The Private Golf Clubs in Sussex County–Rehoboth Beach Country Club
January 15, 1999
A friend from out of town is visiting you. He says, “Hey, what’s the story on Rehoboth Beach Country Club?”
You reply, “Story? What story?”
Your friend says, “Well, I’m not the local golfer, you are. Can we play it? And what’s the story on how to join it?”
At this, you draw a blank. Until now.
Periodically we’ll tell you how you can play the local private clubs, or, if you’re inclined, what it takes to join them. First up: Rehoboth Beach CC.
The club’s been around for decades. The original course is now the Country Club Estates subdivision in Rehoboth Beach. In 1962 the current layout opened for play at its location at the end of Road 273.
Currently the golf course is in the middle of a major renovation project. To keep the course a regular 18-hole layout, while still permitting the complete closure of a hole during reconstruction, they built a great little par 3 as a 19th hole, between the clubhouse and Rehoboth Bay.
The club’s practice facility is large, with a driving range, practice bunkers, and target greens for sand wedge and iron practice. The putting green always has at least six cups in play.
The club’s swimming pool will soon be renovated. For the golf-impaired, the tennis courts also beckon.
If you want to play golf at Rehoboth CC without joining the club, you have two basic options–be a guest of a member, or play in the several charity tournaments that are scheduled there throughout the golf season.
Other private golf clubs extend reciprocity playing privileges based on contacts between your club pro and the pro at the club you want to play. Rehoboth CC doesn’t follow this practice.
Guests unrelated to members pay $40 for greens fees. Golf carts are optional, and are currently $10.
If you want to join Rehoboth CC with unlimited playing privileges, it’s not impossible. It’s just not automatic, either. Right now there’s a waiting list.
If waiting isn’t a problem, you need a sponsor, an unrelated cosponsor, and 5 other members to give you a letter of recommendation. These seven people must have known you for a reasonable time–at least long enough to say that they think it’d be fine if you belonged.
The application form also requires that you give the membership committee a sufficient financial history to show you can meet the carrying costs of your membership.
So what are those costs?
The initiation fee for an unlimited membership is $17,000, but will rise to $22,000 on April 1, 1999.
The annual dues are currently $1900, payable in quarterly installments. You must also purchase $500 of stock in the corporation.
In addition, there is a food and beverage minimum of $360 per year. Most local members easily go right past the minimum, since the facilities are well run and the food and ambiance are very pleasant.
The newly renovated clubhouse cost quite a bit, and the golf course reconstruction isn’t being done for free, either, so the club currently charges two additional monthly assessments totaling $70 per month.
So that’s the story. Other classes of club membership are available.