“Coming into the entrance, guests were in the windy tornado and greeted by Dorothy,” says Melissa Bauer, Director of Membership and Marketing of Sawgrass Country Club (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.). “Then I was there as Glinda, welcoming members and inviting them to follow the yellow brick road.”
That was the opening of the club’s Wizard of Oz-themed season opener this fall. Members walked through the grand entrance hallway to the ballroom. Along the way, they met the lion and the tinman on the yellow brick road. They took a trip to Munchkinland, where the mayor welcomed them. In the ballroom, an organ player performed as the Wizard of Oz (the club’s GM) welcomed them to the Emerald City.
“We always do a big event for our season closer in May,” Bauer says. “But historically, our season opener to kick off fall has been kept casual.”
That changed this year.
“We noticed an increasing amount of seasonal activity and excitement among members about the opening of golf season, which made us want to expand upon that with a bigger event,” she explains.
The event also kicked off the golf course renovation, which began with the closing of the south nine at the beginning of October.
“It’s a look ahead to the journey of what the next couple of years of renovation will bring and celebrate all to come,” she adds.
A theme that reaches generations
Thinking of how the club wants members and staff to feel about Sawgrass Country Club, the club went with a Wizard of Oz theme and crafted a slogan around the theme.
“We used the slogan, ‘There’s no place like Sawgrass,’ which is significant for us because we are one of the only private clubs in this area of Northeast Florida, and when people are looking to join a club, they’re looking for some place that they can call home,” Bauer says.
Bauer recognizes that the event fits into the culture of the club largely due to the theme.
“The classic nature of the movie is an homage to the history we have here at Sawgrass,” she says. “Something that dates back as far as the Wizard of Oz and has continually been gaining popularity as time passes with different generations—that is a parallel to Sawgrass.”
Although the average age of members is around 67, Bauer is seeing a trend in new members being younger.
“Having started the club in 1974 there is such history here,” she says. “There are members who have been here since the 70s and 80s and now their children or grandchildren are members.”
The event also sets the tone for the upcoming memory-making season.
“Fall is a great season for members, but it’s also the start of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are all about making memories,” she says.
Getting staff on board
Bauer and Jessica Gustine, the Director of Catering, worked together to plan the event. They talked with department heads at leadership meetings to get everyone on board.
“We highlighted that we wanted to make this event really special, and that message starts from the top,” Bauer says. “So, our GM getting on board was a key component of the event being successful.”
The GM dressed as the Wizard of Oz.
“We had every department leader dressed as one of the significant characters,” she says.
Bauer was Glinda the Good Witch, and Gustine was Dorothy.
The women worked with the team to figure out costumes and encourage those who were hesitant to fully immerse themselves into their character.
“Once the team saw the vision coming to life, it was like all nerves melted away and everyone got really excited,” she says.
Bauer mentions that on the day of the event, the team set up the clubhouse for the event and got ready and into character together.
“That’s really important to note because the staff here is like a family, just as much as the members are a family,” she says.
Follow the yellow brick road
Surprisingly, this event was only planned starting about a month out. Typically, an event with this depth the team starts planning 60, 90, or even 6 months out.
To transform the clubhouse, the team used piping and draping hardware already in the ballroom. They added emerald velvet to create the Emerald City.
To include members of all ages, the club brought the kids from the kids’ club over before the event started to parade through the event and view staff members’ costumes.
Food and beverage also played into bringing this event to life.
Bauer says the executive chef set up food stations for each of the main characters.
“At the Glinda table we had plastic bubbles of ahi tuna bowls and chocolates made to look like the ruby red slippers at the dessert table,” she says.
What’s next?
The success of the event has caused the club to mark a handful of events throughout the year as Sawgrass Signature Events.
These events will be the season opener, the tree lighting ceremony, the Blazing Saddles event in February, which is a chili cookoff the club elevated a few years back, the season closer in May and Fourth of July.
“It’s about enjoying each other’s company, celebrating the small things just as much as the large things and creating an event that is so cool that members are talking about it after they leave and members who couldn’t make it experience a bit of FOMO,” she says.
