Honors Golf Club Dallas re-branding itself as a golf-first, family-friendly club

by Minnie Payne

The club, which originated as Columbian Country Club in 1881, is eliminating most of the other country club elements, such as a swimming pool and tennis courts.

The Honors Golf Club Dallas, formerly Columbian Country Club, an immaculate 18-hole course and comprehensive practice facility located in Carrollton just north of Belt Line Road between the Dallas North Tollway and I-35, is to a lot of people a well-kept secret.

“When word gets out that this hidden gem of a golf course is open to men, women and young people and that the present initiation fee is only $30,000 with $595 monthly dues, we expect an influx of members,” said vice president Harold Kaye. “Honors is a family golf club.”

The club originated in downtown Dallas in 1881 and was formed by Dallas Jewish men who were excluded from other country clubs. In 1954 the club moved to its 227 acres of landscaped terrain surrounding a lake just north of Belt Line Road. In years gone by, the Columbian Club was a popular gathering place for social events and in the mid-1990s, reached a membership of 600-plus. The present membership is about 170.

Around 1984, other local golf and country clubs opened up to the Jewish community and Jewish members could join pretty much anywhere.

The club, open to everyone, will no longer have a swimming pool, tennis courts, or other country club type activities such as social events. Tuxedos and evening gowns are bowing to golf shirts.

Architect Vic Jones is finalizing plans for a new $5 million clubhouse which will have a full-service dining room, but a contractor has not been hired.

According to media person Steve Davis, Honors intends to provide an attentive, friendly staff, good food service and great practice facilities, but most of all, it’s all about golf.

“It’s a place where friends gather to play in an understated, unobtrusive environment,” he said. “And it’s a place to make new friends who share a common love for the game.”

Honors president Charles Zelazny said that the board felt there was a niche for the club to fulfill which would limit membership, open it to women and young golfers, and eliminate tee times.

“Since we’re capping membership at 325, you can basically play golf whenever you want,” he said. “We like to call it ‘unfettered golf.’”

Timothy Russell, 60-year-old Honors Golf Club CEO, has been in the hotel and country club business for 30 years, including three years at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in North Carolina.

“The Honors Golf Club is truly a golf club,” Russell said. “It’s a place for people to enjoy the game and want to play it as it was meant to be played.

“That’s what we are and that’s what we will always be.”