344: Board Chats: 25 Years of Deferred Maintenance - The Club at Pasadera w/ Chris Laver

Club at Pasadera Chris Layver25 years of deffered maintinace 

Denny Corby: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Welcome back to this episode of board chats here on private club radio brought to you by one of our show partners. Concert golf partners, boutique owner operators of luxury golf and country clubs nationwide. If you your club, a friends club and acquaintances club. Your enemies club. Is looking for. Some recapitalization head on over to concert golf partners.com set up a confidential phone call with Peter cannula. And the rest is history, as you're about to hear today because we have a fascinating episode,

Denny Corby: cause we chat with somebody who has a very unique perspective to a very unique situation at a private club. So today we're talking about the club at Pasadera which is one of concert golf partners. Uh, brand new properties, absolutely gorgeous gray facility. Uh, over outside of San Francisco and Monterey, and we're chatting with a, one of the founding members who, [00:01:00] um, Turned into investor of the club. A very unique situation because Pasadera golf. Uh, face challenges after being sold to a foreign investor group, uh, back in 2008. 

Denny Corby: And, uh, now they're coming up on about almost 25 years of deferred maintenance and, um for lack of a better word, neglect. 

Denny Corby: And in this episode, we're going to chat with Chris Laver. So Chris is going to tell us all about it, but the short story long is Pasadera was opened in 2008. 

Denny Corby: Jack Nichols course, absolutely beautiful property. Uh, in 2008. Hard times for a lot of people, club goes into bankruptcy, gets bought by a foreign group. Who, um, despite talking a big game and saying, they're going to do all this great stuff. Uh, had a slightly different agenda and things did not go as well. 

Denny Corby: And in 2018, uh, Chris, along with 13, Other members [00:02:00] or 13 people total. Sorry. Uh, so him and 12 others. Uh, bought in and bought the club from the investor group to bring it back or at least try to bring it back to, uh, what it was at this 200 18. They have like 120 members. Um, which fast forward to today, they are at almost well over. 

Denny Corby: He said 500 members. And. So despite, um, buying the club and trying to make it work, it just got to a point where, um, unless they want to put in some significant amount of money, because there has been. So much, many, many years of deferred maintenance. Uh, pretty much since its inception it's it's opening, um, they needed to find a way to keep the glove club going, keep it successful. 

Denny Corby: And. You guessed it, this is where concert golf steps in. 

Denny Corby: And that's the 30,000 foot view. We're going to hear from Chris about how concert golf has strong commitment to maintaining the clubs, um, brand [00:03:00] its its identity to make it bigger, better and stronger than it's ever been. 

Denny Corby: So everyone, please welcome to this episode of board chats from the club at Pasadera. Chris Laver.

Denny Corby: So first my, my full name is Chris Laver. Um, some people think of Laver as Rod Laver, the tennis player. Um, I, I, I did play a little tennis in school, did not, uh, reach, uh, Rod Laver's, uh, level of play, 

Denny Corby: mr. Chris, you were here chatting because you have a very unique perspective. You're a very unique way of seeing a very unique situation. Um, so we're here on board chats. You're a member of the club at Pasadena, and you're not only a member, you're.

Denny Corby: You're a member turned investor turned owner of the club turned more into a club professional than you probably like to have been by the end of it all. Um, but so, uh, tell us a little bit [00:04:00] about you and, uh, Pasadera because it's a club that has started in 2000. Right. So started in 2000, um, three investors, um, those three original gentlemen.

Chris Laver: the original, um, development group, uh, started in late 98, early 99, um, building out this beautiful property, um, east of the airport in Monterey, if you know that, uh, highway 68, about 20, 25 minutes from both Carmel and Pebble Beach, obviously iconic area.

Chris Laver: Um, very close to the water and, uh, they built, uh, on about 250 acres, uh, a planned community, gated community, very upscale, around 225 homes and a beautiful Jack Nicklaus signature course that, uh, Jack opened with his son. [00:05:00] The week prior to his final U. S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2000. Um, I was a founding member, my wife and I, my family, and we were lucky enough to walk the course with Jack and Jack Jr that day.

Chris Laver: And it was a, it was a wonderful day, a wonderful experience. So that was kind of the beginning, uh, of the club and it, it was, it took off. It was a, a badly needed, um, property in that area because there was not really. Any true family friendly clubs. The other clubs in the area were a little bit more upscale.

Chris Laver: Monterey Peninsula, Clint Eastwood's Tehama, you know, very good clubs, but not quite totally family friendly. We had a pool, we had, you know, kids play area. We had, it was just a different vibe. 

Denny Corby: Gotcha. And 2008 comes. Yeah, the club was going well. 2008 comes. Oh, yeah, 

Chris Laver: you look a couple things. The developers. Um, and I think [00:06:00] they would, they were sitting here today.

Chris Laver: They probably would admit, admit some of this at least 1 of the challenges with the property is they did not marry. Um, being a member of the club, either social or golf or one of the other categories with the purchase of, uh, a lot a town home or a, a single family residence. So you had kind of a, 

Denny Corby: how many homes are on there now?

Denny Corby: There's 

Chris Laver: about 225 homes. 

Denny Corby: And, and, and PE People don't, don't have to be a member. You don't have to be a member. That's, and 

Chris Laver: today, that's a big number. That continues and that's in the HOA agreement. Um, I'd say we have about give or take 50, 60 percent penetration of the, uh, homeowners on the property are either social or golf or some category, but had they done that in the beginning, I think we [00:07:00] would have, uh, We would have, uh, uh, not gotten such hot water come the financial crisis and other issues, by the way.

Chris Laver: So, um, but we got through it. 

Denny Corby: Yeah. Yeah. And so, so 2008 club unfortunately went bankrupt and sold to a foreign investor. Correct. 

Chris Laver: 2008, nine went bankrupt. 2010, I think the transaction closed with the entity from overseas. And, um, well, it was early on. It was, you know, there was some excitement. There was some, you know, hope that this, because it was a very large entity that, uh, purchased it.

Chris Laver: There was lots of, Grando's plans with Jack to do things overseas and, you know, but within a couple years, it became very obvious that, uh, They had a different, [00:08:00] uh, agenda and the primary goal was not to take care of the membership, not to take care of the property, um, not to, you know, do the things that they needed to do.

Denny Corby: so they have all these grand plans, nothing. Came to fruition with that. Well, everything just kind of fell to 

Chris Laver: the side, you know, membership was starting to see and feel, you know, the, this group was not supporting the club doing the things that they needed to do the capital improvements, the attention to the employees and around, I'd say mid, late 2016, things really started to nosedive and they continued to nosedive.

Denny Corby: Eight years later. Yeah. 

Chris Laver: Um, and it, it, it, it got so bad. My understanding is, is so many members not only started to drop off, but some members actually stopped paying their [00:09:00] monthly dues, but would still show up at the club. Oh, yeah, it was, it was getting bad. 

Denny Corby: Wait, so you had members not paying, still showing up using the amenities and the club still allowed them to do this?

Chris Laver: Well, not sure they quote unquote allowed, it was frowned upon and they tried to obviously get dues back. But it was, it was, it was turning into a fiasco. And on top of that, it was impacting the value of, Of the surrounding homes people, you know, real estate agents and real estate folks in the, in the area, you know, we're not.

Chris Laver: You know, supportive of showing clients, you know, Pasadena because the rumors were so rampant that this place was falling apart. Um, they actually, I think it was either 16 or 17. They literally let the, the, the, the course die. I mean, the course. Literally [00:10:00] died, um, because of not being taken care of. Uh, yeah, it, it, it, it, it, it was a horror story.

Chris Laver: Um, so it got so bad that a couple of, uh, members made a, an outreach to the, uh, foreign entity in early 2018. And there was a couple of attempts at a purchase that did not, uh, did not go well. Um, and my, it's kind of a funny story about a gentleman at Pasadena. His name is Eli. Eli's the bartender, uh, in the grill and he was one of the first employees.

Chris Laver: He's, he's been there since day one, literally damn near 25 years. If you want to know anything about the club. You talk to Eli. Uh, my wife was having lunch one day and [00:11:00] Eli was lamenting, this is the summer of 2018, um, lamenting about how bad things were. Employees were being laid off, members were leaving, uh, management didn't care.

Chris Laver: It was awful. And, and, and he said, yeah, there's been a couple failed attempts to buy the club. So she comes home that night and we're sitting around the dinner table having a glass of wine talking and she's telling me this and she asked me, do you know anything about this? And I said, no, I didn't know anything.

Chris Laver: We were great members. We paid our dues on time, but hardly ever showed up. Um, they, they, they loved us. Um. Couple nights later, I got up in the middle of the night and I'm starting to think, geez, because I'm, I'm kind of at the end of my career on Wall Street. Um, I just kind of think this might, this, this might be a fun adventure.

Chris Laver: This might be something to transition into. Um, 

Denny Corby: [00:12:00] Oh my God, 

Chris Laver: don't get me, don't get me started. Um, so, um, give it some thought. And I, I called, I had, I had like one or two friends there. I really didn't. Socialize a lot with people the club because I wasn't there that much but I called one guy I said who do you know that I could talk to you about what's going on at Pasadena?

Chris Laver: So he referred me to a pal of his longtime Member and a guy that actually at the time was the the club's counsel And I met with this gentleman for about two or three hours in one of the little Private rooms at the club and he gave me the whole story And, uh, told me about the numbers that they had offered because he was involved in the two prior failed attempts to buy the club with two other members and a few other people.

Chris Laver: We went through it all and I'd say about three or four days later, I got on the [00:13:00] phone with those two guys. Two of those guys that were involved in that failed attempt and talked through some things. And about a week later, I, I gave it some more thought and, you know, wrote out a bunch of spreadsheets and numbers and tried to, you know, and this is somebody that doesn't know anything about the private club business.

Chris Laver: Um, and I said, gosh, this, you know, to TJ, this, This might be fun for us. I think I want to do this. So I got together with this lawyer and we went around because I didn't have enough money to do it on my own. Um, and I went around and met a bunch of local folks, um, and we put together a No, I'll call it a small pile of money.

Chris Laver: And we made an offer. And, um, again, this is public [00:14:00] information. Um, we ended up buying, uh, 225 acres, an 18 hole Nicholas, uh, course, I think around 46, 000 square feet of clubhouse, pools, tennis courts, grills, restaurants, gyms. A lodge that had five bedrooms. And I think we paid 3. 2 million. I know people goes, you stole the place.

Chris Laver: There was homes on the property that were going for more than what we paid for the club. Now that was the easy part. 

Denny Corby: I was going to say, I would say it's probably the eight years of like deferred maintenance. Now that's 

Chris Laver: yes, that buying it was the easy part. And I'll never forget. That was in December of 2018.

Chris Laver: No, November, December. We kind of got the first month's [00:15:00] numbers in January of 19 and I was the I was ordained as the Managing member of the operating there was an operating company in the land company I was the operating guy because I had our family had the largest percentage investment So I'm sitting down.

Chris Laver: This is all, this is brand new to me now. I mean, you know, and we had two, uh, very nice, uh, consultants early on to help us kind of get through the transition, help us hire GM, um, care, carefree. What was Tony and I, the name is escaping now, but Tony Dawson and Joe Petrasch, wonderful guys. Um, I looked at the first month's numbers and we had, we had about 190 members.

Chris Laver: We had 27 full golf members. 27. This is at a private [00:16:00] 

Denny Corby: In 2019? 

Chris Laver: January of 2019. 

Denny Corby: We had In your location. 

Chris Laver: E exactly. 

Denny Corby: Your club's beautiful. It's, 

Chris Laver: it, I looked at the, the, the, the, the dues income from that month was like $109,000. It was, it was a disaster. I mean, we knew it was bad, but a lot of the numbers that we were getting from this foreign, the prior owner, the foreign entity, were not trustworthy and not accurate.

Chris Laver: It turned out to be a smidgen worse than what we thought. And, but that, you know, that was kind of expected that we had, you know, um, there was some great other partners. Um, one of the problems, there was too many of us, there was 13, which is way too many people to have in a, in a kitchen, trying to produce a [00:17:00] meal.

Chris Laver: Um, but there were some smart 

Denny Corby: 13. 

Chris Laver: Yeah, 13. But I mean, that's so, so, hold 

Denny Corby: on. Sorry. So, so you're sorry. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. So you have that you just bought the club with 13 other people who are now also members, but owners who got it for a steal, all this deferred maintenance. Oh my goodness.

Denny Corby: In the beginning though, this sounds great. The more this is. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Keep, keep going. This is getting good.

Chris Laver: And it was good. Everyone out of the gate felt really positive. We had great board meetings. I was very involved on a weekly basis, meeting with the consultants and the new GM. And we were making decisions on new projects. New clothes for the waiters and waitresses. And I was just, [00:18:00] you know, we were doing some really, and the membership was seeing some very positive changes.

Chris Laver: Um, so kind of fast forward a little bit. We start wonderful, you know, uh, every Thursday night was a free social night. Um, basically the chef provided food for everybody, you know, that people paid for wine and beer and cocktails. I think about six months into that. We had more people show up for that than what we had in total membership when we first started.

Chris Laver: We'd have, we'd have 250 people show up on Thursday nights and the, and the club and the, and the word started to get out and, uh, we were also taking care of the property much better. The golf course, much better. Things were starting to change. Now. A lot of deferred maintenance was [00:19:00] still needed. I, I don't think back then I even had a smidgen of an idea how much more money it was going to take.

Chris Laver: We did have, you know, some money in the bank and we still had commitments, um, from the other investors, including myself. Um, So things started to just kind of continue to grow. And I'd say, um, sometime around the middle of 2021 ish, we probably had reached 500 members. We, we, we more than doubled the membership group.

Chris Laver: Now, we all know, um, COVID helped golf, helped the golf industry, and that certainly helped us. Um, but we really. made an enormous turn in the, in [00:20:00] the, in the club. Um, the club still needs more full golf members. I think today we're around 130 or 140, but that's well in excess of a hundred more than we had in.

Chris Laver: 19. And it's getting there. Um, and I'm very confident 

Denny Corby: 20 golf members. 

Chris Laver: I know, I know. That's crazy. It really was. Um, so it, it, it, it was, it was, it was a really positive and fun experience for me for at least the first two, two and a half years. So I'll stop there. No, 

Denny Corby: no, that was all. So, Now we're in 2023. Um, you guys just engaged with concert golf.

Denny Corby: When did that start and what was that process like? 

Chris Laver: Well, I'll answer that, but I'll take one step back in mid late 2021. We had really come to the [00:21:00] conclusion that. The ownership group, myself, others were not suited to manage the club on a day to day basis. So we brought in Troon to help us. And, uh, to me, Troon did a wonderful job.

Chris Laver: The gentleman that was our representative from Troon, Mr. Bill O'Brien, outstanding guy, wonderful relationship. He brought in a great new GM. Um, Will Pickering, who was just a phenomenal leader of people. And the club continued to, to do better, but now it was doing better financially. It wasn't just growing, uh, revenue.

Chris Laver: I mean, we were growing revenue, but we were still losing a lot of money and things just were not being managed correctly, um, until Trune got involved. You know, Troon is, is, [00:22:00] it's a wonderful company. They do a great job. What, what, what does Troon not do? And Troon, um, is, is, is not a buyer of golf courses or an, a big investor.

Chris Laver: They, they made a small investment in us because they had confidence. But, that's, the capital needs. that were required, um, were not something that they wanted to do. And as it turns out, it was not something that the ownership was prepared to do. That and the ownership group started to get a little bit dysfunctional.

Chris Laver: It's, uh, with certain folks, and it just became more and more challenging. And it was obvious to everybody that, We needed to move on and put the club in better hands. So in late, I'd say the fourth quarter of 2023, we, we came to the conclusion, I think, and we voted on it and it was a hundred percent. Um, we [00:23:00] need to put the, the, the club for sale.

Chris Laver: Yeah. It was one of the, one of the few things that the ownership group agreed to a hundred percent, um, by the way, um, but we needed to, um, We needed to put the club in better and stronger hands, so. 

Denny Corby: Now with, with this happening, did you, did you lose any members? Like what, what was the membership? Cause that, you know, so, you know, we're talking to you, the ownership, what was, what's, what's the membership been like through all of this?

Denny Corby: Well, 

Chris Laver: it's interesting. It's a good question. I mean, the ownership, no, the, the membership, The thing that the membership, it's like all private clubs, as I've gotten to learn over the years, you know, because there were so many, um, most of the ownership were members of the club, kind of word got out about, you Some of the dysfunctionality and some of the relationship problems between the ownership group, you know, the lack of [00:24:00] there, there was actually, there was a membership group that made an investment in the club.

Chris Laver: So there was like not only. Where there's 13 of us, I think there was like, there was an LLC that was formed that 20 or 30 other members invested in. And so you, you had, everybody knew the problems. There was no secret to this club. Um, you couldn't keep one that, you know, save your life. Um, so everybody knew that, that this thing needed to get done.

Chris Laver: Stronger, better, better governance, um, um, hands and it needed to happen. It needed to happen quickly too. So yeah, 

Denny Corby: that's, that's where we were. So how, how fast, so speaking of fast, how quickly did, did it happen? This whole, this whole deal. Well, 

Chris Laver: I was thinking about [00:25:00] how I was going to. tell you about Concert and Peter and myself.

Chris Laver: Peter and I started talking probably a year or two after the purchase. So I'm going to say sometime in probably 2020, Peter reached out to me. Uh, we met in San Francisco, had a great lunch at one of my favorite spots. My office is in San Francisco, my day job. And we hit it off. I mean, I, I just. Peter and I hit it off is the best way to say it.

Chris Laver: And, and then Peter would just, you know, every couple of months I'd get an email or, you know, a phone call or you check in with me and, and I, you know, I'd share some of my war stories with him and he goes, I know I've heard this story before, you know, let me know if I can, you know, do anything. And I said, don't worry, I will.

Chris Laver: Um, so come 2023, when the decision was made. [00:26:00] There was a small committee, I was on it. It was formed to find, um, find a buyer. And I knew right away who I wanted, uh, wanted to have come down and meet the other owners and talk about their philosophy. And that was Peter and Concert. The problem was, I was, I was looked at as somewhat controversial.

Chris Laver: I was, um, there was, there was. Couple different factions in the ownership group. Uh, two or three other good owners, uh, kind of liked my, my philosophy, my approach, some of the others didn't. So if I ever said, I think this is a good idea. I get a lot of backlash, but that's the nature of, of a, of a dysfunctional group, of, of adults that, you know, are, have, [00:27:00] have, are trying to do, basically get to the same place but don't know how to get there.

Chris Laver: Um, long and short of it is, and to Peter's and his team's credit, Peter knew the challenges that I was dealing with. But he was able to, to his credit, and he was very patient about the whole process. And he'll even tell you, you know, the timeline that it took to buy and close on Pasadera was about two or three times longer than most other transactions that concert has gone through.

Chris Laver: But Peter really took a lot of time and energy To meet all, you know, he didn't have to convince me I was, I was done and he didn't have to convince a couple others. Because they knew that they trusted me. Um, but he had to get through to, you know, he had to, you know, break down the walls with [00:28:00] some others and he did it and he did it incredibly well, by the way.

Chris Laver: Um, and I think. That alone made the biggest difference in how he conducted himself, how he communicated, the effort that he made in coming down, and frankly, not just meeting just, you know, he met, you know, members of the club. Uh, he spent, uh, I really give him credit for the time that he put into it, um, before the close.

Chris Laver: Now, the closing part of it was also, you know, uh, tricky, but we got through. Um, a lot of the issues, um, some of the people that had very small percentage ownership, um, you know, wanted to get, get, have their, uh, you know, voice heard more than that probably should have. Um, but Peter and his team. Handled that very, very well.

Chris Laver: I was very impressed [00:29:00] with that, that part of it.

Denny Corby: if, if anybody is in a somewhat similar situation and every situation is different, I get that. There's no, the club of Pasadena is a, is a unique property, but so is, you know, the club in, in Nebraska or in Oregon or wherever, and all the clubs have their own personalities and their own.

Chris Laver: Kind of unique ways about themselves, but that's one of the things that I found very special about concert they We've gotten some wonderful emails in the last 60 days from the manager. That's Sitting there on the property today, James Hippie is his name. He's a concert employee. He's done an outstanding job of communicating to the members the direction that concert is taking the club, [00:30:00] the improvements that they're making, but he's also very in sync with the culture and, The history of the club and he's maintaining it and he's made some incredible observations, I think, to his credit about keeping that culture intact.

Chris Laver: And that's what concert does. And it sounds a little, I don't know, I don't know the right word, but it's true. I've seen it not only at Pasadena, but I've visited a couple of other of their properties around the United States. And I see it there too. 

Denny Corby: what are some of the , bigger projects or things that concert and the club have lined up, uh, in terms of upgrades and things?

Denny Corby: Uh, in, in enhancements? Well, 

Chris Laver: our property again is 25 years old, and that means the irrigation system. It's 25 years old. The hvac Oh, so this the hvac. 

Denny Corby: Oh, [00:31:00] so nothing's been touched. 

Chris Laver: Everything is, excuse me, everything's got a series of what I call band aids, um, around the property. The concert did a great job.

Chris Laver: Deep dive and really good due diligence on what the property's challenges were, are, and are going to be down the road. And they know exactly what to do. They know exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Again, as I tell people, this is not their first rodeo. Um, but they've already addressed a The transaction closed in, uh, late December, you know, around the 20th, I believe.

Chris Laver: So we're, what are we, four and a half months into it? It's mind boggling what the membership has [00:32:00] already seen. Now some of the things are behind the scenes. We were having leaks in the roof, you know, when the rain in the winter, when rains were prevalent, you know, members while they can see leaking, you know, a fixed roof is kind of hard to touch and feel.

Denny Corby: Of course, 

Chris Laver: you know, great deal of work on the, like I just said, the HVAC system, the roof, um, the course. Um, uh, is being worked on, big work on wells and, uh, maintaining the, the need for water, which is obviously a very important component of any club. Um, but these, these are just some of the ongoing things out of the gate.

Chris Laver: I personally can't wait to see what happens in the next two to three years to this club and it's only going to continue to attract. More and more members because [00:33:00] they're going to see the financial commitment that concert has to our property. 

Denny Corby: Well, and also now I don't want to speak for you all in the club and the members, but I think you can talk about it in a different light.

Denny Corby: When you talk about the club to other people or people who might not be members, you know, I, I don't know. I feel like if I, if I was in that position, you know, a member of that club and people like, Oh, how's the club? I'd be like, Oh, pretty good. Like, I wouldn't probably encourage people to want to become members at that point.

Denny Corby: And, you know, and that's just be speaking selfishly, but now it's like, Oh, Mike, the club's great. Oh, you got to come over. You got to come see it. Oh, you're not a member yet. We got to get you coming. Come on in. Uh, the water's warm. I 

Chris Laver: would tell, you know, anybody in the, in the area, and I, I really think our area, uh, expands a little bit towards Silicon Valley and San Jose because it's not that far of a drive.

Chris Laver: You can stay in the lodge overnight. You can, [00:34:00] you know, I, I think our market is broader maybe than what we sometimes think it is. It's not just Monterey County, um, which, you know, we've got a lot of competition between Monterey Peninsula, Tehama, Pebble Beach. Um, uh, there's another beautiful club, uh, down the road, um.

Chris Laver: Um, shoot, the name is suddenly escaping me. It's in Salinas. It's a different type of club, but, um, but we've got, we've got strong competition. So we, we have to keep our game, you know, at the A level if we expect to do what we should be doing in the next three to five years. But I would say if I was a family, you know, my thirties or forties, and I was considering.

Chris Laver: A family oriented club. I would really take a good strong look at Pasadena today because it's only going to get better and it's probably going to get a little bit more expensive. [00:35:00] I don't know how much that's concerts, um, decisions of course, but I would really urge one, uh, to look at Pasadena as a family friendly, friendly place.

Denny Corby: And to that same note. You know, from your perspective, your point of view, you've seen, excuse me, you know, you have such a unique perspective and point of view from your, your situation. So, you know, if you were to maybe share some, the biggest lessons from the process that you can kind of share with other clubs, boards, um, what, What would that be?

Chris Laver: Yeah, that's it. 

Denny Corby: Um, but you know, from, from your point of view, from your perspective, what What would you say were the biggest lessons from this process that you can share with other private club leaders and boards?

Chris Laver: Well, there's, there's a couple of things and I'm going to kind of compartmentalize them. Um, you know, for me personally, um, and I don't know that I'm ever going to have the opportunity to get involved in another, [00:36:00] My wife won't let me get involved in another golf club, but if I was, if I was going to get involved in a, in another business venture with a group, I probably wouldn't have 13 people.

Chris Laver: That, that was probably mistake number one. Um, But, you know, hindsight's 20 20, and I, I fully trusted and liked everybody, and they liked me out of the gate, but, you know, time has a way of changing things, and I probably would keep it to, you know, two or three people at the most. Um, so that's number one. Um, Number two, you know, I think governance is probably the most important, um, part of any club ownership, however it's owned.

Chris Laver: If it's owned by the members, if it's owned by a Uh, a group of local investors [00:37:00] of its own by, you know, a concert club. Governance is, is as critical as any part of, of a club, I think, to, to ensure its longevity, to ensure, uh, growth, to ensure the property is maintained. I, I think. I really believe governance is critical and we didn't have as strong a governance as we needed to.

Chris Laver: And it broke down on more than one occasion and things were let go and things were, you know, put aside or we're not going to deal with that right now. And I think governance is absolutely critical. Um, I think the other. important, um, aspect of. Of a board and however this ownership structure is, is there really has to be a [00:38:00] discipline of, uh, money put aside for CapEx or money raised for CapEx.

Chris Laver: Um, you know, we can all go to these sites and, you know, podcasts and learn about how to operate a club and what is the correct percentage to put aside. for uh, CapEx improvements and you hear different numbers based on gross revenue, and we've all read and heard them. But whatever it is, I think it has to be a very disciplined approach every year.

Chris Laver: Even if you don't spend it all, keep it on the sidelines. Cause, you know, we were at the end, we were literally praying that Our pipes weren't going to break out on the 9th fairway, and we were going to have an explosion because we weren't committed, the ownership group was not committed to put any [00:39:00] more money in, but we were dealing with a 25 year old, um, um, And, you know, they don't last much longer than that.

Chris Laver: Uh, historically at least. You're 

Denny Corby: waiting for someone just to put like a, a, a T in the ground. Oh, 

Chris Laver: exactly. And just explode. Oh, literally. Um, and, and, and, and by the way, that happened a couple of times. You know? Um, um, But, you know, but again, because of the strength of their due diligence and Peter and his team know every problem that could be facing our property in the next 10 years.

Chris Laver: And I'm very confident because of the strength of their, their balance sheet, you know, who backs them, you know, they're going to make the correct decisions. They're going to make disciplined decisions. [00:40:00] They're going to make decisions that, you know, uh, improve the property, but it also improve the prospects for future membership growth and future revenue growth as they should.

Chris Laver: They're, they're running a business. Uh, it's not a charity. Um, I've seen them do it at other clubs around the country for years. They're in this for the long run. They do not sell clubs. Um, in fact, I, I don't believe they've sold one private club since they've, um, started the business. 

Chris Laver: Their properties are all the same ones that they've owned. So I anticipate the Club of Pasadena to be in their hands for many years to come. And that was a very important point, not just for me, but for some others. And the commitment to keep the club private. That was an absolute necessity and that's in the contract.

Chris Laver: And that's, that's what they do. 

Denny Corby: No, and that's, [00:41:00] and that's good. And the membership must be so thrilled now, especially ones who have been in it for, for, you know, since, since you have the real, real OGs. Yeah. 

Chris Laver: Yeah. I've, I've, I've, since the purchase, I've, I've made a, uh, uh, uh, kind of a, I wanted. To not be down there as much.

Chris Laver: I, we live in the, in the Bay Area in San Francisco and in South Carolina, but I wanted to let concert and the membership kind of not see Laver. Laver was kind of the little bit of the too much, frankly, maybe even too much of the face of the club for too long. And I thought it would be healthier for everybody and give concert kind of Let them do their thing.

Chris Laver: Not, not have people think, Oh, labor's around here a lot. He must be talking to concert or working with, I, I don't, I, um, you know, [00:42:00] you can ask Peter, well, 

Denny Corby: where to disguise. Yeah, 

Chris Laver: exactly. You know, Peter and I, during the deal time, we, we'd probably talk once or twice a week and, uh, we don't talk that much anymore.

Chris Laver: Um, I, I miss you, Peter.

Denny Corby: Don't call you. I miss you, but leave me alone now.

Denny Corby: Chris, I want to thank you so much for coming onto the show. I'm happy. Great things are in order for you and your club and everybody's, uh, doing well and things are going forward to the future. And you guys have done some tremendous stuff on, on your own as well. So, uh, hats off. Thank you 

Chris Laver: very much. Thanks to you.

Chris Laver: Thanks to concert. And, uh, I look forward to talking to you again one day. 

Denny Corby: Take care. Sounds good, sir. 

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: Thank you so much, Chris, for being on this episode and sharing all of your knowledge and experience means the world and glad to see your club is in much better hands.

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: If you'd like to learn [00:43:00] more about concert golf partners, or to set up a confidential phone call to learn more head on over to concert golf partners.com. 

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: From there, you can learn more and set up a confidential phone call with Peter cannula. 

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: That's it for this episode. Hope you all enjoyed it. 

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: Thanks to our friends, concert, golf partners 

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: Preserve your club's legacy, enhance your club amenities and see your membership thrive.

RODECaster Pro II Chat & Cam Link 4K-1: Catch all on the flippity flip.