Zack Wygant, Quail Creek's New General Manager, to Oversee the Club's $18.5M Renovation

(NAPLES, FL) — Zack Wygant, recently promoted to the position of General Manager of Quail Creek Country Club, is now overseeing the club’s ambitious expansion and redesign project that broke ground in late 2018 and is scheduled for completion November 1, 2019.

Wygant has served Quail Creek as Assistant General Manager for the past year and a half and has 15 years’ experience in the club business. Originally from Fort Wayne, Ind., where he began
Quail Creek Country Club’s new General Manager Zack Wygant is responsible for completing the club’s $18.5 million renovation later this year.

Zack Wygant

Working at the prestigious Sycamore Hills Golf Club at age 15, he gained a strong background in club management as the club’s Food and Beverage Director. A sommelier in the Guild of Sommeliers, Wygant is actively pursuing his Certified Club Manager (CCM) designation from the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA). Throughout his career he has been involved in virtually every aspect of club management, including conducting nine national championships.

Wygant, whose new role at Quail Creek will include managing the integrated sports center—a concept unique to Southwest Florida—is focused on several initiatives related to the club’s $18.5 million renovation project, most notably:
• To differentiate Quail Creek as the best amateur/recreational player-support club in the area for the growing retirement market, and
• To enrich the lives of the club’s members through innovative, integrated approaches to physical activity, mental stimulation and social engagement so they become 100 percent heath- and wellness-minded.

As previously reported, Quail Creek, through its redesigned clubhouse facility, will offer a new cutting-edge approach—unique in country club settings—that blends dynamic fitness training with top-level golf, tennis and pickleball instruction, all in a user-friendly, socially active environment. In this major investment, the entire golf, tennis, fitness and leisure operations will be interfaced under
Already the new design at Quail Creek Country Club is grabbing attention across the country.

The innovative renovation will allow teaching professionals a 180-degree view of the golf and tennis practice facilities.

The direction of certified physical trainers working in concert with the club’s PGA, LPGA and USPTA instructors. Director of Golf Mike Dero, Head Golf Professional Jon Balyeat, and Tennis Director Jon Call will have a 180-degree viewing access of the golf practice tee and tennis courts to monitor instruction and fitness in consult with Fitness Operations Manager Teri Brodie.

As a result of the redesign and increased media exposure, the club is also experiencing a significant uptick in real estate activity. Julianne Callis, a realtor with John R. Wood Properties based in Southwest Florida, notes that the renovations to Quail Creek are creating a huge opportunity for those considering selling their homes and a big motivation for those who want to buy.

“When the renovations are complete, QCCC will be one of the hottest clubs in Naples, and now is the time to buy in its neighboring community," she says.

Quail Creek is seizing on a coming trend among country clubs, as identified by researcher Frank Vain, President of the McMahon Group, a private-club consulting firm. “Over the next decade, the average country club will look more like a sports center surrounded by a golf course,” Vain says. Or in the case of Quail Creek, two highly regarded 18-hole golf courses designed by Arthur Hills—the Quail and the Creek—which have each undergone extensive renovations over the past six years.

“We have taken a very aggressive fiscal and creative approach to position the club positively for generations to come,” says Quail Creek president Hedy Whitney. “Our mission is to enable our members to play better and longer at whatever sport or activity they choose.”