What Young Families Really Want from Private Club Membership

Think hard. Do you remember why you joined your club? Was it because your parents were members? Was it a feeling you got when you stepped on campus? Was it the people you met on the tour? Maybe you knew someone who was a member. Maybe it was a business decision as much as personal.

Here’s the catch, the families exploring membership at your club today are going through a very different process than what you went through way back when. And that gap in experience is one of the most common traps boards fall into when they try to understand how to attract younger members to their club.

They're Evaluating the Whole Family Experience

Just like it was years ago, the golfer in the family is often the one who came up with the idea to join a private club. But today, many clubs have learned the key to attracting younger families starts with understanding that the decision rarely belongs to one person. Both partners need to see themselves at the club before a family writes that check.

That means the question a young couple is really asking isn't just "is the golf good?" It's "will we both actually want to spend time here?" For one partner, that might mean a tremendous golf course or tennis program. For the other person, it might revolve around memorable dining experiences, or a welcoming environment for the entire family, even the kids.

Clubs that rest on the club attributes that appeal to one member of the family, like the championship golf course, can inadvertently turn off other family members who might have been a perfect fit.

Programming for Kids Is a Big Factor

This one shouldn’t surprise anyone. Clubs have long been places where families can celebrate multiple generations. Yet, not all clubs are “family friendly”, especially those with kids ages 6 to 16. Those parents are making a calculation. They’re trying to figure out if this place will become part of our family's life, or is this a place that’s really built for only one of us who uses it on the weekends?

Junior golf programs, swim teams, tennis clinics, and summer camps are the answer to that question. When kids can participate in activities at the club, where they start making friends, the family's usage goes up and their commitment to membership deepens. As you know, the junior member who grows up at a club has a good chance of becoming an adult member someday. It’s obvious, clubs with strong junior programming tend to retain younger families. Clubs without them often leave once the kids get busy with other activities.

Flexibility Matters More Than You Might Think

Many young families considering private club membership are stretched. Two careers, school schedules, travel sports, and everything else that fills a family's calendar, it all competes with club usage. What younger members want is a club that works with their life, not one that requires them to reorganize around it.

How clubs respond to this is critical. Can they get a tee time with their kids on a Tuesday evening after work? Is the pool open after dinner? Does the dining room welcome families that include two kids under the age of ten? Is there a space to get some work done? These aren't luxury requests, but for a family trying to justify the expenses of a private club, usability is the ROI they're calculating in their heads.

Community, Not Amenities

Clubs like to talk about their amenities and facilities, but those things are not the primary focus for parents with younger families. Of course, your facilities matter, but the reason families stay, and the reason they tell their friends to join, is almost always about the people they've met.

I spoke recently with someone who put it simply: families want a place where the staff is warm and welcoming and makes you feel like you belong. That's true for most of us, but for a young family that's new to club life, it makes all the difference. They're walking into an unfamiliar world, and they're watching to see how their kids are treated. The details that are intrinsic in those little moments builds loyalty in ways that no amenity can replicate. As the saying goes, people don't remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel. The same is true of a club.

What Board Members Can Do With This

Ok, let’s be honest. Most private club boards skew toward senior members — people who have been at the club for decades and love it for reasons that are deeply personal and genuine. The risk is that those reasons don't always compute when it comes to understanding what a 42-year-old parents are looking for when they visit for a tour.

Kris Butterfield Cance, who joined us on the Crushing Club Marketing podcast, has a pointed suggestion for boards: get in the room with younger prospective members during the application process. Spend time with them. Hear what they're excited about, listen to what gives them pause, and what questions they're asking that the club hasn't thought to answer. You can guess what younger families want, but sitting across from them tells you something a survey can't.

Clubs that appeal to younger families aren't doing anything exotic. They're listening, programming intentionally, and making sure the whole family has a reason to walk through the door. The best clubs have always done that, it’s just some of the specifics that have changed.