After they were invited to a party at Edgewood Valley Country Club’s Paddle Lodge, Alex and Sarah Norlander instantly knew they had found their home away from home.

“The next morning, we both said we were joining Edgewood and I immediately sent an email to the membership office,” said Sarah.

“I heard great things about the golf course and the more we talked with people who were members here, or had played here, it just seemed like the right fit for us,” added Alex.

The Norlanders officially joined the Club on July, 1 2022, and have already built lasting memories and the foundation for a fruitful lifelong membership with their three young children.

Alex, an attorney at Ice Miller specializing in commercial real estate transactions, and Sarah, a retail leasing broker with Mid-America Real Estate Group, attended almost every family event at Edgewood last year – from the Independence Day celebration to the children’s Halloween party.

“Having busy careers, it was important for us to spend quality time together with our family and Edgewood gives us the chance to do that close to home,” said Sarah. “We have already made so many memories with our kids here in the short time we've been members.”

Being active at the Club and utilizing its facilities is something Sarah credits as the most essential step for new members to get acclimated.

“We envisioned going to the pool and participating in all of the family events, and we have met so many people just from showing up,” she said.

“You have to come here,” said Alex. “It was really easy to strike up a conversation with people at the pool who also had young kids running around. It was a great meeting spot.”
 
While Alex grew up playing more tennis than golf, since becoming a member at Edgewood, he has enjoyed the game more and has used the Club to entertain friends and clients.

“I was grateful to play in a golf tournament and be paired up with a longtime member who introduced me to other members, showed me how the locker room operates, and just made me feel more comfortable overall,” he said.

Sarah never played tennis but took lessons at the Club last summer to learn the basics and started reserving the ball machine to practice with a friend. After the Norlander’s oldest son also took a lesson at the Club, Sunday mornings turned into family tennis time.

“I wanted my kids to be able to take golf and tennis lessons and get involved so I can play with them here as they get older,” said Alex.

The Norlanders said one of the main reasons for joining a private club was the ease of taking their children to a destination a few minutes away that felt like a vacation.

“With little kids, it’s hard to go on vacation,” said Alex. “We get a taste of vacation when we are at the Club – even during the week – and it’s so much more accessible for us rather than booking a trip and packing up the kids. This just made a lot more sense for our family, and it’s a great getaway that’s ten minutes away.”

Dubbed the “Edgewood bag,” the Norlanders have a special bag full of boomerangs, yard games and other toys that they bring only when they come to the Club to have dinner on the patio – something Sarah refers to as “life changing.”

“There was an evening on the patio that I proclaimed was the most enjoyable dinner I’ve had with our kids in a few years,” she said.” We can come here and have dinner or sit by the pool and have a cocktail and it feels like a getaway.”

“You don’t get the same experience just going to any restaurant,” said Alex. “The kids can run around and play outside and it doesn’t bother anyone.”

Joining Edgewood strengthened the Norlanders’ existing friendships and expanded their network as they became friends with the parents of children their kids met through the Club’s summer camp – many who they discovered also lived near them.

“We only knew two or three families when we joined,” said Sarah. “Now we have our Edgewood friends and our kids have friends that they will grow up with here. Making the commitment to join without really knowing how we were going to feel using the Club was a little scary. But to anyone who is thinking about joining Edgewood – just do it!”

“Joining Edgewood Valley was an immediate upgrade to our quality of life,” said Alex. “It has brought our family so much joy.”