casual restaurant, but it definitely has that upscale feel.”

People Are Club’s ‘Greatest Asset’

This fall, the club’s front entrance will be reconstructed and enhanced with new landscaping, lighting, and trees. The interior of the pro shop will also be refreshed.

“I really feel that we’re the premier club for families that are looking to join a club and that’s something I’m really proud of,” Summa adds.

He is quick to credit the membership for backing all of the improvements happening at the club where he grew up.

“A lot of these projects were kind of wants way back when and now we’re making them a reality and couldn’t do it without a full membership and their support of the club,” he says.

Martens concurs with her boss.

“While the upgraded facilities are a significant draw, I firmly believe that Hyperion’s greatest asset is our people,” Martens says. “It is our members who create the vibrant, family friendly Hyperion brand that sets us apart.” C+RB