THOUSAND OAKS : Golf Clubs May Let Non-Residents Join

The Thousand Oaks City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to open the Men’s and Women’s Clubs at the Los Robles Golf Course to non-residents.

Women’s Club President Dodie Heitmeyer asked the council to consider allowing non-residents to join her organization, which holds golf tournaments every Tuesday morning.

While non-residents who have belonged to the club for years can retain their membership, any woman golfer interested in joining as a new member must live in Thousand Oaks.

Since the city implemented that policy 18 months ago, the club’s membership has dropped and officers are finding it difficult to recruit new members, Heitmeyer wrote in a letter to Mayor Elois Zeanah.

But Councilwoman Judy Lazar, a member of the city’s golf course committee, said she sees no reason to change the policy.

“If there isn’t an interest in the club, there isn’t an interest,” she said.

The decision to require all new members to prove residency came about, Lazar said, because the Men’s Club had been monopolizing weekend tee times and was causing “real concern and aggravation in the community.”

To solve that problem, the city asked the Men’s Club to reopen its doors to new members and to accept only city residents.

The Women’s Club was required to follow the same policy.

Also, the Men’s Club tee times were restricted to one Saturday a month.

The Men’s Club now has about 100 members, and the Women’s Club has about 50, Lazar said.

Dues for either are roughly $100 a year, she said.