Membership Input in Country Club Decision

Requesting input from members when holding country club elections can be key to success, ensuring customers and owners communicate their preferences, share suggestions, and actively participate in the growth of a private membership club.

One of the best ways to access membership input, particularly when deciding how to address specific issues or options, is to use anywhere-access software. For example, country clubs can circulate links to allow members to cast votes or indicate their preferences from any location and device.

These solutions, in the form of surveys, polls, and elections, can significantly impact how transparent golf club operations are perceived, fostering engagement, rapport, and positive communications.

The Value of Pursuing Input From Country Club Members

Country club boards and governors are appointed to serve the interests of their membership. In many instances, it is difficult for representatives to gauge the needs of members or to achieve a consensus at the board level without consulting members to gain a better understanding of how best to act.

Declining memberships in country clubs often relate to defined problems, such as a program that doesn’t cater to the majority, maintenance or upkeep complaints, or facilities that are not ideally suited to the average membership age. By facilitating open, transparent dialogues and encouraging members to participate in polls and surveys, country club boards can:

• Clarify how decisions are made, and request members with opinions share their thoughts
• Reach a broader consensus without restricting decision-making powers solely to elected officials, governors, or board members
• Understand what members would like to see change, which areas or facilities they want to retain and collate ideas for the future of the club

Resistance to change or a desire to maintain the status quo can damage members' trust and value in their clubs. Surveys add transparency to decision-making and ensure input is valued, actively sought out, and used to inform ongoing policy or spending.

How to Collate Opinions and Votes From Country Club Members

Any program intended to extract members' opinions, suggestions, and thoughts needs to be structured around the membership demographic. For example, an in-person committee can be useful but may not be as successful if members cannot attend and feel excluded from the opportunity to provide input.

Creating a structured, clear, and accessible survey or poll is an excellent way to engage with all members without placing any requirements or expectations on members to allow them to participate. The goal is to ensure these surveys, polls, or votes are trustworthy, credible, and clear, with no ambiguity. Many country clubs find that a well-organized survey offers better insights than solely holding in-person meetings since the latter can extract a defined list of issues, questions, or decisions that require input from a wider cross-section of members.

Executing a club survey and publishing the outcomes means members know how their peers feel about proposals and can follow the progress as governors or board members respond–leaving no doubt about how their club will continue to add value or make improvements.

Structuring Country Club Membership Surveys

Most country clubs will opt for confidential surveys, where members can openly express their opinions without reservation, especially when they are conscious that their preferences conflict with those of a long-standing board president or other senior representatives. Circulating surveys via email, with a secure link to the questions being polled, works well, where members can respond in their own time, on any device, and with the confidence that their votes or responses will be anonymized.

Country clubs can use these processes for a wide range of purposes:

• Gathering votes on proposals, such as whether to invest in upgrades to golf facilities or dining experiences
• Voting on board elections, budget proposals, or other country club governance and management aspects
• Deciding whether to expand membership spaces to attract new members or to introduce variable family packages to ensure clubs continue to grow
• Collating opinions periodically, such as whether they feel their membership delivers value for money, how often they visit, and whether they are likely to attend seasonal events

By actively seeking membership input, country clubs garner loyalty, see that long-standing members are more willing to recommend new members, and feel that their thoughts and opinions are valued, sought out, and acted upon to make beneficial changes.