Curation Thesis
A great country club is a closed economy. Its value is not the land or the clubhouse but the waiting list — the queue of families who will pay the initiation fee, year after year, for the privilege of being admitted to a community that selects itself. The best clubs in the world have multi-generational waiting lists, and that waiting list is the asset. We underwrite clubs as recurring-revenue monopolies with extraordinary member stickiness.
The discipline is in reading the membership structure. An equity club sells membership as a real estate interest; a non-equity club sells access. The two have radically different balance sheets and radically different risks. We model initiation fee elasticity, dues escalation, F&B margin, and the capital reserve adequacy for the clubhouse and course — because a club that defers maintenance is a club that is quietly declining, no matter how long its waiting list.
The Advisor
Julian Hartwell
The Club & Estate Director
Two decades managing and advising on private golf, yacht and sporting clubs across Europe and North America. Julian reads a club's financials for the story its membership roll tells — who is joining, who is leaving, and whether the initiation fee is rising or quietly being discounted to fill the pipeline.
Illustrative Case Studies
Underwriting, interrogated.
Illustrative models for education. Not an offer, not a listing, not advice.
Spain
Golf estate residence, Costa del Sol
Asking Price
$22.0M
Cap Rate
4.50%
NOI Estimate
$1.0M
Cash-on-Cash
3.00%
10-Yr Cum. Yield
129.1%
Longevity Score
84/100
Illustrative model — not an offer, not a listing
United Kingdom
Polo estate with stables, Cotswolds
Asking Price
$35.0M
Cap Rate
3.90%
NOI Estimate
$1.4M
Cash-on-Cash
1.50%
10-Yr Cum. Yield
112.4%
Longevity Score
82/100
Illustrative model — not an offer, not a listing
Illustrative model — not an offer, not a listing, not advice. Figures are educational constructs.