1995hoo

Found this on the US Platinum site this morning. A search here didn't turn up any threads.

Enjoy the privileges of a private golf membership — one round at a time. With TOUR GCX, you and your guests can hit the greens at your choice of more than 30 participating private golf clubs. Platinum Card members can purchase a 5-Tee Unit TOUR Card for $3,125, and receive a $150 credit toward food & beverage and pro-shop merchandise.1 Each Tee Unit is good for up to a foursome and includes greens fees, cart fees, and use of locker and practice facilities for TOUR members and their guests. Tee Units can also be applied toward TOUR Special Outings. Please call TOUR GCX to purchase your TOUR card at 1-877-868-7555.

I did some searching on Google and can't find very much of use about this outfit. In particular, it would be interesting to get a sense of golf course availability outside of the New York metro area. Tour GCX apparently won't tell you what clubs are part of their network until you join, probably because the clubs don't want the publicity associated with it, but their site does say that they are centered in the New York area with some courses elsewhere.

I certainly have no interest in ponying up $3000 without knowing what courses are involved. Does anyone know anything about this (in particular, does anyone have any idea of what courses participate, and of whether there are any in the DC area)?

attydave

If you do a little more research, you will find some magazine articles talking about the program. They will only disclose the associated courses to prospective members and it seems that even the journalists reviewing the program had to sign nondisclosure agreements because none of them disclosed the courses. One article did say that there were some big names on the list, but then said that "no, Baltusrol is not one of them". While the program may have expanded, one article did imply that, if you don't play in the NYC tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT), you will have a tough time using the program.

From what I have been able to glean, there are possibly some screening criteria as to who they "let" into the program - the clubs probably have demanded some standards for the people who will play on their courses. Although I hazard a guess that anyone willing to pay $3,000+ for 5 rounds of golf will find it pretty easy to get in the program.

I did also read that, once you have a membership, when you want to play a course, Tour GCX will set up the time and then provide you contact information to someone at the course. You contact the person who meets you upon arrival and takes you to the locker room where you have a locker with your own name plate on it. You pretty much have full access to the club as if you were a member, including dining privileges, etc.

Since you've been to the site, you probably saw that this program is not limited to Amex - it is available to others too. It's just that Amex lets you pay around $3,000 for 5 rounds of golf with a foursome, while others have to pay over $6,000 for 10 rounds of golf. It is exactly twice as much for twice the golf - so Amex does allow a little less of a commitment to the program.

Google Tour GCX and I'm sure you'll find things.

1995hoo

Yeh, I read most of that online. I asked here because I thought maybe there might be someone who knew some more about it who could identify some courses and the like. The program struck me as an interesting possibility for things like birthdays and Father's Day and the like—that is, my parents and brother all play golf, so do I, so does my GF, so a Father's Day trip to a super-nice course like this seemed like an interesting idea, but as I said before, I'd never sign up for anything like this without knowing the courses. People on this forum often have details that you don't find elsewhere, hence why I asked.

Oh well, it was an interesting idea, anyway.

Regarding Baltusrol, I did see an article that noted that Winged Foot wasn't one of the courses, either. Here in the DC area I feel pretty certain that RTJ and Congressional are not involved.

attydave

Ah - ok - well sorry for providing information you already knew.

I would be pretty sure that neither of those courses would be on the list either - if you do find out, though, make sure to share the info. Used to play Virginia Oaks fairly frequently (think that was the name) and drooled over the RTJ course across the lake.

Kagehitokiri

if so, posting a list would be a violation of that

i thought i read something on their site which stated that the courses were ONLY in the NY tristate.

1995hoo

All I have been able to find is that they have member courses in the New York area, in the DC area, in Vegas, and in Los Angeles. I also found that two of the member courses have hosted major championships and that they are not Winged Foot and Baltusrol. The only New York area course to host a major recently aside from those two is Shinnecock (I'm not counting Bethpage Black because it's a public course, and Tour GCX says they're affiliated with private clubs). There are some other New York area courses that hosted these tournaments in the early 1900s (talking pre-WWII here), but I don't know whether they still exist. Merion, which will host it in 2013, is down near Philadelphia and presumably doesn't count as New York area.

Kagehitokiri

good to know ^

sithlord

Clubcorp is a much better deal. http://www.clubcorp.com/signature-gold.aspx Foundation room has signature gold and foundation roon access for 3700 called foundation gold. Btw clubcorp owns pinehurst.