Big Canoe Amenity Memberships: The À La Carte Cost Structure

The Core Structure: POA Dues vs Amenity Memberships

Every Big Canoe property owner pays the annual POA assessment. That is mandatory and not optional. The POA assessment funds the community gates and security, the road system inside the 8,000-acre property, the community water and wastewater utilities, the lakes (Lake Petit, Lake Sconti, Lake Disharoon) as common-area assets, and the POA administrative operations. The POA assessment also services the $15 million Wells Fargo credit facility funding the "Renew Big Canoe" capital improvement initiative.

What the POA assessment does NOT fund: the championship golf courses, the racquet sports complex, the wellness center and fitness facility, the swim club and pool facilities, and the fishing program at the lakes. Each of these amenities operates on a membership model — you pay separately, monthly, for access to whichever amenity categories you actually want to use. A property owner who never plays golf pays nothing for golf. A property owner who plays golf four times a week pays full golf membership rates throughout the year.

This model differs from a traditional country club community structure where a single mandatory club membership grants access to all on-property amenities. It differs from a resort lake community where amenities are bundled into the POA dues. Big Canoe charges separately for each amenity, gives buyers full choice over which to subscribe to, and lets owners adjust their amenity mix over time as their life situation changes — within the 12-month minimum commitment rule for each membership.

The Five Amenity Categories

Golf

Big Canoe operates two championship golf courses: the Choctaw Course and the Cherokee Course. Together they form the centerpiece of the community amenity offering and attract many of the community's most engaged residents. Golf membership grants access to both courses, the practice facilities, the golf club restaurant, golf events and tournaments, and the social calendar that the golf community organizes around the courses. Confirm current monthly golf membership rates with Big Canoe POA membership services directly — rates are adjusted periodically and vary by membership category (single, family, junior).

Racquet Sports

The racquet sports complex includes tennis courts, pickleball courts, and the related programming. Racquet membership is purchased separately from golf and includes court access, club programming, lessons (typically at additional per-session cost), and the social events organized around the racquet community. Pickleball has grown significantly in recent years at Big Canoe, mirroring the broader trend in mountain community amenity demand. The racquet membership rate is meaningfully lower than the golf membership rate, making it the most accessible structured amenity for residents who want active programming without the golf commitment.

Wellness

The wellness center includes the fitness facility, group exercise classes, personal training programs, and the wellness programming the staff coordinates. Wellness membership grants access to the fitness equipment and group classes; personal training is typically billed separately per session. For year-round residents who want a fitness facility within the gate rather than driving to a Pickens County gym, the wellness membership is the most consistently used amenity month-to-month — fitness habits do not have the seasonal compression that golf and racquet sports do.

Swim

The swim club includes the community pool facilities and Lake Disharoon, the small community lake reserved exclusively for swim club programming. Swim club membership grants pool access, lake swim access, and the social programming around the swim community — particularly active for families with children and during the summer season. Swim membership is the most family-oriented of the five amenity categories and tends to skew toward households with children rather than retiree couples.

Fishing

The fishing program manages fishing access to Lake Petit and Lake Sconti for member anglers. Fishing membership grants access to the lakes for fishing, participation in community fishing events and tournaments, and the catch-and-release program that the POA uses to manage the lake fishery. For property owners whose primary interest in Big Canoe is the fishing experience on the community lakes, the fishing membership is the relevant subscription rather than the broader recreational categories.

The 12-Month Minimum Commitment Rule

Every Big Canoe amenity membership operates on a 12-month minimum commitment. When you subscribe to golf, racquet, wellness, swim, or fishing, you commit to twelve months of billing — not a month-to-month arrangement that you can cancel at any time. This is a meaningful financial commitment per category, particularly for buyers who are uncertain whether they will actually use the amenity at the level they expect to use it.

The implication for new buyers: do not impulsively subscribe to all five memberships in the first month of ownership. Subscribe to the amenities you will definitely use throughout the first year. Add additional memberships in later years as your usage patterns develop. Buyers who subscribe broadly at purchase time and find they are not using two or three of their memberships are obligated to continue paying through the 12-month commitment period regardless.

This is one of the most consistent sources of buyer frustration in Big Canoe communications. New residents excited about the community subscribe to multiple amenity packages assuming they will use them all, then realize after three or four months that their actual usage pattern is concentrated in one or two categories. The 12-month minimum eliminates the ability to right-size the membership mix until the next cycle.

The Non-Transferability Rule and Why It Matters

When a Big Canoe property sells, the seller's amenity memberships do not transfer to the buyer. The buyer who purchases the property must subscribe independently to whichever amenities they want and start a new 12-month commitment cycle from the date of their subscription. This non-transferability rule has two important implications:

First, it means the seller's remaining months of paid amenity membership do not have transfer value at closing. If the seller has nine months remaining on a paid annual golf membership, the buyer cannot "assume" that membership. The seller may negotiate compensation through the purchase price for transferred amenity value but cannot transfer the actual membership.

Second, it means the buyer's amenity costs begin at closing rather than transferring from the seller. A buyer planning to use the community as a golf-active residence needs to budget for full golf membership initiation and the first year of monthly dues, starting with the closing date, in addition to all other Big Canoe ownership costs.

How to Approach the Membership Decision

For new Big Canoe buyers, the practical recommendation is to subscribe conservatively in year one. Start with one or two amenity memberships that you know you will use — typically wellness for year-round residents who value the fitness facility, plus either golf or racquet sports for residents whose specific interest is in that category. Live the community for a year. Observe how your usage actually develops. Add memberships in year two for amenities that you found yourself wanting to use and could not.

The buyers who get the amenity mix right tend to use the community most extensively long-term. The buyers who over-subscribe at the start tend to develop ambivalence about the cost structure and sometimes become the most vocal critics of the POA fee structure. Approaching the amenity decision with the same discipline you would bring to any other multi-thousand-dollar annual commitment produces the most sustainable ownership experience at Big Canoe.