Does anyone happen to have an idea of top tier (ish) clubs that do not require networking to join? I am pretty happy at my current lower tier club, but have started thinking about how hard it would be to join a better club in terms of the golf experience. I am not particularly cash constrained, but am new to the area and lack contacts.

Mariedoe is a club that seems to make some sense from a golf and proximity perspective. Bent Tree might work pretty well. TPC Craig Ranch fails the proximity test, but I like the course and assume you just show up with a check and you're in since it's Club Corp.

Thanks, in advance, for any input!

I know a few people at Bent Tree! Feel free to PM me

It all depends on what is a higher end club. Brookhollow and Northwood are the top 2 country clubs for golf in Dallas. DCC is also elite, but not necessarily for the golf course. Preston Trail, Dallas National and Trinity Forest are the top golf only clubs. All of these require networking and a wait.

I think that Bent Tree or Maridoe is your best bet for a club with not too much networking needed. I am less familiar with the process at Maridoe so that could be wrong. Bent Tree has not historically had a wait list but may have a short one since the redo. There are plenty of Ags up there so I'm sure you could get in without too much difficulty.

Trinity Forest is not a long wait (unlike Dallas National and PT) but it is pricey. It's a golf only club. The course isn't for everyone but I personally think it's fun. Location is convenient from downtown but not elsewhere. But, you can get in pretty fast if you can stroke the check.

Royal Oaks is easier to get into than the Brookhollow/DCC/Northwood type clubs but I think it is still a little longer/harder than Bent Tree. But, Ags at Royal Oaks who could probably help.

Not sure what you mean by "lower tier" but Stonebriar (or even GlenEagles) is another option depending on where you are now.

Good luck!

My boss was on the board of Preston Trail and his new name for it is Trust Fund Trails. He said if you are under 55 when you apply & unless you went to high school at St Marks, ESD, Greenhill or Highland, and your family's wealthy you will not get in. Said so many trust fund brats have gotten on the list the past few years who have massive personality flaws but they are given a pass because their fathers/grandfathers are successful and people think they will get business because they helped them.

He said the waitlist is a lot of bull crap a lot guys who do not have the money recycling their names over & over so they can play twice a month but the list remains around 80 but said the true list is around 25 - 40 with 5 - 7 getting in per year with a 6 - 8 year wait. Said they have turned down a ton of good guys who are qualified with a great golf pedigree of clubs but they get told to wait until they are over 55 to apply and most say F that I am not joining a club in my late 60s. He said the issue at PT is every few years the list gets out of control the membership gets cocky then a recession hits and they are begging guys to join. He has been a member for a few decades and said it is not what it used to be in terms of membership. He said at this point if he was a member at Brook Hollow, Royal Oaks, NW he would just drop it.

Trinity Forest my understanding is it's pretty open and DN has a 2 - 4 year wait. I would go Dallas National personally cool club and good course.

Northwood is probably the best bet I know quite a few guys and there is a lot of wiggle room and it's a great club. Brook Hollow I am not positive on but there are a few Aggies.

DarthVaderAg01 said:

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My boss was on the board of Preston Trail and his new name for it is Trust Fund Trails. He said if you are under 55 when you apply & unless you went to high school at St Marks, ESD, Greenhill or Highland, and your family's wealthy you will not get in. Said the waitlist is a lot of bull crap a lot guys who do not have the money recycling their names over & over so they can play twice a month but the list remains around 80 but said the true list is around 40. Said they have turned down a ton of good guys who are qualified with a great golf pedigree of clubs but they get told to wait til they are over 55 to apply and most say F that I am not joining a club in my late 60s.

Trinity Forest my understanding is it's pretty open and DN has a 2 - 4 year wait. I would go Dallas National personally cool club and good course.

Northwood is probably the best bet I know quite a few guys and there is a lot of wiggle room and it's a great club. Brook Hollow I am not positive on but there are a few Aggies.

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Northwood is great but right now you are 7 years out from playing golf. All the California transplants have the list really backed up.

DarthVaderAg01 said:

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My boss was on the board of Preston Trail and his new name for it is Trust Fund Trails. He said if you are under 55 when you apply & unless you went to high school at St Marks, ESD, Greenhill or Highland, and your family's wealthy you will not get in. Said the waitlist is a lot of bull crap a lot guys who do not have the money recycling their names over & over so they can play twice a month but the list remains around 80 but said the true list is around 40. Said they have turned down a ton of good guys who are qualified with a great golf pedigree of clubs but they get told to wait til they are over 55 to apply and most say F that I am not joining a club in my late 60s.

Trinity Forest my understanding is it's pretty open and DN has a 2 - 4 year wait. I would go Dallas National personally cool club and good course.

Northwood is probably the best bet I know quite a few guys and there is a lot of wiggle room and it's a great club. Brook Hollow I am not positive on but there are a few Aggies.

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Trinity Forest was open through the pandemic but there is a waitlist now. Kid of depends on who you know.

For a full resident membership, Brook Hollow is 15+ years

DarthVaderAg01 said:

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Northwood is probably the best bet I know quite a few guys and there is a lot of wiggle room and it's a great club. Brook Hollow I am not positive on but there are a few Aggies.

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Northwood would of been a good bet 10 years ago but not now. 10 years ago it was kinda like Bent Tree (high-end club with not a super long wait) but the cats out of the bag now.

Now that it's arguably the best country club in DFW the waitlist is long (tennis and social is best in DFW, golf course is top 5, pool is top 3, fitness center was voted by the PGA as one of the best 12 in the entire United States)

Goody said:

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Northwood is great but right now you are 7 years out from playing golf. All the California transplants have the list really backed up.

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I believe it's closer to 10 now. Alot of the equity clubs are backed up now

They selected Mike Marsh as the Architect for the clubhouse. He's designed BentTree, DCC, Vaquero, BlueJack as well as numerous other great clubs. I anticipate Northwood will be spectacular.

I can attest with your boss the membership at PT is highly fragmented right now in terms of the atmosphere. I have numerous friends who are involved members who have mirrored the sentiment above it's nothing but a bunch of rich brats who get in.

I'm a member at Lochinvar so similar club to PT but what rubbed me the wrong way when I got asked was the max dbag level PT had about their "wait list". Most my buddies said the same that they would drop if they had a full golf membership somewhere else said the place has turned into Dawson creek with a bunch of gossip.

The CEO of a large Dallas airline got in and said no thank you recently due to the bad atmosphere said every time he walked in it was a weird atmosphere. He said he preferred to play at Glen Eagles than PT.

I have quite a few buddies who complain about the guys who are getting passes at PT "XYZ got a pass because their grandfather ran for president and their family is wealthy even though they don't have a job and he is despised at his home club but we will give him a pass because he got sponsored by ZYX whose family slings Japanese automobiles and is a young gun." They all told me the process is a joke now and most are too afraid to speak up because they are also trying to sponsor guys. They all said it's all about who has the most money and if guys think they can get business out of the individual. They all said the club is highly fragmented in terms of membership, culture, and the general atmosphere is fragmented and has turned south. They all complained about the cliques who feel they own the club. You have the golfers, card players, guys who never show up, and guys who just show up for lunch.

I tend to agree with a lot of guys unbiased that NW is the best deal along with bent tree. New reno at BH is awesome. I still love TF though and regret not joining before I moved to Dallas.

Bluejack has a clubhouse? I didn't know they had built one.

Trinity Forest has opened back up from its 3 week summer maintenance closure. Looking pretty good.

Does Trinity Forest sell tee times to the public?

It does not

HoustonToDallas said:

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I
I tend to agree with a lot of guys unbiased that NW is the best deal along with bent tree. New reno at BH is awesome. I still love TF though and regret not joining before I moved to Dallas.

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NW will be close to $200k with the redo. Crazy times we live in when that is the best deal.

Zero chance it's $200k even with a new club house. NW is a great club and IMO a great deal in Dallas but just that a great deal. Was a member at NW for a few years and loved it and dropped about a year ago but let's be honest it's course & membership is not at the level of Brook Hollow even before their renovation BH was still a far superior course or the social standing or membership of DCC. NW is a top tier club in Dallas but $200k for NW absolutely no way. They have kicked some members out recently which I though was great got told some women where showing their private parts by the fire pit. There were certain members who were out of control there was a 40 year old man gambling on games with 15 year olds guy got booted pretty fast.

With a pending long term recession and huge assessment lurking I already hear rumblings of the members at NW say if they get assessed they will drop. Waitlist come and go and if the economy tanks that waitlist can go to zero real fast saw it in 08. Assessing people $25k - $50k for a new club house is huge and not going to lie if I was still a member and got that bill i would probably tell them to shove it as the current clubhouse is fine and they should focus on the conditioning of the course and bringing the course back to US Open caliber.

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With a pending long term recession and huge assessment lurking I already hear rumblings of the members at NW say if they get assessed they will drop. Waitlist come and go and if the economy tanks that waitlist can go to zero real fast saw it in 08. Assessing people $25k - $50k for a new club house is huge and not going to lie if I was still a member and got that bill i would probably tell them to shove it as the current clubhouse is fine and they should focus on the conditioning of the course and bringing the course back to US Open caliber.

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Northwood is going to do major renovations/additions to the existing facility and as of now will not be building a new clubhouse. Was told last week by a Northwood member that the assessment is likely to be $45K.

Hey pal I speak the truth some like it some don't but I don't give a flying Bevo. $45k is a crazy amount for any club to assess the members.

That's a lot of dough

HoustonToDallas said:

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Hey pal I speak the truth some like it some don't but I don't give a flying Bevo. $45k is a crazy amount for any club to assess the members.

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Does NW give back your equity? I thought I recall loosely from this thread you were looking for a club around 2018, and got in as a social at DCC after 3.5 years. Curious as to how you got in and out at NW in like 2 years. I had heard at least DCC and Royal Oaks didn't give back equity. Not sure about NW. I have always wondered that about more expensive clubs. heard of another guy at Gleneagles who was able to get his money out, but he was a member from way back before Club Corp.

Joined as a non res right before I moved zero wait and NW was easier to flip. Once I moved I had to pay the difference between non res and social while I waited for a resident spot which I was told was 3 - 5 years. Honestly I loved NW good vibe and easy to meet people but live in UP 2 minutes from DCC. I lived farther up north I would have kept NW. IMO NW has everything you need. DCC's course is a 2/10 social wise great club but NW is a superior course by far.

Love that you appear to think anyone on here gives a crap what your think. Go back little boy to putt putt golf & games and let the men talk golf. I'll make sure they reserve you the green ball and an extra small putter. Remember to follow the dings in the tin that's how you score.

HoustonToDallas said:

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- Zero chance it's $200k even with a new club house.

- let's be honest it's course & membership is not at the level of Brook Hollow even before their renovation BH was still a far superior course or the social standing or membership of DCC.

-With a pending long term recession and huge assessment lurking I already hear rumblings of the members at NW say if they get assessed they will drop. Waitlist come and go and if the economy tanks that waitlist can go to zero real fast saw it in 08.

-Assessing people $25k - $50k for a new club house is huge

-That's a lot of dough

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Man there's so much wrong with this I don't even know where to being

- It's currently 180k. It's not going from 80k to 200k lets be real

- BH has a better course but an inferior tennis program, inferior fitness center, and worst pool. Their social program isn't as good either, they have higher social standing members but most of those members are rarely if ever at the club or involved in any of the weekly social programs (guys like Ross Perot Jr, Tom Hicks, and Jerry Jones). If anything, them bragging about social standing but then having majority of their big shots never at the club is kind of tacky

- These last 3 points are overblown. 95% of them would rather take the assessment then do was DCC does which is add more members

- Alot of dough ? This is chump change for this type of clientele

So you clearly have zero clue what your are talking about and that's ok I'm here to help and educate the uneducated. Also forwarded your comments to John the GM at NW and a few board members. your brother sounds like a total tool but he should not be discussing club members financials with you. Hugh no no also talk about not having class you and your brother sound like total white thrash god so some class. FYI there will be an investigation into your comments.

- first I was a member at NW for years so I have great insights into the club. I would have kept it but I live closer to DCC. Clearly much better insights than you.

- yes 200k is a huge difference. I know many members who would love to put up their children who moved back to Dallas but they are not paying $200k. An impending recession NW will be hurt along with many other clubs. Yes people are complaining about the assessment.

- in terms of bragging about membership I've never heard one member at any club brag about their membership. This right here shows you have zero class and have never spent anytime at any clubs in Dallas. Your comment below "had a client with a $2mm vacation and another who sold his business for $50mm" this is the trashiest statement I have ever heard I am embarrassed I was even affiliated with NW if you are a member. True gentlemen do not discuss finances and the ones who do are lying about theirs. Let's not forget the infamous John Spano was a member at NW.

There was a NW member who was kicked out who never shut up about how he made $100mm off a cooler company and I used to call BS, believe he was kicked out and just got arrested for the 5th time for DV on yet another gf and lives at home with his parents at 44. That whole group he hung out with was discovered to be frauds.

- NW and DCC are the exact same size with NW being slightly bigger in terms of membership if anything I always felt NW way more crowded.

Please quit speaking out your butt you have zero clue about NW as you are not a member nor have you ever been or will be. Having a "brother" who I even doubt is involved or even a member because if the statements you posted are true I'm embarrassed for your brother and he should resign his membership immediately and quit wearing ed hardy. You have no clue about club dynamics or culture and you are hearing probably from someone who is not involved nor respected within the club.

NW is a fine club and I loved my membership but seriously quit smoking crack.

ocling said:

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TecRecAg said:

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This thread is the biggest collective of pole smokers I've ever seen.

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With NotNewToDallasAnymore being the biggest ******bag wannabe on this site

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Yeah he's either trolling or he's clearly not in the circle