updated Westwood Country Club with a redesigned golf course

Forget tee times - in recent years private clubs in the United States have dealt with budget battles, dwindling membership, and even lawsuits. In the last five years the economic downturn has forced scores of Americans to relinquish their memberships rather than pay average annual dues of $7,000 and initiation fees that can range from $5,000 to $500,000.

"This debate is playing out at every single club," says Steve Graves, founder of the consultancy Creative Golf Marketing. "More seasoned members inevitably resist change, but the clubs flourishing today are more casual, more family-friendly and more women-friendly."

Ask the 36 members of Pinnacle Peak who sued the club to recoup some $1.5 million they say they are collectively owed. After close to 70 members left during the recession, the club changed its Mizuno MP-68 Irons bylaws in 2011 to end quick payments for departing senior members. That lawsuit was dismissed in March, but similar litigation has been filed against other clubs from Arizona to Florida.

Potential new members are finding updated facilities where they can spend weekends with family and friends at very discounted prices. As Graves puts it, "Clubs are really offering members more for their money than ever before."

With few exceptions, clubs that survived the recession have undertaken sweeping makeovers, often pitting long-held traditions against the need to attract the next generation of members. Enticements often include state-of-the-art fitness or business centers, children's programs, gourmet dining and even relaxed rules.

While the county's most renowned taylormade burner superfast 2.0 fairway wood clubs - think New Jersey's Pine Valley or California's Cypress Point - remain out of reach for all but a select few, many clubs are still struggling to regain their financial footing despite the slowly improving economy.

Senior members, however, were less convinced. As the vote to proceed neared back in 2010, they questioned whether, given the economic climate, the club could afford to take on new debt. They doubted the proposed $50 per month dues increase would be enough to help pay for the project while revenue was lost during construction. A few members threatened to quit.

According to the National Golf Foundation, about 160 18-hole private and public golf courses closed in 2011. Country clubs saw sales - new memberships - shrink nearly 1 percent during the last two years on top of losses racked up during the recession, according to financial research firm Sageworks Inc.

As a result, clubs that once offered membership by invitation only are advertising markdowns on initiation fees or eliminating them and lowering annual dues. Others are featuring trial memberships with money-back guarantees, or they have opened their courses to the public, charging a per-day fee for a round of golf and use of the facilities. "We're seeing a serious price correction," says Jim McLaughlin, senior vice president at Troon Golf, a club-management group based in Arizona.

In Arizona, the Pinnacle Peak Country Club is offering potential members between the ages of 35 and 45 the option of putting down a fully refundable $5,000 deposit for a one-year trial discount golf clubs membership before committing to a $35,000 initiation fee. Monthly dues are reduced 75 percent.

Enticing as these offers might be, a contract is a contract, and it should be carefully read. Dues can increase. Extra charges such as food minimums or cart fees can add up.

Consider the Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine, California, where the original initiation fee of $300,000 was reduced to $125,000 in 2011. Myrtle Beach's exclusive Members Club has cut initiation fees to $12,500 from $45,000 in 2005. Shaker Ridge Country Club in Albany, New York, has waived its $6,000 initiation fee through June.

Some clubs refund some or all of an initiation fee if a member leaves, but it can take several months or even years before the money is repaid.

Such fees are used to pay down debt or for capital projects, Graves notes. Without them, a rundown club will stay that way, or members can expect assessments when funds are needed.