New name, new approach for Bella Collina Towne and Golf Club
A vineyard and vegetable garden. Free pilates. Movies in an outdoor amphitheatre. A business center with free WiFi and access to video conferencing. Twenty-seven holes of golf. Doesn’t sound much like a typical golf club, does it? That’s exactly what co-owners John Fornaro and Mark Zane hope consumers think when they consider joining their newly conceived Bella Collina Towne and Golf Club, formerly known as Pacific Golf and Country Club. As a recent press release from Bella Collina said, “This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Country Club Anymore.”
“What’s lacking in traditional country clubs is a centralized place where people can meet,” said Fornaro, a veteran of the golf club industry who joined Zane as co-owner at the club in October 2008. “In Europe you have the central places where people of all ages and backgrounds come together to meet. That’s what we’re striving for—to become a town within a town.”
To accomplish the transformation, the owners have brought in a slew of experts in everything from landscaping to sustainability and water conservation to marketing to dining. Their goal is a complete transformation into a club that is equally inviting to all comers and all-encompassing to members. Since last summer, when the property was taken over by Zane from the former ownership group that failed to win citywide support for the development of homes on part of the private open space property, the clubhouse has undergone a major renovation. The golf course itself has been improved and the new team has undertaken the task of casting a new kind of country club.
“If it’s just about golf and steak, it’s not enough,” said Fornaro. “We surveyed our members and in some cases literally looked at their checkbooks to see what they were spending their money on outside of golf. What we found, among other things, is that they’re looking for a safe environment for their kids, so we’re offering free karate and tae kwon do as part of the membership. We also found that a lot of our members were doing health clubs outside of their golf membership, so we’re building new exercise rooms and offering free mat pilates and putting in bocce ball courts. It’s a new club culture.”
So far so good. The new approach has won over the support of such members as former California State Senator Dan O’Keefe, who has lived in San Clemente for 11 years and been a member for several years. “It’s more than just a name change,” said O’Keefe, who represented the Silicon Valley area from 1978-1982. “A theme has developed—something that reflects a great deal of thought. They’ve worked very hard in putting competent people in positions of importance.”
Rachel Carter, the club’s new director of membership development, recently came on board from La Jolla Country Club. She reports that 72 new members have joined the club in the last 90 days—a sizeable number when one considers the total membership stands at 325. The goal is 500, according to Tom McGilligan, president of the club’s board of directors.
New member Susan Garred said her family signed up just last week because of all the changes. “We were looking at two other clubs before we decided to check this out,” said Garred, whose husband Mark and 12-year-old son Ryan also are regular golfers. “We’d been to some of the other clubs, but this was the first time two members came up and approached us about joining, and made us feel immediately comfortable.”
Garred said that Bella Collina’s new approach to a full range of activities was a big selling point. “It has something for all of us,” she said. “This club has everything, even for my daughter who doesn’t play golf: the gym, the fitness classes, the movies in the amphitheater.”
The price to join the club is $395 per month per family—which covers all amenities and services. There are other rates and services available as well.
Garred said her family also enjoyed the diversity that three different 9-hole courses affords. Bella Collina has three Gary Player-designed courses, all named after Player’s greatest British Open triumphs—Muirfield, Carnoustie and Royal Lytham. While the course is known as being hilly and challenging, Fornaro said efforts are being made to make the course more playable while maintaining its unique layout.
“This course will have the [same] kind of lighthouse effect as Pebble Beach,” said O’Keefe. “It will attract major tournaments and be a model for other golf clubs. I see nothing but growth.”
Bella Collina Towne & Golf Club, 200 Avenida La Pata, 949.498.6604, www.bellacollinagolf.com. When posting comments please be courteous. No bad language, vulgarity or racial slurs.
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Posted by Yvonne Polini
June 16, 2009, 2:12 pm
Wow this sounds amazing,if I did,nt live in Canada I would definitly join,Good job John
Vol. 4, Issue 24, June 11-17, 2009
Add A Comment
Wow this sounds amazing,if I did,nt live in Canada I would
definitly join,Good job John