Which Golf Club To Join in North Atlanta ? (Alpharetta, Dunwoody: real estate, rentals)

[CBC1]

Any new info about local clubs? We will be moving to Buckhead after school year and wil be searching a CC for our family of six. Thanks for any new info.

[ATL Golfer]

Originally Posted by CBC1

Any new info about local clubs? We will be moving to Buckhead after school year and wil be searching a CC for our family of six. Thanks for any new info.

Is price of initiation a concern? If not, and you're going to be in Buckhead ....Cherokee or Capital City (but again, you need someone to sponsor you).

If it is a concern, check out Life Time Fitness opening at The Prado (about 5 minute drive from North Buckhead, could be much further depending on where you live). I just joined and will try it out. This is a gym on steroids w/ golf perks at several public courses around town. You pay $25 weekdays and $35 weekend for golf. Place has a huge pool, slides, outdoor bar/grill, state of the art gym, etc. There is some incentive to join by Feb 15th so call and find out if you are interested.

I'd also check out Ansley (also need sponsor). Much cheaper option but on 9 holes in town. Facilities are nice, but not as nice as two above.

[ATLTJL]

Cherokee - You have to know someone. Expect initiation of 75-85k.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I met anyone who did this, I would punch them in the stomach.

You could fly to Calfornia and play Pebble Beach once a month for 5 years and still come in under this initiation fee.

That club better provide on demand hookers and cocaine upon entry.

[ATL Golfer]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I met anyone who did this, I would punch them in the stomach.

You could fly to Calfornia and play Pebble Beach once a month for 5 years and still come in under this initiation fee.

That club better provide on demand hookers and cocaine upon entry.

What about the remaining X number of years you can play golf?

I personally wouldn't join an expensive club unless I had a serious nest egg. I know a lot of people join starting out in their career who can borderline afford it, but they have made it work. Most people use it as a secondary place to do business. Club ends up paying for itself many times over through business deals/contacts made at the club.

BTW, if you can float a CC membership at an expensive club, I'm sure the other amenities you are looking for are a drop in the bucket.

[ATLTJL]

I was under the impression that during the recession, country clubs were having immensely difficult times keeping and attracting new members.

My father is an avid golfer. I grew up in country clubs. Nice ones. And I think they are colossal wastes of money. I mean, if you dig golf and want to have a home base, I can see dropping a $10k initiation fee and keeping up a membership if it's a couple hundred bucks a month. Most people will spend about that amount of money on whatever hobby they are into.

But $85k? Man, if you're doing that, you need a new hobby. If you paid that and got some kind of lifetime membership where you never had to pay dues or green fees again, maybe I could see it. But that's just to give you the opportunity to pay huge dues and fees every time you play. It's so far out of league with the competition (I believe the fee at Sugarloaf is around $15k).

The only way I could see it is if you were some kind of businessman who made deals on the golf course and used the club for networking. Of if you just had so much money that $85k is really nothing....but most people with that much money still know a bad deal when they see it and didn't get rich by throwing dumb money at stuff.

Maybe these clubs have some thing I've never seen. All I know is I've been a member of country clubs most of my life and I've never been impressed by what they offer. I'm no longer a member of any club.

[ATL Golfer]

I don't think anyone just joins solely for the golf benefit. $75-85k is the going rate at most decent clubs around town. I'm pretty sure Sugarloaf is a little bit more than $15k.

There are some that are hurting, that is for sure. Mostly the places in the "new money" market (ie, up GA400, Peachtree Industrial). Established clubs around town hardly adjusted their initiation process due to the economy. If anything, they may just give you some time to payoff the initiation.

[DrewTORK]

Please let me know if any of you members to Piedmont, Cherokee or Capital City need a swell person to play with. I'm open to play anytime.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by ndimsum

Atlanta Athletic Club, St. Ive's, or Sugarloaf. I would steer clear of Dunwoody as it is subpar in comparison.

Really? I found Dunwoody to be perfectly lovely.

[CBC1]

Appreciate the help people.... as per initiation fees, these are "normaly a certificate based initiation fees, meaning that the 75-80 or however much is like you bought a stock in the CC.... your membership retains a value. Short of it going into bankruptcy, which can and has happened in the past you do hold a financial instrument that can be or will be sold to another entity when you want to leave. Lots of guidelines, like that person must be approved as a member etc etc.....they can go up in value bit down also, like all stocks....The yield would be the enjoyment of the facilities.....However there is a monthly fee at all CC....

As per, why?.... I prefer that my kids, and we have a lot of kids, I prefer that they have access to a safe place to enjoy sports and such things.... It's all a question of what direction you want to point your children in.....HOWEVER, just because they hang out at the CC IN NO WAY MEANS they are 100% safe nor under good or better influences either..... even people that can afford to buy a certificate at 100K or just under does not mean anything at all toward thier character...that's why you need to visit the club and meet people that belong there before you ever put a dime into an investment of such magnatude.....yes we can afford the 100K BUT NOT BECAUSE I can doesn't mean I would...all depends upon the club as a whole and its membership makeup.

To me the golf course itself is more important than anything else other than that, I up for it but my wife will have last say wether or not we attempt to belong to the club....and that's not to say we would be accepted.. I can name a couple of CC's that would probably not accept us because we don't come from the right family or the CC just doesn't need the money right now...... and no we are a great family with great kids but some clubs wouldn't accept us...... obtw, we are a caucassion family of protestant background....Jewish club would 9/10 not accept us....and that is in no way a digg on the Jewish community, just a fact...unless of course I enrolled our 4 children in a Jewish private school in Atlanta...which is again their right to choose who they want to belong to thier club(s)..... Another example The Country Club of Birmingham, about 200 miles away from you all....probably would not accept us either...if only because nobody in Birmingham can speak for me or introduce me and they have absolutely no cash crunch, they are always flush.... and that is a beautiful CC...one of the nicest I have ever seen, with two fantastic courses and a fantastic membership also.....

In any case we are moving from Europe and I just wanted to get an idea of the local courses (Buckhead).. I do appreciate the help though and I'll try to keep the forum up to date as the search goes on.

[ATL Golfer]

For the record the local Jewish club, The Standard Club, will take any and everyone right now. Their membership has grown diverse in the past year or so as a result. It is a fantastic golf course apparently (I played it long ago and it has since been altered). Their junior member programs are some of the cheapest around town.

There aren't many clubs that will outright refuse membership if you have sponsors. Even some of the more waspy clubs around town have some, albeit very little, diversity.

I would say that the only club that is off limits to some in the metro area are Piedmont Driving Club and Peachtree Golf Club (which isn't a country club, so won't have amenities for families). I'm making an assumption with Piedmont Driving Club I'll admit.

For someone not looking to drop a ton on initiation, Life Time Fitness' affiliation with Affinity Golf Management makes for a great alternative. This is for members of their new Sandy Springs (Just north of Buckhead) location opening in May. This is also a great option to pay more in dues at an existing Life Time location in north metro b/c that is where all the courses are. You get to play EIGHT courses at $25 weekday and $35 weekend (after 10am on weekends). That is close to the price of cart fees at some private clubs. Some of the courses are fantastic, but all are above average. Life Time has a huge gym, great pool area with water park type slides, free daycare while working out, etc etc. Definitely worth checking out. It made the most sense for us. $209/mth + I believe $6 per child under a certain age.