Frank Vain
President
Mr. Vain provides consulting and planning services to private clubs throughout North America and Asia. Through use of specialized services including membership surveys, strategic planning, operational analysis and facility long range planning, Frank assists clubs in developing individualized strategies for their unique situations.
Mr. Vain joined McMahon Group in 1988 and has more than forty years of experience in the management and development of hospitality properties including private clubs, athletic clubs, resorts and restaurants. Frank is a Past President of The Country Club of St. Albans, an 800-member, 36-hole country club located in Missouri and he is the former owner of Concord Sports Club, a 1,700-member family athletic club in St. Louis. Frank was elected to the Board of the National Club Association in 2011 and served as Chairman in 2018-19.
Mr. Vain is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is a featured speaker at the annual Club Managers Association of America World Conference, National Club Association National and Regional Conferences, Major Golf Associations and at regional chapter meetings of club managers and leaders.
He has written numerous articles that have been published in Club Management, Club Director andBoardRoom magazines. Frank was named the Gary Player Club Educator of the Year for 2012 and 2015 by BoardRoom magazine. He is the co-author of McMahon’s Club Trends®, a recognized industry benchmark on the trends and issues affecting private clubs.
Posts by Frank Vain
Refresh Before You Reinvest
When McMahon Group was spawned from McMahon Architects some 36 years ago, the initial intention was to provide architectural services for clubs looking to renovate their facilities.
Read MorePlanning That Results in Private Club Excellence
One of the chief promises of club membership is access to a special set of facilities and programs…
Read MoreStrategic Planning: An Essential Element of the Board-Manager Partnership
Boards of directors at private clubs are often criticized for micro-management. Whatever the definition of that may be, they clearly spend a lot of their time on operational issues instead of the types of high-level strategic challenges that constitute “governance”. Club managers are regularly criticized, and often dismissed, because the board feels they are not…
Read MoreThe Best Offense Wins
“The best defense is a good offense” is an old adage you’ll frequently hear during Sunday afternoon football telecasts. The original source for the quote is unknown, but it is more often attributed to George Washington than Bill Belichick. Projecting an aura of strength was one of Washington’s key principles as his ragtag Continental Army…
Read MoreUnity Within the Community
There are clubs and then there are gated community clubs. The similarities between the two are obvious, but they are also starkly different entities. While almost all country and specialty sports clubs draw members from nearby, it is essential that clubs located within gated developments draw support from all residents. First, a club set behind…
Read MoreTrend Six: Planning to be Tech-Savvy
There is an almost insatiable appetite for technology products and services in society. Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google are some of the largest and most powerful companies in the world; yet, their offerings are so popular they have growth rates of much smaller businesses. Once unthinkable concepts like self-driving cars, will soon be called to…
Read MoreTrend Five: Going for the Green Has New Meaning at Clubs
The green movement is sometimes dismissed as a politically-motivated effort to alter our lifestyles and curtail our freedoms; but, the fact is that many of its key elements play well with club members. For example, golfers and boaters appreciate natural beauty. It is synonymous with their pursuits, and their clubs have proven to be quite…
Read MoreTrend Four: Build Community, Sustain Your Club
Clubs are commonly referred to by the dominant activity that takes place there. We call them golf clubs, tennis clubs, a dining club and on and on. While those are, of course, the things members do there, they are not ultimately the primary reason people join and pay a lot of money to belong. There…
Read MoreTrend Three: The Ladies of the Club
Recommending that your club increase membership and participation by women might be as simple as saying, “It’s the right thing to do.” These modern times demand nothing less; but, in case we need more ammunition, here are a few compelling stats for your consideration.
Read MoreTrend Two: Health & Fitness
The road to developing a fitness center at your club is often blocked by strawmen. In reaction to a suggestion that he consider adding fitness to his prestigious club, a club president once told me he opposed it because, “It would lead to people eating in the dining room with their hats on backwards.” He…
Read MoreTrend One: Time & the Re-Invention of Golf
Time. It is precious, of course, and increasingly in short supply. This should be a concern for private clubs, which need people with both the resources to enjoy membership and sufficient leisure time to derive value from the experience. The decline in available leisure time is especially pronounced among the rising 35 to 45-year-olds, where…
Read MorePools: The Gateway Amenity
The amount of money country clubs spend to rebuild or renovate their pools can be staggering these days. Multimillion dollar projects are common with recent reports of a club in the southeast hitting the $10 million mark. While the budgets might be eye-popping, most of the clubs that have completed their improvement programs will tell…
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