Is This The Future? Bighorn Opens 79,000 Square Foot, $70 Million Clubhouse
The future of Coachella Valley golf may tell us if post-Baby Boomer generations can or will buy second homes, and if they'll do it in a place synonymous with retirement.
We've already seen signs of reinvention in the region, with the golf course no longer valued as a selling point. Making Bighorn's bet on a new clubhouse--all 79,000 square feet--another intriguing form of desert reinvention. Or, is it overkill?
Robb Report's Rebekah Bell paints quite the picture of the gleaming new structure.
Made from Champagne-painted fascia, steel, concrete, glass rails, and limestone floors imported from Peru, the clubhouse is a playful mix of fanciful swoops and curvaceous elements. “The clubhouse is built on curves,” says Carl Cardinalli, president of Bighorn. “There are very few right angles to be found throughout the entire building. Visually, there is a striking acknowledgement that the radial patterning reflects the signature Bighorn sheep’s valiant horns.”
Right!
More pertinent to Coachella Valley concerns, the Desert Sun's Larry Bohannan considers the thinking of Bighorn's R.D. Hubbard and asks if "the beauty of a clubhouse sell memberships to a private country club? Can that same clubhouse somehow assure an extended life span for that club?"
“Since we announced the new clubhouse (at the start of 2016), and we just had a (rendering) and the like, we have sold 56 membership in that time,” Hubbard said. “Absolutely it has paid off. But I anticipate this year, this golf season will be by far the biggest payoff for new members. We’ve got so many prospects who are waiting to see what it is going to be.”
The reaction of members Monday was positive both in terms of the building, estimated at $70 million when construction began, and what it means for the future of Bighorn.
“This was R.D.’s vision, and he put together a great team and pulled it off,” said James Gagan, one of the original investors in the group led by Hubbard that bought Bighorn in 1996. “When people see this clubhouse, what it offers, everyone will want to be a member – if they can afford it.”
Or, if they can afford it and therefore the ability to build their own trophy home, is this really where they will spend that much time compared to the golf course?
Saturday, December 30, 2017 at 10:14 AM
Reader Comments (85)
1. Waste of capital - you don't play golf in the clubhouse - spend it on the course!
2. Debt - a sure way for a club to make it to chap-11 in the future
3. Membership - people don''t join a clubhouse
$600MM cheaper, a better view and no crime. Oh, and they already have a golf course.
Cypress clubhouse boring? I’d say charming to spectacular! Have you spent a night in one of the four rooms upstairs? Had drinks and dinner in the dining room overlooking #16 and the Pacific?
I will also concede that the clubhouse at Cypress Point was a pretty special place.
However, I hate the feeling of always seeming like I'm being watched and judged...take your hat off, don't talk to loudly, don't curse and of course, tuck in your pyjamas!
It’s about being considerate of others...not self absorbed. There was a time when few needed reminding about basic good manners.
I'll play private courses because of their quality, conditioning and speed of play...but as far as I'm concerned, they could set up a trailer in the parking lot and I would be just as happy.
This makes a lot of sense. First you steal $1.5 TRILLION from the middle class and poor and then you spend a tiny fraction of your kickbacks on a nice place to change your shoes, shower and get a three star meal.
What's not to understand?
The ignorance and worst still the arrogance in the belief that simply throwing money at the game will resolve all its woes - alas, just compounds the issues while moving further and further away from The Royal & Ancient Game of Golf.
To quote Star Trek with a little poetic licence ‘Jim this is Golf, but not the way we know it’, seems to apply – but in truth, shame on all those who have decided to convert the great game of golf into this lazy artificial mess devoid of any honour by using all forms of artificial aids both through the use of design (i.e. “traps and bunkers that afforded better lies and easier strokes than the fairway”) and equipment (distance aids).
To all the walking and thinking Golfers out there I wish you a Happy & Prosperous New Year.
But certainly clubs like LA, Riviera, Shinnecock, and more have pretty pricey clubhouses.
LACC just spent a bunch on theirs, didn't they?
There are golf clubs and there are experience clubs. Two modern over the top courses at Bighorn, the club kinda deserves
this type of clubhouse, doesn't it?
I do find it amusing the outrage at people (over)spending their own money on this type of thing.
I agree your treatmrnt at Brentwood was extreme. But that’s not what you implied in your first post, which was an annoyance with traditional clubhouse standards in general.
P Thomas - Their own money is a subjective term. This tax bill just stole $1.5 TRILLION from the country, the middle class and the poor to give as loot to the rich as in the members at bighorn. This reverse Robin Hood theft allows this obnoxious spending to occur without a thought. Shame! Golf is far worse for such actions.
I don't usually get political...but how can allowing someone to keep more of their own money be stealing?
Or how is it being "given" to them?
They earned it. Whether agreeing with the manner it is earned, only when talking government is keeping a %
of your own income/earnings, somehow stealing
So, subjective I guess, but thats how I see it....And I have no problem with your disagreeing fwiw
And fyi Robin Hood stole from the government to give back to people
But, and this to me is the funny part, you can now wear shirts untucked in the clubhouse and formal dining room...go figure!
The attached link is my kind of golf..note the untucked shirt and lack of collar!
https://twitter.com/DJohnsonPGA/status/946854393365835776
Read carefully. REVERSE Robin Hood. The rich taking from the poor and needy. This tax bill is just lowering taxes on the rich, giving crumbs to the rest of us and creating a $1.5 TRILLION deficit. There will be no growth to make this up. There will be no pay raises for workers. American oligarchs will just take and then say Medicare and Social Security are to blame and steal from those pools. I've paid into Medicare and SS with every paycheck for 40 years. How dare these heartless bastards play with my money so Bighorn members can play in their $70 million clubhouse.
"
They earned it" - bullshit. They stole it.
I am not happy that supposed financial conservatives would grow the deficit on top of the stupidity of the previous two presidents regarding the debt.
The hypocrisy from politicians astounds, from Republicans griping about Obama administration deficits (and now adding to it), to Democrats now suddenly being concerned about the deficit.
I don't believe keeping more of one's earnings is "stealing". What percentage of, say a million dollar earners income should be taken by the government in your opinion?
"What percentage of, say a million dollar earners income should be taken by the government in your opinion?"
Worse case they should take the same percentage as lower income families. This bill does not do that. It is vastly more favorable to high income families and corporations who have no mandate to trickle down extra income to workers or hire new ones. Best case higher income families should have a modestly higher rate of taxes.
Hope that helps. Do you really believe loopholes for rich and corporations are fair and their money is "earned"? Do you really believe the rapidly changing proportion of total wealth towards the top 1% is fair, healthy and sustainable without revolt?
Bighorn members can eat their big tall chocolate cake in their $70 clubhouse for a while but as in the French Revolution the guillotine awaits the arrogant oligarchs.