The Preferred Program is the Preferred Way to Golf

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

T’S EASY TO SEE WHY golfers at The Resort at Pelican Hill® feel as if they belong to a private club. The genteel hush upon arriving, the gracious greeting by staff members, the swift, seamless transfer of bag to cart, and the gleaming baskets of dimpled range balls speak volumes about the Resort’s respect for the game and its players.

For participants in Pelican Hill Golf Club’s 12-month-long Preferred Program, that experience is heightened by the relationships that form between players and staff. If a participant favors the Ocean North over the Ocean South Course, the pro shop, cart attendants and starters know it. If a player likes to keep an extra towel on hand, she will find it, folded and waiting, in the cart. And, if I generally start my round with a good luck bloody mary with an extra splash of Tabasco, then that is exactly what will be delivered. (I might even pair it with the Bump-and-Run burrito special from the course’s Caffè II.)

The Preferred Program, which operates on a 365- day, rather than calendar, basis, also rewards golfers with generous discounts on greens fees. For an annual enrollment of $700, players have unlimited access to both courses for $205 per round, a savings of $115 over the standard rate. They can invite up to three guests per round at the reduced rate of $235 per person.

“Preferred golfers are our most frequent guests, so we make it a priority to elevate their time on and off the course,” says Robert Ford, PGA general manager of golf operations at Pelican Hill Golf Club.™ “The staff is so familiar with the participants that it isn’t uncommon for us to recognize a golf bag before the guest walks through the door.”

Arin Rouse, a Corona del Mar resident and longtime Preferred Program participant, wouldn’t have it any other way. “They don’t just recognize you; they know you,” he says. “When I walk in, it’s ‘Hello, Mr. Rouse. How are you doing today?’ And everything I need is in my cart, ready to go.”

The Club recently introduced a fleet of 160 electric golf carts, each with a GPS device that displays realtime yardages to the pin, bunkers and other hazards. “When you’re standing on the tee, you know how far that bunker is or how far you need to hit your shot to clear the water,” says Ford. “It speeds up play and it’s a great amenity for our golfers.” Even the beverage carts come equipped with GPS, enabling drivers to pinpoint golfers and reach them as quickly as possible.

And then there’s the setting. The two Fazio courses boast Pacific Ocean views on all 36 holes, while Pelican Grill, adjacent to the pro shop, looks out on sweeping water vistas framed by lofty Palladian columns. With buttery leather swivel seating, two 9-foot television screens and the most authentic Italian pizza oven in town, it would be a shame to miss out on the proverbial 19th hole.

For Pelican Hill Golf Club’s nearly 800 Preferred Program members, it all adds up to a golf experience that is hard to match, and easy to get used to. The only problem with joining, says Ford, is deciding which course to play first and whom to invite.

^{For information about all Preferred Programs, please call 877.624.6035.}