Wiltwyck combatting decline in participation
Wiltwyck Golf Club is tackling declining golf participation and membership in a number of ways.
Wiltwyck Golf Club is tackling declining golf participation and membership numbers by outsourcing its food operation and offering a wider range of membership options.
JZ Restaurants, which operates the Chateau on state Route 32 in Kingston and the Alexis Diner in Newburgh, has taken over Wiltwyck’s food and beverage operation, according to the club’s board president Stephen Diglio.
Last month, JZ inked a five-year deal, with two more five-year options, to take over the food and beverage operation which includes the club’s food service employees.
The food and beverage operation, once a profit center, has become more of a break-even operation in recent years, Diglio said
For many years, the husband and wife team of Bert and Theresa Barone ran a highly successful food and beverage operation, Diglio said.
But after they retired in the mid 1990s a long decline began, he added.
During the next 20 years, the food and beverage operation operated with varying degrees of success as Diamond Mills and the Lazy Swan began to pick off a significant portion of their catering business, Diglio added.
“It was becoming hard to run a profitable operation,” Diglio said. “Since that time, we’ve decided it’s time to sell out that side of the business and focus on the golf club,” Diglio said
Wiltwyck started looking for a restaurant operator to turn over the food operation in 2015.
That process began with finding a restaurant operator with a good reputation and experience,
Diglio said.
That person turned out to be JZ Restaurants owner John Zacariah, who bought the former Hillside Manor in December of 2014 and opened the Chateau in 2015.
Several members attended events at the Chateau, and they were impressed with the eatery’s offerings, and that laid the foundation for this deal, Diglio said.
After exiting the food and beverage business, Wiltwyck has lowered its dues on several memberships like a single golf membership, which went down from $5,600 to $3,995, Diglio said.
“This will make Wiltwyck more affordable to more golfers in the area,” Diglio noted. “By outsourcing the food and beverage, this enabled us to do all of this.”
That’s led a significant uptick in the number of new membership applications, Diglio added.
But Wiltwyck hasn’t escaped a nationwide decline in golf participation, Diglio said.
“The traditional golfing population is getting older,” Diglio said. “The upcoming generation, the Millenials, are very focused on family activities.
“Children are playing multiple sports.”
This has meant in recent years the average new member now joins in their 40s or early 50s as opposed to their 30s in the past.
This creates a gap, Digilio noted.
Wiltwyck is combating this by taking advantage of its non-golf offerings like an Olympic-sized swimming pool and tennis courts. Diglio said
For the first time last year, Wiltwyck offered a pool-only family membership to families which was valid from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Diglio said.
Diglio said he hopes that some of the families with pool memberships will become interested in Wiltwyck’s 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. course, which opened in 1954.
It replaced Wiltwyck’s original nine-hole 1933 course that occupied land that was taken for the construction of the New York State Thruway.
“He built a premier 18hole golf course in Ulster County and here we are 64 years later,” Diglio said. “We’re still the premier 18-hole golf course, and the only 18-hole private golf course, in the area.”
Over the decades the club has faced many ups in downs, including the departure of IBM in 1995, which drained the area of thousands of good paying jobs, Diglio said.
During the peak years of IBM in the 1970s and 1980s, Wiltwyck had around 300 members and another 200-300 social members with a waiting list, Diglio said.
Today those numbers have plummeted to 125 members and 50-75 social members, Diglio said.
Diglio said he’s watched country club after country club close in recent years all across the country.
“Dutchess Golf Club, founded in the 1800s closed last year,” Diglio said. “In order to stay in existence they have to think in new and imaginative ways,”
Diglio said Wiltwyck’s also tackled the decline by looking downstate to residents from New York City and its surroundings who have weekend homes locally.
Looking ahead to the future Diglio said he’s seen data that shows that the golf population is stabilizing, ending several years of decline.
“This is evidenced by the play were getting from local high school teams,” Diglio said.
Kingston High, John A. Coleman Catholic High and SUNY Ulster’s golf teams play their home matches at Wiltwyck.
“We’ve always done that,” Diglio said.
Wiltwyck actively seeks to grow youth interest in the sport by having members sponsor memberships for young golfers whose families are not members, Diglio said.
Diglio said he’s watched country club after country club close in recent years all over the U.S..
Wiltwyck is also considering converting a portion of the clubhouse’s dining area into a public “destination restaurant” which would attract diners from across Ulster and Dutchess counties.
On a recent afternoon, Diglio showed off a portion of the second floor dining area with commanding views of the course and the Catskill Mountains which would house the restaurant.
Another portion of the dining area, including a large bar, would remain a members-only area accessed by a staircase adjacent to the pro shop, he added.
“People can come here and experience the food, the service and the view,” Diglio said. “Letting the public experience our dining facilities is a great way to expose non-golfers to Wiltwyck.”