If you are a member of a country club…
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Anonymous
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What ages do you think your kids enjoyed it the most? Or is it more for the adults?
We are thinking of joining one, kids are 6 and 10 and wondering how much they will use/enjoy it. DH and I are not golfers, we would be joining to be able to go as a family to the pool, tennis, etc. We would also like to host our friends there for dinner/drinks with their same-age kids. I guess I am also wondering if kids will want to take their friends as they become tweens/teens. |
Anonymous
| We did not grow up going to CCs but we joined a few years ago when some close friends did. Wish we had done it earlier. Kids are 11 and 14 now, so maybe 3 years ago we joined. They have many friends there so it makes the summer really easy. There are plenty of people for them to hang out with at the pool. They have also both started golf and tennis. They do enjoy bringing friends but mostly it's people they already know who are members. It also makes holidays really easy, there's always an event or dinner to go to if you don't have plans or feel like hosting. |
Anonymous
| Great way to pay for friends! 👍 |
Anonymous
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The younger the better assuming the club has lot of kids' programming. We've been members of 2 (we moved). In the DC area it was a great place for them to hang out during the summer. Our club had lots of kids activities for the younger ages throughout the year. Summer camps, holiday parties, etc. We joined when our kids were late elem (youngest) and high school. The high school kids had no interest in going but the youngest did and enjoyed it. There are also tons of social activities for the parents that most time include something separate for the kids to do.
We now live somewhere the club pool is not the huge draw in the summer-almost everyone has their own pool. My youngest is now 14 and there isn't a lot of programming or things for teens. He doesn't go there and hang out with friends. He does go play golf, tennis and pickleball but it's not a huge teen hangout. |
Anonymous
| It's great if they have a very active kids program and you live close to the club because it could entail a lot of driving. Our kids were in their teens when we joined a CC and they never spent time there. |
Anonymous
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It’s great for kids below teens, older couples, and golfers. Otherwise, a neighborhood pool and/or a tennis club is just as good or better.
Let go of the hosting idea - the restaurants are never good. Fine for some parties like Fourth of July or eating quickly after golf. |
Anonymous
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My kids (8 and 11) actually hate it because all of their friends go to our community pool (which is very, very nice but only swim and tennis and only open in the summer) and are on swim team there. They say the CC is boring and we end up paying a fortune in guest fees for them to go to the community pool...
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Anonymous
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I'm not a CC member, but grew up with one. My mother and grandmother were big golfers and played in the CC league. My sister and I learned to golf (she was okay at it, I was terrible enough that I haven't golfed as an adult at all) and swim, but didn't take tennis. My cousins learned to golf, play tennis (one cousin quite competitively up through hs), and one of them did water ballet in the summers. Learning those sports well is probably worth it -- if the kids are interested.
But, I mean -- to me, the CC is quite synonymous with golf. And here in the DMV there are plenty of really nice pool/tennis clubs. So I don't know that I would pay for a CC if you aren't going to golf. Yes people eat there, but only as a matter of convenience after 18 holes or a tournament or something. We did eat at the club occasionally, but that was because they would require that you pay a certain amount for food each month, whether you ate it in the restaurant or not. And my grandparents were not going to pay for it and not get it, lol. They were as rich as people come and my grandfather would complain about the prices and not being able to afford it even though they'd already paid for it and had more money than you can imagine. It was funny. That generation hated spending money in restaurants. |
Anonymous
| My kids outgrew it once they outgrew the swimming phase, so around 12. As teens, they have very little interest in going. |
Anonymous
| If you don’t golf, it isn’t worth it. |
Anonymous
We did it ages 10 - 16. Not golfers we don't have a pool in our neighborhood. At the time I played tennis so did two of my kids. For us, as time went on our kids weren't that interested, and the food bill each quarter was absurd (food was just bad) we felt like it was super wasteful and stressful to try and get there to just eat as the kids aged. During the school year, we hardly used that part. We quit and joined a Lifetime Fitness with an outdoor pool. So much cheaper. We could afford it just felt like such a waste of money. Did we enjoy our time and host friends etc yes, but that all also comes at a cost. OP it's really about what you want out of it. |
Anonymous
| If you don't play golf a local swim and tennis club is ideal. Much less expensive and more laid back. Our kids outgrew it by about age 13 and we then joined a CC because my husband had started playing golf. |
Anonymous
| Get a boat. There are a lot of marinas with a similar club feel with pools and activities. Plus you get to change the scenery. |
Anonymous
This isn't a bad idea if golf and tennis aren't something OP's family does. |
Anonymous
Hahah... talk about a bad financial investment! |