You can join a golf club or a tennis club. You can join a posh country club with a stuffy atmosphere that makes you feel intimidated. You can join a club with an excellent restaurant, or one with a great fitness center.
Or you can have it all - minus the stuffy atmosphere - at The Club at Flying Horse.
"The vision for this club was to build, first and foremost, a family club, and a family club that had resort services and amenities," says Fredo Killing, managing director of The Club at Flying Horse, located at 1880 Weiskopf Point at the north end of town.
And the list of amenities is long.
Two large buildings designed with an Old World flair -- complete with stone, stucco, grand fireplaces, cozy seating areas and high ceilings - comprise the Clubhouse and the Athletic Club and Spa.
"What we wanted to do was to build this very nice, very upscale (club), but a place that you felt welcome," Killing says. "So the interior design component was very important."
The Clubhouse is a hub for dining, golfing and socializing. Two restaurants offer the option of a casual dining experience or fine dining - The Tack Room and La Fortezza. Interestingly, they share the same menu, offering food that ranges from sandwiches to sea bass. The executive chef, Alec Schrader, is the former head chef for Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse in Denver.
"Our menu was difficult to pull off, because there's such a wide range," Killing says. "There's pizza, there's sandwiches, there's high-end items. It works; the members love it."
Golfers will enjoy easy access to the Tom Weiskopf Signature Golf Course, plus luxurious locker rooms and a golf shop. Both members and non-members can take golf lessons; the head golf professional is Glenn Wallace, who has worked in the past for the Castle Pines Golf Club.
"We even have an indoor practice facility for golf," Killing says. "You can practice all year round, and they're heated bays."
When the weather is warmer, doors can be rolled up to allow golfers to hit from the heated bay out into the range.
The Clubhouse also offers private meeting rooms, private dining areas, a ballroom, outdoor eating spaces, outstanding views and an extensive selection of wine in the four-story "wine tower." The Club hosts wine tastings and wine dinners regularly, and members can rent lockers on the bottom two floors of the tower, where their favorite wines will be stored and sold to them at normal retail prices.
The Athletic Club and Spa is in a nearby building, constructed with the same design aesthetics as the Clubhouse. There, members can work out on cardiovascular machines, hit the weight room, grab a snack at the snack bar in the winter, enjoy the grill in the summer, take an exercise class ... the list goes on.
Each machine on the cardiovascular floor has its own TV, allowing members to work out while watching whatever program they choose. The weight room equipment was carefully selected to be the best available from a variety of manufacturers, and then finished so it all matches. A muscle activation specialist can help members maximize the effectiveness of their workouts. Fitness classes include pilates, yoga, cycling, aerobics and more. Other available classes include CPR and babysitting.
"We had the concept of doing a lot of programs, because it's all about the experience," Killing says. "The experience is what the members take home."
Five bodies of water at the Athletic Club and Spa give every family member a place to splash - from the six-inch-deep pool for toddlers to the saltwater lap lanes to the play area with a slide for older kids. When parents want to work out on their own, they can drop off kids ages 5 months to 12 years at the Kids' Cabin for up to three hours a day. There, they will play games, sing songs or play outside in a special fenced play area.
Families with young children also have access to family changing rooms with showers and restrooms, so Dad doesn't have to worry about taking his 5-year-old daughter into the men's locker rooms.
The Club's spa is on the lower level, accessed via stairs in the men's and women's locker rooms or an elevator in the lobby. The spa offers a full range of services, including facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, couples massages and more.
Tennis courts are located just outside the Athletic Club and Spa, with hard courts outside, including one stadium court, and four red clay courts indoors. The head tennis professional, Richard Beard, came to Flying Horse from The Broadmoor Hotel and Resort. Numerous tennis classes are offered for members and non-members.
"We've probably got one of the largest tennis programs in Colorado Springs right now," Killing says.
The Club has worked hard to hire top-quality, friendly personnel who make the Club a fun, friendly place to work out and play.
"The people are very nice here, very welcoming," Killing says. "They're the reason the members come back, not the building."
Several membership levels are available, including a couple of trial memberships that allow people to try the place out for a while before deciding whether to join.
"People sometimes need to feel it, test it, kick the tires," Killing says.
Hopefully, those who test out The Club at Flying Horse will appreciate the club's mission: Creating a comfortable family club where people of any age can have a great time without feeling intimidated.
"It's not stuffy, it's just nice," Killing says. "People feel welcome here and they feel warm here."
For more information on memberships at The Club at Flying Horse, call membership director Wendy McHenry at 719-487-2601 or visit www.flyinghorseclub.com.
Author: Heather McDonnell
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