January 4, 2020

Hacienda Golf Club announced today that it has been awarded the prestigious Distinguished Club award, as determined by the annual Distinguished Clubs award program conducted by BoardRoom magazine, one of the most respected trade publications serving private clubs.

“We’d like to congratulate Hacienda Golf Club for earning Distinguished Club status,” said John Fornaro, Publisher of BoardRoom magazine, “Special recognition also goes out to Hacienda Golf Club’s General Manger, Russell Sylte, PGA Master Professional as well as the club’s board of directors, its department heads, and entire staff for their efforts in providing an excellent member experience.”

For fine private clubs that operate at the highest standards, BoardRoom magazine’s entirely merit-based Distinguished Clubs award program uses a club-specific rating system that recognizes the club, its management, and its staff based on a proprietary criteria and evaluation process that distills and measures a club’s Member Experience.

As such, the rating system used by Distinguished Clubs is different from any that has come before, and with it, the private club industry now has the means to identify the top private clubs based on the most important aspect: Member Experience.

As defined by Distinguished Clubs, “Member Experience” is that special combination of “Qualities” that a private club provides its members. It is not just the quality of service, or of the facilities, or of the product provided, it is also the quality of the staff and of the management, as well as the overall club governance they deliver. The most important quality, however, is the quality of the intangible. While difficult to measure, the latter is comprised of those magic moments experienced, the members befriended, the memorable events and famous tournaments attended, as well as the club traditions, history, and heritage proudly recognized.

The Distinguished Clubs award program is a thorough process that effectively distills and then measures a club’s Member Experience, based on our proprietary formula:

Member Experience equals:

· Intangible Quality

· Service Quality

· Governance Quality

· Facility Quality

· Product Quality, or simply:

or simply: ME = IQ + SQ + GQ + FQ + PQ

The above “Quality Criteria” are more weighted on the three aspects of a club that provide the finest Member Experience and the things that make the club exceptional. Accordingly, IQ (Intangible Quality), SQ (Service Quality) and GQ (Governance Quality) are weighted most.

Boardroom magazine developed the Distinguished Clubs award program to recognize and share – with the private club industry as a whole – what it is that Distinguished Clubs do differently, and to do so with the specific goal of improving the Member Experience at every private club, and thereby helping to preserve the institution of private clubs for many future generations.

BoardRoom magazine is the official publication of the Association of Private Club Directors and is published in print and digital formats, and shipped to 27 countries worldwide. BoardRoom magazine is now widely viewed as the most respected and influential magazine in the private club industry.