North Shore MA Club Memberships

swampgolfer · July 21, 2017

Hi Everyone,

First time long time. I'm in a position for the first time of being able to join a club here on the north shore. I'm able to join at the associate or young professional level and most of the yearly dues are attainable with my financial situation. However, adding in the initiation fee that many in the area charge - makes things out of reach.

Do any members in the area have any light they can shed on the state of things at some of the clubs? I've met with Ferncroft and Kernwood and know that I can't attain a membership at something like a Salem CC, Tedesco, or that Fox hunting place.

Ideally I'd like to be around $3500 in dues with a max initiation of $5000. Am I way out of line thinking that? It seems as though things are very high end, or very simple, low priced, nine hole courses. Are there others I might be missing?

Any thoughts or education on the matter would be great. I live in Swampscott.

-Swampgolfer

BillyBaroo2002 · July 24, 2017

Hi Everyone,

First time long time. I'm in a position for the first time of being able to join a club here on the north shore. I'm able to join at the associate or young professional level and most of the yearly dues are attainable with my financial situation. However, adding in the initiation fee that many in the area charge - makes things out of reach.

Do any members in the area have any light they can shed on the state of things at some of the clubs? I've met with Ferncroft and Kernwood and know that I can't attain a membership at something like a Salem CC, Tedesco, or that Fox hunting place.

Ideally I'd like to be around $3500 in dues with a max initiation of $5000. Am I way out of line thinking that? It seems as though things are very high end, or very simple, low priced, nine hole courses. Are there others I might be missing?

Any thoughts or education on the matter would be great. I live in Swampscott.

-Swampgolfer

Turner Hill has a nice associate or executive membership I believe. I've played it twice this year - I think the membership is fairly "young" and the course is in decent shape. I'm not a huge fan of the layout but others rave about it. Should be close enough to Swampscott to give it a try.

swampgolfer · July 29, 2017

Thanks so much for the reply. I'm trying out Ferncroft today. Yesterday I checked out Beverly Golf and Tennis not knowing anything about it, but that's a 6 hour round kind of place in pretty rough shape.

Any other thoughts you have would be great!

BrianL99 · July 29, 2017

Try this, if you want "reasonable"

http://www.thomsoncc.com/PUBLIC/WELCOME.ASPX

swampgolfer · July 29, 2017

Thanks Brian - I've seen a lot of your other posts on the forum - they've been helpful in my research.

I'm finding there seems to be two types of courses up this way - Public/Semi Private Tracks with slowplay and poor conditions, or Private fantastic courses that require Upper Class money. I'm a middle class guy about to start a young family looking for a decent course where players go to play. Any more thoughts you have would be great.

BrianL99 · July 29, 2017

Thanks Brian - I've seen a lot of your other posts on the forum - they've been helpful in my research.

I'm finding there seems to be two types of courses up this way - Public/Semi Private Tracks with slowplay and poor conditions, or Private fantastic courses that require Upper Class money. I'm a middle class guy about to start a young family looking for a decent course where players go to play. Any more thoughts you have would be great.

I've never played Thompson CC, but I know it's a great deal.

I'm looking for a new place to play for a couple of months, so I might go play Thompson and see what it's like.

If you want to try it out sometime soon, shoot me a PM.

crcraig · July 29, 2017

I've never played Thomson either, but from Google Earth it looks like "condo canyon" on many holes. Very unusual for a New England course.

Chris_NH · July 29, 2017

Hi Everyone,

First time long time. I'm in a position for the first time of being able to join a club here on the north shore. I'm able to join at the associate or young professional level and most of the yearly dues are attainable with my financial situation. However, adding in the initiation fee that many in the area charge - makes things out of reach.

Do any members in the area have any light they can shed on the state of things at some of the clubs? I've met with Ferncroft and Kernwood and know that I can't attain a membership at something like a Salem CC, Tedesco, or that Fox hunting place.

Ideally I'd like to be around $3500 in dues with a max initiation of $5000. Am I way out of line thinking that? It seems as though things are very high end, or very simple, low priced, nine hole courses. Are there others I might be missing?

Any thoughts or education on the matter would be great. I live in Swampscott.

-Swampgolfer

I just moved from Marblehead, where I lived for three years. I moved there because of the commute to Boston, we love the water and myriad other reasons. I assumed that I would find someplace to play nearby and be fairly happy. I was wrong.

IMO, there are very nice private clubs if you can afford them (they are not cheap, as you are finding out) and there are unacceptably (to me) poor public courses. I would put Meadows and Beverly into that latter category. The only good public course nearby that I know of is Gannon in Lynn, but it is literally impossible to get on there (I did finally manage to get on there one weekday - but if you're looking for a regular weekend game, it is not an option).

My solution was to make the long drive up to the courses that I used to play in my old stomping ground (Breakfast Hill, The Oaks - both in NH), Butter Brook - but those are all 45-60 minutes away.

One other decent option about 1/2 hour away is Black Swan in Georgetown. It's a quirky layout - and has a couple of downright bad holes IMO - but overall I'd rate it good enough to try, and the conditioning is usually very good. That's public. Privates in Haverhill are an option, but that's further away (Renaissance is REALLY nice, Haverhill Country Club is very nice and a genuine bargain). You might want to check those out if that drive isn't too far for you.

Good luck.

Chris

eacsgolferdad · July 29, 2017

Thompson CC has a huge condo development around it. They can come into play on several holes if you don't hit it straight. The course used to be in very good condition and it's a very walkable course. It's been a number of years since I last played it so I can't speak to the current conditions. If it's in good condition you won't find another deal like that on the north shore. After looking at the website and the membership rates with no initiation fee, I might check them out myself.

c0delift · August 17, 2017

Also younger and looking for a club on the North Shore. How did you end up liking Ferncroft? I was thinking of checking it out. Also at that price, I am going to give Thomson a look as well, that is a really solid price.

teamxtremekid87 · August 17, 2017

Thompson is having an open day for non-members on Monday August 21st. $60 for 18 holes a cart and lunch. That's a good enough deal for me to take off work go check it out.

iampotential · August 23, 2017

I've never played Thomson either, but from Google Earth it looks like "condo canyon" on many holes. Very unusual for a New England course.

OB on just about every hole. extremely frusterating course but solid greens(5 years ago)

eacsgolferdad · August 23, 2017

Thompson is having an open day for non-members on Monday August 21st. $60 for 18 holes a cart and lunch. That's a good enough deal for me to take off work go check it out.

Did you play Thompson this week? Curious to hear about the conditions if you played.

teamxtremekid87 · August 23, 2017

Thompson is having an open day for non-members on Monday August 21st. $60 for 18 holes a cart and lunch. That's a good enough deal for me to take off work go check it out.
Did you play Thompson this week? Curious to hear about the conditions if you played.

I did play on Monday. Course is in beautiful shape. Pure greens, beautiful fairways assuming you can hit them (pretty tight, some fairways maybe 15-20 yards wide) A few finicky holes that would take some getting used to. I don't play many nice courses but it was definitely the nicest course I have ever played. Staff was really friendly. Overall I left very impressed. Hoping to get out there again with some members.