The Building Committee: Clubs Are Betting on What They Already Have
This week’s stories show clubs investing in existing clubhouses, from Florida spending to a Dornoch table and a Georgia fire.
Happy Friday, everyone. Welcome to The Building Committee, Best Clubhouse's editor's notes column.
Taking a look at this week's news:
Gil Hanse Is Everywhere
Starting with Gil Hanse, because his name keeps showing up. Bermuda’s Mid Ocean Club approved a major clubhouse renovation ahead of Hanse’s course restoration. I like that sequencing. The club is thinking about the whole experience, from the first tee to the last drink. Meanwhile, Hanse’s The Trail in North Carolina remains one of our most-read stories. Readers keep coming back to it. I get why.
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Florida Is Spending
Plenty of money is moving through the Florida golf scene, and this week’s stories made that hard to miss.
In Bonita Springs, Colony Golf & Country Club is moving ahead with a $16.5M clubhouse renovation. Down the coast, The Residences at The Boca Raton will be the first homes on the resort’s 100-year-old grounds. There are 75 condos starting at $8.95M, with exteriors by Hart Howerton, and roughly 40% are already claimed.
Then there is Wellington. Farrell Estates landed a $49M construction loan to build 27 luxury homes on Palm Beach Polo’s former East Course, a course that has been closed since 2000. A quarter century later, that land is getting a second life.
A Sober Note, Then a Trip Across the Pond
Not every story this week was good news. Fire gutted The Landing clubhouse at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia, another clubhouse fire coming too soon after the last one. A clubhouse holds a club’s memories as much as its furniture. My thoughts are with everyone connected to The Landing.
Then across the Atlantic to Suffolk. Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club, England’s fifth-oldest club, expects its living-roof clubhouse around Christmas. A grass roof on a club that old is a nice reminder that the past and the future can share the same fairway.
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The Big Idea: Eight Figures? No Problem.
Here is something I keep thinking about. American residential real estate has experienced its own K-shaped economy. Homes sales have been lagging in the national averages, but here in the northeast, 2026 has been a frothy seller's market. Now that the 10-year treasury is climbing, interest rates are pumping buyers' brakes a bit. Despite all this, clubs are spending eight figures on their clubhouses. River Oaks Country Club in Houston filed a $23M Gensler renovation and expansion of its main clubhouse.
What I like most is that these are mostly renovations of existing clubhouses, not new developments. That keeps a membership happy, and it also signals a membership that is already happy with the club as it stands. Nobody is trying to escape what they have. They want to improve it, and enjoy it. It's something a club should certainly take pride in.
Think about what it takes to fund this. Dues have to be substantial enough to support these renovation costs, and that describes a strong club in a strong position, only looking forward. The American game is in a good place, and clubs are heavily invested in keeping amenities fresh for the people who use them.
Favorite of the Week
My pick this week comes from the Scottish Highlands. Royal Dornoch has a new £13.9M Keppie Design clubhouse, and it just received a 4.8m black walnut table for its Donald Ross Room. The table was paid for by about 20 Country Club of North Carolina members and built by a Dornoch woodshop.
I love seeing the tradition of transatlantic golf brotherhood extended into the present and future. It says a lot about the history of the game, its relationships, and what golf means to the people who play it.
It also gets at something I deeply believe about clubhouses. They are more than a locker room and a place to grab a drink after the round. They are time capsules, libraries of a club’s history, whether that is a trophy room or an archive. Even with a sexy new clubhouse, Dornoch is already adding historical layers that players will find fascinating a hundred years from now. A table like that does more than sit in a room. It starts a story.
Until Next Friday
That is the week. If something here sparked a thought, a disagreement, or a story, drop a comment below. And if you know a golf friend who would enjoy this, forward it their way.
See you next week,
Ross
Ross Campoli, Founder and Editor, Best Clubhouse
Best Clubhouse covers all things golf clubhouse architecture, golf luxury real estate, and golf development. If you're interested in having your golf club renovation, luxury listing, or architectural project featured on Best Clubhouse, see our partnerships page or reach out at contact@bestclubhouse.com.
