Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide: Member Experience, Finance & Culture

Jeff Schmidt
Oct 13, 2025
4 min read

Private clubs are complex ecosystems where success depends on balancing tradition with innovation, managing fiscal sustainability, and delivering a consistent member experience. This Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide helps boards and owners hire General Managers, COOs, and department heads who deliver operational excellence while elevating culture and community.

Read the full Country Club Leadership Guide → https://recruiting.jdisearch.com/hiring-guides/country-club-hiring-guide

Explore all executive hiring guides (hub) → https://recruiting.jdisearch.com/hiring-guides

Why this Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide exists

Country clubs today face dual pressures: member expectations rising post-COVID, and boards demanding tighter fiscal control.

Where a GM once only needed charm and event presence, modern club leaders now need:

Financial literacy equal to a small business CFO
Hospitality instinct matching top-tier resort executives
Cultural maturity to manage multi-generational memberships
Board diplomacy that blends accountability with transparency

This guide translates decades of recruiting experience into a structured playbook for evaluating leadership talent — whether you’re hiring a General Manager, Membership Director, or Food & Beverage leader.

Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide: What great looks like

Exceptional club executives exhibit balanced strength across five disciplines:

Discipline	Observable Strengths
Governance & Board Relations	Transparent, proactive communicator. Provides concise financial dashboards. Avoids surprises.
Financial Stewardship	Understands dues dependency, capital reserves, and F&B cost structures. Manages vendor RFPs with discipline.
Membership Growth & Retention	Analyzes joining trends, engagement data, and retention patterns. Builds programs that align with evolving member demographics.
Culture & Team Leadership	Builds departments that collaborate. Coaches department heads to deliver consistently. Eliminates toxic silos.
Operational Execution	Implements SOPs across F&B, golf, fitness, and events. Cross-trains staff to protect quality during seasonal flux.

The best candidates bring a club-level EQ: they understand that “no” to a member isn’t always failure — it’s how you say it that maintains trust.

Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide: The evaluation scorecard

Use a 1–5 rubric with behavioral anchors:

Governance & Board Relations
- 1: Reactive, waits for board instruction
- 3: Provides reports, minimal context
- 5: Frames decisions with forward-looking analysis and transparency
Financial Management
- 1: Delegates entirely to controller
- 3: Tracks budgets monthly, limited forecasting
- 5: Builds rolling forecasts, controls F&B cost variance, manages reserves
Membership Growth & Engagement
- 1: Relies on tradition
- 3: Executes marketing without analysis
- 5: Designs retention programs using behavioral data and member surveys
Team Leadership & Culture
- 1: Micromanages or tolerates silos
- 3: Coaches but inconsistent follow-up
- 5: Creates accountable, empowered department heads
Member Experience Delivery
- 1: Event-driven focus, no metrics
- 3: Tracks survey scores reactively
- 5: Correlates satisfaction scores with retention and F&B spend

The interview structure that reveals true fit

Step 1: Financial literacy discussion (30 min)Provide a sample P&L with dues, capital, and F&B mix.Ask: “How would you stabilize dues increases while improving cash reserves?”

Step 2: Board dynamics simulation (30 min)Pose a governance dilemma: “A board member wants to override staff on a purchasing decision.”→ Evaluate diplomacy, accountability, and political tact.

Step 3: Member experience case (45 min)“Event attendance dropped 20% year over year; complaints rising.”→ Observe data literacy and cross-department collaboration.

Step 4: Leadership calibration (30 min)Ask for an example of staff retention improvement — probe for systems, not slogans.

Step 5: References (15 min each)Ask:

“What was their hardest board meeting, and how did they handle it?”
“Describe how they rebuilt morale after turnover or conflict.”

Red flags

“Our members just don’t like change.” (Defensive mindset)
“I’m hands-off; my team runs things.” (Detached leadership)
“The board doesn’t understand operations.” (Poor alignment)
“We can’t find good staff anymore.” (Recruiting inertia)
“We’re just like a hotel.” (Underestimates member ownership psychology)

Compensation insights

General Manager / COO: $150K–$300K base, depending on market and club size
Membership Director: $70K–$120K + incentive
Director of F&B: $100K–$150K + performance bonus
Controller / CFO: $110K–$180K

Most clubs now tie bonuses to:

Member retention rate
F&B cost variance
Staff retention & engagement
Capital project execution

90-day plan for incoming club executives

Days 1–30:

Conduct member listening tour and board interviews
Audit department budgets and vendor contracts
Identify immediate operational quick wins (menu rotation, event cadence)

Days 31–60:

Publish first financial snapshot with variance commentary
Restructure meetings (department head stand-ups, board preview sessions)
Establish member satisfaction baseline

Days 61–90:

Present strategic plan draft to board: engagement, retention, and financial goals
Begin one cross-department initiative to demonstrate culture change

FAQ: Country Club Leadership Hiring Guide

How is hiring for country clubs different from hotels? Clubs are member-owned and emotion-driven. Financial performance matters, but decisions often hinge on community trust, not brand standards.

Which metrics should drive a GM’s bonus? Member retention, capital reserve ratio, F&B cost control, and staff engagement are more reliable than event revenue alone.

What’s the #1 predictor of failure in a club GM hire? Lack of board alignment. Even talented operators fail if they underestimate politics and governance.

How can a new club leader win early? By communicating transparently, honoring legacy traditions, and delivering one visible operational win in the first 60 days.

When should a board use a recruiter? When internal politics cloud objectivity or when confidentiality is critical (succession, performance replacement, or merger planning).