IsleOfMan

Over at the GolfWRX I came across a really great deal for frequent travelers that like to golf when they travel. ClubCorp is currently offering its Travel Signature Gold Unlimited membership for $50/month, but are also discounting it to $25/month for those with residence in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Minnesota, and Montana. For that fee you receive the following benefits when traveling 100+ miles from your registered residence:

• Two free* green fees per club, each month at more than 200 country clubs
• Two free* 4-course meals per club, each month at business clubs in more than 50 cities
• Complimentary access to TaylorMade loaner clubs
• 21-day advanced tee times
• Access to pools and tennis courts at clubs across the country
• Special offerings at more than 1,000 hotels, resorts and restaurants
• And so much more!

In practice, the complimentary greens fees equates to 18 holes costing anywhere form $15 - $30 depending on the club, with some offering discounted twilight cart fees as well. Depending on the club, this can be a great deal or just so-so. The loaner club offer can also take some of the hassle out of traveling with your own clubs, but is only offered at the ClubCorp owned/operated clubs and not at affiliate/alliance clubs. Also, the 21-day advanced tee times" means you can book UP TO 21-days out... but you can also book as late as day-of, depending on availability (which there's usually plenty of during the week).

As far as dining is concerned, this is where I've found the real value of the membership. Most of the dining club locations are ClubCorp's "Tower Club" facilities, usually high atop office buildings in larger cities, well appointed, and offering quite good cuisine. A typical 4-course meal would end up with a bill in the ~$65 range of which you would pay only tax and gratuity. It's not advertised, but they will also honor it for their lunch buffets (usually ~$25) and Happy Hour usually starting around 5:30 local time (you pay for alcoholic drinks, complimentary hot hors d'oeuvres).

As I said, the dining is the real value for me. After explaining the program to my boss, he's allowing me to expense the monthly membership during any month where my receipted dining while traveling for work exceeds the $50 fee, as well as the tax/gratuity. This is a win-win since my employer saves significantly on my dining expenses as long as I make use of it at least once/month and I make use of the golf and other benefits of the membership.

Lastly, it seems you can sign up for the membership using any address where you can receive mail (mostly just to receive your membership card, which isn't really a necessity once you have your member number). You can also have a different billing address than your resident address. As such, I signed up using my parents' address as my residence so I can use the benefits at home as well. This is a boon because there are 15-20 member golf clubs within 40 miles, and 3 dining clubs within 30 miles. It seems likely you could use even any address for your residence, even a hotel you might be visiting in one of the discounted states, and there doesn't seem to be any mechanism to catch that.

As an example of the value that can be extracted from this membership, I'll present my trip to the FLL area this week. I played one afternoon round of golf at Lago Mar with rental clubs along with one buffet lunch and one 4-course dinner at the Tower Club Fort Lauderdale. Receipted cost for all would have been ~$230 ($65 for greens fees & cart, $60 for club rental, $35 for lunch, $70 for dinner)... price paid was $51 ($29 for cart fee, $7 for lunch, $16 for dinner)... and my out-of-pocket (not expensed) was just the $29 cart fee.

The main drawback is that availability of both golf and dining options vary widely by market. Dallas has 10+ golf options and 2 dining options. Atlanta has 15+ golf options and 3 dining options. Miami proper has ZERO of either, but you could hike up to West Palm to play PGA National. New York has lots of golf options out Long Island and dining at Le Cirque Cafe and Osterial de Circo as well as entry to members' events at James Beard House. There are X golf options in/around Chigago and dining includes Metropolitan Club (Willis Tower), Mid-America club (80th floor, AON Tower), and the Sunday Gospel Brunch at House of Blues.

Prior to signing up for this membership I was already a ClubCorp Young Executive golf member at my local course cluster (2 clubs, 3 courses, no travel benefits). This membership is basically the Signature Gold Unlimited add-on benefit for ONE members, just without a home club. By combining the Young Executive membership with this membership, I'm basically getting ONE + Signature Gold for about 1/3 the price. I have 8 months left on my local club membership and I may even drop it all together and just use the Signature Gold Unlimited benefits... I could only play my local courses each twice/month, but I'd have substantially more variety available as well.

For anyone who likes to golf and eat well when they travel, this membership is an excellent deal. For anyone who can take advantage of residence (or access to a mailing address) in one of the discounted states, it's an absolute steal.

Details & Sign-up - http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/ClubCo...lubCorp-Travel

Benefits Finder - http://www.clubcorp.com/Membership/Benefits-Finder (use any "My Club", None for "Community", and Signature Gold Unlimited for "My World")

Fraser

This sounds too good to be true so I almost need some kind of confirmation!

I'm NYC based so I can eat at Le Cirque Cafe and Osteria de Circo for $25 per 4 course meal if I go twice per month?!?

When you say the complimentary green fees equate to $15-$30 what do you mean by that? I assume tax and a supplement at some courses or paying for the cart.

I also own property in VA so could just register myself down there for the 100 mile rule.

IsleOfMan

Greens Fees are complimentary but you're required to pay the Cart Fee (i.e. no walking for free). The split between Greens Fee and Cart Fee varies by course, but I've never seen a Cart Fee that's greater than the Greens Fee, and more times than not it's ~2:1 Greens:Cart. At my home course, Greens is $35 and cart is $15, and they even offer $6 cart after 5:30 on weekdays.

As for Le Cirque Cafe / Osteria, I'm not 100% clear on what the offer is as the ClubCorp benefit finder say "Two Complimentary Dining Options per month"... I'll try to give the ClubLine a call tomorrow to confirm exactly what is offered. Also, it's offered at Le Cirque Cafe and Osteria del Circo, but NOT at Le Cirque. As long as it's a full meal option of some sort, I'll definitely be taking advantage on my next trip to NYC.

IsleOfMan

There are also some other random offers for members as well. In my area, for example, Jonpaul's (high-end men's barber/spa) will give members a complimentary haircut with any other purchase... so a shave + haircut would be ~$44, normally ~$91. I don't know that it's something I'd take advantage of that often, but maybe once or twice a year on/around a special occasion.

Also in my area, a Cigar Club/Restaurant offers a free cigar and appetizer or desert with purchase of an entre... so around $25 in complimentary value on $25 spend (though the same establishment has better food deals around happy hour time, so maybe not the best value).

lwildernorva

I just signed up for this program as well. Although the deal sounds too good to be true, I think there are several factors at work here. First, ClubCorp has tried to impose a reasonable geographic limitation that most people probably won't figure out how to evade. As a result, ClubCorp may be assuming that many members won't use any benefits for a significant portion of the year--maybe as much as half the year.

Second, ClubCorp is probably banking on this program being used as an entertainment vehicle for traveling business people, with members bringing clients to the golf clubs or in-city clubs who will either pay full freight or have their costs picked up by the member who will write it off as a business expense. If they fill a foursome or get a table for four at one of their club restaurants, they're figuring it's a 4-for-3 deal.

Third, I suspect ClubCorp was trying to boost their membership numbers in anticipation of a sale of the business announced at the end of last week: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ant-11-billion.

I figured given the low monthly cost and my travel patterns, which take me to NY, DC, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, and Northern California on a regular basis, it was worth throwing $50 a month at this. For instance, there are two golf clubs in Myrtle Beach that are at the high end of the greens fee scale that I can play for probably no more than the cost of some of lower-end courses there. For a trip to Northern California in August, I'll play at Carmel Valley Ranch on the Monterey Peninsula. Combined with the Citi Prestige benefit, which I'll blow on rounds at Pasatiempo, Bayonet, and Black Horse courses, and my e-club membership through the Northern California Golf Association, which gets me rounds at Poppy Hills for about half the advertised rate, I'm going to get about $1000 worth of golf for about $125. I'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel to find courses that would cost me about $20 apiece in my home area.

And there are a lot of ways the benefits of membership could be lessened without making continuing membership worthless--maybe a harder cap on limits (instead of two rounds of golf or two meals per month per club, it could go down to six total anywhere in the country). Or obviously, they could raise the monthly dues. If the membership is made totally worthless or priced out of my budget, I figure there's little penalty in canceling after the first year.

But I suspect the best benefits from this program will come in the next year with a possible reevaluation by the new owners after that to determine if the status quo will be maintained.

gooseman13

I signed up last month based solely on the dining as I don't really golf. I too assumed too good to be true, but then thinking about it, it probably doesn't cost them too much.

First, how many people are traveling to different cities often within the same month.

Second, its only two meals per month per location.

Third, how many people dine alone? Likely they will bring a guest along, and the clubs from my experience are way overpriced (not a complaint, just saying).

Finally, in almost all circumstances (New York being a possible exception) ClubCorp owns the club, so they're not reimbursing anybody the cost of the meals.

So far I've used it twice, and found it to be exactly as advertised. One other note - I believe if you sign up and cancel within a year they will charge a $250 cancellation fee.

IsleOfMan

Another successful lunch dine today at the Citrus Club in Orlando. She Crab Soup, Tuna Tar Tar, Red Chile Salmon, and Creme Brule. All dishes were excellent, though the Tar Tar was mostly bean sprout or some other fibrous vegatable and maybe 10% tuna. Bill was $59+$15 tax/gratuity, but the $15 was all I paid. Also, combined with last week's lunch at Tower Club Ft. Lauderdale, makes for more than enough to expense the month's dues with my employer.

lwildernorva

I'm going to be in Orlando in August and was thinking of going to the Citrus Club. What's the parking situation there? Parking at the building or a lot nearby?

IsleOfMan

There is a deck for the building and parking is validated at the club.

lwildernorva

Thanks! And good news on the validation. I wasn't expecting that.

pseudoswede

Where is the thread on WRX?

lwildernorva

Here you go: http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/...en-you-travel/

IsleOfMan

There's that one and another as well I'll try to dig up when I get back to a PC. Looks like I'll probably be playing Golden Bear at Keene's Pointe tomorrow... a few places online list cart fee as $0.00, but I doubt I'll get away with a completely free round through Signature Gold...

pseudoswede

Thanks. I pretty much only stick to the Colorado WRX thread on that site. We have a really cool group of guys contributing to it. I tend to lose brain cells when reading the rest of the forum.

Kagehitokiri

this isnt brand new is it? maybe im remembering wrong from 2011.