Award recipients announced for Distinguished Clubs of the World

The results of the annual Clubs of the World award program have been released, recognizing the top private clubs in the world. Conducted by BoardRoom magazine, the program reviews the club, its management, staff, and member experience.

Here are the sailing clubs earning distinction in the ‘Yacht, Beach, & Lake Clubs’ category:

Distinguished Emerald Clubs (top status)
To be a Distinguished Emerald Club, a club must provide a level of Member Experience attained by only the finest clubs in the world.
Annapolis Yacht Club – Annapolis, Maryland
Naples Yacht Club – Naples, Florida
Sailfish Club of Florida – Palm Beach, Florida
St. Francis Yacht Club – San Francisco, CA

Distinguished Gold Clubs
To be a Distinguished Gold Club is to be one of a highly select group of private clubs that have been recognized as providing an absolutely excellent Member Experience.
Oconomowoc Lake Club – Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Palm Beach Yacht Club – West Palm Beach, Florida
Santa Barbara Yacht Club – Santa Barbara, California

For fine private clubs that operate at the highest standards, BoardRoom magazine’s 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 plus Service Quality plus
Governance Quality plus Facility Quality plus
Product Quality, 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 of the World 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. – http://boardroommagazine.com/index.html