Oct 19, 2026 · 34 min · 13 segments
Private clubs like to think they are the ones setting the pace for the rest of the golf industry. Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association, is not willing to let that assumption…
Jay KarenGuestDerekHostA lot of the, the people that listen to this show are familiar with, uh, CMAA, um, the club managers, and the PCMA, um, the marketing association, even the NCA.
Very private club focused.
My understanding in previous conversation you and I had is that your organization's membership is more representative of what golf looks like across the entire landscape, with the percentage of private clubs, um, public golf courses, municipal golf courses, um, resort golf courses, um, then that the associations exist to help all of those organizations run better businesses.
That's, uh, that's probably underselling and, and not doing a good enough job of explaining what the National Golf Course Asso- Owners Association does.
Describe a little bit like who tend to be your members and, you know, and then what does leading that association day to day look like for you?
Today, in twenty-twenty-six, we, we represent every sector within the supply of golf, really, and, you know, the outdoor sector, if you will, private clubs, municipalities, every stripe of ownership.
We were founded, uh, you know, over fifty years ago really for, I'd call it more, and it's not, it's not necessarily a pejorative term, but the mom and pop public golf course.
Back in the '70s, the supply in golf was dominated by private clubs and municipal golf courses.
And then there was this explosion of privately owned public golf courses, families turning their farm into 18-hole golf courses, the, the, the rise of the golf resort, you know, all of the, the explosion.
And then Arnold Palmer, speaking of Palmer, hit the Arnie's Army and the popularity of golf.
Y-you know, it-its, its influence on supply explosion can't be understated, right? The interest.
Everybody wanted a golf course in their backyard, and so people built golf courses.
Fast-forward to the 1980s, '90s, into the millennium, you got, you know, more and more public golf courses built around housing developments as the crown jewel of the development in an overbuilt situation, honestly, because they were trying to sell houses, you know, and let's, let's sell premium houses, so let's put a golf course there.
So, so yes, we were born out of the mom and pop kind of facility because they didn't have an organization representing their interests at the time.
But we have morphed over time, and if you look at our board of directors, we do represent every stripe of ownership and operations.
Uh, and as the trade association representing the sector, it doesn't matter what kind of ownership there are.
There are so many shared issues across golf operations and what it means to, to try to have a livable, you know, breathing business like a golf course in a community, whether it's private club or municipal or whatever.
A lot of the, the people that listen to this show are familiar with, uh, CMAA, um, the club managers, and the PCMA, um, the marketing association, even the NCA.
Very private club focused.
My understanding in previous conversation you and I had is that your organization's membership is more representative of what golf looks like across the entire landscape, with the percentage of private clubs, um, public golf courses, municipal golf courses, um, resort golf courses, um, then that the associations exist to help all of those organizations run better businesses.
That's, uh, that's probably underselling and, and not doing a good enough job of explaining what the National Golf Course Asso- Owners Association does.
Describe a little bit like who tend to be your members and, you know, and then what does leading that association day to day look like for you?
Today, in twenty-twenty-six, we, we represent every sector within the supply of golf, really, and, you know, the outdoor sector, if you will, private clubs, municipalities, every stripe of ownership.
We were founded, uh, you know, over fifty years ago really for, I'd call it more, and it's not, it's not necessarily a pejorative term, but the mom and pop public golf course.
Back in the '70s, the supply in golf was dominated by private clubs and municipal golf courses.
And then there was this explosion of privately owned public golf courses, families turning their farm into 18-hole golf courses, the, the, the rise of the golf resort, you know, all of the, the explosion.
And then Arnold Palmer, speaking of Palmer, hit the Arnie's Army and the popularity of golf.
Y-you know, it-its, its influence on supply explosion can't be understated, right? The interest.
Everybody wanted a golf course in their backyard, and so people built golf courses.
Fast-forward to the 1980s, '90s, into the millennium, you got, you know, more and more public golf courses built around housing developments as the crown jewel of the development in an overbuilt situation, honestly, because they were trying to sell houses, you know, and let's, let's sell premium houses, so let's put a golf course there.
So, so yes, we were born out of the mom and pop kind of facility because they didn't have an organization representing their interests at the time.
But we have morphed over time, and if you look at our board of directors, we do represent every stripe of ownership and operations.
Uh, and as the trade association representing the sector, it doesn't matter what kind of ownership there are.
There are so many shared issues across golf operations and what it means to, to try to have a livable, you know, breathing business like a golf course in a community, whether it's private club or municipal or whatever.
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