When Abby Hoglund joined Quail Creek Country Club (Naples, Fla.) as Director of Communications in November of 2024, the club was going through what she calls a cultural shift.
“We were really leaning into investing in the club and revamping some of our amenities to become a bit more modern,” she says.
The club had also completed a clubhouse refresh around that time.
Abby Hoglund, Director of Communications, Quail Creek Country Club.
“It used to be all dark red mahogany and now it’s bright marble, white walls with beautiful lighting,” she says. “This was the first modernization that we did.”
The club was also investing $26 million in a golf course renovation. The natural next steps were to focus on the website and the club’s app.
“We wanted to invest in the club and modernize it to make it great for both the retiree and the 35-year-old,” says Hoglund.
The marketing team—Emme Warburton, Director of Membership; Holly Savidge, Director of Marketing; and Hoglund—presented their proposal to the board and began the overhaul in late April/early May and the new site was launched in November 2025.
Less information and a stronger first impression
The idea of revamping the website didn’t come out of nowhere. Hugland says she received member feedback that helped shape the redesign.
“With the old website, one of our biggest complaints was that we had eight different tabs,” she says. “It was kind of an information overload. As a private club, we want to give off an air of exclusivity while still being welcome for prospective members.”
A big focus was consolidating the information and providing enough content that non-members could visit the site and understand the club’s identity but still create an air of curiosity that Quail Creek Country Club has more to offer than what’s being shown.
Hoglund and the team decided to cut the tabs down to four and offer more of a highlight on each amenity rather than getting in the weeds with details like what lessons are offered or who the club’s pros are.
“It was more of a high level showing this is Quail Creek’s identity,” she says.
The colors were also changed to give more of a Florida feel.
Before, Hoglund and her team felt that the stark white and bright blue gave off a medical vibe. Now, the background has changed to a softer cream color with softer blues throughout the site.
Hoglund says they also added small touches throughout the website, like the shadow of a palm tree.
With the team agreeing on the overall feel and branding of the website, functionality was next.
Now, the site is much more dynamic, with the homepage opening with a video. When a user looks at the courses, they can hover their cursor over the map and it shades to give users a course tour.
Many of the changes made to the website were also applied to the club’s app.
“We upgraded to a much more modern layout, better functionality, and application of the new colors,” she says.
A team effort
Although the idea of revamping the website and app came from the marketing department, Hoglund says implementing the changes was a team effort.
Each department reviewed their area of the website and gave Hoglund feedback on how the old website didn’t work and what did work so she could incorporate those changes.
Membership was also on board to the changes. Hoglund and her team were vocal about the upcoming changes and let membership know that the club was investing in marketing resources.
After the launch, Hoglund says the club advertised the changes everywhere.
“We sent out emails three weeks leading up to the launch, telling everyone that this was happening, when the website would be offline, and reassuring members that the core way they use the site isn’t changing—just the layout,” she says.
Hoglund believes that although every club is different, clubs should be updating their website every three to five years to keep up with trends and member expectations.
“The biggest key factor in deciding to refresh your website is to review your photography, review all of the language, and make sure all information is up-to-date and relevant,” says Hoglund.
