Why is there a Platinum Club of America?
Our nation is one which is intrigued with rankings in every aspect of human life.  Clubs are no exception.  There are annual rankings of America's top golf courses, the best new golf courses, the best club dining, reception spot and many other surveys which rank single feature of clubs. The survey the culminates in The Platinum Clubs of America asks its respondents to consider the multiple aspects of private clubs: Quality of Membership, Tradition and Culture, Amenities, Governance, Quality of Management and Staff.

The choice of who the most information judges was quite simple: the managers who run them day-to-day, and their presidents or owners.  As is well known, club managers are a well-traveled group, network nationwide with their colleagues, and possess an operational insight into the actual management of clubs equaled by no others.  Additionally, club presidents and owners frequently belong to more than one club, visit many others, and make a regular practice of hobnobbing with their counterparts and friends in other clubs.

In early 2009, questionnaires were sent to every club belonging to the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA).  Each club was provided two questionnaires: one for the manager to complete and the other for the club president, developer, or club owner.  Strict controls assured there could be no stuffing of ballet boxes.  Over 6,000 questionnaires were mailed and 1,338 different clubs received at least one nomination of excellence.

What Makes a Club Platinum?
Characteristics of America's most highly admired private clubs.

1. A History of Excellence
Whether this heritage is perpetuated in a formal mission statement or informally passed along within its membership and staff, it is deeply imbued in the fortunate who belong or work there.  The membership and staff alike consider the perpetuation of this history of excellence as a mission.

2. The Quality of Membership
No club can be great without having great members.  This means a membership that represents the best qualities of those communities in which the club exists.   

3. The Condition of its Facilities
A celebrated golf course or magnificent clubhouse by themselves do not make a club great. 

4. The Caliber of its Professional Staff
Without a staff of equally high quality, such a club is missing on its most important cylinders.  The club will be recognized in its community as a good place to work, where the pay, benefits, environment of work, and job security are attested to as excellent year after year.

5. Enlightenment and Consistent Governance
Great clubs are led by presidents, owners, and directors who understand that their roles are strategic and policy setting.  It is the professional staff that carries out the policies and day-to-day operations. 

6. Adaptable to Changing Times
Great clubs work at anticipating their members' - and prospective new members' - needs and interests.  Such clubs have a mission statement that says who they are and a strategic plan that says where they want to be.  Great clubs view this plan not simply as a document to put on the shelf and refer to periodically but as a road map that they are now moving along.

7. Member Devotion to their Club's Distinctive Culture
Great clubs celebrate their heritage and religiously observe their time-honored traditions. There is pride and togetherness in observing traditions and practices handed down through generations of members - oftentimes the older and more non-sensical they seem, the better. 

8. A Spirit of Generosity in its Community
Many of America's premier private clubs were founded around a spirit of giving to its community or the nation. 

9. Prudent Fiscal Management
Great clubs have had the wisdom to plan well and invest well.  Initiation fees go into a capital, not operating fund.  Dues and other costs are set to fund operations, improvements, and depreciation, so that member services and facilities are maintained at an affordable and exceptional level. 

10. Universal Acknowledgement of Greatness
Great clubs are widely known as such by the strata of American society that frequent private clubs and are well traveled.  The future for any great club is what it always has been: The ability to attract and retain the greatest new members it possibly can.

Click HERE to read the recent Platinum Club of America Brochure, listing all of the recognized Clubs.