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Homes Away From Home
Golfweek, Martin Kaufman (February 25,2006)
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Article Excerpt
In the clubhouse at The Rocks, you’ll find smiling, playful caricatures of the member who regularly visit this 22-acre, decidedly upscale community that sits in the shadow of Pinnacle Peak. Steve Rosen, The Rocks’ general manager since the March 2003 groundbreaking, points to some the picture, mentioning many of the members by name. “There’re like our extended family,” he says. Nearby is a wine refrigerator housing columns of members’ bottles, ready to be pulled out when they return to The Rocks, about a half-hour drive from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The members have privileges at eight nearby golf courses, and across North Alma School Parkways they can go horseback riding on Sonoran Desert terrain that used to serve as the set for movies starring John Wayne and Glen Campbell. After sunset, they can take Hummer tours of the desert using nigh-vision glasses to view the abundant wildlife.
None of the members live at The Rocks full time, nor do they own property in the community. They’re members of relatively new, hybrid vacation services commonly referred to as destination clubs or residence clubs. These clubs, which command six-figure initiation fees and five-figure annual dues, offer the affluent another option to owning second homes or staying at upscale hotels. The big selling point: members typically can choose from a menu of vacation destinations that are on everyone’s must-visit list...
The Markers focuses exclusively on one niche: golf.
“We want 325 like-minded golf fanatics, and then we’re done,” says Markers co-founder Mitch Brinton, sitting outside his company’s four-bedroom home at The Rocks. “If a guy says, ‘Well, I want to ski, too,’ we’ll say ‘Ok, go join that other club.’”
Brinton, an entrepreneur who says he has never written a resume, says he hit upon the idea for a golf-focused destination club two years ago while vacationing with his future wife and in-laws in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He launched the business with Ron Wade, a high school friend.
The Markers just completed construction on its fourth property in St. George, in the arid, southwest corner of Utah where the company is based, and expects to double that number is the next couple of months.
Brinton says he initially wants to have one home for every six members, with the longer-term business plan calling for 36 properties, or roughly a 9-to-1 ratio.
When members join the club, they are custom-fit with new Ping equipment. Brinton also talks of tournaments for members and he has scheduled a members excursion to the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in June, hosted by Billy Casper, who is a Markers member.
“We’re focused,” says Brinton, “on how we can create memorable golf experiences.”
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