The Longmont, Colo., property changed ownership in 2011 and updates helped boost membership at the time, which has since decreased. The club is working to bring more members through the door by appealing to families and keeping dress codes relaxed.
The Longmont (Colo.) Times-Call recently reported on The Fox Hill Club’s struggle to maintain tradition while adapting to modern expectations.
With a complex built in 1972 and designed by Frank Hummel, The Fox Hill Club is home to Longmont, Colo.’s first 18-hole golf course, inaugurated when Lt. Gov. John Vanderhoof teed off in 1973. It’s known to its members as the Jewel of Northern Colorado, and golf is a big part of the culture at Fox Hill. But it is also exclusively members only (although the Grille at Fox Hill restaurant is open to the public), the Times-Call reported.
The club has always been co-ed and those in charge do whatever they can to encourage a family friendly environment, the Times-Call reported.
“The Fox Hill Club is all about family,” reads a blurb on the organization’s website. “Many of our member families enjoy taking advantage of all the golf amenities available at our Clubs year round. Some of these include our Men’s and Women’s leagues, Couple’s and Family golf programs which are set up to encourage families to utilize the club and learn the game through many fun and inviting avenues.”
The club currently has about 270 full members. “A large portion of our members are couples,” said Stewart Koch, head golf professional. “And we don’t have a large percentage of people of color because of Longmont’s population, but we do have some.”
Curt Burrington, assistant golf professional at Fox Hill, said that while everyone has to wear a tucked-in, collared shirt while at the club, denim is allowed and always has been. The club hasn’t felt the need to soften any existing rules to increase membership because the rules weren’t too hard to begin with. It’s as casual as it gets at country clubs, although it’s worth noting that “Country” has been removed from the name which, deliberate or not, has softened that particular edge, the Times-Call reported.
The club has had its troubles though. Previously it was member-owned and run, but the bank foreclosed in 2011 when the loan wasn’t getting paid. Steve Kerr and Boulder-based developer Stephen Tebo purchased it and have been the owners ever since, the Times-Call reported.
In February 2012, the Times-Call reported that, “(in February 2011), what was then called the Fox Hill Country Club sold for $3.9 million. The club had been foreclosed on by its bank in December 2010, and a foreclosure sale had been set for April. The club had spent much of 2010 hemorrhaging money and members. In the past year, the club has rebounded and grown to be about 365 members.”
“Steve Kerr also owns Colorado National Golf Course (in Erie),” said Stevenson. “The pair of them have made massive improvement since buying the club, like resurfacing the tennis courts.”
Improved as it is, Fox Hill has fewer members now than in 2012. Still, Stevenson has ambitions to increase membership to above 300 by the end of the year, with the addition of a new members-only bar, and new and fully-equipped gym and tennis courts. But even in a place blessed with as much disposable income as Boulder County has, getting people in the door remains a challenge, the Times-Call reported.
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