The Southern California club was purchased by a South Korean company, SJS Tomorrow, that specializes in resurrecting country clubs. In addition to spending millions to refresh the Robert Trent Jones course, upgrades are being made to the clubhouse, cottages and swimming pool.

The Pauma Valley (Calif.) Country Club recently came under new ownership and is getting a lot of tender loving care, the Valley Roadrunner reported. The sand traps are now a glistening, intense white, like snow. That’s called “Augusta White” sand and it’s like a siren call to a dedicated duffer.

Larry Taylor, CEO of the company that purchased the club, told the Valley Roadrunner members are seeing an expanded country club, including a new bar and patio seating that gives a view of some spectacular scenery.

For decades the Pauma Valley Country Club has been one of the county’s best kept secrets and has included one of the best designed golf courses in the region, the Valley Roadrunner reported. Recently the Country Club was purchased by a South Korean company, SJS Tomorrow, that specializes in resurrecting country clubs and owns five in Southern California.

“We created a template for purchasing clubs from members and making them profitable,” said Taylor.

In 2018, SJS Tomorrow, which is a subsidiary of Steele Canyon Golf Club Corporation, purchased the entire facility, which was created in the 1960s and designed by golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, the Valley Roadrunner reported. Part of the agreement with the members was that the company would upgrade not only the golf course but the clubhouse, cottages and swimming pool.

The bar has been moved out of the dining room area and recreated as a sports bar, a “whole new epicenter” for the country club,” Taylor told the Valley Roadrunner. “We’ve also redone the area on the patio.”

The 23 cottages that members can rent for guests have been upgraded, with $70,000 spent on each room, the Valley Roadrunner reported.

The golf course has been undergoing a complete overhaul, that, besides the “Augusta White” sands includes new tees, $500,000 in new trees and millions of dollars—Taylor doesn’t want to say exactly how many millions—that will be spaced over the next three years, the Valley Roadrunner reported.

“We have taken a tarnished Rembrandt painting and restored it to its full glory,” he said.

At a recent unveiling of the clubhouse renovations, Darlene Shiley, a longtime member of the club, told Taylor that her late husband, Donald, would have approved. “You’ve kept all the best about Pauma Valley Country Club that my husband liked, then built on that to make it even better.”

“By investing in the club, we have given it a needed boost,” said Taylor. “We have also capped the dues at three percent a year increase. They are getting the advantages of being a member-owned club without the disadvantages.”

They must be doing something right since club membership has increased by 100 since SJS Tomorrow took ownership, bringing the total to about 525, the Valley Roadrunner reported. Taylor attributes this to the stability the new ownership has brought to the country club: “Business is up 30 percent from last year. Now our members are staying around and enjoying the amenities.”

PVCC’s membership has always been exclusive, with perhaps the most famous being Bill Murray, but it’s also populated by many a retired CFO and CEO, the Valley Roadrunner reported. Many take advantage of the small airport next to the golf course. They fly in to play golf, tennis and go swimming, or enjoy fine dining. Or just to enjoy the slower pace of life.

“We like to say that Pauma is pronounced Pahhhhhhma,” says Taylor, “with the emphasis on ‘ahhhhh!’ Everything is casual and casinos offer our members a night on the town.”

Taylor has been in the golfing business since the 1960s, when he was first exposed to the mystique of Pauma Valley Country Club, the Valley Roadrunner reported. “When I was a young pro in the 1960s, the head pro would go on junkets. He used to tell me, ‘Someday I will take you to the greatest country club that no one knows about, Pauma Valley.’”

Today he gets to visit it any day of the week, the Valley Roadrunner reported. The members, he says, “cherish the lifestyle. Everything is ratcheted down. The valley is so beautiful and the quality of life is less hectic. People are very friendly, everyone says Hi!”