We don’t often write about private courses in the pages of Cascade Golfer — that’s because, like most of you, we’re daily fee players, and it’s no fun to read (or write) about a course that, frankly, 99 percent of our readers are never going to play.
As the economy has rebounded these past few years, however, and golfers have once again increased their total number of rounds played per year, we’ve discovered more and more of our friends and readers poking around the fringes of private tracks — inquiring about initiation fees and dues, and doing some quick calculations to figure out if a membership, and all its attendant benefits, would actually make financial sense. Shoot, we’ll admit that we’ve even done the math on a few occasions.
One way in which some clubs have begun reaching out to potential new members is through creative membership plans that make that back-of-the-napkin calculation come up favorable to club membership more often than not.
Take Renton’s Fairwood Country Club, for example. Recognizing that not every golfer has the time or money to make the most of a full membership — including unlimited access to the golf course, pool, fitness and locker room facilities, plus dining facilities and the region’s most robust social calendar— Fairwood offers an “all-sports membership” package that, for about $100 a month, grants access to all of the listed non-golf amenities, plus access to practice facilities, and the option to play the golf course for just $60 a round.
There’s also a multi-generational package available for Full Members that, for just an additional $200 a month, grants your entire vertical family a membership at the club as well. That includes golf, pool, fitness, etc., for every member of your vertical family, for just an additional $200 a month. Your kids, grandkids and their families — or parents and grandparents, as the case may be — can all enjoy the club together, for a minimal additional cost.
There’s also your standard swim and fitness memberships, young executive memberships, social memberships and other classes that provide different levels of access for various rates, and make membership in a private club a reality for less than what you might think.
These innovative membership plans, plus pool and fitness facilities that are the envy of most clubs in the region, have led Fairwood to have a younger membership than most clubs, a fact that general manager Tom Frets says provides many benefits to club members.
“We have a very young demographic,” he says. “Only a few clubs in King County have a fitness center that can match ours. We also have the biggest pool around and a swim team with over 175 members, so that really helps attract the whole family. In addition, because our members are so young, most of them are still working — if you’re flexible or retired, the golf course is usually wide-open on a weekday. Pretty much everyone gets around in under four hours.”
We can vouch for that. On a recent visit, our walking threesome teed off behind a foursome of old men, and we fully expected a four-and-a-half-hour slog. Instead, they were long gone by the time we hit the second tee, and we zipped around the course in well under four hours. That wasn’t so fast, though, that we couldn’t appreciate Fairwood’s lightning-quick greens and outstanding conditioning — when you spend your time playing nothing but daily-fee tracks, even good ones, you forget just how nice a private course can be. The trees lining every hole block out most of the homes that surround the property, while the narrow fairways, doglegs and elevation changes brought to mind the region’s other famed private tracks, places like Sahalee and Mill Creek Country Club. Built in 1967 and updated many times since — most recently to match a plan John Harbottle crafted just before his death in 2011 — it’s vintage Northwest golf, with narrow landing areas and tricky greens.
And while there are plenty of country clubs throughout the region that welcome the 12s (all of them, we’d assume), Fairwood is one of a small handful that many of those “first 11 men” call home, too. Yep, we’re talking about the Seahawks themselves — while privacy restrictions keep Frets from being able to name too many players individually, he can confirm that several Seahawks coaches and players count themselves among Fairwood’s membership (and attentive readers may recall wide receiver Jermaine Kearse noting in our June 2015 issue that Fairwood was among his favorite places to play). It’s no wonder, then, that a lime green and blue color scheme permeates the property, from the trim on the scorecard to the free tees in the pro shop.
“The 12s live here,” Frets says.
Private club membership hasn’t always been within reach for your average local golfer. But then again, Fairwood didn’t always boast so many Super Bowl champions among its membership, either. The window of opportunity is open — and as the Seahawks already did in 2013, now’s the time to take advantage. Visit www.fairwood.org or call (425) 226-9700 to learn more.
