A partnership has been formed between a group of members who own the land for the 128-year-old club in York, Pa., and Links Asset Trust, which is licensed to lease the club. Plans for $1 million in facility improvements over the next four years include upgraded pool amenities, golf course upgrades, renovating the golf shop, lobby, ballroom and three dining rooms, and adding furniture for outdoor dining. The club is also renovating a large barn previously used for storage into a space for weddings and other large events.

The new owners of the 128-year-old Out Door Country Club in York, Pa. plan to spend $1 million over the next four years on facility improvements, which will include upgraded pool amenities and golf course upgrades and making the club more family-friendly, The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa. reported. 

There are also plans to renovate the club’s golf shop, lobby, ballroom and three dining rooms, and furniture will be added for outdoor dining, The Patriot-News reported.

The club is also renovating a large barn into a space for weddings and other large events, The Patriot-News reported. That space was previously used for storage, according to Frank Denniston, a partner with Links Asset Trust, the private investment group that was involved with the purchase of the club at the beginning of March 2020.

Thirty-three of the club’s members are in partnership with Links Asset Trust, The Patriot-News reported, through an arrangement in which the members own the land, while the club is licensed to and leased by Links Asset Trust, which is based in Florida along with the newly formed Out Door Equity Group.

Links Asset Trust, described as a private club capital and operating investment firm that recapitalizes and restores longtime private clubs and resorts, also operates clubs in Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana, and has two affiliated clubs in New Jersey, The Patriot-News reported. The firm was founded in 2016.

Out Door Country Club has been in operation since 1892 and began operations as a social club offering tennis, croquet, bicycling and hiking, The Patriot-News reported. The club has been offering golf since the early 1900s. It relocated in 1929 and again in 1959 to its current location, where it has a golf course designed by Ault & Associates. 

The club has put together a long-term strategic plan with a focus on retiring debt and renovating the club and keeping it afloat for years to come, another Links Asset Trust partner, Douglas White, told The Patriot-News. As the club members were going through the long-term planning process, they contacted Links Asset Trust, White said.

“Only a few clubs have been around for a more than hundred years,” White said. “They wanted to take every step to make sure it was around for another 100 years.”

The club opened for the first time this season on May 1 after Gov. Tom Wolf announced that golf clubs were permitted to open following the shutdown of all golf courses in Pennsylvania because of the coronavirus outbreak, The Patriot-News reported. The club has since hosted play with the required safety precautions in place.

In addition to golf, Out Door CC offers a driving range, a short-game practice area, a golf shop, a heated outdoor pool, four tennis courts, and dining options as well as facilities to host private events, weddings and corporate meetings. The club is currently offering takeout service from its restaurant, Bistro on the Green.

C+RB reported in 2015 on a renovation project at the club (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/out-door-country-club-unveils-first-part-of-2-35m-facelift/)