Once a club has decided that a contracted service is worth exploring, the questions change. Management is no longer asking whether to offer something. It is asking how the arrangement works day to day: who staffs it, where it happens, how members book, how they hear about it, how they pay, and what the club is still responsible for.
This article answers those questions with one concrete example. It uses Golf Stretch Academy’s (GSA) Country Club Wellness model as a practical example of how one contracted on-site wellness service can be structured. Other providers and clubs may divide responsibilities differently, so treat the example as a way to see the questions clearly, and put the same questions to any provider you consider. GSA wrote this article, and it is the example because it is the arrangement we can describe accurately.
The service in the example is professionally assisted stretching, a non-clinical wellness service. If that is new to you, What Is Assisted Stretching? explains it. If you are still deciding whether to employ staff, contract or blend, start with Fitness and Wellness at a Private Club: In-House, Contracted, or Blended?
What the Club Manages and What GSA Manages
In the Country Club Wellness model, responsibilities divide roughly as the table shows. The details are settled club by club, and a few items are shared.
| Responsibility | The club | GSA |
|---|---|---|
| Service approval | Approves the service through its own process. | |
| Space | Provides a clean, appropriate on-site space. It does not have to be dedicated to GSA. | |
| Equipment | Provides and manages the equipment needed to deliver the service. | |
| Staffing | Manages staffing. | |
| Scheduling and appointments | Decides with GSA which booking system is used. | Manages scheduling and appointments. |
| Member support | Provides member support. | |
| Service delivery | Delivers the service. | |
| Member awareness and introduction | Makes members aware of the service. | Can support the introduction, as agreed with the club: an on-site launch, a demonstration event, member communications and enrollment support. |
| Billing (GSA’s intended model) | Places the charge for the member’s selected package on the monthly club statement, collects the payment and remits the agreed amount to GSA. | — |
| Insurance documentation | Reviews it as part of the club’s own insurance and legal review. | Carries general liability and professional liability insurance and can provide a certificate of insurance. |
The shared items are where clarity matters most, so settle them in writing before launch.
A contracted service changes how responsibilities are divided. It does not eliminate the club’s role. Someone at the club still approves the service, provides the space, introduces it to members, handles the billing step and reviews insurance documentation, and a named person at the club still owns the relationship.
Space and Equipment
The club provides a clean, appropriate on-site space with enough room for a stretch table and a practitioner to comfortably serve a member. The space does not need to be dedicated exclusively to GSA. GSA provides and manages the equipment needed to deliver the service.
Because the space can be shared, the practical questions are about how it will actually be used:
- Availability. On which days and at what times can the space be used, and what else is scheduled there?
- Access. How do members get to it, and can they find it easily?
- Privacy. Is it suitable for one member and a practitioner, without being walked through or overheard?
- Storage. If equipment needs to be kept on site between sessions, where would it go? Settle this with the provider.
- Competing uses. What happens if another club activity needs the space at a time the service is scheduled?
- Member flow. Does the location fit the way members already move through the club?
Do not decide on room dimensions from a general article. Walk the space with the provider and agree what works.
Staffing and Practitioner Questions
In this model, GSA is responsible for staffing and practitioner scheduling. The club still needs to be comfortable with who will be working with its members.
This article does not list practitioner credentials or training requirements. A club should ask any provider about them directly, and GSA is no exception. These are the questions to clarify:
- Who delivers the service?
- What qualifications are required?
- How are those qualifications verified?
- Who supervises the practitioners?
- What happens when someone is unavailable?
- Who is the club’s contact if a concern arises?
Get the answers in writing and keep them with the agreement. Fitness and Wellness at a Private Club: In-House, Contracted, or Blended? has a longer list of questions for any provider.
Scheduling and Booking
GSA can handle booking in either of two ways. It can use its own booking system. Or it can integrate with the club’s existing scheduling platform, when that platform can support the service.
When it is practical, GSA prefers to use the club’s existing system. That keeps booking inside a system members already use and fits the service into the existing member experience. Not every club system will support this, and whether yours can is something to confirm with the provider before you plan around it.
Either way, the club and the provider need to decide a few things together:
- Where members book. In the club’s system, in GSA’s, or through some combination.
- Who manages appointment changes. Rescheduling and cancellations need a clear owner.
- How availability is displayed. What members see, and where.
- Who members contact with booking questions. One clear answer is better than two.
In the example model, GSA manages scheduling, appointments and member support. The club’s part is to decide which system is used and to make sure members know where to look.
Introducing the Service to Members
Members need to know the service exists, what it is, and how to enroll. GSA can support the introduction with an on-site launch, a demonstration event, member communications and enrollment support. The exact format can be adapted to the club, and GSA does not require a particular launch format or schedule.
Management has its own questions to answer, whatever the format:
- Which members need to hear about it? Everyone, or a particular group?
- Which club channels will be used? Newsletter, email, signage, an event, the front desk.
- Who approves the communication? Follow the club’s own process for member communications.
- How will members learn what the service is and is not? What Happens During an Assisted Stretching Session? describes a typical session, and the scope section below describes the boundary with clinical care.
- How will interested members enroll?
For more on testing interest before a launch, see Country Club Amenities: How Management Decides What to Add.
How Member Billing Can Work
Billing is the part of this model that differs most from a typical vendor arrangement, so it is worth stating plainly. In Golf Stretch Academy’s intended model:
- The member selects a GSA package.
- The club places the applicable charge on the member’s monthly club statement.
- The club collects the member’s payment.
- The club remits the agreed amount to GSA.
This is Golf Stretch Academy’s intended club-statement model. Billing arrangements can differ by club and provider, and this is not a universal private-club practice.
This article does not cover pricing or the financial terms between the club and GSA, which are for the club and provider to agree. Before launch, the club’s finance team should understand its part of the process, including how charges are posted, how members can ask questions about them, and who handles exceptions.
Insurance, Waivers and Scope
These three are related but separate. Keep them separate when you review the arrangement.
Insurance
GSA carries general liability insurance and professional liability insurance, and it can provide a certificate of insurance. A certificate is a useful starting document, but it is a summary. RM Magazine describes a certificate as issued for information only, conferring no rights on the certificate holder and reflecting coverage only as of the date it was issued. It does not replace the club’s own review. The club’s insurer and counsel should look at the coverage and the agreement, and decide what the club needs.
Waivers
Participating members sign a waiver once, during initial enrollment. A new waiver is not required before every appointment. Whether a particular waiver meets a club’s needs is a question for the club’s counsel and insurer.
Scope
GSA provides professionally assisted stretching as a non-clinical wellness service. GSA does not diagnose injuries, provide physical therapy or treat medical conditions. Members with injuries, medical concerns or conditions that require clinical care should consult an appropriate healthcare professional. Assisted Stretching vs. Physical Therapy explains the difference in more detail.
Questions Management Should Settle Before Launch
Copy this into a document and work through it with the people involved. Approval paths vary by club, so the right people to involve may be a department head, a committee, the board or some combination. A line you cannot answer yet tells you what to settle next.
| Item | Question to answer | Your notes |
|---|---|---|
| Approval | Has the service been approved internally, through the club’s own process? | |
| Space | What space will be used? | |
| Availability | When is that space available, and what else is scheduled there? | |
| Booking | Which booking system will be used? | |
| Relationship owner | Who owns the relationship at the club? | |
| Member communication | Who approves communication to members? | |
| Enrollment | How will members enroll? | |
| Billing | How will member-statement billing be handled, and who at the club owns that step? | |
| Insurance | Who reviews the insurance documentation? | |
| Qualifications | What practitioner qualifications will the club require or verify? | |
| Coverage | What happens when a practitioner is unavailable? | |
| Review | How will the club and provider review the arrangement? | |
| Open items | What remains unresolved before launch? |
If your club is exploring professionally assisted stretching as an on-site member service, you can see how Golf Stretch Academy structures its Country Club Wellness program.