The Growing Importance of Wellness/Fitness for Attracting Members
Today’s gym, wellness and fitness offerings at clubs of all types have never been more important to members and families at all age levels. While golf, tennis, pickleball and swimming activities appeal to more-specific interest groups, wellness/fitness offerings appeal to all user groups and the full range of people who just want to live longer and enjoy life better by staying healthy and fit.
In the private-club world, we have always largely followed the lead of commercial wellness and fitness clubs like Life Time, LA Fitness, etc., for what we offer to members in those areas. But now we have an opportunity to break out of our own limited facilities and make our programs cutting-edge and more friendly to more members. We continually see more expansion opportunities for fitness programs in our clubs, more than for any other club activity.
Clubs in the city and athletic segments have traditionally provided better and larger wellness/fitness facilities than country clubs, as an indoor activity that is better suited for their operations. These urban clubs are supported by larger memberships, which in return can make it possible to provide much better wellness/fitness offerings and facilities. Clubs like the Missouri Athletic Club, University Club of Chicago and many others can provide advanced fitness programs on a larger scale because of their membership size.
Are Fitness-Only Memberships the Answer?
An even more aggressive approach to the expansion of wellness/fitness can be seen in many new gated and non-gated residential communities, like The Grand in Surprise, Ariz. (a Phoenix suburb). This 10,000-home former Del Webb community offers its homeowners 46 different club activities, including extensive wellness/fitness facilities that continue to expand and be improved for The Grand’s active, age-restricted resident base.
But many clubs still can’t seem to provide enough space now for all of the residents and members who want to live healthy and active lives. In the St. Louis market alone, the fitness offerings of Life Time show that private clubs need to continue to keep up with good commercial clubs that are now achieving full memberships with waiting lists to join.
The challenge for the smaller country club with 500 or so members is having enough members to support a major fitness offering that can match what are becoming full-service commercial fitness clubs. A possible solution may be to add wellness/fitness-only memberships, like many clubs now do just for dining, as an option to traditional full country-club memberships.
About Bill McMahon, Sr. AIA, OAA
Bill is a strategic, financial and architectural planning consultant to clubs throughout North America. He established McMahon Group in 1983 as an affiliate of the family architectural firm his grandfather founded in 1906. Over the ensuing years, the firm has expanded its club consulting services beyond clubhouse improvement planning to a full range of services for all aspects of private club challenges. To date, the firm has assisted more than 2,000 private clubs across the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. McMahon Group provides a unique approach to developing club facility projects first establishing design and financial feasibility so membership approval is achieved. Thereafter final design and construction firms are selected to build the member approved project.
Mr. McMahon is unique among club consultants in providing an integrated strategic, financial and architectural approach to solving club problems. His personal involvement with his own clubs in St. Louis (serving in the roles of president, board member and committee member) has allowed him to bring unparalleled experience to each client. Mr. McMahon’s club memberships have included Bellerive Country Club (St. Louis), Racquet Club Ladue (St. Louis), University Club of St. Louis, Spring Lake Yacht Club (Michigan) and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
Mr. McMahon is a graduate of Washington University School of Architecture in St. Louis and holds architecture licenses in 44 U.S. states and in Ontario, Canada. He is a featured author in industry publications and a featured speaker at the annual conferences of the Club Managers Association of America, the Canadian Society of Club Managers, the National Club Association and the Hospitality, Financial and Technology Professionals. He serves as a visiting lecturer at continuing education sessions offered by regional CMAA chapters and at Michigan State University. Bill is a co-author of McMahon Club Trends®, the comprehensive research reports on strategic issues facing private clubs published with the National Club Association. He is also founder of the Excellence in Club Management Award.
Mr. McMahon is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and the National Club Association. He is a former president of the Missouri Council of Architects, AIA and has served on various charitable boards in the St. Louis area.
