Your Complete Guide to Lahontan Golf & Social Membership Fees
Written By: Jackie Ginley, Your Expert Realtor for Lahontan
*Last Updated Aug 27, 2026
Loving Lahontan? The "Club" and the HOA:
The gated community of Lahontan is maintained by an HOA, which is separate from the Lahontan Golf & Country Club. If you own in Lahontan, your HOA dues pay for the gate house and security, the roads, snow removal and other common area maintenance.
If you want to go swimming, play golf, or have dinner at the Clubhouse, that requires a separate membership: either Golf or Social. Golf is the more inclusive of the two. (With a golf membership, social is also included. )
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How much is a Lahontan Golf Membership?
A: Lahontan Golf Club memberships are sold on the open market, and have appreciated significantly over the years, selling for more than 10 times the going rate just ten years ago. Demand has been so high that the Club occasionally has no memberships available to sell. (When Lahontan opened its doors to "invitational" memberships, they did not make them recallable).
Track Pricing for Lahontan Memberships
Lahontan golf memberships trade dynamically on the open market. Get current updates on initiation fees, assessments, and membership availability delivered directly to your inbox.
Lahontan Initiation Fees explained
During the last Recession, Lahontan real estate sales slumped to a low median sales price of $1,725,000 with only 11 homes selling in 2011. To stay afloat in a shrinking pond, The Club decided to offer "invitational" golf club memberships to those who did not own property in Lahontan.
Fast forward, and you have a community with some 300 existing homes, and a Club with some 400 members. Since the invitational memberships were not recallable, the Club had no way to increase supply for homeowners as demand increased.
Social vs. Golf Memberships
At Lahontan, a social membership is required to use the amenities like swimming, the fitness center, spa, racquet sports or even the restaurants. Those with a golf membership, including invitational members, have full privileges to the amenities.
Interest in the Club at Lahontan skyrocketed during Covid, placing a strain on facilities that led to a brief moratorium on new social memberships. By the beginning of 2021, strictly social membership had climbed by 50 percent, and with many owners working from home, members were using the amenities more. This, despite the fact that the initiation fee for a social membership doubled in 2020 to $20,000. The result was that the Club implemented a wait list for new social membership hopefuls.
“If you live in Lahontan, and hope to enjoy dinner or a glass of wine at the Clubhouse, or take a dip in the pool, the social membership, at a minimum, is a must”
*Buying a home from sellers who already had a social membership catapulted those on the wait list to the front of the line, but it still had a chilling effect on new buyers because if you live in Lahontan, and hope to share a glass of wine with your neighbors at the Clubhouse or play a game of tennis, the social membership, at a minimum, is a must. But given the separation between the HOA and the "Club," social membership was not automatically conferred to those buying a home in Lahontan.
By the beginning of 2021, social memberships had climbed to 75. That's not a huge number, but it didn't include those who were entitled to use the "social" facilities thanks to their membership in the Golf Club. The Club's experiment with a moratorium on social memberships was soon scrapped in favor of allowing only "home" owners to join the social club; not owners of vacant lots.
In 2024, Club members approved a $30k special assessment to fund improvements to the Fitness Center & Camp Lahontan. The revenue will also pay for the creation of a casual dining area offering pub-style fare as a nice compliment to the formal dining room of The Lodge.
Q: Can buyers purchase a membership?
A: Anyone can apply as a prospective member, and purchase a membership. But the number of memberships is capped, so buying a home in Lahontan does not automatically entitle you purchase a Golf Club membership.
Q: Can memberships transfer with a home or can sellers include a membership with the sale?
A: Yes. In fact, when the supply of memberships through the Club is limited (like mid-2026), including a Golf Membership in the sale of your home can incentivize a sale. Like any commodity, the value of a Lahontan Golf Club membership fluctuates in response to supply and demand, and when supply is down, the value of adding a Club membership to the sale of your home enhances its value. Like furnishings, or other personal property, your Lahontan golf membership can be "included" in the sale of your home when you decide to sell. There's a cost for this to the seller, and it varies, depending on the going rate for Club memberships and the year in which you bought into the Club. If you "include" your Lahontan Golf membership in the sale of your home, you will owe the Club 25 to 50% of whatever the market rate is for memberships through the Club.
Similarly, you can offer the membership to the buyer of your home outside of escrow with the same fees owed to the Club.. At the end of the day, it's a math question; if it nets you a better sales price for your home, it might be worth considering the above options. Talk first with your CPA about the tax implications, as this will be different for every seller.
Q: What's the difference between a Lahontan Golf and Social membership?
A: The social membership does NOT include Golf. With a social membership, you can use the swimming pools, tennis courts, fitness center, and the Clubhouse with its beautiful restaurant & bar. A Lahontan GOLF Membership, however, includes the use of the facilities included in the Social membership.
Q: Do Lahontan HOA dues include club membership?
A: No. Lahontan HOA dues include maintenance of the common areas, as well as road maintenance and the costs of the Guard shack at the gated entrance.
