Photo Courtesy of Island Country Club, Marco Island Florida

Florida’s Island Country Club Lays Solid Foundation for Future Success

Debuting as Marco Island’s only golf club, Island Country Club first opened for business in 1966. Offering an 18-hole championship course layout, the club was renowned for its association with 1964 Open Champion Tony Lema (the club’s first golf professional) and seven-time major champion Gene Sarazen (resident golf professional, 1981-1999).

In September 1986, Island Country Club began a new chapter, as 400 members took over ownership from the developer. Since then, the club has experienced a wide array of changes. For instance, a new clubhouse was opened in 1995 and expanded to 50,000 square feet in 2006, while a multi-million-dollar course renovation was completed in December 2017.

Island Country Club’s board also welcomed Nicholas von Hofen as general manager/COO in November 2023. Prior to joining the club’s team, von Hofen served more than 14 years at Collier Reserve Country Club, where he began as golf course superintendent in 2009 (and was ultimately promoted to general manager in 2017).

When he arrived at Island Country Club, von Hofen’s first order of business was to onboard Anne Marie Megenis as CFO, a talented and well-versed financial professional he had met earlier in his career. “I knew that Ann Marie’s strengths were exactly what Island Country Club needed in order to gain financial clarity and get everyone moving in the right direction,” von Hofen ­­­­stresses.

“Overall, the club had a good infrastructure in place, but it was dated,” Megenis says. “It was time to refresh it.”

To address the board’s desire to establish a long-term strategic business plan, the club’s leadership reached out to Club Benchmarking. Work began in early 2024, in collaboration with Tim Rowe, Club Benchmarking Director of Beacon Club Strategy Solutions.

Examining the Past, Informing the Future

The Club Benchmarking strategic planning process always begins with a thorough review of the club’s finances, surveys, bylaws and other governing documents.

“By using industry data to benchmark our financial KPIs, survey results and bylaws against other clubs, we were able to see how we compared,” von Hofen says.

Those insights were key as Club Benchmarking and Island Country Club determined which strategic initiatives the club would implement going forward. To help everyone focus on the path ahead, Rowe conducted staff education on the strategic planning process and discussed what the process would entail for each employee.

From there, Rowe led full-day retreats — one with the board and another with the management team — to explore the club’s existing Mission, Vision and Values. Together, the team chose a name for the plan they were building: “Vision 2030 Strategic Plan: Honoring Our Past – Planning Our Future.”

With Rowe facilitating, the club’s board, long-range planning committee and management team prepared to develop a long-range strategic plan, along with tools to ensure its relevance and sustainability.

The process is grounded in what Club Benchmarking calls the Seven Pillars for Private Clubs:

1. 1. Facilities and Campus

   2. Finance

   3. Governance

   4. Management and Staff Engagement

   5. Membership

   6. Programming

   7. Sustainability

The planning process is designed to drive a cycle of continuous improvement, guided by four essential questions which are applied to each of the seven pillars:

1. 1. Who and where are we now?

   2. Where do we want to go?

   3. How will we get there?

   4. How will we know we are there?

“Club Benchmarking helped us take a clear look at where we stand today and, more importantly, where we want to go,” noted Gerald Shannon, immediate past president. “The process reinforced the importance of long-term thinking and objective analysis in shaping decisions that impact the membership and the future of the club.”

The club’s new mission statement, vision statement and core values, outlined below, were created with those pillars in mind and approved by the board in May 2024:

Mission Statement: “We are committed to be the destination of choice for our members through our welcoming atmosphere, our exceptional amenities and our unique history.”

Vision Statement: “We will continually improve our unique and historic Marco Island location with excellent facilities, programs and services for the enjoyment of our members, their families and guests.”

Core Values: “Welcoming. Integrity. Excellence. Respect. Fun.”

According to Rowe, von Hofen was instrumental in driving the project and helping everyone stay focused. To bring those ideals to life, von Hofen led the effort to translate the strategic vision into specific objectives for each of the club’s seven pillars in a dynamic tracking tool.

Captains were identified to lead each of the objectives. For example, objectives related to “Facilities and Campus” were assigned to the board, strategic planning committee, department heads, COO and CFO. Programming was assigned to the department heads and the COO.

“The club’s leadership was specifically seeking a continuous process, not a one-off project. Nicholas and Anne Marie were determined to not let the vision and objectives collect dust on a shelf,” Rowe notes. “They really led the effort to translate the specific objectives into two living and breathing tools: the COMPASS capital strategies modeling software and the Strategic Initiatives Tracking tool.

“The sky is the limit for Island Country Club as they ensure the strategic plan both informs their annual business planning and provides the data and timing they need to monitor the continuous improvement of KPIs,” Rowe adds. “The club can now communicate transparently about a shared, optimistic and exciting future that promises to delight members for years to come.”

“Coming off a significant, multi-year renovation, the engagement with Club Benchmarking came at exactly the right time,” notes Gerard Shannon, the club’s president from 2023-2025. “Our club was searching for — and achieved — a cultural transformation, thanks to our new management team, led by Nicholas von Hofen.”

The process spurred the development of five high-level master goals to ensure continuity and alignment, which would transcend future leadership changes:

1. 1. To have the club’s culture fully and positively aligned with its mission, vision and values.

   2. To govern and operate with clarity of purpose and vision, consistent communications, trust and alignment.

   3. To continuously improve the club’s data-driven performance through top-quality volunteer and staff leadership.

   4. To attract and retain the best, highly experienced management and staff, and position the club as a “best-in-class” employer.

   5. To proactively improve the facilities and campus with fiscal responsibility, commitment to reserves and a minimum amount of debt.

A Vision Brought to Life

To satisfy the need for capital planning, the club adopted COMPASS — a hybrid combination of capital planning services and software developed by Club Benchmarking. After undergoing a thorough asset evaluation and building those findings into the capital strategies modeling component of COMPASS, the club now has a long-range capital forecast.

“It’s been an eye-opener for everybody,” von Hofen explains. “The capital asset study has given us a much clearer outlook, specifically around the long-term replacement value of our assets, which allows us to plan with greater confidence.”

Using the COMPASS modeling, the club made a data-driven decision to increase capital dues, resulting in a 54% improvement in funding for obligatory capital needs.

Celebrating Success

As Island Country Club embarks on its journey with COMPASS, von Hofen and Megenis have already begun to achieve the club’s Vision 2030 Strategic Plan goals. For starters, its governance has become much “stronger,” while its committees have been “enhanced,” according to von Hofen.

“We’re touching on our strategic plan at every board meeting and talking about it at new committee orientations,” he states. “During our meetings, we only focus on actionable items that we’ll achieve in the near future.”

In recent months, club members have been showing support for the plan too, according to von Hofen. To ensure they remain informed about the plan and its continuous progress, he hosts three seasonal meetings, a town hall and an annual member meeting. He also oversees monthly “Coffee Talks,” which allow members to present any questions they may have about the plan.

Even though the Vision 2030 Strategic Plan has just begun, Island Country Club has already noticed a significant impact. Members’ satisfaction — which was at an all-time low when von Hofen and Megenis came onboard — has improved considerably. According to a member survey, earlier this year, 52% of members were “extremely or very satisfied” with their overall club experiences, an increase of 19% since 2023.

Aspirational Partnership

Given the range of aspirational capital projects included in the Vision 2030 Strategic Plan, von Hofen believes member satisfaction will only continue to rise. The plan includes another golf course renovation and an overhaul of the club’s clubhouse kitchen, dining room and outside dining. Bocce ball courts will also be added by Q3 2026, and the tennis courts will be enhanced by Q4 2026.

“We’re now following a plan and budgeting correctly, allowing us to focus more on aspirational projects and continued growth,” Megenis emphasizes.

“Partnering with the Club Benchmarking team has been meaningful, educational and very productive,” says Gerard Shannon, immediate past president, 2023-2025. “Each initiative, whether the bylaws review, strategic planning or capital planning, provided a thoughtful, data-driven perspective tailored to our club’s unique circumstances.”

“Our partnership with Club Benchmarking has been an awesome experience,” von Hofen adds. “We’re proud to partner with the company, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with them for many years to come!”