MILL CREEK — In the summer of 2007, members were openly celebrating the purchase of Mill Creek Country Club from Trajal, Inc., which had previously owned and operated the south Snohomish County private golf club.
Now as Mill Creek CC moves into its fourth year as an equity club, members still delight in the feeling of ownership. But the club is also experiencing growing pains, primarily due to dropping membership numbers in a lagging economy.
The dip in membership — down to 260 from 320 in the last 18 months, according to club president Barney Dotson — has produced obvious financial challenges. Private golf clubs operate on the monthly dues received from members and Mill Creek CC’s decline has meant monthly revenue shortfalls of around $24,000, or close to $300,000 a year.
That decrease “has huge impacts,” Dotson acknowledged. Club officials “are working magic,” he said, “and everybody on the board and the other committees is keenly aware of what our situation is.”
In response, the club’s operating budget has been tightened significantly. Staff has been reduced, and members have pitched in with work parties to help maintain the golf course and make improvements around the clubhouse. Members voted themselves a recent $500 assessment to address operational and repair costs. And now there are questions about the ongoing viability of the club’s restaurant.
But through it all, members are steadfast in their commitment to the club and their determination to see these difficult times through to a brighter future.
“The equity members know they own the club,” Dotson said. “It’s theirs, like their house is theirs, and they know they have to take care of it. So we have a volunteer program for everything, and people are volunteering and getting the job done.
“Everybody understands, without a doubt, how many people have left the club and they understand that the economy isn’t great,” he said. “But they also understand that we’re going to do what we have to do. We’re going to get through this and hopefully things will turn around.”
“We’re managing on an extremely tight budget, and (the decrease) is not giving us the excess money we need to do some of the things we’d like to do,” said Rick Jorgensen, who preceded Dotson as club president. “But in terms of the membership’s dedication and pride in their club, it couldn’t be much better.”
Jorgensen, who grew up on the Eastside, remembers when Redmond’s Sahalee Country Club opened in the late 1960s. Back then, he said, “they had members out picking rocks out of the bunkers. They were doing it on a shoestring … and maybe we’re kind of in that mode right now.”
Are there folks who regret the members’ 2007 purchase of the club? Perhaps, but they are in a decided minority, Dotson and Jorgensen agree.
“If we had not bought the club, we’d be a hell of a lot worse off than we are today,” Jorgensen said. There would still be owners, he went on, “and they would still be wanting to make a profit. … We’d be a lot closer to being just a public golf course.”
Going forward, the most pressing need at Mill Creek CC is a boost in membership. To achieve that goal the club is offering junior executive memberships for those ages 23-39 and one-year trial memberships in addition to full equity memberships.
A lot of the problems will go away “once we get the numbers back up,” Dotson said.
Unfortunately, it won’t happen anytime soon, Mill Creek CC officials concede.
“It’s going to take a couple of years to build the membership back up,” Jorgensen said. Still, he pointed out, “we don’t want to be bringing in people that are looking for a cheap golf experience. We’re looking to bring in people who want to be part of something great.”
Financial problems at a private club are not unique to Mill Creek CC, of course. Other Puget Sound-area clubs are feeling the pinch, too, “but maybe we are more than others because we’re so new,” Jorgensen said.
But despite the many challenges, he said, members are vowing to prevail.
“We have a core of people that love the club and still want to be there,” Jorgensen said. “And five years from now, I truly believe we’ll be one of the premier golf clubs in the Pacific Northwest.”
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