Despite its status as a golfing mecca and its terrific locational advantage (90 percent of its members come from just three ZIP codes), Scioto isn’t about to rest on its considerable laurels. Its focus on continuous improvement is rooted in these basic principles: strategic planning, skilled management, sound finances and strong governance.
Scioto Country Club has a storied golf past—one conjuring up such golf legends as Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Jack Grout. And the club’s current identity continues to be linked closely with golf. While many clubs have experienced a decline in golf’s popularity, Scioto has not witnessed any loss in play. In fact, more people want to play golf at Scioto than the club currently has capacity for; potential golfers at Scioto can expect a three- to five-year wait before gaining full golf privileges.
From a wide-angle view of Scioto’s membership of more than 1,000 members, there are about twice as many non-golf members as golf members. Clearly there is much more going on at this club than golf. As at so many other clubs, paddle tennis is popular at Scioto: men’s, women’s, mixed couples and league play. The movement toward health and fitness is similarly broadening at the club, mirroring larger club trends that find expression in a packed group fitness schedule and growing interest in spa-like treatments such as therapeutic massage.
Scioto also shows a real knack for innovation, creating new events and delivering improved services that delight members and find enthusiastic adoption. Gingerbread house decorating, for example, is now a club tradition. More than a thousand participants spread themselves over five 90-minute sessions, with a brunch or family buffet as bookends to the decorating sessions.
Necessity is frequently said to be the mother of invention and other kindred innovations. And so it has been at Scioto, where members and their families at the pool frequently sought to order food to complement their aquatic adventure. Unfortunately for staff and members alike the logistics proved tricky, with order taking, preparation and serving complicated by distance and destination.
All this set the dining staff to problem solve for a solution that came in the form of a secondary, outdoor kitchen that sets up on the pool deck. Pizza oven, grill and hot table are now within easy reach and serving tasty, fresh food is quick and convenient for swimmers and poolside loungers. No wonder other club dining managers make the pilgrimage to Scioto with plans to mimic this well-designed operation.
People, planning and process all combine to keep this club at the forefront of excellence and attuned to important trends in the larger arena. Greg Wolf has been the general manager at Scioto for 10 years; he recalls that a comprehensive strategic plan was put in place 2004 at the very outset of his tenure. This plan has provided a roadmap for the club improvements and projects and has been carefully followed and updated on a periodic basis.
This long-range planning works because membership needs and oversight shape it. Membership surveys are regularly conducted to assess those needs, to gauge satisfaction and to establish priorities. Governance structures and policies are well conceived and closely observed, which means that experience, expertise and commitment get reliably and continuously applied. The club’s Nominating Committee proposes a slate of trustees that is then placed before the membership for approval. Leadership and oversight for the club is cultivated and thus the club president is more likely than not to have served a stint on the long-range planning committee as well as the board itself.
Club finances have a similar farsighted design and orientation. The club’s survey work demonstrates that 90 percent of members are eminently satisfied with the value they receive for their membership—a remarkably high level. Thus there is little in the way of membership churn, while at the same time demand remains strong for available memberships. Initiation fees remain a reliable source for funding capital improvements, and then current members also do their part in shouldering capital upkeep with a modest monthly capital charge.
This financial stability and strength allows Scioto to make the necessary investments in facility infrastructure and systems that yield important safety and efficiency benefits, without necessarily impressing the membership with a highly visible improvement or new facility—though these, too, get done.
Management, the club leadership and its engaged membership all combine to give this club an upbeat, optimistic view of the future. Scioto, for all its storied past, seeks not to maintain status quo, but to expand the boundaries of club excellence in the years to come.