[Foxrus14]

What was your initiation fee and what are your dues.
What type of amenities does your club have?

We are preparing our letters of admittance from our sponsors for Carmel Country Club here in Charlotte. Just want to see what it is like elsewhere in the US and A...

Carmel has two 18 hole championship courses, resort style pool facility with adult only areas and 2 giant water slides. 14 tennis courts, 12 clay 1 hard and 1 grass. Just trying to see what could be missing.

[Foxrus14]

No one involved in a country club?

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

What was your initiation fee and what are your dues.
What type of amenities does your club have?

We are preparing our letters of admittance from our sponsors for Carmel Country Club here in Charlotte. Just want to see what it is like elsewhere in the US and A...

Carmel has two 18 hole championship courses, resort style pool facility with adult only areas and 2 giant water slides. 14 tennis courts, 12 clay 1 hard and 1 grass. Just trying to see what could be missing.

12 tennis courts, 36 holes just rebuilt 2 years ago, club storage, personal lockers, bar in the locker room, resort pool - slides..... rental condos, 2 restaurants, gym, free child care.

$5k buy in, $280/ month but they go up to $320 in november.

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by Mr Tonka

12 tennis courts, 36 holes just rebuilt 2 years ago, club storage, personal lockers, bar in the locker room, resort pool - slides..... rental condos, 2 restaurants, gym, free child care.

$5k buy in, $280/ month but they go up to $320 in november.

Brand new club? Seems like its a winner. Good to get in now.

[NemesisX]

Looks like this Carmel country club is between $40,000 and $75,000 for an initiation fee and a minimum monthly payment of $350/month, at least according to this website: http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte....html?page=all

I can't imagine wanting to spend $40,000 for access to golf course and a pool but I guess different people have different priorities. I just feel like the amenities offered by a standard country club (golf, pool, gym, dining out, etc.) can be enjoyed (individually) for like .1% of the price.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

Brand new club? Seems like its a winner. Good to get in now.

It's actually very old. Just under new ownership and management. With the buy in you can see they are trying to get some new and younger members. The club was on a downward slope for the last 12 years or so. 2 years ago a new owner bought it and renovated everything.

My parents were members there about 28 years ago and i spent several summers there at tennis / golf camps. It's not even recognizable from those days.

Edit, just realized i typed 36 instead of 27 holes. 3 nine hole courses with driving range.

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

Looks like this Carmel country club is between $40,000 and $75,000 for an initiation fee and a minimum monthly payment of $350/month, at least according to this website: http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte....html?page=all

I can't imagine wanting to spend $40,000 for access to golf course and a pool but I guess different people have different priorities. I just feel like the amenities offered by a standard country club (golf, pool, gym, dining out, etc.) can be enjoyed (individually) for like .1% of the price.

Well it is rather convenient to get there. As we live on the South course. So hope in my golf cart and roll on over. But the public courses here in Charlotte suck.
Initiation is $60k and monthly dues are 460 for people under 39. So we will have 6 years of this.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

Well it is rather convenient to get there. As we live on the South course. So hope in my golf cart and roll on over. But the public courses here in Charlotte suck.
Initiation is $60k and monthly dues are 460 for people under 39. So we will have 6 years of this.

That's more on part with my parents current club. But having access to both, i really can't see the extra value for the 10x higher price. I like the variety of 27 holes, but the initiation is going to be climbing quite a bit every year. They really just lowered the price to attract lots of new members. I think it's going up something to the tune of $3k a year or more.

However, if you play a lot of golf and are very close, it makes sense.

For me, with the low, limited time buy in, it made sense for business.

[dreamingat30fps]

You must reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllly like to play golf.

[F1Venom]

The country club near my house has an initiation fee of $50k. I don't know why anyone would spend so much money on something like this. Unless you're rolling a seven-figure income, it's pointless. The one good thing about it is that there's always some interesting cars parked there.

[NemesisX]

Originally Posted by F1Venom

The country club near my house has an initiation fee of $50k. I don't know why anyone would spend so much money on something like this. Unless you're rolling a seven-figure income, it's pointless. The one good thing about it is that there's always some interesting cars parked there.

Hell, a low end 7 figure income isn't enough to truly afford that kind of initiation fee IMO. Wealth-wise, I'd only feel comfortable spending that kind of money on a country club membership if I was worth (not including primary residence) $15M minimum (hint: I'm not and I probably never will be).

Because I mean $50k spent on golf now isn't really $50k lost. It's more like ($50k)(1.04)^n-.15($50k*(1.04)^n - $50k) where n is # of years lost in net worth down the road.

[Foxrus14]

Money is not the issue... just trying to figure out what some of the other amenities that other clubs have that this one might be lacking... Doesn't seem to be anything other than possibly Free child care as @Mr Tonka mentioned. The gym is amazing right now and they are expanding it another 2,000 sqft. We were going to put $6,000 more into our home gym but why do that when we can use the clubs gym.

We went over for our meet and greet two tuesdays ago. It is a whole day of Golf, played both courses and dinner and drinks. The mens bar and grill area is pretty freaking sweet, although chauvenistic but still very neat. And the courses are awesome. They play the PGA Wells Fargo at our neighbor club Quail hollow and they are moving it from there for a couple years (2017 PGA Championship)and asked if they could move it to Carmels South course and Carmel said no.

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

You must reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllly like to play golf.

I do like to play golf... My wife is a golfer as well. My whole family golfs and when they come in from out of town it is something we usually do. Plus I can use it for work and entertaining.

[kscarrol]

Been a long time so can't recall the figures but my club had a relatively small initiation fee, must have been around $5-$7k. But you are required to by a "share" in the club which was considerably more than that. I bought my share from an older member who was leaving the club. When I decide to leave the club I can then resell my share to someone else, hopefully recouping my initial purchase price.

[Never Convicted]

Originally Posted by Foxrus14

Well it is rather convenient to get there. As we live on the South course. So hope in my golf cart and roll on over. But the public courses here in Charlotte suck.
Initiation is $60k and monthly dues are 460 for people under 39. So we will have 6 years of this.

Check to see if Carmel is a member owned club. Because if it is, and you have to move and sell your membership, you could wait a loooong time to recoup your membership money. I'm talking years, not months, depending on the demand. And that whole time, you are liable for the monthly dues. I'd check to see if they offer different levels of membership, and go for something in that range. Private clubs like Carmel are never busy unless there's an event, and you can usually make a tee time easily. And that's usually the only difference between a full membership and other categories.

[Foxrus14]

Originally Posted by Never Convicted

Check to see if Carmel is a member owned club. Because if it is, and you have to move and sell your membership, you could wait a loooong time to recoup your membership money. I'm talking years, not months, depending on the demand. And that whole time, you are liable for the monthly dues. I'd check to see if they offer different levels of membership, and go for something in that range. Private clubs like Carmel are never busy unless there's an event, and you can usually make a tee time easily. And that's usually the only difference between a full membership and other categories.

It is member owned.. but in the unlikely scenario we would have to move, they put our membership on hold and are not obligated to pay monthly dues. We asked that question already. The club has never assessed its members either which is unheard of in the world of country clubs. They also do not have a minimum requirement to spend every month. The average age of all the new members the last 2 years is 36 years old. The club is getting younger and changing quite fast. Although the initiation fee is going to be at $70k by 2020. Now is a perfect time to get in while we don't have kids...