Poor economy hits golf club hard

Board members of Myrtle Point Golf Club believe this year will be a break or make it year for the 18-hole course.

The club’s annual general meeting is on Wednesday, March 27 and the new executive that will be voted in will have some tough decisions to make.

Scott Randolph, the club’s president, will be stepping down for personal reasons. He and Maggie Hathaway, the club’s treasurer, believe finances will have to improve for the course to continue to operate.

Cash flow is the club’s biggest issue, said Hathaway, which is linked to the number of members. “The magic number to sustain an 18-hole golf course is 400 members,” she said. “We knew that when we built it and we knew we were going to struggle to get there.”

At one point, the club almost reached that number, Hathaway added, but currently it has 240 members. “Therein lies a huge issue. Membership is dropping off and I attribute that to our aging population and people golfing less.”

Since people golf less, they decide to pay green fees, which, Hathaway said, is “a killer for us. We need that constant revenue from membership.”

Both Hathaway and Randolph said they need people to support the club. “It’s a facility we need in Powell River,” said Hathaway. “It attracts residents, it attracts tourists and it’s a big component of this community.”

Randolph stressed the course is an asset. “It’s another piece of infrastructure that is important to people when they make a decision about where they’re going to live,” he said.

The club has been trying to generate new revenues, Randolph added. It has built up its junior program and is trying to attract young people who are new to the community. “We’ve done everything we can to keep costs lower for people, because we understand that times are tough,” he said, adding the club’s fees are lower than most other clubs in the province.

“It’s a really difficult situation,” Randolph said. “If something doesn’t happen soon in regard to new revenue generation, we’re going to lose that asset.”

Some people have suggested reducing the course to nine holes, Hathaway said, but the only cost reduction in that plan would have been during the construction phase. “On nine holes now, you might save a few dollars on wages, but it’s just maintenance.”

There’s not a big difference maintaining nine or 18 holes, Hathaway explained. “But the attraction to an 18-hole course is a whole lot bigger than to a nine-hole course.”

The club has been applying for grants, including a BC Gaming grant and to Powell River Community Forest Ltd., Hathaway said. The Powell River Regional District gave the club a grant-in-aid this year to offset the cost of property taxes. “We’re trying to get grant money wherever we can to keep us afloat, but I think more than anything, we really need to start a campaign to save Myrtle Point.”

There are a number of fundraising events being planned, Hathaway said, including dances and raffles. The money raised will most likely go toward equipment that the board decided it couldn’t replace this year.

However, that is a stopgap solution. “At some point, probably the end of this year, we’re going to have to say, keep it open or shut it down,” Hathaway said.

The club is driven by volunteers, Randolph said, and is not an elitist organization. “There is a wide range of people that do their best throughout the year, volunteer their time to go out and work on the course, in coordination with our staff, and put in countless hours to try and keep it open, because it’s something that they love and they think the community should have,” he said.

As well, staff at the club do more than they are expected to keep the operation going, Randolph said.

At this year’s annual general meeting, a number of options to improve the financial situation will be presented to the membership. “Our main focus is how do we make the place sustainable going forward in having constant revenues,” Randolph said.