The Land of Yes Yes

A renovation that touched everything from dining and clubhouse aesthetics to swimming, racquets and golf has Rockrimmon Country Club in Stamford, Conn. offering something for every member.

By Rob Thomas, Editor

In a world of excess and a “bigger is better” mentality, Rockrimmon Country Club in Stamford, Conn., sets itself apart by way of intimacy.

In particular, Rockrimmon has always been a little bit more of a casual club.

“We call it an intimate club in the country as opposed to being more formal and imposing as some clubs can be,” says

Club President William Aron. “I think that is the key to our extremely high level of member engagement and usage.

Part of the intimacy is the club’s scale, Aron notes. No activity is too far away so that the members are in close proximity and interacting with each other.

“Our Beverage Director Maurice Ryan would call our club the ‘Land of Yes,’” he says.

“You can run a bar with Casamigos [tequila] and Tito’s [vodka] these days, but this is, as I call it, ‘the Land of Yes,’” Ryan says. “If you want it, we’ll have it. And if we don’t, we’ll find a way to get it. And that’s kind of the ethos that we live by, the service we give here.”

“We are a very collegial community,” Aron adds. “Our members want to be together and they feel comfortable coming up here anytime, enjoying their club, in a relaxed atmosphere. The renovation only enhanced this culture.”

Time To Refresh

Aron, who has been at Rockrimmon for more than 40 years—originally as a child of a member, and for the past 25 years, as a member—is currently in his seventh year (fourth term) as President, having spent four years before that as Admissions Chair. He says Rockrimmon has always been known as a premier club with great food and a fabulous golf course, but over the years, tastes in décor had changed, as have the trends in country club living.

“There is no doubt that there has been an ‘arms race’ in country club renovations in our area, and we needed to react to that and up our game in our own way,” he says. “Being careful to protect our unique culture and not overbuild.

“In planning for our renovation, we were laser focused on maintaining that environment while reacting to the changing trends in the club industry,” Aron continues. “In particular, the demand for outdoor dining and socializing areas, which became even more important due to COVID-19, drove much of our vision.”

Similarly, as the membership became younger, there was a distinct desire for a clearly defined grill room and bar. Members wanted a more casual space to eat, with a bit more energy than in the main dining room. They also wanted to eat at the bar and watch the game.

In the process of planning, Aron says the club listened to all the membership classes and tried to react to different lifestyle desires.

“Ultimately, that is why the project has been so well received by our membership and why it has enhanced the already special Rockrimmon sense of community,” he explains.

At the outset, a survey helped pinpoint the membership desires. This pointed the club to six main areas of action:

• Create additional outside dining and socialization areas;

• Build a new grill room with dedicated bar;

• Re-imagine pools (regular and kiddie) to be more resort-like;

• Add a fourth tennis court and enhanced tennis viewing area;

• Redecorate the clubhouse as a whole / add elevator at entrance; and

• Continue hole-by-hole golf course renovations.

From this, club leaders knew the membership hot points and engaged Judd Brown of JBD & JGA Architecture to develop a preliminary design plan and budget. Wesley Stout Associates handled the landscape architecture.

“Once we had a vision statement and design book, the renovation plan went to a vote of membership,” Aron says. “At Rockrimmon, any capital assessment larger than $1,500 per member must be approved by two-thirds of the voting membership. This is a high bar, but the renovation plan passed by closer to 90%. All of the club stakeholders knew it was time.”

Challenges

The plan was approved by membership in June 2019 with an anticipated construction date of fall 2020.

“All summer and fall we refined the design and architectural plans and by mid-winter we were happy with the vision and began to prepare construction plans to bid out,” Aron explains. “Then the world began to shut down. Covid-19 hit and the world changed.”

In May of 2020, the Board of Governors of Rockrimmon made a brave decision. With COVID-19 emerging, they were at a crossroads. Should they build or should they postpone?

“We were truly heading into the unknown,” Aron says, “but as we took stock of the situation it seemed like we were given the perfect opportunity. All of a sudden, our outside event business evaporated so construction caused no loss of revenue, our members really didn’t want to be in the building so closure wasn’t an issue, and rates were extremely low.”

The club chose to build.

“Thankfully we bid our project out early enough so that the materials were ordered before the supply-chain crisis really took hold,” Aron says. “In fact, the entire project was completed in seven months – without any significant labor or materials disruptions. That is certainly a credit to our vision, but also to our construction manager Ashforth & Co., who did a fabulous job handling the tumultuous times and all the twists and turns in our plans.”

Finished Product

In all, the club added 3,500 sq. ft. of new patio space, which includes covered and uncovered dining as well as significant conversation seating areas and fire features and built a new grill room and bar approximating 2,000 sq. ft. Rockcrimmon renovated the front lobby to be more inviting and include an ADA elevator and redecorated the main dining room, lounge, card rooms and other common areas.

On the activities site, they replaced both pools and totally re-imagined the poolscape and kid’s areas and resurfaced the existing Har-Tru courts and added a fourth, which is bounded by a new set of viewing pavilions. Golf course renovations were tackled in the same renovation time frame.

“The renovation project touched most of the club and achieved exactly what it set out to do,” says General Manager Vincent Sofi. “Rockrimmon’s amenities are now polished and updated and the membership is cohesive and engaged.”

Sofi adds that the club will continue to improve the golf course (guided by a master plan and executed by David Fleury of Rulewich & Fleury Golf design) and will have completed a renovation of the third hole, adding new tee complexes and fairway bunkers, by this spring.

“Additionally, increased member