GolfNewsRI

Valley Country Club General Manager Melodi Caruso opened up about the state of the club, and its decision to go semi-private, on the newly launched Jobs and Work Podcast this past week. 

Watch the Podcast Below

As GolfNewsRI reported, Valley is becoming a semi-private club for the 2021 season, and its restaurant is already open to the public. 

“There had been talk about it for a long time, so they (members) weren’t shocked by it. Members who didn’t want to do it left, and I’m good with that,” said Caruso on the podcast. 

She unveils that Valley lost about 100 members due to the decision to go semi-private.

“We typically have 30-40% turnover every year, which is typical for a country club. Last year, we raised our dues and we lost 115 members. We actually lost more from bringing our price up, than we did from going semi-private,” Caruso adds. 

Caruso joined the podcast after a Spring, Summer and Fall of speculation about the future of the club, as GolfNewsRI reported. 

The Jobs and Work Podcast is a newly launched media with Work 4 Change. They are just seven episodes in.

Caruso’s Road to Valley GM

Early on in the podcast, Caruso described her road to the General Manager job at Valley Country Club. 

From starting as a waitress at Alpine Country Club to the Director of Sales at Alpine and now the General Manager at Valley. 

“When I was promoted to General Manager, that was a huge honor for me because they hadn’t had a General Manager here in years. There was club manager, which I was when I was hired, and the board,” Caruso said. 

She discussed the challenges of being a female General Manager, “I had Board members that quit the board and actually quit the club last year because they said I had too much control, well I’m the General Manager. If I was a male I think it would be different.” 

Caruso also talked about the challenges that the coronavirus has presented, and gave advice to anyone interested in following in her footsteps.

Check out the Podcast Below