Scottsdale Developer To Members Who Play Too Much: Resign!
/GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons has created quite the stir in the Scottsdale area with his email letter to members laying out his plans for Scottsdale National, which he purchased this year as the Golf Club of Scottsdale for just $600,000.
The letter kicks off like any other developer message to the members, laying out plans for a redesign of some widely reviled Jay Morrish-designed closing holes along with the addition of other new amenities, including a new clubhouse with underground parking.
It's all quite normal until the final third or so of the letter, where Parsons begins to go after the "members who use the club the most" and who "support the club the least." He then writes: "In fact, many members who are at the club each and every day spend nothing and do not support the club at all. This will not continue."
Hold on to your hats!
Parsons lays out how he will be charging members a $100 "service fee" for every day they use the course. Members will only be able to play 30 times a year without bringing out a guest at the golf-wonders-why-its-doomed rate of $200. He then goes on to offer a 100% on the dollar buyout of members paid, calling it a "resignation opportunity."
After this, Parsons lays out how he intends to start inviting and signing up "national" members who "will largely reside out-of-state and when they come to the club they will bring guests."
But, "I will be very selective with regard to who I invite to be members."
So for those of you out there who think benevolent dictatorships are the way to go, here's a little light Monday reading for you!