Anyone here a current member of Northgate or Raveneaux?
I would be curious to hear some feedback from current members.

Not a member but played Northgate a few months ago with BigHitterDaLama and came away unimpressed. Hadn't played it since the flood wiped out my favorite 9. Course had seen better days when i played it. Could have changed recently

Yes apparently now they offer a 18 hole course and a "fun 5" five hole course due to the floods.

Was a member of NG the last 5 years. Last month I moved my membership to Rav. I couldn't be happier. Nothing was bad at NG, but Rav has better greens, fairways, and a better club set up with a Irish pub being a big plus for me. Email me at kodyellis at live dot com if you want to play Rav. I am playing next weekend for sure

Mr.Bond said:

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Not a member but played Northgate a few months ago with BigHitterDaLama and came away unimpressed. Hadn't played it since the flood wiped out my favorite 9. Course had seen better days when i played it. Could have changed recently

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Yup, other than the Company that day, I wasn't impressed at all. Grew up a member of NG from 86-95. Much of the club/facilities have not been upgraded at all it seems. Front 9, which I loved, is all but gone (Fun 5) and the old back 9 is just not that good.

When Bond and I played that day as well, it seemed flooded by 80 year olds who were very very slow.

I think both of those clubs have seen better days. Use to have friends at both clubs, and played at both fairly regular, but not a single friend has kept his membership owing to various issues.

Is NG and Raveneaux member owned?

I believe Northgate and Walden on lake conroe are owned by the same company

Yes they have both definitely seen better days.
Northgate likely due to the decline of the 1960 "corridor" combined with flooding in previous years.

Raveneaux likely due to a similar effect from an aging Champions Forest neighborhood demographic and I think I remember hearing about some management/money issues a few years back.

I know Raveneaux is working with Beazer to build some active senior living townhomes that will incorporate a membership / fee schedule built in to ownership in order to bring more revenue in and decrease operating costs.
I have heard rumblings they want to build them in the area where the driving range/tennis courts/pool area are currently located.

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Raveneaux likely due to a similar effect from an aging Champions Forest neighborhood demographic and I think I remember hearing about some management/money issues a few years back.

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I can't remember his name but years ago Raveneaux hired a guy to manage them. He was also managing Houston National, back in the days before they built the Sterling course. After the fact, it was determined he was moving money from Raveneaux to HN, during a period of time when HN was in financial difficulties. Then Raveneaux got into some financial difficulties that led to closing the new course and potentially selling land to a developer, which had many members and home owners near the course in an uproar. Threats, lawsuits, and the whole bit. That's when Raveneaux hemorrhaged members.

Not sure who owns the land where the abandoned new course is/was. Nature taking back over now,

EDIT: The gentleman disappeared. It was thought he fled overseas with some $$ from Raveneaux.

Tony Kindred?

thunderkatalyst said:

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Yes they have both definitely seen better days.
Northgate likely due to the decline of the 1960 "corridor" combined with flooding in previous years.

Raveneaux likely due to a similar effect from an aging Champions Forest neighborhood demographic and I think I remember hearing about some management/money issues a few years back.

I know Raveneaux is working with Beazer to build some active senior living townhomes that will incorporate a membership / fee schedule built in to ownership in order to bring more revenue in and decrease operating costs.
I have heard rumblings they want to build them in the area where the driving range/tennis courts/pool area are currently located.

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Yes you are correct. Exactly where the range is now. Going to build a new range behind the current one with 3 practice holes around it

I'm a member at Raveneaux. Would take it all day long and twice on Sunday over Northgate. That said, it was WRECKED after last year's floods. Will happen again at some point. Greens are good. Service is good. Food is so-so, but I didn't join for culinary reasons.

Played NG for the first time a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. Greens were a bit sandy; under maintenance, I'd guess. Otherwise, course was in great shape and I enjoyed the layout. Cost for a YEX membership (full privileges) at NG is $160/month if you're in mid-30s, I believe.

What is the cost at Raveneaux?

If I was in that area, I think I'd shoot for Champions. Admittedly I haven't played Raveneaux of Northgate, but Champions has one of the best locker rooms I've seen in the Houston area, and is one of the best golf clubs in the country.

Champions is as far removed from Raveneaux and NG, as they are from your average muni course.

Both in experience and financial matters.

What does a membership at Champions run?

My son plays junior golf with some kids who are Champions members. Some of the parents were talking and I heard 2 say it was just $25K. Both these parents were members.

They did say they can't let their junior players go there except to play. One of them told me they charge per range ball and the first time he let his kid use the practice facility he had to cut that off once he got the bill.

I didn't get their statements notarized but both parents said it was $25K.

Champions is obviously superior to Rav & NG from a course condition perspective as well as the level of players. However, I'm looking at NG & Rav specifically because I'm not that caliber of player (yet) & I felt those two fit my current wants moreso than Champions.

Does Champions still have a maximum HCP requirement for members? Didn't you have to be around 13 or lower to join at one time?

Charge per ****ing range ball?! What is this 1997 where cell phone companies charge 10 cents a text??

The Burke's apparently have the rights personally to cart fees and range fees. In the discussion these two members didn't expect it to go away.

Mr.Bond said:

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Charge per ****ing range ball?! What is this 1997 where cell phone companies charge 10 cents a text??

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When your club has hosted the Ryder Cup, US Open, Tour Championship and the Women's US Open is on the upcoming schedule you can probably do anything you want to.

Good for them. That's still a ****ing joke. I'd feel very confident in saying Augusta doesn't do that garbage

Are you thinking about joining there? I'm not so I don't care what they do.

Someone suggested the guy look at Champions and I added some information told to me by parents of kids playing junior golf that might have been of interest had he been considering Champions.

I'm guessing the members at Champions have excellent short games.

Mr.Bond said:

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Dude Im not knocking you, I appreciate hearing all the information. Im simply stating that a club who charges 25 thousand dollars just to join, plus obvious monthly dues etc it is extremely ridiculous that they charge a range fee PER ball. I find that absolutely astonishing.

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How do they track your usage?

I was shocked it's as little as $25K. You think that's high?

I'm not saying it's not a lot of money but for the prestige and quality of the golf there I expected much higher.

My point was nothing more than a club with that type resume' can do what it wants. It's not competing with the places most people play, especially not NG or Raveneaux which are located nearby.

Just get you a bunch of club weights to warm up with and you got yourself a damn good bargain out there at only $25k & $0 per range ball because you don't need to hit em

I don't think the YEX membership is $25K. I think it's quite a bit lower than that but there are obviously no voting privileges etc.

It was told to me by a member that the HCP ceiling is there more for a safeguard. They obviously don't want hackers all over the place but if you are say... an 18, a good time during the round, & play at a reasonable pace then money talks.

98Ag99Grad said:

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Does Champions still have a maximum HCP requirement for members? Didn't you have to be around 13 or lower to join at one time?

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It's 14 now.

thunderkatalyst said:

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I don't think the YEX membership is $25K. I think it's quite a bit lower than that but there are obviously no voting privileges etc.

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It's $5,000 but this only goes to age 34.

$25k for anything above that. If this were closer into the city (Like Lakeside), it would probably be closer to $75-100k based on everything I have heard.

I have never heard of charging per range ball, how does that even work? Honor system? I'm so cheap and mentally fragile I would just avoid warming up altogether as that could potentially screw me up in the head...half joking.

Do they allow shag bags on the range?