The Challenge:
In a medium-sized market, Odessa sought to achieve sufficient scale to continue to offer a premium club experience and to keep pace with the market’s shifting needs and wants.
Located in the oil-rich region of Texas known as the Permian Basin, Odessa Country Club has exemplified the traditional appeal of a full-service country club. Simply put, it has offered the best golf and the best dining in the area. Its members have been prominent and successful residents of the community and the club’s tradition stretches back over several decades and generations. But Odessa is also typical of many successful clubs in that it has had to find that delicate balance between maintaining its fidelity to the established and expressed needs of its current members, while also appealing to the next generation of club members with somewhat different priorities and preferences.
The Response:
It is not too far of a stretch to say that Odessa Country Club grew by means of an effective merger. This presented the club with a unique opportunity for growth and new ways to serve members.
Odessa has been successful in attracting new members, measuring the needs and wants of those members and then using both imaginative planning and strategic investments to keep them engaged. A strong and expanding membership was made possible by enlarging its offerings—a new and improved set of facilities, activities and services.
Subject to the boom/bust cycle of the oil economy, Odessa Country Club effected what was in essence a friendly acquisition in 2001, purchasing the nearby Mission Country Club and merging two distinct sets of members, two different (if largely adjacent) locations, two separate clubhouses and two 18-hole golf courses, while also establishing and communicating a stronger and more appealing identity that would lead the now larger club into a new era.
Club Manager Ryan George (a long-time resident of the area who trained as an assistant manager for much of his career at Odessa Country Club) worked closely with his board to plan for a future that aligned with the priorities of existing members and would also open the membership pipeline for years to come.
A 2010 membership survey confirmed that golf was a key element in attracting members and an important driver of satisfaction with the club. This was no surprise to the club’s avid golfers, whom George recalls, frequently reminded him and other agents of change that “if the golf course were not here, the parking lot would be empty.”
But the survey told another, complementary story, namely, that food and beverage service was highly important. But here was the kicker—what George calls the “Aha moment”—food and beverage was actually more important to more people than golf, clearly emerging as a key source of member satisfaction. Going forward, golf would maintain its importance and relevance, but not crowd out other priorities, some of which would soon jump to the head of the list.
The Result:
Now in a stronger position and better able to offer more value, the Odessa Country Club enhanced its offering in a manner that maintained the satisfaction of its golfing nucleus, while also making dramatic and creative inroads into a younger market segment.
Following the purchase of the Mission Country Club facility, the new merged club continued to operate two clubhouses and two golf operations (including separate pro shops). Not surprisingly, club members continued to self-identify as “Mission members” and “Odessa members.” But this dynamic changed dramatically in 2006 when a new centrally located clubhouse was built. The two courses were modified so that they both began at, and returned to, the centrally located club facility.
An already excellent food and beverage program became even better. With the increase in scale and utilization came improved operational economies and big F&B subsidies became a thing of the past. The pace of change, in general, accelerated. The combination of the two clubs, followed by a genuine consolidation and integration of the two, resulted in bigger and better facilities with greater possibilities, including the capacity to offer the sort of experience desired by young families.
Success begets success. Good at golf, good at food, Odessa has been phenomenally successful in attracting young families with children. The club now has roughly 1,000 children actively engaged in club programs. The club has adapted oil patch terminology and playfully calls these kids part of its “little gushers” program, which is an elite athletic program that brings children on board at the age of 5 and expertly guides their development with mom and dad until they are well into their teens—creating accomplished athletes across the spectrum of golf, swimming and tennis.
Combining oil and athletics in the great state of Texas, how could Odessa Country Club miss? Of course it’s more than just the pursuit of athletic prowess. The young people are similarly assimilated to the club’s values of etiquette and sportsmanship—a broad and civilized view of the individual’s role within the larger social fabric.
The Midland-Odessa citizens are all-in with this club concept. The club has capped its membership at about 1150 and now manages a waiting list. It’s no surprise that young families with small children see this club as especially well aligned with their priorities. The club’s average adult age was 62 in the early 2000s; had moved down to about 54 by the time of its 2010 survey; and now sits at about 46.
Lessons Learned:
Size matters. Scale brings increased efficiency. It also opens new possibilities with respect to activities and services that can tap attractive new market segments.
In this case, scale combined with good strategic planning and an adjustment in priorities that allowed the club to serve more members with a more varied set of high quality services. Change, in the case of Odessa, is all the more impressive in that it was largely proactive. Credit goes to management, the club leaders and the membership in general for taking a fact-based, data-driven approach to the future. The voice of the member and the needs of important target segments can provide a clarion call to the future, but leadership needed to hear that voice.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but that re-invention need not be total or complete. Odessa Country Club moved from strength-to-strength, gaining the confidence and momentum to try new things and achieve new levels of excellence.
Club Trends Summer 2015