The destination club model is largely built around the country club model where members pay a refundable membership deposit and annual dues to access a club's golf course and clubhouse. The destination club concept replaces the golf course and clubhouse with luxury vacation homes around the world. The Markers Club focused their club on blending the concepts even further and catered their offering for people who want the golf experience, but at dozens of the world's finest courses.
Founded in April of 2005 by Mitch Brinton, Ron Wade, and PGA Champions Tour Professional Bruce Summerhays, the club offered three different membership plans, all of which provided members complimentary, VIP custom club fittings, new club demos, reduced green fees, VIP private lessons, and PGA event passes.
As a niche club, other clubs within the industry valued at roughly the same price point saw record growth, including Ultimate Escapes, Exclusive Resorts, and Quintess, while The Markers Club enjoyed only moderate success. To expand the travel benefits available to members, The Markers Club and leading equity destination club BelleHavens entered into a home sharing agreement. Markers members now could enjoy select beach and ski destinations within the BelleHavens portfolio while still golfing within The Markers Club collection.
In March of 2009, The Markers Club radically altered their club model, going so far as calling it the "relaunch" of The Markers Club. Now under the leadership of Michael Broussard, the former Vice President of Member Services who had been with the club since inception, The Markers Club made the initial steps to become a publicly owned company, investing in distressed real estate. The club also would no longer charge a membership deposit to join but rather sell year to year memberships.
"We will offer the public a way to invest in the real estate side of our company," said Broussard. "The goal of our public company is to take advantage of current economic conditions and purchase class A residences, hopefully at 30 to 50 cents on the dollar. According to every economic report you read, the opportunity is there now and is getting better for our current purchasing prices. We are excited for what our company is capable of."
Along with the club's new membership structure came a newfound dedication to provide experiences outside the golf world. The club introduced The Markers Tennis Academy and a plan to continue their golf-centric mentality, but to add more non-golf themed properties to the collection. "We are focusing now on the full lifestyle. Golf is still a huge priority for us, but in addition to golf, we are offering tennis academies and will be a full service destination club focusing on the family lifestyle. We are developing multi-site destinations that will cater more towards families so that we can accomodate more people throughout the year."
MEMBERSHIP PLANS
It is only fitting that the golf themed Markers Club maintains the golf focus in their membership plans. The club offers three different membership plans, two structured as one year memberships and a third that provides for a lifetime membership.
Links Membership
The standard membership within The Markers Club, Links members pay an annual membership fee of $25,000. Unlike the majority of other destination clubs, The Markers Club does not require an up front membership deposit and simply charges the $25,000 fee for every year of membership.
Members are allotted 30 nights of annual travel annually and are not bound by any resignation policies, as members are allowed to renew or discontinue their membership after every membership year.
Prior to their "relaunch" in March of 2009, the club had another membership plan called the Links Membership that provided for 28 nights of annual travel, but required a one time membership deposit and annual dues. Please learn more in our Markers Club Expired Memberships section below.
Corporate Membership
Designed for corporations who would like to gift usage to clients and employees, the Corporate Membership allows for extended membership use throughout the one year of membership. Much like the Links Membership, Corporate members receive 30 nights of annual travel to The Markers' property portfolio.
The Markers Club does not charge a membership deposit to join, but rather a yearly membership fee that can be renewed or discontinued after each membership year. To compensate for the additional user benefit, Corporate members pay a $35,000 membership fee for each year they want to remain a member, $10,000 more per year compared to the Links Membership.
Legacy Membership
The newest offering with The Markers Club family of membership plan, the Legacy Membership differs from the other two plans with the club's collection, Links and Corporate, that are in effect one year travel memberships.
The Legacy Membership requires a $500,000 membership fee and provides for a lifetime membership within the club. Members do not have to pay annual dues and enjoy additional benefits including priority reservations and unlimited club use.
Prior to March of 2009, when the club officially "relaunched," The Markers Club functioned much like a more traditional destination club where members paid a refundable membership deposit and annual dues to use their membership.
Below, please feel free to learn more about the membership plans previously offered at the club.
Fairway Membership
The Markers Club offered three different membership plans during this era, but each provided for 56 nights of usage annually. The Fairway Membership was structured like an individual membership where the primary member was required to be in residence whenever the membership was in use.
Fairway Memberships began at $285,000 with accompanying annual dues of $13,500.
As was customary for every membership plan within The Markers Club during this period, members received a new set of Tour quality clubs, complimentary golf for every stay, reduced greens fees, country club access, and VIP private lessons when they joined.
This membership was also marketed as the Individual Membership.
Partner Membership
During this time, The Markers Club offered three different membership plans, each providing for 56 nights of usage annually. The Partner Membership was built to allow up to four friends and/or business partners the ability to share a membership. At least one of the partners or their significant others were required to be in residence whenever the membership was used.
Partners Memberships began at $325,000.
As with every membership plan within The Markers Club during this period, members received a new set of Tour quality clubs, complimentary golf for every stay, reduced greens fees, country club access, and VIP private lessons when they joined.
Corporate Membership
Although the highest priced membership within The Markers Club at the time, the Corporate Membership provided for 56 nights of annual usage, the exact same that both the Fairway and Partner Memberships provided. But unlike the other two club options, Corporate members could allow anyone to travel on their membership, from friends and family to business colleagues and clients.
Corporate Memberships were originally available for $370,000.
Like the other membership plans within The Markers Club during this period, members received a new set of Tour quality clubs, complimentary golf for every stay, reduced greens fees, country club access, and VIP private lessons when they joined.
MEMBERSHIP PRICING
When The Markers Club "relaunched" in 2009, one of the primary focuses was that members would no longer have to pay a membership deposit to join the club and could use that money elsewhere. The primary two memberships, Links and Corporate, both operate as year over year memberships where the member elects to renew or discontinue their membership following each year within the club. Neither of these two membership plans have a membership deposit to join and require only an annual dues payment to continue using the club.
The Markers' newest membership option is the Legacy Membership, while it still does not officially have a membership deposit to join, members pay a $500,000 fee when joining that provides for a lifetime membership within the club. Members do not pay annual dues and in effect, the $500,000 functions much like a prepayment of the annual dues for the lifetime of the membership.
Links Membership
The Individual Membership option within The Markers Club, Links members do not pay a membership deposit to join, but rather pay an annual membership fee of $25,000 for every year they are members of the club.
Corporate Membership
Providing the same amount of annual access as the Links Membership, Corporate members are allowed up to 30 nights of travel every year. Members do not pay a membership deposit to join, but rather a $35,000 annual fee for every year they remain within the club, $10,000 higher than the Links Membership. Designed for corporations who would like to gift usage to clients and employees, the Corporate Membership allows for extended membership use throughout the one year of membership.
Legacy Membership
The Legacy Membership offered at The Markers Club allows members unlimited annual travel for the rest of the lifetime of the membership. While Legacy members do pay a large up front fee of $500,000, this money is not viewed as a membership deposit but more closely resembles a prepayment of the annual dues for the lifetime of the membership.
The Legacy Membership does not have any annual dues and members enjoy additional benefits including priority reservations.
Fairway Membership
Fairway Memberships began at $285,000.
Partner Membership
Corporate Membership
PROPERTIES
When The Markers Club launched in July of 2005, they would provide members a collection of luxury vacation residences in the world's best golf locales, each with easy access to local courses and amenities.
According to The Markers Club launch press release, "The Markers offers members virtually unlimited access to luxury residences in the world’s most celebrated golf destinations, beginning with Pinehurst, North Carolina; Scottsdale, Arizona; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; and St. George, Utah; which are already available to members for use. Ultimately, The Markers will have 36 residences in spectacular locations such as Hilton Head, South Carolina; St. Augustine, Florida; Kauai and Maui, Hawaii; Fajardo, Puerto Rico; and Punta Mita, Mexico; just to name a few."
"Each Markers residence will have an average of four-bedrooms and four-bathrooms and will average 3,500 square feet. Houses will be decorated in the spirit of their locale and will be outfitted with luxurious, five-star amenities including high-end appliances and finishes, plasma TVs, hand-selected furnishings and an SUV for use while in residence in selected locations. Residences will be worth an average of $1.5 million and The Markers will maintain a 9:1 member-to-property ratio to ensure maximum availability for members. Members will be provided with a personal concierge to see to each detail of their golf vacation such as booking the trip, stocking the refrigerator with favorite items and making any additional special arrangements such as tee times and reservations. There will also be a local host at each home to greet members upon arrival."
"Each Markers residence will be situated in a private country club location, when possible, and in close proximity to a multitude of great golf courses, providing members with preferred access such as reduced greens fees and preferential tee times on a course-by-course basis. Members should not expect to leave golf behind when they enter a Markers residence, as homes will be outfitted with top-of-the-line golf amenities. In each home, The Markers will display the latest and most innovative clubs for members to demo while in residence and in select locations, video analysis, course simulators and chipping and putting greens will be provided so that members can work on their game kitchen-side, pool-side or bed-side."
The club currently lists the following destinations:
- Amelia Island, Florida
- Tucson, Arizona
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- St. George, Utah
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Southern Pines, North Carolina
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
- Deer Valley, Utah
- Deer Valley, Utah
- Archerfield, Scotland
- St. Andrews, Scotland
- Bend, Oregon
- Flagstaff, Arizona
- Telluride, Colorado
- Napa Valley, California
- Manhattan, New York
- New Orleans, Louisiana