For a limited time only, Paul Fireman’s Willowbend Country Club will welcome the public to the tee. Now through May 15, non-members may enjoy the manicured fairways and greens at the exclusive private enclave of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Fidelity Investments mogul Peter Lynch, and other Boston millionaires, Willowbend’s Eileen Stirling told us Wednesday.
“We thought it would be a great way to introduce prospective members to the club, increase exposure, get the word out that we have great amenities and it’s a great place to be,” said Stirling, who works in membership and real estate sales at the Cape Cod club in Mashpee, Mass. “We’re trying something different.”
Willowbend was trolling for new members for reasons other than the financial recession, Stirling claimed. “Paul took the club back over and he has very deep pockets,” she said of Fireman, who made his fortune as chief executive of Reebok and reassumed ownership of the facility on January 1, 2011. “During the off-season, we thought we would try…new ways to get out there and market the club.”
Perhaps, except that Willowbend — like private and public courses nationwide — has hardly been immune to the foundering economy. At the height of its success in 2003, Willowbend claimed 490 members, according to the Boston Globe. During Fireman’s previous tenure, however the club lost money and members. Some 300 golfers pay to belong today, Stirling said.
In the current come-on, a non-member may play 18 holes for $100, which includes a cart. Additionally, a potential recruit has the chance to play the 27-hole circuit for a year for a refundable $3,000 security deposit and no entry fee. A golfer who decides to join may pay the $35,000 initiation fee in two installments, with the second payment due in November 2012, Stirling said.
“In this economy, people are hesitant to put money down upfront,” Stirling acknowledged. She noted that the deal had enticed “quite a few people,” but shared no specific figures.
Fireman — a reputed 6-ish handicapper — bought Willowbend in 1992 at a government auction for $8.5 million, reportedly because the nearby and ultra-exclusive Oyster Harbors Club (Osterville) refused to admit Jewish members. Despite its reputation as a millionaire’s playground, Willowbend has struggled through the sour economy, losing golfers and cutting fees. In 2009, each member paid a $25,000 entry fee — down from $150,000 in 2004, according to vice president David Wood.
After attempting to sell the club for what the Boston Globe said was $33 million, Fireman sold it to the members in 2007. At that time, each equity membership cost $65,000, Wood told us back in December.
Under the original sales agreement, Fireman agreed to be financially responsible for the club for the first four years, after which members could opt to transfer the club back to him if two-thirds of them voted to do so. The continuing weak economy was a primary reason that Fireman and the equity members decided to move the transfer up a year, Wood said.
“The way the economy has been, there was a sense from members and from Paul that it would make more sense for Paul to own the club than the members,” Wood said at the time.
Fireman also owns the Liberty National Golf Club, which he bought for a whopping $130 million. The former toxic waste dump site came under heavy criticism by PGA Tour golfers when they played The Barclays event at the New Jersey course in 2009. Initiation fees at the course with a view of the Statue of Liberty reportedly ranged between $300,000 and $400,000 — the most expensive anywhere, according to the Wall Street Journal.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
Related posts:
