It’s been a little over a year now since the Ryan Moore Golf
(RMG) Club was launched and expansion could be in the works.
Founder and PGA Tour pro Ryan Moore heads the 13-person
ownership group that runs the day-to-day operations at McCormick
Woods in Port Orchard, The Classic in Spanaway and Oakbrook in
Tacoma. His father, Mike Moore, is the CEO. Shawn Cucciardi, former
general manager and co-owner of McCormick Woods, is the CCO. I ran
into Cucciardi at the Seattle Golf and Travel Show last week in
Seattle.
RMG Club offers three levels of unlimited-golf memberships — $49
a month (twilight golf only at one course), $99 per month (golf at
one course only) or $179 a month (all RMG courses and includes
range privileges). There’s other perks, too, like discounts for
guests’ green fees. You can find all
of the information at their website.
RMG sold around 1,400 memberships its first year, said
Cucciardi, 350 at McCormick Woods. Before the RMG Club came along,
McCormick Woods carried about 80 full-time members, most of them
home owners in the neighborhoods that surround the golf course who
were paying much higher annual dues.
“They just rejoined and saved money,” Cucciardi said of the move
to RMG. “To go from 80 to 350, we’ve got a lot of new blood.”
Oakbrook, which was considering closing before RMG purchased the
club, now has around 650 members, said Cucciardi.
Those are pretty impressive numbers and you wonder if it will
drive other golf operators to offer similar packages. Affordable
golf is a pretty good drawing card, especially if you’re providing
a quality course to play on.
A year into the operation, Cucciardi said the group has its
systems in place, and the group is comfortable running day-to-day
business at multiple locations and exciting about expanding.
“We’re looking to grow this,” he said. “We’re looking to add
three properties this year (within the Puget Sound area), then do a
southern market.”
RMG Club is currently in negotiations to purchase some golf
courses in the King County area, said Cucciardi.
“We’ve got people walking through here (at the golf show),
telling us, ‘We love what you’re doing. When are you going to come
up here’? If you live in Bothell or north Seattle or Bellevue,
that’s a long way if Oakbrook or McCormick Woods is your home
course.”
Cucciardi said they’ve also talked about adding some desert golf
properties in Arizona or southern California to give members “some
different places to go.”
Cucciardi said this is all about making golf affordable, and
getting new people excited about playing the game that has gone
through some trying times over the last decade.
“I think golf has long been seen as very exclusive, very
expensive,” Cucciardi said. “We’ve lost a couple of generations of
golfers. They don’t feel comfortable around the game. Those are the
people out playing soccer and snowboarding. We need to welcome them
in. It’s a great lifetime game but we have to be relevant to those
generations and we’re (the golf industry) not relevant.”
Cucciardi was asked if the group has got any feedback from
within the golf industry.
“Surprisingly, not a lot,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re
sitting back watching. Maybe it’s just been we’ve been so
darn busy we haven’t put ourselves in a position to (hear what’s
being said).”
Cucciardi said the RMG Club’s program is unique to the industry.
By sharing resources and expertise, they’ve been able to make
improvements at all of their existing properties.
“I have not seen anything similar,” he said. “We’ve got to
strike now.”
Ryan Moore remains very involved, and calls all of the time,
said Cucciardi.
“His face is on it so he definitely is going to care about what
happens,” he said. “He’s a great guy and he needs to focus on his
day job, which is playing great golf and he did last week.”
Cucciardi was referring to Moore’s fourth-place finish in the
Waste Management Open at Phoenix.
Golf summit set for March 26
Golf Alliance of Washington’s annual summit meeting, an all-day
conference on March 26 at Chambers Bay in University Point, is open
to the public.
Among other things, you’ll hear about USGA Green Section
Outreach initiatives, regional player development, a state of the
game report from the National Golf Foundation and get a walking
tour of Chambers Bay with course designers Robert Trent Jones Jr.
and Bruce Charlton.
Jones and Charlton will talk about changes that have been made
to the pure links course, and will give you an idea of how the
course will play for the 2015 U.S. Open.
Go to www.wwgcsa.org for
online registration and more information. Cost is $55, or $60 after
March 22.
Chip Shots
The new clubhouse at the Suquamish Tribe’s White Horse Golf Club
in Kingston is scheduled to be completed by early March. The
project is on a pace to be completed in nine months. The club has
operated out of a temporary pro shop since it opened in 2007. …
Tucker’s Restaurant at Gold Mountain has been re-named The
Restaurant at Gold Mountain by Columbia Hospitality, the management
group that took over operation of the Bremerton city-owned course
on Jan. 1. New director of golf Daryl Matheny said the transition
has been smooth and things are going well. Matheny was the head pro
under former director of golf Scott Alexander, who is leasing
property at the course for his golf cart business. … Jeff Mehlert’s
Northwest Junior Golf Tour is preparing for its second tournament
of the year. It will be Feb. 16-18 and will be played on three
Tacoma courses — Fircrest, Oakbrook and Tacoma Country and Golf
Club. Go to www.jrgty.com for
information. For questions, email Mehlert: jeff@jrgt.com. … Gold Mountain’s aligned
itself with Chambers Bay, and The Home Course for a golf package
that includes three rounds and two nights at the Hotel Murano in
Tacoma. … Chambers Bay, which is hosting the 2015 U.S. Open, is
hosting the Washington State Men’s Amateur on June 18-20.
Tour Players with Northwest ties, accoding to Inside
Golf magazine:
PGA Tour: Fred Couples, Seattle; Ben Crane,
Portland; Robert Garrigus, Gresham, Ore.; Andres Gonzales, Olympia;
Jeff Gove, Seattle; Ryan Moore, Puyallup; Troy Kelly, Bremerton;
Richard H. Lee, Bellevue; Kyle Stanley, Gig Harbor
Web.com Tour: Jason Allred, Ashland, Ore.; Alex
Prugh, Spokane; Andrew Putnam, Tacoma; Michael Putnam, Tacoma.
Champions Tour: Fred Couples, Seattle; Bob
Gilder, Corvallis, Ore.; Peter Jacobsen, Portland; Kirk Triplett,
Pullman.
LPGA Tour: Jimin Kang, Seattle; Paige
Mackenzie, Yakima; Wendy Ward, Edwall, WA., ; Kim Welch, Washington
State University.