Sterling Grove Golf and Country Club in Surprise, Arizona, Goes Fully Private Five Years After Opening
Sterling Grove Golf + Country Club in Surprise, Arizona, became a fully private club on Nov. 1, ending the daily-fee and non-member play it has allowed since its Nicklaus Design course opened. Limited memberships and select outside tournaments remain.
Sterling Grove Golf + Country Club in Surprise, Arizona, a West Valley suburb northwest of Phoenix, became fully private on Nov. 1. The change ended the daily-fee and unaccompanied non-member play that the club had allowed since its Nicklaus Design course opened. Troon, which manages the club, announced the change on Nov. 2, according to a release published by The Golf Wire.
The 18-hole course opened on Feb. 11, 2021, and began operating as a semi-private facility. Troon's release puts the move at about five and a half years after opening. The club's website now says golf facilities and programming are for Golf Members only.
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The club sits in the center of Sterling Grove, a 780-acre community. As memberships rose with community growth, the club reached more than 300 members, and the community has more than 1,100 completed homes, according to the release. The club says the average member age is 50. Al Larose, the club's general manager, described the reasoning in the announcement. "Transitioning to a fully private club allows us to enhance the member experience by focusing on personalized service and exclusive events," Larose said.
Toll Brothers developed Sterling Grove, and Troon, the Scottsdale-based golf management company, manages the club. It is a staff-gated community set against the White Tank Mountains, with both all-ages and 55+ active adult neighborhoods, along with trails, parks and community gardens. Toll Brothers offers nine new home collections there, with prices starting from the mid-$400,000s, according to the release.
The clubhouse houses Flora Spa, a fitness and movement studio, along with the full-service restaurant Copper + Rye and The Market, which sells grab-and-go food. Other amenities include a golf practice facility, an 18-hole putting course, three resort-style pools and nine pickleball courts.
Some access remains for people outside the membership. Limited memberships are still available for both residents and non-residents, and the club continues to host a select number of outside tournaments. Hanna Atkins, the club's membership director, reflected on the community's growth in the announcement. "Watching Sterling Grove grow from a vision and mounds of dirt into the thriving club and community it is today has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career," Atkins said. She added, "As we celebrate the transition to a fully private club just five years after opening, we're incredibly grateful for the trust and support of our members and excited to continue building on our vision of the modern country club for generations to come."
Other clubs have also changed how they handle access, including Scotland Run Golf Club in New Jersey, a former public-access course that moved to members-and-guests-only play and is planning a members-only clubhouse. Elsewhere, new housing continues to rise inside private clubs, including a 24-story, 86-residence condominium tower inside West Bay Club in Estero, Florida.
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For Sterling Grove, the change turns a course that opened to daily-fee and non-member golfers into one reserved for members, as the community around it has filled in. Some memberships are still on offer to non-residents, and the course still hosts some outside events. The club has now reset the balance between public access and private play.
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