David V. Smith, president of Club Leaders Forum, explores the intricate details of the 2025–2026 Platinum Clubs of America election. This prestigious recognition program highlights the best private clubs across the country, encompassing categories like golf clubs, country clubs, city clubs, yacht clubs, and athletic clubs. They discuss the process, its meticulous criteria, and its impact on the private club industry.
How the Election Works
The election process is comprehensive, involving an advisory board of 16 industry experts and a third-party voting system to ensure fairness and transparency. The key steps include the following:
Advisory board ballot preparation:
Over 1,000 clubs are initially considered across five categories.
Clubs are vetted to ensure eligibility (e.g., private status, operational status).
The advisory board incorporates manager recommendations for new clubs or updates based on renovations or changes.
Preliminary and final ballots:
After the advisory board’s review, a preliminary ballot is distributed to club managers nationwide for feedback.
Final ballots are password-protected and distributed to eligible voters, including club presidents, CEOs, and general managers.
Scoring system:
Clubs are ranked by voters in tiered categories (e.g., top 3, top 10).
A points-based system determines the rankings, with safeguards to flag any anomalous or “rogue” votes.
Criteria for excellence:
Clubs are evaluated based on seven selection criteria:
Universal recognition
Governance and fiscal responsibility
Adapting to changing times
Member experience and service quality
Staff culture and engagement
Physical amenities
Overall commitment to excellence
Key Highlights from the Conversation
Transparency and integrity:
The election process is independently managed to prevent bias, with Club Leaders Forum maintaining a hands-off approach to tabulation and verification.
Submissions and innovations:
Clubs are invited to submit materials showcasing how they meet the seven selection criteria, which could include videos, presentations, or reports. Submissions help voters understand changes or improvements, even if they haven’t visited the club recently.
Celebrating excellence:
Once the results are in, clubs are celebrated with announcements, plaques, and videos. The recognition boosts morale among staff and members, creating pride in being part of a Platinum Club.
Opportunities for growth:
Clubs falling within five points of Platinum status earn “Honorable Mention” status, positioning them as strong contenders for the next election.
The Impact of Platinum Club Recognition
For many clubs, achieving Platinum status is a hallmark of excellence, validating their commitment to best practices and innovation. As David V. Smith noted, clubs with strong staff cultures and forward-thinking governance tend to excel, while those neglecting capital improvements or member experience may lag behind.
The election also reinforces the importance of a private club’s core mission—providing exceptional service, maintaining traditions, and adapting to evolving member needs. The process is a testament to the industry’s dedication to setting a high bar for private club standards.
Looking Ahead
With the announcement of the 2025–2026 Platinum Clubs of America complete, the focus now shifts to the next election cycle. Clubs have the opportunity to refine their offerings, align with the seven selection criteria, and aim for Platinum status in 2027–2028. As Smith eloquently stated, “The staff are the most important asset of any club, and their dedication is reflected in the election results.”
Congratulations to all the clubs recognized this year, and best of luck to those striving for future Platinum status!
Full Transcript
00:00
Dafne Canales
Welcome to the Club Leaders Forum podcast. I'm here with the president of Club Leaders Forum, David Smith. And David, the results have just been released for the 2025, 2026 Platinum Clubs of America election. Tell us a little bit more about how that whole election works, how it tell us all the exciting stuff.
00:28
David V. Smith
Well, the first exciting stuff is that the day after the election results are released, we close the office and don't answer the phones because we typically get, you know, anywhere from 50 to 75 people calling the office and they're either upset or they're happy. And we don't really control the election. We don't have anything to do with the election results. We don't control the vote. So you know, it's, you know, some clubs go up the list, some clubs come down the list, some clubs get on the list and some clubs go off the list. And it's, you know, it's really a result of how the peers in the industry elect to the club.
01:05
David V. Smith
So the way that it works is we have an advisory board at Club leaders forum of 16 members and they're from the golf club, country club, yacht club, athletic club and city club categories. So there are five categories of platinum clubs and in all there are 300 platinum clubs of America voted upon every year. So the Platinum Clubs of America are based of 300 clubs. There's 150 country clubs, there are 50 golf clubs, 50 city clubs, 30 yacht clubs and 20 athletic clubs. So in all there's a family of 300 Platinum clubs of America and any club that's voted within five points of being a Platinum Club, that club becomes an honorable mention for the two year period. So the election takes place in 2024 for the class of 2025, 2026. And the process begins with our advisory board.
02:00
David V. Smith
As, as I have mentioned in the past, the advisory board, 16 members from around the world from each category. Yacht clubs, golf clubs, country clubs, etc, and we create a ballot and the ballot's got, you know, more than a thousand clubs on it and they're in each category. And that ballot gets vetted by the advisory board first to make sure there are no clubs that are either closed or they've been sold or they've changed from private to public or public to private, whatever it might be. And clubs get added and clubs get deleted. Then that ballot is sent out to the voting body of the club managers around the country. It's called the preliminary ballot. And they Again, they get to opine on who's on the ballot or who should be on the ballot, who should be removed from the ballot.
02:46
David V. Smith
So the ballot gets vetted first by the advisory board and then by the managers. If the managers have a recommendation from around the country to add a new club because a new club got developed or a club got bought and has been renovated, they can make that recommendation. The advisory board then consider it. We don't have anything to do with it. They say, yes, they should be added, no they shouldn't be added. After doing some research and the ballot is finalized, then a third party sends out the ballot to the elect, to the voters and the voters. Each club gets two ballots. One for the GM general manager, CEO or CEO, and one for the president or commodore or owner of the club. And they tip, they get that confidential ballot, it's password protected.
03:31
David V. Smith
A third party manages the election official manages it for club leaders forum. And the, the voting period is about three weeks and each manager or owner or president can open their ballot as many times as they wish and they vote for clubs in each category. So let's just take country clubs, for example. If you believe Los Angeles Country Club should be number one, and you believe that Congressional should be number two, and you believe that Bel Air Country Club should be number three, you can vote them in the 1, 2, 3 spot. And with that you would get 100 points or that club would get 100 points for being voted by you in the top three spots.
04:16
David V. Smith
If you go from, if you vote clubs from 4 to 11, you might put the Vintage, you might put Addison Reserve, you might put Cherry Hills, you might put Ocean Reef, you, whichever, you might put Denver Country Club. Whatever you choose to put in 4 through 11 goes in that group. And with that you get 80 points. So basically you rank the clubs in clubs 1 through 3, 4 through 10, 11 through 25, 26 through 50, all the way down. And there's different points assimilated to each one of those rankings that you give it. So you have a total number of points and you divide that by the number of people who voted for you.
04:58
David V. Smith
So if you have 185 people vote for you and you've got X number of points, when you divide that number of points by 185, that gives your total points. And that's how the rankings come out. There are some ways that the election official looks for rogue votes. So if for example, a Club was number 138 last time on the the ballot, his voters Number one or number two or number three, then that gets flagged and it gets tossed out. So we do everything possible to try to make sure it's a fair, open, transparent election with no hanging chads and no, no, you know, no issues that might come back. We keep our hands off. Anything to do with calculations, tabulations. The results go from the election official to a, a third party who verify them to be true and collect.
05:53
David V. Smith
They send them to us and we print them. And that's the way it works. So, you know, prior to the election, on the ballot, clubs can make a submission and they submit on basically the seven selection criteria and they submit in various formats. It can be a video, it can be a PowerPoint, whatever it might be. It can be a, a PDF, if you will. And they say, here's how we address universal recognition. Here's how we address governance and fiscal responsibility. Here's how we address adapting to changing times. We've created kids facilities, we've changed our dress code. We've done various things to adapt to changing times. Sometimes they've done things to adapt to changing times by reinforcing traditions in the club because they've adapted to, not allow the club to change in a way that's.
06:41
David V. Smith
Their opinions are negative to the brand and the culture of the club. So the seven section criteria are used by each club making submission. Hundreds of clubs make submissions. Those submissions are put on the ballot along with the club's website, so every voter can click on the submission. See, I haven't been to Palm Beach Yacht Club for a long time. I wonder what's happening at the Palm Beach Yacht Club. So I can click on the website, I can click on the submission and I can see, even though I haven't been there for 11 years, I can see what's happened recently and that can influence the way I vote. We absolutely take a dim view of any solicitation. Managers and clubs are able to put up their submissions on LinkedIn or website or social media.
07:32
David V. Smith
But we take a very dim view or the board takes a very dim view of people soliciting or asking for votes through personal favors. So, so that's the way the election works. The, the, the 300 platinum clubs are announced. They were announced just a couple of days ago. You know, there are new clubs. Come on. There's clubs that have gone off and there's clubs gone up and clubs have gone down and you know, there's one such club that I, I won't name, but it relocated and went from a club to really a place for dining and a bar. And, you know, the results, you know, satisfying for me is it's a great club, it's a wonderful institution, but it's changed. What it was is no longer what it is.
08:20
David V. Smith
It's like a country club without a golf course anymore because it's a city club without all the facilities it once had. And it went down the list. And, you know, I'm sure that the president of the club and the general manager will understand that even though they're not happy about it. But you can't stay at the same level if you have a different facility and different experience for the members. So clubs go up, clubs go down. It's generally pretty consistent in terms of, you know, how the votes come in. There's, there's not huge disparity, as I understand it, of these rogue votes with people putting themselves number one or number two when they're really, you know, number 56 or 76 or 170 or 106. We've talked about not allowing the people to vote for themselves. So that's been a discussion which we'll discuss again.
09:11
David V. Smith
But it's one vote, obviously, or two votes if it's the present voting. And I think also it's really great we involve the presidents and the board because they, then they buy into the value. So when they actually become a platinum club, they participated, they've talked about it. And clubs all over the country, you know, they put their plaques up in the employee dining area as well as in the member area. So they really share it with the staff because at the end of the day, without the staff, you can't be a platinum club because the staff are the most important asset of any club. So, so the vote reflects that. And, and the clubs that really have the best staff cultures and the best staff programs and are the best places to work and other employer choice, they succeed.
09:58
David V. Smith
They, they always seem to do very well in the elections. Clubs that have neglected their deferred maintenance, neglecting their capital obligations to the club are still living 20 years behind the times, have governing bodies that might be serving personal agendas as opposed to what's in the best intro interests of the next generation. They don't typically do so well. So, you know, I go to hundreds of clubs and I see them, I don't vote, but I have an opinion. And as I look at the results, I say, you know, I validate that in my own Mind, I have very few questions about the validity of where clubs fall on the list, whether they be new clubs gone up or clubs that have gone down. So the election takes place.
10:45
David V. Smith
The announcement goes out of course initially digitally and then it's followed up with a printed announcement booklet which again we ask ourselves the question, do we continue to have this printed beautiful book in this new age of digital technology and paperless offices? And when we send out our surveys and ask the question, we don't get anybody that says you don't need the book. So the book is something the members like to read, they like to pick up. Clubs have multiple copies, they leave them in the locker room, they leave them in the, in the kind of reading areas, the libraries of the clubs and they're very well received. So we're excited about this year's platinum clubs, all 300. We congratulate those that fared better. We commiserated with those that fed not as well.
11:36
David V. Smith
The honorable mentions were within five points of becoming a platinum club. So there's about 150 of them in all categories. So they certainly have an opportunity in the next election which will take place in 2026 for the 20, 27, 28 class. This is 2526. They've got every opportunity of closing the gap and edging onto the list. And I can't tell you the pride that so many staff have of saying I work at a platinum club and I participated in this. And likewise the members and most club, we send out a video of congratulations that most club managers share with their club members. And it's a brief, you know, congratulations, you've made it, you've been acknowledged for being the best of the best and, and really demonstrating excellence, best practices in all of those seven selection criteria.
12:30
David V. Smith
And again the seven selection criteria is vetted all the time to make sure it remains relevant, current and obviously provides the best framework for the election.
12:42
Dafne Canales
Thank you. That's a very thorough explanation for a very thorough process that has been around for over 25 years. You know it works.
12:52
David V. Smith
Yes it does. Thankfully it works. And the best thing about it is we don't have anything to do it. And again, closing our office for the day after the election, it's a clubliest form public holiday because we just need to not get frank more not happy calls than happy calls, I will tell you. But again that's part of the responsibility.
13:17
Dafne Canales
Thank you, David.
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