Country Clubs and Other Clubs

In this installment I will be looking at the preppiest country clubs and other social clubs in Houston. This is still a work in progress, but as the progress is slow, I thought I’d throw out what I have so far…

The Country Clubs

While the neighborhood of River Oaks might not be the top of the preppy ladder in Houston that it once was, River Oaks Country Club is still the most prestigious country in Houston, par excellence. Definitely dominated by a staid older crowd from the immediate neighborhood, but enough wealthy younger families to keep it alive. Initiation fee reported to be about $75,000, monthly dues about $700. Must be recommended by a member in good standing, and there is a wait list of several years.

Houston Country Club

Braeburn Country Club

Houston Racquet Club

Lakeside Country Club

Westside Tennis Club

Royal Oaks Country Club

Raveneaux Country Club

Champions Country Club

The Other Clubs

The Briar Club. This club doesn’t quite qualify as a country club because while it has most of the amenities of a country club, it lacks one big one: a golf course. Founded in River Oaks area in 1949, the Briar Club is especially popular with wealthy young Inner Loop families who are part of extended families that have been members for at least two generations. The initiation fee is $35,000 and monthly dues are $400.

The Houstonian. This club is a strange chimera, but in structure and in culture. It is a private club that attracts Inner Loopers and Galleria-area/eastern Memorial Villages wealthy preps, but it’s also a hotel and spa, and so virtually anyone can use the club pool and facilities just by paying one night’s stay in the hotel or buying a spa package for the day. You can usually tell the guests from the members as the guests’ children are respectful and well-behaved while the members’ kids are demanding entitled little brats. Initiation fees run from $7,500 to $28,000, while monthly dues are $200 to $436, depending on membership level.

The Downtown Club and The Met (formerly the Metropolitan Racquet Club). This is about as close as you can get to a Manhattan fitness/racquet club in Houston. This club is actually the merger of two clubs while retaining the facilities of both. The Metropolitan Racquet Club contains the only indoor tennis courts in downtown Houston, located at the top of the Allen Center parking garage and visible from I-45 as you pass through downtown. Membership is $160 a month if you only want an athletic club membership, and $260 if you also want to play tennis.

The Houston Club

The Petroleum Club. As you might guess from the name, the Petroleum Club is primarily a business club, located high up in a skyscraper in downtown Houston. With no pool to lounge around, no tennis pros to flirt with, you won’t find well-cared for women wiling away their days here, more likely their husbands power lunching or meeting for after work drinks. Membership is by referral only, but initiation fee is a very reasonable $1,500 to $5,000, and monthly dues are only $200.

Coronado Club

The Forest Club. 9950 Memorial Dr. According to CultureMap Houston, “The Forest Club is a well-guarded secret among Houston’s powerbrokers and the publicity-shunning type of wealthy locals who would rather live life without housekeepers and hairdressers than see their names in print. This lovely wooded sanctuary nestled in Memorial offers tennis courts, a fully outfitted gym, a swimming pool, and privacy. Paris Hilton would hate it.” CultureMap also notes that George and Barbara Bush were members and regularly lunched there.

Bayou Club. 8550 Memorial Dr. According to CultureMap Houston, “Tucked inside the lush woods next door to the Houston Polo Club, the Bayou Club is an intimate private sanctuary for old-money Houstonians who come here to socialize with each other and host the occasional debutante soiree for their daughters. It’s nearly impossible for newcomers to join and memberships are treasured and passed down like family heirlooms. It doesn’t have the flash of other clubs with several dining options, Olympic-size swimming pools or rows of tennis courts, but that’s rather the point.”

The Yacht Clubs

From my previous post on Summering in the Houston area:

The Houston Yacht Club, founded in 1897, is the most venerable yacht club, and very preppy. Its three-story 27,000 square foot Spanish Mediterranean-style clubhouse was built in 1927, and has a dining room, formal ballroom, casual bar, swimming pool, showers, and guestrooms for overnight stays. HYC is both powerboat and sailboat friendly and can accomodate  yachts up to 70 feet. The club has an excellent social program, and also racing for both youth and adults, while still being a very inviting place for yachtsmen who have no interest in racing.

Lakewood Yacht Club, founded in 1955, is not nearly as old as HYC, and it was originally founded as a powerboat-only club, so it’s not as preppy as HYC, but still, it’s a yacht club, so it’s still going to be pretty preppy. And they started allowind sailboats in the 70s. Its clubhouse is more understated than HYC’s with a one-story Mid-Century Modern style, but it has nice grounds, a good pool, and good food. Lakewood also has two claims to fame: it hosts the Harvest Moon Regatta, an extremely popular event for sailors, and the Keels and Wheels vintage car and boat show every May (though unfortunately it coincides with the Kentucky Derby, meaning I have to go on Sunday and always miss the Boat award ceremony).

Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1937, by far the Preppiest of all Houston-area yacht clubs. Why is it the Preppiest? Well, for one thing, it’s a sail-only club. For another, it was modeled after the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, N.Y., one of the oldest yacht clubs in the western hemisphere. And finally, it’s small and very exclusive, only about 150 member-families, most of whom have been important parts of Houston society for generations. It’s so exclusive, they didn’t even bother to answer my request for information on being a member, unlike the other two clubs. Also, from what I have seen of pictures, it seems mostly to be a club for small sailboat owners, and clubs like that tend to be racing clubs, ie, they require members to take part in races. Its adorable one-story white brick clubhouse boasts a pool, the Commodore’s Dining Room, also known as “The Great Room”, a bar, a porch dining room, a junior dining room, poolside dining porch, and a “colors porch.”