Checking In
The Bay Club
REDEFINING SPORTS AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES ACROSS THE WEST COAST
By Jay Stuller
A former Division 1 volleyball player, Bradley Howard is now in his early 30s, living in an apartment in San Francisco’s Presidio and working in finance. Like many “aging” athletes, if you will, Howard grew concerned about physical conditioning, and missed the psychic balm of participatory sports.
After researching, he purchased a premium membership at The Bay Club, a sports, fitness, and active lifestyle company with 26 locations throughout California, Oregon, and Washington.
Within a five- to 20-minute drive, Bradley has access to four clubs in San Francisco, and four in Marin. Just across the Golden Gate Bridge, he had options to play basketball at Bay Club Marin in Corte Madera; swim or play pickleball at the Ross Valley Bay Club; or go further north to the venerable Rolling Hills Club in Novato, three of the four locales that comprise Bay Club’s Marin Campus.
Each club also has quiet areas in which members can do remote work. Indeed, after COVID-19 upended daily office routines, Howard found he could restructure his work hours and either log in from home or from one of the lounges. What’s more, he also found time for yet another sport at another Bay Club property — golf at the verdant and challenging StoneTree Golf Club in Novato.
BUNDLED ACTIVITIES
Founded in 1977, this San Francisco-based company has essentially reinvented the local health club. It not only offers its more than 150,000 members an option to access all 26 locations, but an ever-expanding range of innovative programming, services, and amenities. In buildings that average more than 100,000 square feet of floor space, it’s light years past any other club you can name.
Each location offers a variety of additional amenities, and within a short drive members have access to an even wider range. There’s aquatics, basketball, tennis, pickleball, squash, golf, childcare, meeting rooms, lounges, cycling, dining, after school events, family events, kids’ camps, locker rooms, Pilates, yoga, cross-fit, steam rooms, saunas, spas, hotel rooms, party space, high-altitude training, and even age-management programs, you name it … and most importantly, ample parking.
“Our business model is based on the idea that families often pay significant initiation and monthly dues for different memberships,” explains Ryan Burke, Bay Club’s chief revenue officer. “There might be one for a private golf club, another for hot yoga, for a childcare center, or for a swim team, or a tennis club. We’ve seen folks with eight to 10 different memberships.
“Our value proposition is that we consolidate those activities into a single membership,” he adds. “You could patronize one location or use a cluster of clubs within a 15-to-20-minute drive, which constitute an accessible ‘campus.’”
There are 10 such groupings between Seattle and San Diego, including Marin County, San Francisco proper, the East San Francisco Bay region, down the Peninsula through San Jose, several coastal cities near Greater Los Angeles, and San Diego. With so many locations, and more coming, members have the ability to use clubs while traveling up and down the West Coast.
“What many new members also find attractive is that we will have no assessments, and no food and beverage minimums,” says Burke.
Those categories are in three tiers: Sapphire, Diamond, and Platinum. Initiation fees range from $10,000 to $30,000, with monthly dues ranging from about $700 to $1,400. While the benefits in each group vary, all have access to a big bundle of lifestyle and sports options.
THE TROON EDGE
After buying StoneTree Golf Club about a decade ago, Bay Club has since added three other golf properties, including the formerly private Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, Boulder Ridge in San Jose, and Fairbanks Ranch in San Diego. And in a major expansion of the sport, Bay Club partnered with Troon in 2019.
In the top two membership levels, Bay Club golfers have access to all the benefits in the Troon Privé Privileges program, including discounted play at the more than 750 resort and daily fee courses managed by Troon. The program also includes play at the more than 100 Troon-managed private courses, for a remarkably modest fee.
Of course, tee times for outside play at Privé clubs are limited to only a handful each week, historically for members of other Troon-managed private clubs. “The four courses that we own can be booked by our members anytime as part of their membership straight though our app,” says Burke. “But Privé clubs are a great amenity when looking for a change of scenery while at home, and more importantly when our members are traveling and are looking for a place to play.”
INNOVATIVE & FLEXIBLE
“We want to be innovative, flexible, and growing in new locations where our members want to go,” says Burke.
The newest amenity members can enjoy is complimentary Recovery Zones featuring leading-edge treatments with gear more typically found in professional team locker rooms.
Recovery employs a row of HydroMassage Chairs, which combine water, heat, and vibration to promote faster recovery after an intense workout, or a warmup before starting. It’s complemented by a CryoLounge+, which uses deep cold to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. The Recovery Zone also has Hypervolt percussion therapy devices, useful for deep tissue injuries, and leg-length Normatec Compression Boots, to reduce muscle fatigue.
In addition to investing in recovery, Bay Club is expanding beyond the West Coast while enhancing member benefits and amenities for year-round use. Possible expansion plans include wintertime activities as they continue to move east, aiming to unify the active lifestyle brand. Bay Club is diversifying its offerings by planning to add ski and mountain options in the near future.
“Bay Club is dedicated to being where our members want to be and making it the ultimate destination for an active and fulfilling lifestyle,” Burke shares. “Expanding our offerings to match their interests ensures they have access to diverse activities and benefits, no matter the season or location.”
EASTWARD BOUND
Bradley Howard plans to soon move out of San Francisco and into the suburbs of the East Bay, near Lafayette and Orinda, in anticipation of a growing family. Bay Club is coming with him.
Not far away is a location in Walnut Creek, which boasts of family friendly classes, a Kid’s World, and a café with healthy dining options. Howard can also continue his burgeoning golf relationship, with Crow Canyon Country Club, just a 20-minute drive away in Danville, a private country club Bay Club brought into the East Bay Campus just last summer.
Concludes Howard: “It’s pretty cool that as our family grows, we’re able to keep this club as a part of our lives.”
For more information, visit: www.BayClubs.com
