Found success

Cuban native Humberto Vainieri has worked all over the world, from Madrid to Moscow, but he and his wife settled on Sarasota a decade ago when they sought a retirement spot.

The Vainieris specifically selected the Founders Club, which, in 2005, was a new luxury homes and golf course development. The $500 million project, including a Robert Trent Jones Jr. signature golf course, was a big deal at the time in Sarasota. On 700 acres east of Interstate 75, the Founders Club was built to compete for members not only with local clubs, but other wealthy enclaves, such as Naples and Palm Beach.

“This was a like a startup,” says Vainieri, the ninth resident of the community and a past president of the club. “We thought it would be a great environment.”

The environment has gone through a topsy-turvy decade, where golf club memberships have fallen nationwide and many have closed or significantly scaled back. The Founders Club golf club lost $1.6 million in 2009 and was in the loss column again in 2010. In 2011, the developers, U.S. Assets Group and Fred Starling, turned the club over to members.

Yet Vainieri and a core group of Founders Club members remained steadfast that the club's mission to provide an intimate and engaging setting — with no cliques — would win out. “We're small enough where you don't have to have a tee time,” says General Manager Hugh O'Donnell.

That confidence has begun to come to fruition. Golf club officials say they've paid back all the debt and are now breaking even. The club also recently received a $2.25 million credit facility. The loan is from 29 members and Naples-based London Bay Homes, which bought the last remaining 86 home lots in the Founders Club in 2010 for $11.25 million.

On the golf side, the Founders Club has doubled the amount of equity golf members since 2011, from 70 to 140. Around half the members are non-residents, a group that includes several CEOs of national companies. Total membership count is about 240, and the club plans to maintain a cap of 275 members. “There are still people who love to play golf,” Founders Club membership chairman Charlie Hamilton says, “and those are people we want to attract.”

The turnaround-in-progress at the Founders Club offers a key business lesson that's sometimes a concept that's easy to say, hard to execute: Keep spending to maintain the quality of the product, even when things look bleak. “The fact that the decision was made not to sacrifice quality in an effort to save money proved crucial,” Hamilton says. “If we had it would have made it nearly impossible to grow membership.”

More challenges lie ahead. Golf is in decline nationwide, and partially because of that competition among clubs is fierce. Says Club President Jim Schell: “Golf clubs are beating each other to death.”

That's why club officials say exposure and marketing is a No. 1 priority. “I think the club sells itself,” says Vainieri, a chemical engineer who held multiple senior executive roles in the oil industry in a 30-year career. “If we can get people through the door to see us, we can sell more memberships.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon