New York, United States: Country club memberships in America have sky-rocketed in price and prestige, with initiation fees climbing over 70% from 2019 to 2022 and showing no signs of slowing down.

Front Office Sports reported that the initiation fee at California’s Rancho Santa Fe Country Club doubled from US$50,000 in 2021 to US$100,000 in 2024, underscoring a national trend where six-figure fees and decade-long waitlists have become the new norm.

The Covid-era surge in golf participation – adding 3.3 million green-grass players since 2020 – has fuelled demand, but it’s not just about golf anymore. Social and fitness memberships have grown in popularity among non-golfers, especially younger families looking for community, pools, and lifestyle amenities.

“Private golf is a loose extension of people seeking community,” said Greg Nathan, CEO of the National Golf Foundation (NGF).

Podcast host John Middlekauff added: “There are a lot of people that have money that don’t play golf,” pointing out that affordable social memberships are crowding the access pipeline.

This spike in interest is colliding with a hard limit on supply. Real estate constraints in top metro areas mean new club development is rare and often pushed far into suburbs or rural zones.

“You’re not likely going to have any more golf courses built in any of the top 100 or top 200 [metros],” Nathan noted, citing land costs and urban density. In South Florida, only one new club, Panther National, has cracked the region’s top 10 in the last two decades.

The result is a migration to the edges: places like Hobe Sound, where new clubs such as the US$650,000-initiation Apogee Club are emerging on former farmland.

In Phoenix, real estate and memberships are deeply linked – at Silverleaf, homes can command a US$1 million premium simply for including a transferable club membership that skips the line.

“They’re coming from Chicago or LA, so it’s worth it for them to pay way more to jump the line,” Middlekauff was quoted as saying by Front Office Sports.