The Woodland Hills Country Club, a 95-year-old private equity golf course that is among the most exclusive in the Valley area, has been sold and is no longer owned by its members. The new owners are longtime club members Ryan Ogulnick and Phil Wilson, who took over earlier this month. Also, a new professional management team has begun work while several staffers have been let go. Some members reported that the country club, even before the coronavirus pandemic, had lost some patronage over the years, and its once-solid financial footing had slipped. One said there was a “tremendous sense of relief” that equity members – each of whom owned a piece of the country club – were no longer responsible for contributing money for physical upgrades and the like. Instead, each equity member received money from the acquisition. Located south of the 101 Freeway and across from Serrania Park at 21150 Dumetz Rd., the country club and 18-hole golf course, which dates back to 1925, features a 28,000 square-foot clubhouse with a main dining room, multiple event spaces, men’s and ladies’ locker rooms and a golf shop. Member Michael D. Cohen told the Business Journal via email, “There is a contractual obligation in the purchase agreement that prohibits the seller from discussing the transaction with the media without the prior approval of the purchaser.” Nevertheless, several other longtime members spoke to the Business Journal with the understanding that their names would not be attributed. One member said the sale price was $15 million and another said that figure is “near accurate.” Under new management Two months prior to the Aug. 1 start date of the new ownership, Ogulnick and Wilson employed the services of Troon, which now oversees the Warner Center-area club’s day-to-day management. Founded in 1990 and based in North Scottsdale, Ariz. with satellite offices in seven other states including California, Troon oversees 470 golf courses internationally. Coming in with the new owners and Troon is General Manager Ron Banaszak, who replaces Jeremy Duda after a decade running the club. Banaszak has 25-plus years of club management experience. Prior to his new gig, Banaszak served as the chief operating officer at The Fountaingrove Club in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he helped lead the 900-member club through a rebuilding process following the October 2017 Tubbs Fire, which destroyed 5,643 structures in Santa Rosa — including Fountaingrove’s clubhouse and maintenance facility. “Ron has a great deal of passion for the member experience and for creating environments where employees can do their best work,” Troon Senior Vice President of Operations Bill O’Brien said in a statement. One longtime member, who is very involved on the board and in various committees, felt bad for any of the employees let go in that first week of August. “It had been on the decline for a while,” said the member, who speculated that one reason the club may have suffered from membership declines is because the venue, unlike some country clubs, doesn’t have tennis courts or a swimming pool. “They had a great chef,” the member continued. “You could bring in guests, never be disappointed with the meals, better prices than restaurants.” “They helped a club that was on a downward trend,” O’Brien said of Ogulnick and Wilson in a conversation with the Business Journal. “They have a much better shot at making it more relevant and sustaining it going forward. We (Troon) try to maximize membership satisfaction and improve the economics for the owner.” With Troon management underway, the owners are exploring different ways to enhance the clubhouse and attract more members. “There some improvements currently under consideration to enhance the clubhouse,” said O’Brien, who anticipates new dining spaces with “an indoor/outdoor ambiance to them,” adding that the new space will accommodate banquets and other social events after the epidemic has passed. The upgrades, according to O’Brien, are not a reaction to the current pandemic. Even before the acquisition, the country club had begun to undergo a revamping. A new fitness facility opened in January. There are also two new simulator hitting bays that focus on player development, a massage room, and a kids club. “Troon’s approach is making sure that members are the best golfers they can be,” O’Brien said. “They tried to do a pool but structurally it didn’t work,” a longtime member said. “Then the coronavirus hit. I think that started to take the club down financially.” Transaction and transition The changes to Woodland Hills Country Club come at a time when the game of golf in California has suffered for years from a combination of a generational diminution of interest in the game and higher water costs because of recent drought years. The country club also has competition from numerous area golf clubs, including El Cabellero and Braemar country clubs in Tarzana; Porter Valley Country Club in Porter Ranch; Thousand Oaks’ North Ranch; Calabasas Country Club, and public courses in Encino, Van Nuys and Westlake Village. “My perception is that it was a club that was struggling to sustain itself,” a member said of Woodland Hills. Equity ownership means that equity club members own a piece of the club while non-equity members enjoy less usage and cannot vote on issues impacting the greater club. According to a report from Sports Club Advisors, which does mergers and acquisitions work for various sports enterprises, the number of equity golf clubs has fallen 20 percent since 1990 to about 2,700 last year in the United States. Equity clubs tend to be for the affluent with members paying initiation fees of up to $100,000 or more and annual dues of $15,000 or more, according to Sports Club Advisors. Equity members of top clubs can sell their memberships for a profit. However, clubs that slip in exclusivity may find that memberships are not easy to sell, and their prices drop. Also, members may have to increasingly come up with money to pay assessments to keep the clubs in shape. According to a member, there were four offers for the Woodland Hills club, with Ogulnick and Wilson delivering the favored proposition. “We did have other offers but none of them would pay the equity members anything,” the member said. “Personally, I’m relieved! I’m glad they got a professional organization,” the member continued, regarding Troon. “Clearly, it was the best thing we could’ve done.” At least one member wondered aloud whether the club had been purchased with the intention of redevelopment into residential. However, another member dispelled that notion, adding that such a costly move would take years of bureaucratic motions and hoops, not to mention that the hillside dynamics of the property would make such a transformation challenging. Any assumptions regarding the new owners’ intentions may spring from the fact that Ogulnick is a commercial real estate developer whose current projects include the 2525 apartments project in the Santa Ana neighborhood of Park Santiago. However, no redevelopment at the Woodland Hills site could happen overnight. “There’s a requirement that (Ogulnick) retain it for a number of years as a golf course as long as it’s making a profit,” an insider said. “If he does sell it, he has to split off millions of dollars more to share the revenue with remaining equity members. “My sense is that it would be very difficult (to redevelop the property),” the member continued. ‘Cool history’ O’Brien, who has worked for Troon since 1998, praised the country club’s “pretty special setting” and “well-conditioned golf course.” “It has a really cool history,” O’Brien continued. “The club’s almost 100 years old. It has a wonderful golf course designed by highly regarded architect William Bell Sr.” While O’Brien did not want to say how many at the club were transitioned out in early August other than the general manager exchange, in his extensive experience, this transition period is — pardon the pun — par for the course. “Employees are getting to know us,” O’Brien said of incoming Troon. “We apply summary findings over the next few months. Within the next few months, we get to understand the culture. It’s certainly not something that happens overnight.” Membership retention is key, O’Brien said, adding that despite the buyout, those in the club before the purchase are still club members, although Troon will create new categories of membership for prior nonequity members that will offer various levels of access to the club’s golf course, restaurant and other amenities. At least some equity members are happy with the fact that they are no longer responsible for chipping in for property upgrades. “I can tell you,” said one member, “that there’s a tremendous sense of relief on one hand because the club has sold, and the equity members have gotten a nice chunk of change. But there is also a fear of the unknown. You don’t know what’s going to happen.”
