Don't Be A Sucker For A Discounted Golf Membership

I understand that Clovernook has currently hired a new salesperson to help kick start a membership drive.  The reason for this desperate move is that they have lost nearly 100 members in the last two years and are at an all-time low.  Members they have had on their Board and Committees are quitting by the dozens and even one member, a past president and memorialized member on the wall of the first tee, left disgruntled with management.

If you're looking at country club to play golf at in Cincinnati, then you should avoid Clovernook Country Club in North College Hill.   They try to lure you in with special golf programs but fail to live up to the standards of a championship caliber golf course like their brochure says.  Sure, in it's day, Clovernook was one of the best in Cincinnati, even hosting several US Open qualifiers.  That was the past, this is the present.

Hard times have fallen on the club and it no longer has the membership or the money to repair the problems of such an old course.  The repairs they have tried to implement have been bungled as a result of their Board of Governors agreeing to the cheapest bids and failing to do the due diligence to ensure successful projects.  A waste of good money.  Their mismanagement has resulted in flooded bunkers, diseased grass, misplaced sprinkler heads, and cart paths sitting six inches above the ground.  The pictures below illustrate the problems Clovernook has had with the over-watering of the golf course and the condition of the course the last two summers.

This irrigation problem happens because when the golf course takes on too much water, the puddles become baked by the hot summer sun.  The result is that the turf becomes diseased and unplayable.  These pictures were taken in the summer of 2011 and the funny thing is that it didn't rain for several days.  This was a direct result of the groundskeeper over-watering the course.  Even when the problems were addressed with the Board and Club Management, they only made excuses and continued to repeat the same irrigation patterns.   This is their true method of management and the reason they have no money.  

So if you want to pay about $700- $1100 per month to play golf (this is what it costs once you pay dues, carts, caddies, food and beverage per month), I would suggest going to another club or even a public course where you can save $400 - $700 per month and enjoy a better round of golf.  Golf is meant to be played on grass, not on burnt out patches where grass used to be or flooded out and wet bunkers.