Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club ends fiscal year on a positive membership note

By Karen Billing

Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club Manager Al Castro said with the end of the fiscal year last month, the club experienced one of its best years as far as memberships go. The club added 26 new members and only lost 33 members.

“The gap is narrowing,” Castro said, noting the numbers are usually separated by up to 15 memberships. The club now has 504 total members.

Castro said many of the new members are in the fairly new junior executive and former resident categories. Of the 26 new members, eight were junior executives on the payment plan; the 18 other new members paid the full $50,000 enrollment fee.

Castro said rounds of golf are down, a trend that is being seen nationwide with play declining about 12 percent a year. Even though rounds are down the club saw about 32,000 rounds played this year, which Castro said represents a “healthy and active club.”