In the next episode Beyond The Baselines Podcast, we sit down with Maxwell Shteyman, Director of Culinary and Clubhouse Operations at Montammy Golf Club, to discuss how innovation in food and beverage can sometimes go too far.

“Too much fusion leads to confusion—and to a messy plate,” Max says with a smile. In a world where every dish seems to chase the next trend, Shteyman believes that simplicity and clarity still reign supreme. Food, after all, mirrors life: the more ingredients and variables you add, the more complex—and often problematic—the outcome becomes.

But this episode goes beyond the kitchen. Max believes that food and beverage in private clubs is in deep transition. He suggests that the traditional role of Executive Chef may be nearing its expiration date. Instead, he envisions a model where each dining outlet has its own director, all reporting to a single Culinary Director—a structure that reflects today’s diversified member expectations and multi-outlet club environments.

Mentorship, too, plays a central role in Max’s philosophy. Leading younger staff in hospitality requires patience, vision, and courage. As he notes, “There will always be those who can’t or won’t work as a team—and sometimes, dismissals are simply part of maintaining excellence.”

It’s a candid, insightful discussion about the future of private club dining, the art of leadership, and the delicate balance between creativity and clarity.

by Ed Shanaphy, CMAA

We often say “mentoring,” but what we really mean—especially within private clubs—is advancing. Mentorship is not simply guiding or teaching; it’s creating an environment where your staff can grow, achieve, and in turn, enhance the member experience. Every interaction between staff and member is an opportunity to refine skill, build confidence, and elevate service.

A club manager’s greatest legacy is not the number of events executed or budgets balanced—it’s the people they’ve advanced. Let’s explore the three pillars that define true mentorship and the art of advancing your team.

It’s never easy to step back. Club managers often feel compelled to solve problems immediately or answer every member’s question directly. But effective delegation is a deliberate act of trust. By creating space between yourself, your employee, and the member, you give staff the autonomy to think, act, and grow.

This “space” is the classroom of real-world learning. When staff handle member concerns—without you stepping in—they develop confidence, accountability, and ownership. It may be uncomfortable at first, especially when mistakes occur, but that discomfort is often where growth begins.

True mentoring means allowing your team to make—and learn from—those mistakes while providing them a framework to succeed the next time around.

Mentorship isn’t only an internal process. In the private club world, education extends to the membership itself. Members often view every staff action as a direct reflection of the manager. Therefore, when staff are learning and developing, transparency is essential.

Mentorship isn’t only an internal process. In the private club world, education extends to the membership itself.

Educating the board, committees, and membership about your mentoring approach helps manage expectations. It allows members to see the broader purpose behind delegating responsibility or giving a new team member more visibility.

This communication builds understanding—and trust. When members recognize that your club is cultivating leaders, they become partners in that mission rather than critics of the process. The result? A more collaborative, supportive environment where both staff and members are invested in each other’s success.

Here’s the unspoken truth about being a great mentor: it means you’ll be hiring more often.

When you invest deeply in staff development, you inevitably create talent that’s ready to move on—sometimes to new roles within the club, often to new opportunities in the wider industry, and occasionally to entirely new careers.

That’s not a loss; it’s a sign of success. Each advancement reflects your ability to identify potential, nurture it, and prepare it for the next challenge. Your club gains a reputation as a place where professionals grow—and that attracts even stronger candidates in the future.

Yes, mentoring creates more work: more coaching, more recruiting, more onboarding. But it also creates a culture of excellence and a network of alumni who carry your leadership principles into every role they take on.

To mentor is to advance—not just your staff, but your club’s culture and future. Delegation allows learning to occur. Education aligns staff growth with member understanding. Advancement ensures your leadership extends far beyond your own tenure.

A great manager measures success not by how indispensable they are, but by how capable their team becomes in their absence. Mentorship, then, is the art of making yourself unnecessary—because you’ve built a staff strong enough to lead without you.

This week on the Beyond The Baselines podcast, we welcome Dave Henion, a man who has spent his life immersed in the culture of private members clubs.

Dave’s journey began as a young caddy at Rolling Hills Country Club in Connecticut, where he learned early on how golf and business often meet on the fairway. From there, he worked his way up — serving as assistant golf professional, head professional, and eventually Director of Golf at some of the country’s most respected clubs, including Woodway in Darien, Siwanoy in Bronxville, and the elite Apawamis Club in Rye, NY.

After years in club management, Dave transitioned into technology and healthcare, bringing with him the lessons learned from years of member service and operations leadership. Today, he serves as President of Marietta Country Club, where he is focused on bridging the gap between staff and membership and enhancing the overall member experience.

In this episode, Dave shares candid insights about the financial realities of private clubs — from the subsidized golf course to the food and beverage losses members actually notice — and why the bond between staff and members is what truly drives satisfaction. He discusses strategies for tee time and tennis reservation management, the competitive nature of member-guest events (including the all-important merchandise “arms race”), and the bold changes he’s overseen in both the clubhouse and on the golf course, including the re-turfing project at Marietta.

This conversation is packed with perspective from someone who has seen club life from every angle — staff, member, committee chair, and president — and offers a fresh look at what makes a club not just function, but thrive.

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Rafael Coutinho, Director of Racquets at Rumson Country Club on the Jersey Shore, joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast.

With just two tennis courts and four pickleball courts, it had been the platform tennis courts that were the pride and joy of Rumson. With over 20 social events during the paddle season, platform tennis was at the heart of Rumson’s winter activities. But with grand designs and planning, and the club having the great idea to incentivize Rafael to build participation across tennis, there are four new tennis courts and a new racquets shop in the plans for 2026.

Rafael has gone deep into the club’s software and has measured usage across various fields and demographics. Across all the racquet sports, Rumson, he found, had 325 members step on one of the three various courts – tennis, pickle or platform – in the past year. He took the data, met with the committee and the board, and showed the board the need for an expanded racquets facility. The club responded.

We discuss the need for department heads and management to allocate and spend time educating the member board and various committees. Through discussion,

Join Rafael and our very own Ed Shanaphyh as we discuss using the data and educating the board to gain a bigger budget, add employees, both fulltime and part-time, and to earmark capital campaigns and funds for the racquets facility. Here’s an executive who understands that reporting is just as important as a racquet path.

Capturing the essence of an athlete—let alone defining a career within the grand tapestry of a sport’s history—is no easy feat. As the era of the “Big Three” nears its close, Rafael Nadal’s reign over clay courts and his unprecedented dominance at Roland Garros stand unmatched—and perhaps forever unrepeatable.

On the latest episode of the Beyond The Baselines podcast, renowned journalist Christopher Clarey—former international sports correspondent for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune—offers a multifaceted look at Nadal’s legacy: athletic, historical, and deeply human. His new book, The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay, has garnered praise for its insightful, elegant portrayal of the man behind the legend. The book embraces the romance and comments on and depicts the discipline Rafa brought to the tour, but especially to Roland Garros and the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.

Clarey paints a picture of Rafa and Roland Garros that would make even the great French impressionists proud. Monet could not have painted a better canvas, as Clarey calls one of his chapters, using the red brick dust to create a pastel in words that tracks and notates an historic and incredible career.

In the book, Clarey explores the profound discipline and emotional depth Nadal brought to the game, particularly in Paris’ storied Bois de Boulogne. While Nadal will always be synonymous with clay, Clarey is careful to position him within the broader context of tennis history—not merely as a surface specialist, but as a transcendent champion.

Nadal’s legendary intensity is captured with charm and detail—whether on court or playing fiercely competitive games of Parchisi behind the scenes. Drawing from over three decades of tennis coverage, Clarey delivers not just facts, but a textured portrait worthy of the greatest French impressionists. Indeed, in a chapter inspired by Monet, Clarey uses the red dust of Roland Garros as his palette, crafting a vivid narrative of a once-in-a-generation career.

Though anchored in clay—with a staggering 14-0 record in French Open finals—Nadal’s résumé extends far beyond. His eight Grand Slam titles on other surfaces equal the career totals of Connors, Lendl, and Agassi. Clarey deftly examines how evolving surfaces shaped Nadal’s journey and what those shifts meant to his enduring greatness.

Ultimately, The Warrior is more than a biography—it’s an artistic tribute to one of the sport’s most iconic figures. Nadal’s legacy, etched in grit, grace, and red clay, comes alive through Clarey’s masterful storytelling.

The podcaster sits in the hot seat. Private Club Radio’s Denny Corby joins the Beyond The Baselines podcast and talks everything private member clubs.

If a listener gets one thing out of just one of his podcasts, it means the world to Corby, the host of the biggest podcast in club management. “Your vibe attracts your tribe,” says Corby who took over Private Club Radio several years ago.

As personal friends, Ed Shanaphy, our host, and Denny talk movies and fashion through to club management and the two organizations, the CMAA and the NCA, which dominate the industry.

We ask the question if clubs actually compete against each other. As an industry, management shares more and more each year, but perhaps clubs and members see it differently. Various factors are behind how prospective members look at possible membership at clubs and future members may have various motivations to join a social group.

Clubs are rebranding themselves with an eye toward legacy and the younger generations. And in attempting to attract that younger-aged member, clubs have been relaxing the dress codes and looking for more family-friendly events.

We discuss how rebranding a club can, in an odd way, be similar to rebranding our respective podcasts. Clubs usually find a niche and present themselves within that special market. Most podcasts survive within a niche. And Corby has found his crowd for sure as his podcast is the leader in the private members club arena.

We have both realized that the CMAA World Conference is so grand that, for business reasons, it’s truly important to also attend the various chapters conferences to get even further inside the community of club managers, vendors and association members.

You’ve heard of the points guy, but this is the gift card guy, or as Larry Rubin calls himself, the gift card guru. This recording is aimed at marketing for both of our client subsets, private members clubs and boutique hotels.

Through gift cards, clubs and hotels can track usage of new and returning members and guests when given free money or points. Marketers can introduce a club or a hotel property at really no cost if the gift card is combined with a payment toward membership – many clubs already give statement credits to members who bring in new members, there’s no difference with a gift card. Or a hotel, during a light time of year, can use gift cards to offer free rooms, adventures or services. All would add more revenue and find business they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Rubin, who is president of SwipeIt.com, has been doing this for decades and now sees a new trend in which you incentivize the use of a gift card by giving another gift card upon arrival. Imagine getting a prospective member to the club through a gift card with funds toward a summer membership. Upon presentation and use of that card, that guest receives two free rounds of golf – no cart or caddie fees. An incentive upon an incentive.

In what is fast becoming a digital domain, private members clubs, boutique hotels and resorts are turning toward digital wallets. Rubin uses as an example a new pickleball facility within a retail mall. Through gift cards available throughout the mall, possible new members were enticed to the restaurant and retail store within the pickleball facility, adding revenue. And here’s a statistic we all know is true through our own use of gift cards: 90 percent of gift card users spend more than the value of the gift card. That’s found money for a hotel restaurant, private club food and beverage outlet. or golf or tennis pro shop.

Clubs are revaluating their marketing strategies. Through membership apps, newsletters, revamped websites and text and push communications, clubs should perhaps look at building already existing revenue streams, or possibly finding new ones, through the use of gift cards. Here’s why, and just how to do it – right here on the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast.

If you love our podcast – and we love our listeners – please feel free to donate to our BTB Podcast fund to help defray travel and recording costs. As we our in our sixth year of broadcasting, we are looking at expanding to a weekly release through the second half of 2025. Thank you for listening! Please donate here!

How did an international trade and finance student from Mexico come to head up Red Bank New Jersey’s Navesink Country Club’s Racquet Program? It’s a long and winding road, but one that is full of insights into the private members club industry.

Victor Vidal knew he was not suited to work behind a desk. As Navesink’s Director of Racquets, Vidal runs a year-round program boasting tennis, platform tennis and pickleball. With a team of 5 certified professionals and four collegiate players along with a retail manager, Victor is on the courts, but as his staff grows, his time behind that desk grows also.

Victor started his career at the famed Belle Haven Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. Belle Haven has one of the most active tennis programs in the country. Born in Mexico, he soon realized that yacht clubs can be a misnomer with racquets, rather than sailing, the main source of revenue after food and beverage. Racquets usually provides one of the biggest revenue streams at a yacht club – not always so at a country club, where racquets tends to be an add on, or an amenity, says Vidal.

Either way, whether its golf, sailing or racquets, family time is shortening the activity or experience at private members clubs. “One o’clock is pushing it…” says Vidal when holding a tournament. “Folks like to start at 8.30am and be done by 1pm and move on to family activities.” The era of weekend-long tournaments on the tennis courts at least, might be over.

Programming follows the same suit. Live Ball has become Victor’s most popular clinic program. It’s an hour and a half, non-stop tennis, which gets the member to hit “a ton of balls” in a short amount of time, fitting into their weekend schedule. And “105” will be the new focal point for the upcoming summer. With lights on the court, Victor has more social-focused clinic programming in the evenings with adult beverages to follow.

Although he doesn’t always enjoy his time behind the desk, Victor is limiting his hours on the court. He still relishes his time on the court. He enjoys mentoring his staff when he is off the court. He tends to look for those who want to stay in the industry as possible candidates. “I want them to move up and spread their wings,” says Victor. That’s how we make our industry better.

We might be booking our juniors for summer sleep away camp this March, but have we ever thought that a summer camp is really a private members club for kids?

From the red clay tennis courts, and all the maintenance they entail, through to the enormous food and beverage operation and the hiring of chefs and servers, a summer camp is similar to an elite private club.

Ramsey Hoehn, who returned in 2020 to his family’s business, brought his many years as a Head Tennis Professional and Director of Racquets to Windridge Tennis and Sports Camp in Roxbury, Vermont. His return marked a new era for the iconic camp, which caters to juniors from around the world. Ramsey’s experience at Nantucket Yacht Club and The Westmoor Club both on Nantucket, down to Jupiter Island Club in Hobe Sound, Florida helped him immensely as he took over the reigns of the junior sports camp.

Ramsey left the private members club industry after ten years as Director of Racquets at the famed Hay Harbor Club on Fishers Island. He moved to Vermont to take over the reigns of the family business only to find that Windridge is in fact a club for kids. Offering soccer, tennis, golf and equestrian activities, Windridge is known around the world as a leading sports camp.

The daily questions we ask ourselves over club communications – how often should we email our members? Is it possible or should we make the weekly newsletter shorter? How do we integrate the club’s website into our marketing strategy? – all these questions and more take center stage in this podcast with Club Design Studio’s fearless leader Danielle Chavez.

Communication is at the heart of a club – whether it’s members conversing with each other, staff and management promoting food specials or golf programming, or whether It’s marketing through email, social media and the club’s website. And, Danielle has her fingers on the pulse of all of these segments of communications.

Achieving club communications, keeping the portals where members consume their information, fresh and inviting while still adhering to a club-like tradition in terms of media, is not an easy task and it’s finding the correct mixture of creativity versus traditionalism that interests Danielle.

Danielle discusses the need for scheduling and creating an entire communications strategy based on researching and working with each club as every club is different. As Danielle says: “Get to know the club…” before you do anything, propose anything, or create any materials.

Let’s dig a little deeper and find out if hashtags are remain relevant for club communications. And we find the dangers in overusing Canva, the new In-Design for the lay creator, which is completely transforming art and communications not only for the private members club industry but across all commerce and business! And is it actually possible to create a template that doesn’t get stale over time?

Clubs far too often blend a position that encapsulates marketing, communications and even, sometimes, sales or new membership. But in reality, these are three very different roles, taking the individual in various directions. A common diagnosis for Danielle and her firm. In turn, Danielle’s firm supports clubs in trying to better communicate the club’s events, programming and membership news through these three, distinct areas, rather than the club having to appoint two new positions.

But now, during a week where Tik Tok might be the first major social media network to be banned in the USA, we investigate social media and private members clubs. Let’s talk fonts and point sizes in detail and strategy and calendar marketing at a macro level with the founder of Club Design Studio, Danielle Chavez.