WEYBURN - The Weyburn Golf Club is looking forward to the coming season, and wants to rebuild after a tough year that saw a turnover of management and financial losses, members heard at the annual meeting on May 15.
“Last year we blew a transmission halfway through the year. There were hiccups,” said golf club president Jim Linnell, noting some things were committed to that they couldn’t get out of that cost the golf course around $16-17,000.
“We got out of it, and we have a pretty good plan coming into this year,” he added, saying he no longer wants to look behind, but forward to a new season.
Linnell noted the golf course spent a significant amount of money on their new irrigation system, putting in about $540,000 for the front nine holes, and it will cost another $360,000 to get the system up and operational, and on top of that, they need about $200,000-220,000 for a new pumping system.
“We’re looking at between $400,000 and $600,000 to get that thing done,” he said, adding the club will have to either use operational funds or do fundraising to get it done, as there is not enough room in the mortgage on the irrigation system to finance it that way.
“There was a large correction we needed to do. It still doesn’t look good on paper, but I believe this year we’ll bridge that. We’re still going to do some things. We’re looking for volunteers to do things,” said Linnell. “I’m looking forward to this year and getting rid of last year.”
Board member Chad Bailey agreed with his comments, and said, “We’re looking forward to the upcoming year to build the place up. We decided to reduce rates to make if more affordable for memberships.”
He noted they have a new men’s night underway, and are hoping to possibly start up a junior league, if there’s enough interest.
“We’ve got tournaments set up, and we’re looking for more participation from the membership,” he added, noting the Legacy fundraiser tournament is set for July 8.
In his report, greenskeeper Lee Stobbs noted the new irrigation system is up and running, other than on the driving range, and as he’s starting with all new staff. They are working on the tees on nine holes, with five done so far.
Asked about the bunkers, he said to do them correctly, it would cost the equivalent of irrigating the back nine.
“We’re going to work them and edge them. We need irrigation more than we need the bunkers done. We’ve got new staff and we’re going to do everything we can. I’m looking forward to working with this team,” he said.
On the back nine, he noted the greens on No. 11 and 14 are the tough ones right now, and they will be hand-watering them.
A member noted that there is a big difference in how the course looks now compared to even a week ago, and Stobbs agreed, noting the slow rain on Friday and Saturday was exactly what they needed.
One of the difficulties last year was the firm doing their financial statements backed out due to a lack of staff, and the golf club had to find another company.
In the financial statements for 2022, the revenues totaled $840,811, and the gross profits were $617,315. With expenses totaling $743,828, they were left with a deficiency of $89,385. Board member Marc Henderson noted that with amortization taken out, the loss is closer to $40,000.
Asked about membership numbers, club manager Chad Brock said they had about 128 members last year, and are at 137 so far this year.
“We need about 20 more people. The goal is to get more people out here,” said Linnell.
Brock took over as the manager in May of last year, and is the golf pro, along with Darlene Feniak, who has been giving private lessons at the golf course.
She noted she’s started a beginners learning program on Thursdays for ladies that is non-competitive, teaching women the basics of how to play golf, including golf etiquette.
She said they want to build up interest from junior golfers, and if there are sufficient numbers, they will look at starting a junior league.
