New owners bring stability to Blue Hill Country Club

Storied Blue Hill Country Club has completed a recapitalization with Concert Golf Partners that by all accounts has set the 90-year-old private club on a new, more stable path. The transaction, completed this winter and unanimously ratified by the club’s board of directors and membership, retired all club debt, lowered annual dues by 30 percent, injected more than $2 million into immediate capital projects at the club, and bars any future assessments on the membership.

A view of Great Blue Hill from the 12th hole

“This partnership with Concert Golf ends our debt challenges and ends our longstanding internal debates about funding capital projects with member assessments,” said Blue Hill club president Jim Marano, who led the 2015 effort to recapitalize. “Just since announcing this deal, we have seen a significant uptick in membership applications at Blue Hill.”

The club also recently announced a referral program whereby members who refer a friend receive a bonus reduction and the new member will join at the same lower rate. Additionally, for members of other local clubs, Blue Hill is offering a one-time, six-month membership from April to October at a reduced rate with no upfront costs or joining fees.

Considered one of the finest parkland courses in New England, Blue Hill CC is still the only New England golf course to have hosted a PGA Championship (1956), and from 1991 to 1997 it served as a regular stop on the LPGA tour. Donald Ross protégé Skip Wogan designed the 27-hole track; architect Ron Prichard, who specializes in Ross restorations, artfully restored it in 2003.

After thriving for more than eight decades, Blue Hill ran afoul of economic and demographic factors that continue to plague member-owned clubs across greater Boston and the nation. The club then further tied its hands by borrowing $6 million to finance a 2012 clubhouse renovation, making additional member-funded improvements a non-starter.

“The membership had been discussing various capital improvement projects since 2013, and how to fund them,” said Blue Hill board member Tim Nelson. “It got so contentious that we never even voted.”

Instead, the board decided to seek a partner that would fund and complete the necessary capital projects. “Several local developers wanted to bulldoze our nine-hole Challenger course to build homes,” Nelson added, “but the membership strongly favored retaining all 27 holes — and so we unanimously chose Concert Golf, which put that preservation in writing.”

General Manager Francisco Ventura and the new management team at Blue Hill have already undertaken several capital projects at the club, including an expanded driving range and short-game practice area; a new 19th hole members lounge; and renovation of the clubhouse, including the third floor 250-seat banquet room with its northerly views of the Boston skyline.

“Blue Hill CC is a classic example of a great club with a terrific golf course and loyal membership but capital challenges typical of those we see at member-owned clubs across the country,” said Concert Golf CEO Peter Nanula. “For member-owned clubs, these capital issues are daunting and often seem intransigent, but they’re easy for us to solve. We paid off all the debt at Blue Hill in one fell swoop, which means no more member assessments. We will pay for and complete these much-needed improvements much faster than the club ever could, at no cost to the members.”

Marano now sees nothing but blue skies ahead for Blue Hill. “Our dues are back down to market levels now, with a written guarantee of no more assessments ever again,” he said. “We already have lots of former members — who left the club in the last few years due to the financial uncertainty — asking if they can come back.”

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Mar 18 2016. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.