SCARSDALE - A young mother and her daughter hopped inside a stately clubhouse at Fenway Golf Club on a hot summer afternoon recently.
The girl was holding inflatable arm bands as they made their way to the renovated swimming pool in the back of the clubhouse.
The scene spoke to the invigorated state of the 95-year-old private club off Old Mamaroneck Road, which stopped accepting new members as of this spring when the club reached its maximum capacity.
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The club's popularity is a result of a concerted effort by its leaders to counter the national trend of declining country-club membership. Its success shines against the backdrop of some golf courses struggling to exist in recent years because of diminishing demand. Some of them have been targeted for housing development.
"The world has changed dramatically, and in order for a country club to survive today, it’s imperative to be family-oriented," said Jeffrey Citron, president of the club's board. "We have to attract families, make the wives want to come, make the children want to come."
For the past two decades, the club has invested millions of dollars to restore its original 1924 course designed by Albert Warren Tillinghast, a prominent golf course architect whose facilities have hosted many professional championships.
But the club's leadership realized that a great golf course alone won't help Fenway thrive into the future. Longtime members are leaving the club because they are moving to Florida, or because they can no longer play golf.
"It’s all about attracting families," said Bruce Frank, the club's board treasurer. "We wanted to create an atmosphere where people come and stay an entire day here."
The effort started from changing dining menus to include more child-friendly items. The club's event themes have shifted to appeal to young families and their children.
And about three years ago, the club took steps to conduct a $3.5 million makeover of its pool area, including an outdoor bar with flat-screen TVs and a kiddy pool. The response has been positive, Frank said.
"The demographics of the club have gotten much younger," he said.
Longtime members are also happy about the club's re-energized, multi-generational atmosphere where grandparents can meet up with their grandchildren, Citron said.
"We’re trying to keep it more of a Ritz Carlton — for lack of a better word — type of atmosphere," he said. "Make it a place where people want to come and hang, have a good time, where kids want to come. And I think we accomplished that."
Follow Akiko Matsuda on Twitter: @AskAkiko; Instagram: @amatsudanyc; and Facebook: @AkikoJournalist.
Editor's note: As precious land opens up at failing golf courses all along the Northeast corridor and beyond, dense housing developments are filling in where there once was rolling fairways and undulating greens. In New York and New Jersey alone, thousands of housing units are sprouting in their place and with it a raft of concerns and problems facing residents, environmentalists and local planning and zoning officials, a special investigation by the USA Today Network reveals. The story is available for subscribers.
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https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/2019/07/24/family-oriented-makeover-scarsdale-fenway-golf-club/1627777001/
2019-07-24 10:01:00Z
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