Golf Inc. recently hosted a Clubhouse Design Showcase webinar, allowing several prominent architects and interior designers to display their recent projects and discuss trends they are observing in the industry. While not explicitly limited to a subgenre, most of the discussion involved redesign, expansion, or adding on to existing clubhouse spaces rather than new construction, despite the continued strength of the new golf course market.
The most often discussed trends were that clubs want brighter spaces, additional outdoor seating areas, and additional, more casual food and beverage options. Members’ expectations continue to trend away from a traditional country club model and towards something akin to “Lifestyle Centers,” replete with a wide range of amenities to keep members engaged with each other and maximizing time on club property.
The list of attendees included construction and design professionals, golf club managers, and management company executives from several leading clubs and firms, as impressive a collection of power brokers within the club management business as the presenters were in the architectural field. Such a collection of talent portends that the presented trends should continue to proliferate across the American club scene.
The near uniformity of the presentations’ comments on their clients’ desire for more casual food and bar options because they had become such a profit center for clubs was remarkable. Listening without context, one could be forgiven for thinking they were listening to a presentation from the boozy 1920s rather than the 2020s.
Equally omnipresent was an emphasis on more open and better lit indoor spaces connected to the club’s outdoor spaces, be they the golf course, an expanded outdoor seating area, or a new outdoor bar. Likely a consequence of the confinements of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost every presentation included a recent project where the architects were able to incorporate more natural light and better views of the outdoor facilities from the club’s existing bar, grill, or dining spaces. This generally resulted in spaces that accommodated larger informal gathering spaces, where, for instance, an entire Men’s League might assemble to settle up after their regular Wednesday game.
The recent examples presented by the likes of Peacock + Lewis and PHX Architects were exquisite, of course. As Northern clubs attempt to justify year-round membership, incorporating additional indoor amenities, like modern simulators and pickleball courts, has become an additional focus. One exciting new trend for higher-end clubs everywhere is a focus on more and better spaces for staff, whether they be better working spaces or providing high-season lodging opportunities.
These same trends inspired the very few examples of new clubhouse design and construction. Hoping to uncover a new direction in new clubhouse construction, the Showcase indicated that more of the recent same continues: barns and lodges. The prolific short box-and-A-frame design appears unavoidable for the foreseeable future. The Dormie Club facilities in North Carolina are found at the new clubhouse at Park Mammoth in Kentucky and the sprawling facilities at Sand Valley in Wisconsin. It may be up to some of the premier private clubs to take a chance and change the clubhouse design direction (we’re looking at you Carolina Golf Club).
These design trends have emerged at a time when clubs are flush with cash from higher demands for membership and higher expectations of what that membership provides. After a decade plus of belt-tightening and focusing on core operation, it appears that the golf-first or golf-only club is giving way to a modern country club model with a full suite of amenities. For now, more open, well-lit spaces and connecting the indoors with the outside world, with cocktails readily available at both, seems to be where everyone wants to be.
