Monday Q&A: Ray Tate’s new game

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Eight years ago, Ray Tate, a former head football coach at the University of Richmond and a longtime entrepreneur, helped assemble 625 acres in Hanover County and spent $9 million building The Federal Club. The private country club opened three years ago as one of the only courses around with bentgrass, a mark of quality for golf nuts.

But then the economy turned south, and sales of home lots slowed dramatically.

This week, Tate chats with BizSense about running a new course, staying positive and why he doesn’t get to play more.

Below is an edited transcript.

Richmond BizSense: How old are most of your members?

Ray Tate: Our members are young, and we’re very proud of that. I’d say they average around 34 or 36 years old.

RBS: You guys are a strictly private course. How many members do you have, and what’s your target number?

RT: We have 170 now and want to get it to 495.

RBS: Are members pulling out?

RT: No. A few people get transferred, but pull out — absolutely not. And lot sales for the first two sections of homes sold out. That third section has been slower. All of a sudden, boom, the slow economy hit.

RBS: Several sources have called us to ask if the course is for sale. Are you shopping it around?

RT: No.

RBS: Are you running special deals to lure in new members?

RT: Yes. We started a year membership. You can pay dues like a normal member but skip the initiation fee. Then when the year is done, see if you like it.

RBS: I believe Kinloch has bentgrass, too. Do you compete with them for members?

RT: We’re a different idea, a family club. We have three pools and a 15,000-square-foot deck. We’re not an all-boys club. And I think our golf course is better, but of course that doesn’t mean everybody does.

RBS: How is business overall?

RT: No golf course except maybe the County Club of Virginia doesn’t worry about money. But we’re fine, and we’ll be here.

RBS: Knowing what you know now about the economy, what might you have done differently?

RT: I don’t know what we would have planned differently. We started the club in good economic times. It went south on us as far as real estate and people’s concern about their jobs. But I don’t think we could have done things differently.

RBS: How much did it cost to build the course?

RT: Between $8 million and $9 million.

RBS: How did you decide on Arnold Palmer as a designer?

RT: The main thing [Palmer] said is, “Look, if you want to build a golf course like you see on TV, that’s hard to play, then don’t get me.” I liked him, and I like his people.

RBS: You were a football coach at UR. Did that help you in business?

RT: Well, I also had another business [Dominion Auto Glass]. But I think because you learn to work together and we have a good team here [at the Federal Club]. You don’t fight each other. And I know a lot of people, and that’s important. Plus in coaching you have to be positive. And in the golf business you have to be positive.

RBS: How hard is golf as an industry?

RT: I think we will end up being very successful. But I am 66 years old, so my family might get to enjoy it a lot more than me. I believe in the Federal Club and the subdivisions will be very successful, it will just take longer than we thought.

RBS: How’s your game?

RT: I don’t play that much. I’m a 24 handicap. But I got into this because I like challenges, and I needed another one at the time. I got it.

Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor and a mediocre golfer. Please send news tips to Editor@richmondbizsense.com.