Improvements help Everett G & CC ‘keep up with the times’

Published 11:26 pm Wednesday, July 9, 2008

EVERETT — There are ways to make even great golf clubs a bit better, which is why the folks at Everett Golf and Country Club have undertaken a roughly $3.25-million improvement project to enhance their venerable facility.

Two years ahead of its 100th birthday celebration, Everett G&CC has opened an expanded driving range and practice area, a new cart barn, and a new swimming pool and adjoining cabana. The club has also paved its driveway and enlarged the parking lot.

“All of it together just gives people a really good feeling,” said Paul Thompson, vice-president of the club’s board of directors. “People are amazed at what we’ve done in the last year. Obviously, it’s more attractive now for new members. And for existing members, too.”

One reason for the improvements, “is that we have to keep up with the times and we have to keep up with demographics,” Thompson said. “That is, attracting prospective members and keeping current members content by keeping the golf course and the club’s other amenities in tip-top shape.

“Our biggest sales people are our existing members,” Thompson pointed out. “Because if they’re happy and if they really like what’s going on, they’ll attract new people, too.”

A big part of the project, which started last year, is a revamped driving range and practice area. The tee area of the driving range has been moved back, adding much-needed length to what had been a fairly short range. The extra length “got us just enough so now we can swing away a little from the back,” board member Steve Klimek said.

There is also a covered tee area for practice on bad-weather days.

Nearby, there is also a bigger chipping green with surrounding bunkers and rough, which allows members to hone their short games. All the way up to 80-yard wedge shots.

“We wanted to create in the practice area (the opportunity to work on) every short shot you could have on the golf course,” Klimek said.

Even non-golfing club members have reason to applaud the upgrades. Everett G&CC now boasts a new salt-water pool and cabana with a full-service kitchen and changing rooms. And just getting into the club is easier, too, because of the paved driveway and larger parking lot.

The response to the improvements “has been great,” Klimek said, and has helped to win over some members who were dubious at the outset.

“The initial vote to do this work was pretty close,” he said. “It was not overwhelming, and there were definitely some members who felt we shouldn’t do it. But to a man, woman and child now, I can’t go to the golf course now without someone coming up and saying, ‘You guys did a great job.’ They love the facility.”

Everett G&CC is also discussing improvements to the golf course, though the go-ahead decision has not been made. The projects under consideration include lengthening the 14th hole, which is currently a short par 5; adding a championship tee to the uphill par-4 fifth hole; and the modification of a dozen or so bunkers around the course.

“Yes, we want to make some holes more challenging for the lower handicaps,” Klimek said. “We want to make sure we keep up with the times as much as we can to increase the level of difficulty on holes where that’s possible.

“But we also don’t want to make it so it’s no longer fun for the higher handicaps,” he said. “It’s a very playable golf course for the higher handicaps now, and we don’t want to change that.”

The price tag for all these projects, including those still in the discussion stages, was just under $3,900 per member. New members will not be assessed for these improvements, Thompson said.

Everett G&CC has 375 certificate members and tries to sell about 20 memberships a year; the club receives $9,500 of each new membership sold, with that money budgeted for capital expenditures, Thompson explained.

Even with a sluggish economy, “I think there’s still a demand for memberships,” he said. “And I think the club is still strong because of what we’ve accomplished in the last year. I think we’ll make it through (a tough economic stretch) fine and our services will not be diminished one bit to the membership.

“We are,” he added, “just a good, solid club.”