It’s been six months since my maiden newsletter, and with a bit of luck, the membership will only have to endure two more of these after this one! In all seriousness, the last six months have flown by and significant progress has been made at the club with no respite in sight to the work that still needs to be done.
In my last newsletter, I mentioned that we had embarked on a business plan that was tailored specific to Nedlands Golf Club. In a sense, it was untried as it deviated from the traditional way private golf clubs were run. I’m glad to report that the financials are showing that the golf club is returning back to health and we are forecasting the best result we have had in years! While we still have another month or so to run in our financial year, operationally the P&L shows we are $100,762 better off than this time last year. Barring any unforeseen large incidentals, we hope to maintain this surplus until the end of the club’s financial year. I don’t think anyone can deny how good a result this will be for the club and I would certainly like to give credit to the committee for their unwavering resolve and unity in turning this golf club around. Moving forward, our plan is to quarantine $50,000 of that surplus into an investment fund and to build on that fund on the basis of further yearly surpluses. The remainder of the surplus will be kept in lieu of upcoming capital expenses, which will be discussed below.
As the old saying goes, “one swallow does not a summer make”. The club’s profitability needs to be sustainable, because being in a good financial position means we can now improve the club’s aging facilities and equipment while also making good long-term decisions as opposed to having to make decisions under financial duress. I believe that the excellent condition of our golf course (that we enjoy on a daily basis) is close to the best in the state, and while we can be grateful to our Course Superintendent Tony MacFaydean for that, much of it can also be attributed to the new machinery that we have acquired to allow him to do his job. So far this year, we have replaced or upgraded almost $90,000 in value of machinery. These improvements were long overdue however, if we sustain our profitability, future replacements and upgrades will be seamlessly integrated into the cost of running the golf club without any additional financial burden to our members.
There are also large ongoing capital expenses that are required to keep the club running in a manner that we all expect. Building the new greens shed, the refurbishment of the clubhouse and replacing greens are just a few examples of this. I would like to acknowledge the great work that is being done by Ian Mumford and Ian MacDonald in their submissions for the various grants to assist the club in paying for some of these capital improvements. So far, we have applied for grants for the building of the new greens shed and also for the refurbishment of the clubhouse. We are also in the process of applying for a Federal grant for the installation of solar panels. While I do acknowledge that some of these grants will require a bit of luck and perhaps, more than one attempt, the quality of the submissions that “the two Ians” have put together were nothing short of excellent. We will continue to keep the membership in the loop as we become aware of the outcome of these grants.
With some optimism that we will get at least minor grant assistance and our belief that the club can now operate profitably if the membership continues to support the club, the finance committee has decided to raise the annual subscription by only 1.5%, which is just below CPI. We are committed to low increases in subscriptions because we believe that it would be incorrect to “tax” the membership if we can find other ways to subsidise the expenses required to run the club. In short, we aim to continue to run the club in a cost-effective manner and at the same time grow revenue from non-member income sources. So please be patient if you are inconvenienced when the course is being used for corporate events, when we accept green-fee paying guests or when you see unfamiliar people using the bar and catering through our promoting of social memberships and functions. All these things help subsidise our membership costs.
As we continue to improve this great club, I ask that you continue to utilise the club as much as possible. Keep being a member and use the facilities as much as possible. If you sponsored an event or helped as a volunteer this year, please continue to do so next year. If you want to buy golfing equipment, buy it at the pro shop or at least let us try to match the prices of the big retailers (don’t be shy to ask for a price match, we will if we can). If you want to have a meal or drink somewhere, come to the club and grab a drink or attend a club dinner, we now have a great chef! More importantly, bring your friends to some of these events and let them know they can enjoy meals and drinks at very reasonable prices by becoming a social (or golfing) member. Upgrade or retain your membership to a 7-day membership and you will receive 10% more on your bar spend if you pay in full on the due date. And as a 7-day member, we will continue to give you 10% more on your bar spend when you top it up by $200 (Ordinary) and $100 (Associates). We must continue to utilise the club’s services because we cannot afford to sustain these services if the demand is not there.
Lastly, the committee is always listening. Do always communicate with us. At the least, it gives us an understanding of how you feel and if we can help make things better, we will. Understand that we try hard to make the right decisions but we can never get it right or please everyone all the time. However, we will always make decisions in what we see as being in the best interests of the club.
Happy golfing! And I wish you all the best. May you hit them straight and long!
Timothy Tan
