A Letter from the President

Dear members,

I write this letter to firstly apologise for the lack of Christmas spirit in the last newsletter. There was only one wish of a Very Merry Christmas at the end of the newsletter. The only excuse I can offer for this oversight is that the newsletter was put together in November, prior to the Christmas period. Therefore, on behalf of the Board and management of Carnarvon Golf Club I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous new year.

Update on Funding for the Junior Program

The funding of the junior program has been boosted recently with donations from some current and passed members. Barry Ryan has retired from playing golf and the family of the late John Lock both donated golfing equipment to be sold for the junior development program. I would like to thank Barry and John’s family for the donations. In addition, the ladies committee held a raffle which also contributed to the junior program.
Also, a special thanks to Margaret Chevell for her generous donation.

News from the Board

Carnarvon Golf Club is in a similar position to the majority of golf clubs, in that we endeavour each year to meet the demands of members in the provision of a championship golf course and a clubhouse with comfortable facilities for members and their guests. Based on current and forecast figures, our golf club will incur a book loss (including depreciation) this year of around $228,000 worse than budget and a cash profit (excluding depreciation) of $216,000 lower than budget. While we are in the favourable position of having no major borrowings and minimal leasing liability, our revenue is not sufficient in the long term to meet our yearly commitments and future capital works programs.

Increase in competition fees

We have had the same competition fees since 2010 and haven’t charged for social play by members but we feel that this needed to change. The Board has passed a motion to increase the competition fees by $2.00 for all competitions and to put a charge on social or practice rounds for members of $2.00. Junior members will be exempt from the charge for social or practice rounds. This will take effect from 1 January 2019.

Golfing Membership

I mentioned in my last months newsletter that the Board would be looking at the current discounts for senior members. Our golfing membership numbers as at October 2018 are as follows:

Full Playing : 201

Six Day : 14

Senior Full Playing : 150

Playing : 78

Senior Playing : 26

Five Day : 63

Time Poor : 19

Intermediate 1,2,3 : 21

Juniors : 6

Country members : 4

Life members : 4

Staff members :1

Social deferred members :15

Veteran members : 13

This is a total of 619 golfing members. There are 279 members paying full fees, being full playing and playing members. There are 176 senior playing and senior full playing members receiving a discount of 66.66% of the full fee.

To make this discount clearer the fee for Full Playing members is $1785.45 and for Playing members $1195.45 without the additional on costs of bar vouchers and affiliation fees which are the same for all categories of golfing membership. The fee for Senior Full Playing member is $595.09 and Senior Playing member is $398.44. On those figures the total discount given for this year is $199,276.

If we continue to grant this discount we will not survive as a golf club. The Board will be appealing to the membership to change this discount at the next Annual General Meeting. The Board will be appealing for a rise of the senior fees to 50% of the full fee. On today’s fees that would be an increase of $297.66 for Senior Full Playing members and an increase of $199.16 for Senior Playing members which equates to an increase of $5.71 per week for Senior Full Playing members and $3.83 increase for Senior Playing members.

I know this will not be received well by some members but we need to correct the balance so the club can continue to be viable. It has been very difficult to put this letter together but it needed to be done. Should you want to offer an opinion please send your comments to johnh@carnarvongolf.com.au

Yours sincerely

John Honeybrook

President