Private Club Radio Show

476: 16 Relationships Every Club Leader Needs

• Denny Corby

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To kick off 2026, Denny’s handing you a power list — the must-have relationships every club pro should be building now. Not just your board, not your team — we’re talking about your go-to people behind the scenes: your construction guy, your media contact, your legal lifeline, your “am I crazy or is this nuts?” text thread crew.

These aren’t vendors. They’re not consultants. They’re your professional brain trust — people you can count on for honest advice, better decision-making, and fewer messes down the line. From real estate to marketing to first responders, this episode is your relationship checklist (without feeling like homework).

Whether you’re a GM, AGM, event lead, or just someone who wants to grow in this business — this is your guide to leveling up in 2026.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the show where you get the scoop on life inside private golf and country clubs. I'm your host, Danny Corby, and each episode is a real conversation with club leaders, the pros, the people, and partners who help clubs thrive. We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing governance, and so much more. If you want practical ideas, better teams, and a club experience members actually feel and talk about, you're in the right place. Now, welcome to the show. This is the first episode of 2026 here on Private Club Radio. You may have noticed some brand new music, a little refresh, a little bit more energy, a little bit more life. That's what I'm trying to bring to the show and to life in 2026. But in this episode, I want to talk about something to get the year started, to get you thinking, to get you pondering, giving you something to sit on, something to noodle around in the brain. And that is relationships. And I'm not talking about your relationships with your team, with your board, with your members. I'm talking about the relationships you may or may not know that you needed, or the relationships that you may think you have, but you don't, or maybe you wanted to start a relationship with somebody in a certain industry, and now this is your reminder to do it. These aren't people that you are hiring necessarily. These aren't paid advisors, they're not paid consultants. This is almost like a brain trust, just trusted people that you can contact. You can call, email, snail mail, FaceTime, meet in person, and you can run something by them, and they will give you a hundred and ten percent real, honest advice and feedback that does not benefit them in any financial way. One of my favorite quotes is you are the sum of the five people that you spend the most of your time with. So this episode is not necessarily all these people that you should be spending time with, but these are just relationships that you as a club leader, as a club pro, you as the GM, AGM, assistant, whatever your position is, it doesn't matter. These are relationships I think that you should have or at least start building for your professional and personal career. Some of these will be obvious, others maybe not so much. But when stuff hits the fan, or you need a win, or you need some help, these are the folks that you'll be glad you have relationships with. So let's get to it. And this is in no particular order. We're going to start with construction and renovation people. A lot of us going through renovations, doing a lot of work, maintenance, updates. So much stuff is going on going on. So you need someone who has seen it all and been through it all. Underbids, overbids, shady contractors, a remodel that was supposed to be done last January. First, we're going to start off with construction and renovation pros. You need someone who has seen and been through it all. All the bids, the overbids, the underbids, the shady contractors, a remodel that was supposed to be done January of last year. You know what I'm talking about. A great construction contact is someone that you can run things by. You can run a quote by. You can send them pictures. You can say, hey, is this quote insane? Am I being overcharged? Is this being underbid? Which is actually a very important thing. When something seems too good to be true or too cheap, it probably is. So just having that trusted person in your corner who you can run construction things by. And just to get another set of eyes, maybe before you bring it to your board, before you sign the deal, it doesn't matter. Just someone to run another set of eyes to make sure everything looks good. Another great relationship is real estate pros, real estate agents, real estate brokers, mortgage people, anybody that has to do in and around real estate, because they're going to have all the info, whether it's booming zip codes, uh shift in maybe neighborhood vibes, right? Your local real estate friend knows what's coming, knows what's going, where people are at, what what the level is, right? What the temperature of the real estate water is in your area. They can help tell you what maybe new members are looking for, what's selling fast, what what's nearby, what's going on. And a great resource for all things real estate is our friends, Golf Life Navigators, Jason Becker, Golf Life Navigators. It is Zillow Meets eHarmony for golfers. If you want to learn more, head on over to golflifenavigators.com. Check them out. A great resource for private clubs in real estate. Another great relationship and connections that you should have. First responders, police, fire, EMS. Because you know what's better than a great 911 response? Knowing the fire captain before the fire, knowing the chief of police before you need them there. These folks are the heroes, yes, but they're also fantastic partners when it comes to community safety and hosting meaningful, important events too. Invite them to things, get them involved a little bit. A couple of years ago, I went to the NCA, did a club championship summit. And it was a really small event for clubs looking to hold championship events. And Colin Burns was there and did a really great talk. And I'm blanking on the name of the championship that he held at at his club, but it was right during 2020, like the the the juice of it all in 2020. And he had all these relationships with first responders and how much that played into how they were still able to make this event happen. Without those relationships, I think he said they that event would have not happened. So it's just super important. Get to know those people in your community. Now let's talk about entertainment. You need to have a trusted person in the entertainment field that you can ask for help finding different entertainment ideas. Who's a good entertainer for my club? What type of entertainment should we do? What's on the up and up? What's on the down low? What's not as popular anymore? Hey, even just someone who can fact check or give a little recommendation for a friend or say, hey, we're thinking about bringing this person in to entertain, what do you think? These types of relationships are crucial as club managers. And, you know, speaking of entertainment, if you're looking for some fun, great entertainment for your club, I I don't even know how this made on the list, but uh I myself, the Denny Corby Experience. Ah, shameless plug, as always. If you were, if you or your club is looking for one of the most fun member event nights, whether it's a member event night, a tournament, a golf outing, a member member, member guest, stag nights. I have one of the most fun member event nights, the Denny Corby Experience. There's excitement, there's mystery, also there's magic, mind reading, and comedy, a ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps. If you want to learn some more, head on over to dennycorby.com. Trusted by over 350 clubs. If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorby.com. Ah, now one of my favorite things, and I think this is where another really big important one, and that is marketing and tech. Another really important one is people in club marketing and tech, right? We all need that digital decoder. And we are good at clubs, but sometimes not always great at the marketing, at the branding, at the at the tech side of things. And sometimes you just need the outside help, an outside advisor to walk you through things, to help you with a challenge, or just to bring it to the next level. People who are good at websites, newsletters, social media, emergency comm mistakes, right? The whole jazz. Uh, I just want to do a quick plug for my buddy Sean Blyle at Members First. They do a fantastic job with all of their marketing and branding. They're also in relationship with Jonas. So they have just a great partnership, a great relationship there. We have our friend Melissa Hansen, who is a literal Marcom wizard for clubs. And we also have uh North Star, which has a really great product as well. So between those three, you're in really great hands. I could do a whole episode just on club tech, which actually between us, I did start doing. I chatted with all of the club tech software people and trying to make an episode for you all that encompasses everything. I gotta tell you, it is hard. It is so hard. I still might do it. Maybe I'll make it a challenge for this year, but it's tough because each club is a little bit different, each person's a little bit different, and everybody, no matter who you are, you just might have a relationship or a connection or just you might just love one product. So maybe I'll work on that for 2026. But anyway, having a good person in club marketing and club tech is killer. We should all have great finance, CPA, tax pros, five money people in your back pocket. That's probably lawyers and probably finance. You probably have to pay for a little bit. But regardless, you should have a friends, a connection, a good, solid relationship with somebody in this field that you can run a spreadsheet by, that you can go, hey, how can I present this better? What's wrong with this data? Just a trusted person in the finance world to help you with what you're working on or whatever issue you have going. Their languages excel, they know budgets, and they help you avoid landmines and see the full picture before the rest of the room does. And now, mind you, as club pros, you know, finance and numbers should you should understand and know all of that. But always having another set of eyes is killer. And if you actually want a masterclass, uh, check out episode 436 with Samantha Sheffield, uh uh She F O. Sheffield She F O. She is uh CFO turned AGM. I actually think she's AGM now, but she is absolutely rocking it. And that whole episode is all about clubs and finance and what clubs do wrong and right. Great episode, episode 436. And speaking of, you know, money and finance, not just for the club, you yourself should have a well, you know, some sort of personal plan, but you should have another relationship. You should have your own personal money person, someone that you can chat with. Maybe it's not your advisor, maybe it's not your person. It's that other person, that friend, that trusted relationship that you can say, hey, my advisor is telling me this. What do you think? Hey, I'm thinking about going from here to here. I'm gonna go talk to so and so. What do you think? Just another person. It's a not, you know, not some random investor trying to sell you 13 mutual funds with the side of Bitcoin and some more crypto. It's someone who gets you where you're going and helps you build your path and keep you on that path. Let's be honest, when if and when your career gets wild, your money shouldn't. Ooh, this next one is good. This is the fact checker and investigator. Have you ever been a little unsure about a member, a vendor, an applicant? Just, you know, your gut just goes, yeah, I don't know about this. Um, enter your go-to discrete research in fact checker, investigative person. You should all have somebody who's a great stalker. No. Uh, but you know, I just want to give a quick shout out to our friends, Kennis Member Vetting, because they do that for clubs extremely well. They have a separate business that does full background checks for employees, but they have member vetting. And because your members aren't applying for a job, it's a membership, they can do some really quiet vibe checks that can pull up, pull up some things. So if you are unsure maybe about a new member coming in, or you want to start taking your membership a little bit more serious and really taking control of your club's narrative, where it's going, the membership, the type of club and the vibe. And you want to start controlling who gets into the club, check out membervetting.com. And kind of along those same lines, you need great legal and HR people. I am far from your legal and far from your finance person, but you should have one. Just you probably don't even need anybody on retainer. I know legal gets a little bit weird with even asking questions to lawyers and stuff, but you should have somebody that you can just take, take a quick call and go. Hey, you know, figuratively speaking, if this was a situation, what would happen, you know, what would you do? Just having a trusted advisor. But seriously, you you don't want to wing that stuff. So uh don't trust me on that one. Now, up next is the people who you don't need them until you really need them. Whew, insurance. Make sure you have someone who knows how clubs work, how understands weird club events and clauses, and someone who won't ghost you when a pipe bursts. You know what I'm saying? I think for clubs when it comes to insurance and having that friend, that advisor, whether it's someone you use and or you don't, it's just, you know, more of that insurance consultant, that more cons consultatory, is that even a word? I don't even know. I'm gonna I'm gonna use it though. Say that, I'm gonna use it. Uh, but just someone who can oversee everything and really be that good advisor for you. And someone maybe just to look over some of your stuff. Now, this one is low-key really good. And this is your local chamber of commerce, your local city officials, and your local politicians. Listen, you don't need to become a lobbyist, but you should know who's making the calls, who's doing the zoning, the permits, the development, and the laws and the things that can affect you and your club. Also, those people are extremely well connected and they could open up doors or they can close doors and really help you not step on some landmines. A really great episode for this is episode 446 with Chuck Meerman uh out in California. And that's a great episode on just how this can impact your club leadership and your club in general and just your relationships in general more than you think. If you just checked out episode 473 a couple weeks ago, I had on my friend Julie Kraft, who is an expert at media. And this is where, you know, I think having great local media connections is huge. Uh, you know, your your local, uh, if you still have a newspaper here in Scranton, we still do. Uh, but your your TV, your newspaper, your mag, anything local media, and that's also now bringing into play influencers and people who have a say, who have poll in your community. Um, you never know when you're gonna need them. And you usually need them more than they need you, but you want to start those connections and those relationships earlier than later. And I won't tell you why, because you should go to episode 473 to learn more about it, all about media. We talk about this next one all the time in conversations on and off the channel. And that is getting into the schools, getting into high schools, getting into colleges, getting into universities, right? We have to start thinking long term. We have to start getting the youths into the club. So why not start building those relationships with those teachers, with those professors, with those educators, with those principals, so that when job fairs and different things pop up, they think of you, or you have that relationship and that connection in there to maybe start trying to get some employees to talk more about clubs and show what clubs can do as a career, but also in the community. You're investing in the future and maybe even your next grade hire. I think this one is really great. And that is a club peer, but not from your area. Right. Sometimes all we need is that one person who just gets it, right? Doesn't work for your competitor. They're not local, they won't judge panic texts and things like that. This is your your truth teller, your sounding board, your unofficial therapist. Uh just somebody not in your area of your club that that you can just bounce stuff off of, even though I know we're all not in competition for for clubs, but just someone outside the area that just knows and gets it uh is key. And kind of along the same notes, um another club pro, but a next gen club pro, right? Someone a bit younger, maybe in a different department, maybe even at a different club. Um about finding someone who's a little bit younger, a little bit hungrier, maybe a little bit sharper. And someone like that will help keep you, keep, keep your voice fresh, keep you fresh, keep you on your toes, keep your ideas relevant, and your Canva templates tolerable. Oh man. And last but not least, a great mentor or coach, someone who stretches your thinking, pushes you forward, pushes your boundaries, who makes makes your gut clench a little bit sometimes, putting you in those uncomfortable scenarios. But all of that is to help you grow, especially when it's tempting to coast. Because it gets real, real tempting to coast. So whether it's a retired GM, an executive coach, uh, or just someone who you deeply respect, this relationship, that right there is total game changer. And a good mentor and a good coach also has relationships usually with most of the people and most of the things that we just talked about. So even if you don't have it, they can at least point you in the right direction. So that's the list. It's not a checklist, it's not homework. Well, maybe a little bit, but just a little like, hey, you might want to start uh texting these people a little bit more. You might want to start building these relationships a little bit more. Start with who you know, ask for an intro. And if you're ever like, who do I talk to for this? Hit me up. I might just know someone. Or I might not, but I'll be happy to chat and be more than happy to point you in the right direction to get you the right answers. And if you're looking for the kind of person who brings energy, joy, and a little bit of magic to your events, well, uh, you got me, dennycorby.com. No, just too many shameless plugs. Uh, but that's this episode. I just wanted to share some different and maybe unique relationships and ideas that you maybe didn't consider for 2026 to kind of get you going in the right direction. That's this episode. I appreciate each and every one of you. Until next time, I'm your host, Denny Corby. Catch y'all on the flippity flip.

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Denny Corby

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