Reunion Golf & Country Club changed hands in June, and most of what Reunion residents see from the cart path still looks the same this fall. That fits how the buyer says it works. Evergreen Partners has described a set order for its clubs. It starts with staff and systems, then member conversations and long-standing complaints. Larger building and course projects come only after the company settles on a five- to ten-year plan for the club.
Four months in, the clearest way to read Reunion is by which of those stages the club has reached.
What Changed Hands in June
On June 12, 2026, Evergreen Partners announced that it had acquired Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison. The release describes the club as sitting on the historic Annandale Plantation, covering 2,100 acres, and centered on a 33,000-square-foot clubhouse.
Founders Kristie and David Nutt developed Reunion and chose Evergreen to keep running the club and to oversee its future development, Club + Resort Business reported on June 17. That trade publication quoted David Nutt saying, "Evergreen Partners stood apart from the moment we first spoke with their team. Their long-term investment philosophy, respect for club culture, and passion for the member and employee experience gave us confidence that Reunion's best chapter is still ahead."
The same article quoted Evergreen founder and CEO Matthew Hobbins. "We look forward to investing thoughtfully in the golf experience, the amenities, and the people who make this club extraordinary," he said. Club + Resort Business added that Evergreen planned to invest while keeping the culture and community the founders built.
The founders picked the buyer, and both sides talked about keeping the club's culture. That shapes how the months after a sale like this tend to go.
Who Evergreen Is
Evergreen describes itself as a golf and country club owner and operator built on hospitality, long time horizons, and a staff culture of shared ownership. Reunion is one of four clubs on its portfolio page:
- Blackthorn Club in Johnson City, Tennessee
- Governors Towne Club in Acworth, Georgia
- Somerby Golf Club in Rochester, Minnesota
- Reunion Golf & Country Club in Madison, Mississippi
For a company with plans to grow, four clubs is a small group. In a February 2026 interview with Club + Resort Business, Evergreen president Tom Hogan said, "The goal is about five acquisitions per year." In the same breath he said he wanted to "onboard clubs properly and get the foundations in place before moving too fast." Hogan joined Evergreen as president the previous December. He came from Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Augusta National, and private club development and operations.
That interview ran about four months before the Reunion deal, so it describes Evergreen's general approach, not a plan written for Madison. It is still the clearest public account of what the company does after it buys a club.
The Order Evergreen Says It Works In
In that interview, Hogan described the stages after a purchase in a clear sequence:
- People first. "Job number one is developing the people," Hogan said. "Training them, helping them understand service standards, and building leaders inside the organization."
- Systems behind the scenes. Evergreen aligns back-office and hospitality systems across its clubs "so information flows cleanly across the organization." Hogan said this gives consistency without taking away a club's ability to run day to day.
- Listening. Hogan said he walks each property with its department heads, and had been talking with members, with town halls coming up. "I want to hear directly from them, too," he said.
- Quick wins. "There are always quick wins," he said. "Things members have been frustrated about for years. You fix those first."
- Long-range capital planning. Larger spending comes only after the company decides how the club should be positioned over five or ten years.
The first three stages happen mostly out of sight. A training program, a new accounting system, or a walk-through with the superintendent does not change what a member sees on the ninth green. Hogan called Evergreen's early priorities "operational rather than visual."
"We start by asking, 'What does this club want to be when it grows up?' That might be a five-year or 10-year view."
"Once you understand where the club should be positioned, then you can start thinking about capital in a more methodical way," Hogan continued. "Governance matters." By that timeline, a major clubhouse or course project would come after Evergreen settles on its long-range plan for Reunion, not within the first season of ownership.
Who Runs the Club Day to Day
For members, the people they deal with every week matter more than the corporate structure above them. The club's Meet Our Team page currently lists these leaders:
| Role | Listed on the club's site |
|---|---|
| General Manager | Steve Windham |
| Head Golf Professional | Christian Gutierrez, PGA |
| Golf Course Superintendent | Charley Crell, CGCS |
| Director of Food and Beverage | Jonathan "JC" Carlin |
The page does not say when each person started. If Evergreen holds to "job number one is developing the people," this group would get the training and service-standards work Hogan described.
The membership page currently lists two categories, Reunion Premier and Reunion Fit, and each is offered to both residents and non-residents. Anyone weighing a membership decision this fall should take questions about terms straight to the club office, since that page is the published record.
The Social Calendar Kept Moving
The sale closed in June, and the club's event schedule carried on through the summer. Reunion booked comedian Ellen Skrmetti for August 13, 2026. Member ticket sales opened Thursday, July 23, and public sales opened Monday, July 27. The event page reports that the show sold out.
Members got first access to tickets, the public got a later window, and the room filled. The club ran that show in its first summer under new ownership, while the work Hogan calls foundational would have been underway.
Where Quick Wins Could Land at a Club This Size
Hogan's "quick wins" stage carries the most weight in his sequence. It is the first point where members see results, and he defines it by what members have wanted for years, not by what the owner wants to build.
At Reunion, those changes could land almost anywhere, because the club covers so much. Club + Resort Business listed the amenities in its acquisition report:
- A Bob Cupp-designed championship golf course
- A 33,000-square-foot clubhouse with five dining venues
- Nine Har-Tru clay tennis courts and four pickleball courts
- A Junior Olympic-sized swimming pool
- A spa and fitness center
- Equestrian facilities
- Miles of walking and nature trails
That is a long list of facilities, each with its own staff and its own regular users. A small fix at the courts, a menu change in one of the five dining venues, or trail upkeep would all count as quick wins in Hogan's terms. In Hogan's account, fixing those long-standing frustrations comes first. "Then you can have more meaningful conversations about the future," he said.
Hogan also tied all five stages to one principle. "Each club needs to be who it is," he said. "But there also has to be a core level of service and product that defines what Evergreen stands for." He described the company's ownership model just as plainly. "This isn't about buying, flipping, and exiting. It's about owning, improving, and building something that lasts."
Four months after the sale, the first public signs of Evergreen's plans at Reunion will likely be small fixes to things members have long wanted addressed, with major projects coming later.
If you're thinking about what the club's next chapter means for your own plans in Reunion, whether you're staying, moving within the neighborhood, or getting ready to sell, Bowie & Co. Real Estate can talk it through with you based on what we know of the neighborhood. Schedule a consultation, and we'll give you a straight, local view.
