PASSING THE TORCH

FORT COLLINS Country Club

Fort Collins Country Club is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2019. But as it completes its sixth decade, the organization is getting younger, not older.

“Before 2015, the average age of our members was in the low 60s,” says Heidi Elser, the club’s assistant general manager and membership director. “In just a few years, that average has dropped into the mid-50s. Our new wave of membership is between the ages of 35 and 50. We’re having huge growth in that area.”

Elser says the new members are a mix of transplants from other Colorado communities (or other states) and longtime locals who like the programs and facilities Fort Collins CC has recently added.
“We’re not just for 55-year-old men who like to play golf,” she laughs. “Our golf course is exceptional, but we have really built up our offerings for families, and especially for kids. It’s the whole package.”

REASONS TO JOIN
A big part of the appeal for younger members is the Country Club’s brand-new multimillion-dollar fitness facility, which supports a wide range of new activities and programs for the whole family. It includes a fully equipped 1600-square-foot fitness center, a movement room for group classes, a pilates studio, personal training services, yoga and meditation classes, and more. The club also expanded its indoor tennis complex to three courts, which are open year-round.

Kids’ programming has been expanded and diversified, with instruction and leagues in golf, tennis, swimming, and other sports for children as young as age 4. And the calendar is dotted with several family-friendly events every month. In May, for example, the club is hosting a Mother’s Day blowout, an end-of-school ice-cream social, and a barbecue party on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the opening of the club’s swimming pool.

“Another new program that’s really popular is the live music in the lounge of our main restaurant,” Elser adds. “We have performers every night, all different types of music. That’s been a really good social scene for all ages, and a great way to meet new people for anybody who’s new to Fort Collins or new to the club.”

LOCAL ANGLE
Effective June 1, the Country Club is formally ending its management agreement with Dallas-based ClubCorp and returning to fully in-house, on-site management. The club already hired Fort Collins firms to do marketing, IT, payroll, and other functions.

The local commitment also shows up on the food menu. “Our chef is very big on locally sourced everything,” Elser says. “He takes that all the way through the kitchen, from locally sourced grass-fed beef in the dinning room to Revolution popsicles at the pool.”

The Country Club belongs to We R Foco and counts many local businesspeople among its members. That, too, is an attraction for millennials and Gen Xers, given Northern Colorado’s large base of young entrepreneurs. “It’s a great place to network,” Elser says. The club has also added special pricing for members under 40, and a range of new membership categories at varying price points.

Golf will always be a draw, Elser says, and Fort Collins Country Club has no plans to relinquish its status as a premier golf venue. “But we’re offering so many other ways to engage now,” she says. “The community is responding, and that’s exciting to see.”