I didn't come to club governance from a textbook. I came to it from a boardroom, serving as board president and seeing up close what's possible when a board and a management team are genuinely aligned: clear roles, shared decisions, a working relationship strong enough to survive board turnover. That experience is what I value most from my time in that seat, and it's also what made me pay attention to how rarely it happens by accident. Alignment isn't the default state for a club; it's something someone has to build and maintain on purpose. That's the moment I decided I wanted to spend time helping clubs build it, not just for my own club, but for the industry.

What I've seen since confirms it. Private clubs have spent decades treating governance problems the way they treat a leaky roof: call someone in, patch it, move on. A consultant runs an assessment, delivers a binder of recommendations, and leaves before anyone has actually changed how the board and the GM work together day to day. The alignment never sticks, because nobody stayed around to help it stick. Clubs don't need another one-time audit. They need a partner who's still there in six months, still there at the next officer transition, still there when the next hard decision comes up.

That's the gap PCGA Powered By KK&W was built to close, and it's why I'm proud to be one of its advisors. Every principal at PCGA Powered By KK&W has actually sat on both sides of the table, as club management or as a board member, so we're not theorizing about the tension between governance and operations. We've lived it. We work on retainer, not on a per-project basis, because real alignment is a practice, not a deliverable. And we follow a deliberate arc with every club we work with: an honest discovery of where things actually stand, a framework that gives boards and management shared clarity, and then the ongoing support to keep that alignment alive as people and priorities change.

I became a private club advisor because I saw what alignment makes possible and wanted more clubs to have it. I do this work because I believe the private club industry deserves advisors who show up as long-term partners, not one-time fixers. That's the standard I hold myself to with every club PCGA Powered By KK&W serves.

Capital projects should start with identity. Clubs get more from a major investment when leadership first defines who the club is and what experience it should offer. Members judge a project by what it signals about the club’s direction, not just by its construction.

Use two documents to balance spending. The Capital Reserve Study covers required spending to maintain physical assets. The Campus Master Plan covers aspirational improvements to the member experience. The Board and General Manager should weigh both together, and each project should be tested against whether it strengthens the club’s distinct identity.

Watch for mismatches. Spending heavily on an amenity that doesn’t fit the club’s stated identity, while other facilities decline, weakens member trust. Neglecting staff spaces sends a similar message to employees.

Clarify roles and communicate well. The Board sets direction and the “why,” while the General Manager/COO handles execution. Large projects over three million dollars may warrant a dedicated professional project manager reporting to the GM/COO. Consistent, tailored communication to the board, staff, vendors, and members prevents assumptions from filling information gaps.

Lead with the why. Members and staff accept a project more readily when it’s framed as an expression of the club’s identity rather than a list of construction milestones.

First Steps

Articulate the club’s identity and use it to screen proposed projects. Review the Capital Reserve Study and Campus Master Plan side by side. Agree on board and GM roles before announcing anything. Frame member communications around purpose.

Private club leaders have shifted too heavily toward strategic planning—master plans, long-range visions—while day-to-day operations often suffer. Strategy can’t succeed when dining, service, communication, or basic facilities are inconsistent.

Operations aren’t separate from strategy. Solid hospitality, service, and culture are the groundwork that makes strategic initiatives possible.

New general managers and COOs are often pressured to launch new plans quickly. A better sequence is to spend time on the floor, listen to staff and members, fix small problems members notice, and stabilize the operation first.

This approach links directly to the four disciplines of high-performing clubs: informed leadership, strategic stewardship, empowered management and team, and a compelling member experience. None of these hold up if the daily experience is weak.

Leaders build trust through presence—walking the clubhouse, learning member names, fixing everyday issues, and supporting line-level staff. Leaders can’t expect standards from others that they don’t demonstrate themselves.

The proposed order is clear: stabilize operations, build relationships and trust, then craft strategy. Run a tight operation, build relationships, earn trust, and everything else will follow.

A private club’s nominating committee has more influence than most people realize, because it selects the candidates who will lead the club.

Choosing the Committee

The chairperson should be respected, methodical, and often a past president or committee chair. Members should be “solid club citizens,” such as former golf committee leaders or past presidents, with three to five members as the ideal size.

Recruiting Candidates

Clubs often struggle to find board candidates because of time demands and unproductive board meetings. Liability concerns are mostly addressed by directors and officers insurance.

Role of Management

General managers and department heads should give the committee input, since they know which members would contribute well. Without that input, single-issue candidates can gain seats through persistent lobbying.

Some presidents worry that the general manager may manipulate the process. The solution is a well-qualified committee chair and members whose integrity is beyond question.

Committees still have a role, but only when managed well and aligned with strategy. Membership, finance, strategic planning, leadership development, and employer-of-choice committees add value. Committees overseeing departments led by experienced professionals add little.

Committee Time Has a Cost

Managers spend significant time on committee work that could go toward running the club. Committee meetings should therefore be the most efficient meetings at the club.

Committees Can Train Future Board Members

Committees can model good meeting habits, etiquette, and collaboration—developing the board leaders of tomorrow.

Structure and Accountability Matter

Each committee needs a defined charter, clear goals, and productive meetings. Members should get mandatory orientation, and committees should be judged on results rather than tradition.

Top clubs keep committees few, gather feedback club-wide through surveys rather than from a small group, give department heads autonomy, and use term limits to bring in fresh perspectives. The conclusion is that committees should be strategic, well-managed, and limited to areas where they add real value.

Boards usually receive education and training, while committees receive little or none. Committees need orientation to understand their focus and level of input.

Goal-Setting

The outgoing board should set annual goals for the incoming board and committees. The board sets goals for the general manager, who sets goals for department heads. Committees should be tasked with goals by the president and general manager rather than setting their own agendas.

Mandatory Orientation

Orientation should be required for all committee members at the start of the committee year. It is a mandatory orientation—if you cannot make it, you cannot sit on the committee. New and returning members should attend together.

Advisory Roles

Committees are advisory tools for the general manager and board. Members with personal agendas or expectations of decision-making power may be a poor fit, and unsupported opinions should not override factual data.

Orientation Content

Sessions should cover the club’s mission, vision, and strategic plans, along with the responsibility matrix, committee charters, the chair’s role, the code of conduct, the member grievance process, and core values. A full tour of the club’s front and back of house is also recommended.

Cross-committee awareness matters too: committees should hear each other’s goals. For example, the Finance Committee should understand the Tennis, House, and Golf Committees’ objectives.

Leadership Transitions

The Nominating Committee shapes how smoothly board leadership changes hands. Clubs should cultivate qualified candidates deliberately—volunteering alone does not make someone a good board member. Some volunteers have personal agendas. The best committees work year-round to teach members how governance functions.

Some clubs have renamed the nominating committee the Leadership Development Committee and use it to define expectations for future leaders. Mandatory board orientation and ongoing education are favored by governance experts. A clear hand-off process is essential, rather than restarting with each new board. Smooth transitions are “essential to the long-term health” of the club.

Confident Authority

Department heads, not committee members, should usually be the authority in their areas. The golf professional leads golf operations and the superintendent leads grounds, while both still seek committee input. Department heads need education and confidence to lead, and should work with committee chairs to guide their committees. GMs and COOs should prepare department heads for committee meetings, where some members may act as experts. The guidance is to seek resources and help, but not to let a committee member outweigh the department head’s expertise.

Alignment Matters Most

A club’s success or struggle usually depends on alignment, not agreement. Most challenges in private clubs are not operational—they are governance and leadership issues that later show up as operational problems.

Good Intentions Aren’t Enough

Boards and committees are full of committed people, but clubs get stuck when roles blur. Boards can drift into management work one decision at a time, which makes it unclear who decides what and where strategy ends and operations begin.

Transitions Expose Gaps

New general managers, board turnover, capital projects, and shifting member expectations often reveal misalignment. Small unclear areas can become serious problems.

Strategy Needs Structure

Clubs usually have ideas but lack a clear split between policy, strategy, and operations. Without that structure, strategy stays aspirational.

Strong Governance Enables Leadership

Clear roles let boards focus on oversight and management focus on execution. Governance should create conditions for operational excellence rather than manage operations directly.

Leadership Development Matters

Clubs often invest in facilities but underinvest in preparing board and leadership talent. Developing future board leaders, defining service expectations, providing orientation and ongoing education, and building leadership pipelines are all essential.

An outside advisor should create clarity, ask better questions, and help people move forward together—not take over or impose solutions.

Why Board Evaluation Matters

Most private clubs assess organizational performance through financial benchmarking, member surveys, and strategic plan check-ins, but far fewer evaluate the board itself. Board self-evaluation asks directors to consider whether the group runs efficient meetings, communicates transparently with members, thinks strategically, respects management boundaries, and takes a club-wide view. Skipping this step can leave a financially sound board dysfunctional, dominated by a few voices, or misaligned with the strategic plan.

What the Industry Recommends

NCA and CMAA’s governance competencies for club managers include board self-evaluation as a core area. Using a structured governance framework with defined director roles and expected behaviors gives evaluations a fair, performance-based standard.

A Best-In-Class Approach

Six practices for clubs introducing or strengthening evaluations: establish role clarity through written charters and a roles matrix; anonymize and aggregate results; turn findings into concrete action; benchmark results against peer organizations; repeat the process annually; and report a summary of governance priorities to members.

The Role of the General Manager/COO

The GM/COO typically supports the process by helping select or administer the instrument, providing operational context, and receiving a summary of results. Their involvement should not extend to influencing how directors are scored.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Evaluations lose value when they are treated as a compliance task filed without discussion, when the facilitated follow-up conversation is skipped, when individual grievances take over, or when the board has no written standards to measure itself against. The goal is continuous improvement rather than fault-finding.

Private club boards can shorten their monthly meetings to about 90 minutes by applying the principle to “begin with the end in mind.” Productive meetings depend on preparation in three areas.

Committee Chairs Prepare Thoroughly

Each chair should run committee meetings from a published, followed agenda, with the general manager’s support. Items needing full-board action should be written up as action plans that explain the reasoning and estimate costs. Committee minutes should be attached to the chair’s report. The real work of the club happens at the committee and staff levels, so action items should be thoroughly vetted before they reach the board.

The President Keeps the Board Focused

The president keeps board discussion on the agenda. The board’s role is to review committee work and act on action plans, not to redo the committees’ work. Without an executive committee, the president should require written minutes and action plans from every chair, and only chairs who comply should be recognized to report.

The General Manager Drives Regular Committee Work

The general manager helps committees meet on a regular schedule, set agendas, notify members, and record minutes. The GM and chair should encourage full committee discussion so the board accepts recommendations rather than re-debating every detail.

Conclusion

Committee minutes and action plans are the foundation of board decisions. When committees do their work well, the board can finish in about 90 minutes.

The Board’s Role

High-performing private club boards drive progress through alignment, strategic focus, and accountability to the club’s mission. Good governance is an ongoing process that depends on clear vision, defined roles, transparent communication, strong leadership, and trust.

Strong board members focus on strategic governance rather than day-to-day management. They come prepared, ask thoughtful questions, act as ambassadors for the club’s culture, and trust professional staff to carry out initiatives.

Six Ways Volunteer Leaders Add Value

Drive membership culture: Model civility and professionalism, and route member complaints to management rather than taking sides.

Support capital planning and funding: Explain the reasoning behind projects, and once the board votes, support the decision publicly.

Recruit future board talent: Encourage fair, collaborative, strategic-minded members to serve.

Think through big decisions strategically: Offer big-picture questions and judgment without micromanaging staff.

Provide steady support in times of conflict or change: Seek facts before reacting, encourage management privately, and avoid spreading rumors.

Model accountability: Test decisions against the club’s mission, vision, values, and goals.

Developing Board Members

Deliberate board development includes a Leadership Development Committee to build the pipeline, governance education before members serve, clear role descriptions reviewed annually, board and committee self-evaluations, strategic planning retreats paired with governance training, and ongoing external education.

The Future of Volunteer Leadership

Attracting and retaining volunteers is getting harder as members have less time. Clubs should set service expectations early, starting at new member orientation, so that serving on a committee or board is seen as an honor.

Praxis is the alignment of behaviors with beliefs. The strongest private club boards and general managers practice praxis, and that consistency underlies their success. Clubs with internal problems often show the opposite: their stated beliefs don’t match their actions.

Examples of Misalignment

One example is boards that endorse the general manager/COO model but then direct day-to-day operations themselves—such as a board member who told a bar manager to keep the bar open past closing time, citing his authority as house chairman.

Another example is boards that demand high-quality course maintenance but withhold the equipment and staff the superintendent needs—wanting the best-maintained golf course in the state while rejecting the requested equipment and groundskeepers.

A third example is boards that want first-class service but cut employee training, which is often the first budget item reduced in hard times. Well-run clubs protect a portion of each budget for training.

Conclusion

Clubs whose governance matches their stated values benefit most. Good praxis leads to good governance.

Directors moving from corporate boards to private club or nonprofit boards need a mindset shift.

Success Is Defined Differently

Corporate boards focus on shareholder value. Club and nonprofit boards focus on member and staff satisfaction, mission, and long-term community impact.

Feedback Is Constant and Personal

Members are stakeholders, customers, and owners at once, and they share opinions directly and often.

Roles Can Blur

Clubs often lack the clear line between oversight and management that corporate boards maintain. Effective governance depends on trusting the general manager and focusing on strategy and policy.

Composition Differs

Members elect club directors, which builds cultural alignment but can limit professional diversity. Orientation, outside advisors, and thoughtful nominating help offset this.

Onboarding and Ongoing Education Matter

New directors need clear introductions to the club’s history, finances, governance, and culture, plus continuing education through retreats, webinars, and peer learning.

Clubs are adopting corporate tools, but their return on investment is measured in member engagement, satisfaction, and culture rather than profit.

Myth 1: The Board Should Hold Executive Sessions Without the General Manager

Excluding the GM/COO signals a lack of trust, fuels rumors, and can push capable leaders to look elsewhere. This practice is harmful and unsustainable for any club that wants professional management.

Myth 2: Multiple Candidates Should Compete for Each Open Board Seat

Nominating committees should recommend only as many candidates as there are open seats. Successful businesses use this model, and it helps clubs draw on their best talent instead of electing whoever campaigns most effectively.

Myth 3: Club Amenities Should Turn a Profit

Club budgets are driven from the top down: members decide what they will pay for shared amenities. Food and beverage, pro shop, and pool revenue can be a bonus, but budgets should not depend on them to offset dues. The club exists to provide amenities, not to make money.

Conclusion

Dropping these three beliefs would help boards, general managers/COOs, and members focus on what matters most to the club.

Executive sessions let directors discuss sensitive matters privately, which is useful in some situations. However, excluding the general manager or chief operating officer from these sessions can backfire if it happens often or without a clear purpose.

The Risks of Excluding the GM/COO

Trust: Excluding the GM/COO can breed suspicion and strain communication between the board and management.

Information gaps: The board may decide without the operational context the GM/COO provides.

Authority: Frequent exclusion can signal to staff that the GM/COO’s input isn’t valued, weakening their leadership.

Division: The board may become isolated from operational realities, causing misalignment on priorities.

Groupthink: Without the GM/COO’s perspective, directors may reinforce one another’s views and overlook alternatives.

Accountability: Keeping the GM/COO out of broader discussions can blur expectations and make results harder to measure.

Best Practice

Performance evaluations of the GM/COO are a reasonable exception. Otherwise, use executive sessions sparingly, decide deliberately when one is needed, and be transparent with the GM/COO about why it’s being held.

Successful private club general managers and COOs draw on the business expertise of their board members. Many board members are accomplished professionals who would welcome being asked to share their knowledge to help govern the club well.

Build a Board Member Talent Profile

During new board member orientation, collect a detailed biographical sheet that goes beyond what shareholders saw at election. It should highlight each member’s career achievements and areas of expertise. Board members should approve any draft before it is published, and the general manager should explain that they may later ask for their business input.

Use the Board Retreat to Total Collective Experience

At the annual retreat, a facilitator asks each board member how many years of career experience they have and records the cumulative total. A nine-person board often totals several hundred years. Seeing this “collective wisdom” tends to make club problems feel more manageable and builds confidence in the board’s ability to resolve them.

Make an Office Visit

When a board member is difficult to reach, requesting a meeting at their workplace can resolve issues quickly and build personal trust. An office visit is a powerful way to build the relationship between the general manager and a board member—finding common ground and humanizing the working relationship.

By drawing on board members’ experience and building personal relationships with them, a general manager can be seen as a resourceful leader who uses the expertise already available at the board table.

An annual board retreat is a common trait of high-performing private clubs. Attendance is generally expected of board members who take their volunteer leadership role seriously.

The retreat gives directors time away from the club to review issues strategically, considering both historical context and future direction. Reviewing committee and staff matters during regular monthly meetings often lacks that perspective, especially for decisions affecting the club’s long-term health.

A suggested format is a half-day session, ideally on a Friday or Saturday, scheduled when club activity is slow and directors are available. It should be held off-site—such as at another club’s boardroom, a board member’s office, a hotel, or a winery. Starting around 8 a.m. and ending with lunch lets discussion continue, and a round of golf and dinner can build camaraderie.

The general manager or COO should attend so that operational priorities align with the board’s strategic direction. Regular retreats help boards stay engaged and make sound decisions.

Club managers often report that members are reluctant to volunteer for committees or serve on the board, and that newer members prefer to leave governance to others. Several practices make governance more engaging and effective.

Operate Like a Business

Clubs are encouraged to use data, financial reports, and the strategic plan or capital reserve study to guide decisions. Third-party governance portals, accessible on desktop and mobile, can give board members easy access to governance documents, handling routine administrative work outside the boardroom so meetings can focus on strategy.

Improve Communication

Boards are expected to take a more strategic role in recruiting, onboarding, and retaining staff, working with paid management to become an employer of choice. Communication among the board, management, and the membership should become more frequent and transparent.

Suggested steps include sharing annual master goals for the board, committees, and department heads with members; gathering regular, identified member feedback instead of relying on committees as sounding boards; and replacing the nominating committee with a year-round leadership development committee that cultivates volunteer leaders.

Agree on Communication Early

GMs should settle with new presidents how often they’ll communicate and which channels to use, such as in-person meetings, phone, text, or email. Since presidents differ in preferences and availability, aligning on this from the start matters.

Discuss How Disagreement Will Work

Ask the president directly how they want to be told when the GM disagrees. This simple question is a strong way to build a successful working relationship before a difficult moment arises.

Educate the Board Together

A growing best practice is an educational partnership between the GM/COO and the board. Adding an educational segment to each meeting—using industry reports, trend case studies, or local experts—helps volunteer and paid leaders stay aligned on member needs.

Be the Operational Expert

GMs are expected to know club business and operations well. Bringing in outside knowledge to support recommendations helps the board reach a shared understanding of circumstances.

Clubs with strong governance and success share a well-run board orientation. Board members often say they were not adequately prepared, so a mandatory orientation at the start of each new board term is essential.

Format and Purpose

The orientation should be a one-day event attended by all new and returning board members. Returning members help explain how the board operates and reassure newcomers that the board is meant to be participative. Boards should also anonymously evaluate their own performance, including their connection to the membership, strategic direction, structure, and relationship with the club manager.

Key Orientation Components

Responsibility matrix: A clear outline of who is responsible for what—the foundation of an effective board.

Governance documents: Committee charters, board code of conduct, amended bylaws, grievance procedures, and core values.

Strategic plan: The history of the multi-year plan, prior boards’ focus areas, and goals the outgoing board sets for the incoming board.

Finances: A budget review, an explanation of private club status and tax implications, and a reminder of fiduciary duties.

Membership: The recruitment process, membership trends, pricing philosophy, and board members’ role in recruiting.

Organization and staff: Introductions to department heads, HR initiatives, and time for the board and department heads to build trust.

Club tour: A tour of front and back of house, with department heads presenting their areas.

Goal setting: Connecting self-evaluation results to goals and an action plan for the coming year.

Delivery Tips

Keep the day engaging and informational without getting lost in detail. Breaks, meals, and time for questions and discussion are important, and additional resources can be provided for individual follow-up.

Data-Driven Decisions

Successful clubs base board decisions on data rather than anecdotes, recent member comments, or personal agendas. General managers often use outside sources for this information.

Education and Alignment

General managers and chief executives should educate board members, and volunteer leaders should stay aligned with paid leaders. This helps clubs avoid a new agenda every year.

Strategic Planning

Clubs typically hold an all-day strategic planning session, often off-site and led by a facilitator. The goal is an action plan with tactics, timelines, and assigned owners. A capital reserve study supports capital planning, and discussions should focus on the balance sheet rather than only the profit-and-loss statement.

Shared Ownership of Plans

Members and staff need to understand why a plan was created and what it should achieve. Clubs should communicate the plan so members see it as belonging to the whole club, not just to the president or general manager.

Leadership Continuity

A general manager or chief executive who leads with real authority supports continuity. Clubs should hire professionals, give them clear direction and support, and evaluate their performance. Some clubs have department managers chair committees, with a board member serving as an advisor—the manager sets the agenda, runs the meeting, and writes the minutes, since they know their department’s issues best.

Board Nominations and Human Capital

Clubs increasingly nominate the same number of candidates as open board seats, rather than holding popularity contests. This helps recruit people with the skills needed to advise the general manager. Recruiting, retaining, and developing staff is a major priority—clubs that succeed build a culture of engagement and support, provide training, and aim to be an “employer of choice” in their community.

Board and Committee Orientation

New board and committee members should receive a thorough orientation. This includes meeting each department manager, touring departments, and reviewing the club’s physical assets. Since clubs often rotate about a third of their board each year, orientation matters.