Private Club Radio Show

A cockroach in a hotel shower is not the opening scene I planned, but it turned into one of the clearest lessons I’ve ever learned about private club leadership. After flying in day-of to emcee the CMAA Golden State Chapter Spring Conference, I’m stressed, underprepared, and trying to keep my head on straight. Then the bathroom turns into enemy territory, and the story becomes the perfect reminder that real hospitality isn’t about looking polished. It’s about how the room feels when real life shows up.

From there, I unpack the simple framework I rely on when I’m hosting a conference, performing at a club, or helping leaders think about member experience and staff culture: intention, surprise, and connection. Intention is the deliberate design behind warmth, welcome, and participation. Surprise is the pattern-breaker that pulls people out of autopilot without needing a huge budget. Connection is the point of it all, because clubs are not just in golf, food, fitness, or events. We’re in the feeling business, and feelings are what members talk about and remember.

You’ll also hear my favorite “magic trick” of the week, and it wasn’t mine. It was a quiet, professional move that tightened the room, protected the energy, and improved the entire experience without drawing attention. If you lead a team, plan events, work with a board, or care about member engagement, this is a practical listen with a story you won’t forget. Subscribe, share this with a club leader who needs it, and leave a review with the quiet move you think matters most.
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Renovations can upgrade a golf course, but they can also wreck trust if you miss the human side. I sit down with my friend Brian Tulk, a former club caddie who worked his way up to General Manager, to talk about what it really takes to deliver major private club improvements while members still expect everything to feel effortless.

We get into the nuts and bolts of golf course renovation planning at a member-owned club: phased projects, a successful assessment vote, bunker work, irrigation uncertainty, and the constant pressure to protect weddings, dining, and day-to-day operations. Brian shares how the first domino drops in the boardroom, why committees can actually help when they are set up well, and how transparent member communication keeps expectations realistic without killing excitement.

Then we shift to one of the most overlooked engines of club culture: the caddie program. Brian explains what makes a great program work, how to earn real member buy-in, and why the Evans Scholars connection turns caddying into a pipeline for opportunity and leadership. We also look ahead at the future of private clubs, from legacy membership programs to robotic mowers and precision turf technology.

If you care about private club management, member experience, golf operations, and building a club culture that lasts, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a club leader, and leave a review with your biggest renovation or caddie-program question.
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Your club can feel lively before a member even pulls into the parking lot, but only if your communication actually sounds like your culture. We’re joined by Hannah White, Membership Experience and Communications Director at Sugar Creek Country Club, to talk about what it takes to create country club marketing and member communications that feel human, fun, and worth paying attention to.

Hannah shares her unexpected career pivot from pre-dental biology to event planning, member relations, and social media, including what it’s like to walk into a role with no training and limited funds. We dig into the “limitations force creativity” mindset, how she learned to price events and build basic P&Ls, and why earning trust lets you later say, “Hear me out,” when you want to level up an experience.

Then we get tactical: what makes a great event recap video, how to plan five must-have shots, why an intro clip matters, and how keeping edits to 60 to 90 seconds boosts watch time. Hannah swears you can do it with just your phone and CapCut, plus a smart archive of old footage for the weeks you need content fast. We also talk hospitality “niceys” like welcome drinks, finding ideas on TikTok, and using ChatGPT for brainstorming without losing your club’s voice.

If you care about member engagement, club culture, and modern private club communications, hit play, then subscribe, share with a club leader, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.
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In this episode of Private Club Radio, Denny Corby welcomes back Joe Smith of Countryside Golf and Country Club for a conversation about creating exclusive member experiences through better communication.
Joe shares how Countryside has turned communication into part of the member experience, not just a way to send updates. From weekly videos and member stories to transparency, consistency, and better internal communication with employees, Joe explains how clubs can build trust, create anticipation, and help members feel more connected to the life of the club.
Denny and Joe also talk about hiring a communications director, handling member feedback, fighting the rumor mill, using video to tell the club’s story, and why the best communication is not just informative, it is engaging.
If your club is still relying on basic newsletters, scattered email blasts, and hoping members “just know” what is happening, this episode will make you rethink what communication can really do for member engagement, culture, and connection.
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The fastest way to make a member loyal isn’t a new simulator or a renovated clubhouse. It’s a moment where we prove we were paying attention. I learned that on stage as a magician through a tool called the “callback” a reference to something earlier that lands because it feels real, shared, and unscripted. 

We translate that idea into private club hospitality and country club member experience, where callbacks look like remembering a drink order, a kid’s tournament, a recent retirement, or even the hole that got away last weekend. We dig into the psychology behind it: people are always scanning for belonging, safety, and whether their presence registers. Then we connect it to the peak end rule from behavioral science, showing why members remember emotional peaks and strong endings far more than perfect consistency. 

From there, we get practical about club operations and leadership. We talk about building continuity across departments so golf, dining, events, and membership feel like one ongoing story, not a reset every time a member changes rooms. We also make the case that scripted warmth fails because members can feel “performance” instantly. The real play is hiring and modelling genuine curiosity, supporting it with simple systems like pre-shift relational notes and shared milestone awareness. If this sparks ideas, subscribe, share with a club leader, and leave a review so more teams can build the kind of culture members feel within 30 seconds.
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