Ridgeway Country Club
Germantown, Shelby County, Tennessee · Memphis golf market
- Access
- non equity
- Holes
- 18
- Architect(s)
- Ellis Maples, Ed Seay
- Gated
- No
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Ridgeway Country Club, on Poplar Avenue in Germantown just east of Memphis proper, traces its golf history back to 1919, when the club first operated as the Rex Club with a 9-hole course; a second nine was added in 1950 under the name The Rex Ridgeway Club, and the current 18-hole, par-71 layout -- designed by Ellis Maples and Ed Seay -- opened in 1971. Today the club offers tiered Full Golf, Sports, Social and Junior Executive memberships, with reported initiation fees in the $10,001-$25,000 range and annual dues of roughly $5,001-$10,000, plus an alternative promissory-note membership option.
Ridgeway's residential relevance is real but modest: it sits along an established, desirable stretch of the Poplar Avenue corridor between Memphis and Germantown, but multiple sources explicitly confirm it is not a gated community and has no bundled or deeded residential development of its own. A golf-oriented buyer drawn to Ridgeway should treat it as a standard private-club barrier-to-entry proposition -- a real initiation fee and application process -- rather than a community with any formal golf-residential bundling.
Golf & Course
The present Ridgeway course opened in 1971, designed by Ellis Maples and Ed Seay on a site with club golf history back to 1919 (as the Rex Club, later The Rex Ridgeway Club). The par-71, 6,933-yard course features Champion Bermuda greens, Zoysia fairways, and a well-regarded closing hole -- the 531-yard, par-5 18th, which requires navigating four lakes.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
Ridgeway offers Full Golf, Sports, Social and Junior Executive membership categories, available by application; reported (third-party, not official) initiation fees run $10,001-$25,000 with annual dues of roughly $5,001-$10,000, and the club has also offered a promissory-note alternative (e.g., a $5,000 note over a 5-year commitment, forgiven $1,000/year). Membership is not tied to property ownership in any surrounding neighborhood -- the club is explicitly not a gated or bundled community.
Location & Surrounding Area
Ridgeway Country Club sits at 9800 Poplar Ave in Germantown, Tennessee, along the Poplar Avenue corridor connecting East Memphis to Germantown -- a well-established, high-income part of the Memphis metro, though not itself a gated or master-planned development. Note: some secondary sources describe the club's location loosely as 'East Memphis'; its confirmed municipal address is Germantown.
Costs & Fees
Figures below are labeled Current only when the source itself frames them as presently accurate. Everything else is labeled Historical — a source checked today does not make an old fee a current one.
Initiation (range low)
Historical — as of 2025$10,001
Third-party reported low end; not an official club figure.
Initiation (range high)
Historical — as of 2025$25,000
Third-party reported high end; not an official club figure.
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What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm current initiation fee, dues, and membership category structure directly with Ridgeway Country Club -- figures here come from third-party aggregators, not an official rate sheet.
- Confirm whether any nearby subdivision or HOA has a formal relationship with the club (none was found this pass).
- Confirm the club's correct municipal location (Germantown vs. East Memphis, as sources vary).
Notable
- Ridgeway's club golf history dates to 1919, when the site opened as the 9-hole Rex Club course; the current 18-hole layout by Ellis Maples and Ed Seay opened in 1971.
- Ridgeway Country Club is explicitly confirmed, across multiple sources, to not be a gated community -- despite its residential-sounding name, it functions as a freestanding private club rather than a bundled development.
Considering a Move to Ridgeway Country Club?
Whether you're comparing Ridgeway Country Club with another Memphis golf community or you're ready to start looking at homes, US Golf Living can connect you with a local real-estate specialist.
US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.