Chairman's Report of 2021
Dignitaries, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I mentioned at the start of the meeting we are really grateful that our lives are returning to some level of normality. Your patience, support and continued membership is much appreciated and, as a result, I’m able to report predominantly positive news as I review the last 24 months (the pandemic years).
We’ve just heard a detailed report on our financial performance across 2021 and our plans for taking the club / course forwards in 2022 while being especially cautious with the wider economic conditions and the potential impacts this will have on our budgets in 2022/23. I will not go into any more detail on that but want to thank Paul Hurst for all the work he has done over the last 11 years; steering the club out of stormy financial waters. He will be missed by the Board, but I’m hoping we will have an excellent replacement in Gerry who will be supported by Paul Purvis who was also a great support to Paul in recent years.
There aren’t many positive aspects of the pandemic; however it has created a resurgence in golf club membership and we have recruited a significant number of new members over the last 18 months. For the first time in many years we’ve had a waiting list and are now in a position to charge a joining fee. After the usual departures from the club at the renewal stage we were able to move all the 6-Day, pending 7-Day members up to 7-Day membership, brought in 15 new members and still have 10 more potential members on the waiting list.
Another pleasing development over the last 4 years has been the change to the membership demographic. Many of you will remember the EGM where we looked to introduce an age-related sliding scale of membership fees. The key fact which enabled this proposal to be accepted was that we had more playing members >80 than those <40 (26). At that time we only had single figure Junior Members too, both of which were extremely worrying risks for the future of the club. I am pleased to announce that we now have 138 members under 40 (an increase of 530%) and a thriving Junior section of 35. As the current custodians of the club we should be really pleased with these figures and the improved resilience it has built into our membership for the future.
A further new initiative which will further help our marketability to new members is the creation of the Bert Pryce Academy Course and Practice Area. The introduction of this facility will add benefit to all members, as it continues to function as a practice area, but can now also be used for group lessons, junior events, fun competitions as well as helping new golfers track their progress as they improve. I’d like to thank the Greens team, Pro-Shop, H&S and other volunteers for creating this, but most credit must go to the new Lady Captain who was the driving force behind this initiative. An article on the opening ceremony will be sent out next week.
I won’t spend too much time covering the catering position as this has been widely discussed, debated and communicated. You will be aware that our agreement with The Mill comes to an end in early May and our House Committee is in the process of interviewing potential candidates for the franchise. We will keep you posted as this develops, but are keen to learn the lessons from the last process and will ensure the new provider puts the needs of you, the membership, as their priority. We may have to live with a time lag between caterers, but would prefer to do this than rush into a poor decision, both for the club and the new franchisee.
While it was frustrating to have to look out on an empty golf course during the lockdown periods we did maximise the ‘downtime’ to make some significant improvements to the course. You will have been kept suitably updated on this activity by the regular Greens Blogs, but I think this winter has clearly shown the benefits of the additional drainage work, fairway scarifying, ditch-clearing etc. as the course has recovered from heavy rain much quicker.
While we have still had closures in really poor conditions (a Parkland Course always will) the recovery period has been dramatically reduced and I know there are further plans to improve this situation further by increased scarifying work in 2022. I would like to thank Steve and his Greens team, plus the Greens Committee and Working parties who have contributed to the creation of a course that we can all be proud of and look forward to playing in the coming season and beyond.
Given the importance of subscription income to the club’s finances it is imperative that we find the right balance between maximising revenue, investing in the course and facilities and recognising/rewarding the loyalty of our membership. While we have invested heavily in improving the course over the last 18 months (including the purchase of a new spraying machine) it is important to note that we have also paid out almost £50k in member bonuses to compensate for the loss of playability due to lockdowns. We believe this was a fair use of the resources we were given by the Govt to support businesses throughout the pandemic period.
It is abundantly clear that fuel, gas, electricity, greens products and many other consumables are going to increase sharply and we must factor that into our calculations alongside the inflationary pressure on staff wages. On that basis we will be keeping an even closer eye on our budget forecasts against actuals this year, but still hope to be able to invest in more new machinery to further improve the quality and playability of the course for the future.
The Board believes these measures address the key outcomes we are striving to achieve, maintaining strong membership levels whilst rewarding the loyalty of our existing members, creating opportunities to further develop and improve the golf course and clubhouse so we are providing excellent value for money to our members, but doing so under strong fiscal management so we continue to balance the books and operate with a profit so we are able to continue investing in the course and machinery. We recognise that we are not yet back to normal service and will face significant challenges in 2022/23, but hope the strong position we are currently in and the marketable asset that the club/course presents means we are confident that we can ride out the economic storm as well as we managed the pandemic.
We have had quite a turnaround in staff over this period and I would like to welcome Steve, James, Rob, Alex and Ruth into their new roles. I think this redeployment of the existing team into new roles is great development, but also provides a continuity of service and business/member knowledge. I like to thank them all for swiftly coming to terms with their new responsibilities so the service to members following the departures of Matt Dobbs, Matt Stone, Mel and Jackie has not been adversely impacted. Unfortunately this doesn’t have a completely happy ending as I need to report that Ruth will be leaving her role as Bar Manager after Easter. Ruth has moved to Standish and with her other work commitments and the extra travel she feels unable to fully commit to this role. She has been an excellent team member for the past 11 years and will be sadly missed – Thanks for everything Ruth!! Clearly we have already started to consider how we fill this vacancy and will keep you posted.
One final plea from me before I close this report; I recognise that we have had a very difficult 12 months and the catering situation divided opinion across the club for a prolonged period. I’d like to think that we are past the issues which divided us, have learnt the lessons for the future and can now concentrate on our many strengths and what makes us a great club. Penwortham has always had a reputation as a friendly and welcoming club with a vibrant clubhouse atmosphere and we should all be proud of that and ensure it returns in 2022. You are the lifeblood of this club and the Board would like to thank you again for your ongoing support and understanding. Here’s hoping we can take another big step towards normality in 2022!
Dave Brookes
Club Chairman
