Just a week after announcing the acquisition of Drumm Farm Golf Course, GreatLife Golf & Fitness has announced it will officially take possession of Worthington Country Club in Worthington, Minnesota on Feb. 1. The company signed a letter of intent for its first Minnesota property in November.
The club is located about 60 miles from Sioux Falls, South Dakota — one of the company’s primary regions. All memberships include reciprocal play.
GreatLife will be making updates to the course’s irrigation and sprinkler system, in addition to adding one of its signature fitness centers. The company plans on making $300,000 in improvements to the course, not including the fitness center, by mid-March.
GreatLife runs courses that offer low membership fees, combining gym membership with golf. It has grown quickly during the past few years and now owns or manages over 38 courses throughout Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota and now Minnesota.
It is offering monthly membership fees for as low as $29.99.
The 18-hole course had been struggling financially, Greatlife Golf General Manager Donn Hill said.
“Worthington was in financial trouble a few years ago,” Hill said. “They wanted their course to stay 18 holes but they were struggling to break even. They were able to turn it around to break even recently but it’s still a country club in a small town.”
The country club currently has between 200 and 300 members but Hill is confident that number will increase.
“Reasonably we can expect that we would be able to bring that number up to at least 500 almost right away,” he said.
Hill said the country club’s staff will keep their jobs.
“We view our role as providing services for the country club to improve the course and service not to make changes to their personnel,” Hill said. “We plan on keeping their existing staff in place.”
GreatLife Golf is looking for other opportunities in the area, according to Hill.
“We’ve been paying a lot of attention to the golf markets in our area,” he said. “We are interested in expanding across the country. Worthington was a natural fit for us and the area is really close to South Dakota and Iowa.”