Member Update

Members are advised that both the President’s and Captain’s Report were emailed to all members on Friday 5th May 2017. For those members who did not receive a copy, a copy can be found below.

The report provides Members with an update on the progress of our 2017 fiscal year along with achievement of our golf events and course updates.

President’s Report

On behalf of the Committee I would like to provide Members with an update on the progress of our 2017 fiscal year.

1. Strategic Objectives.

• Management

Firstly I would like to thank Members for their forbearance and understanding during the process to find the right person to be appointed as the Club’s General Manager. The process has taken longer than originally planned and I apologise to members for the delay, but I am confident that in Chris Poulton we have found the right executive with the correct blend of skills, experience and knowledge of golf and golf club operations to provide excellent management of our Club.

It is appropriate at this point to also acknowledge and thank all our staff and Gavin Coyle and his team for their efforts during this process. They have all performed in a most admirable fashion and applied themselves to the tasks at hand with great diligence and commitment.

• Membership

As we discussed last year the historically slow decline in Membership is the single most significant strategic challenge for the Club. At the conclusion of the 2016 fiscal year we had 844 members across all Member categories. Seventy-two members did not renew or resigned from the Club early in the 2017 fiscal year. At the end of March 2017, membership stands at 808 with 7 further member applications on the noticeboard. We have gained 36 new members since the 1st September plus the 7 new applications. In isolation the number of new Members joining the Club is most pleasing but we need to continue to work on and overcome the heavy fall in member numbers in September each year.

We have established a small working group to review our Member categories and to compare these to a cross section of Peninsula clubs as a reference group for our Club. This review will look at comparative costs, benefits, category types and the relativity between the various categories. It will look at what more we can do to retain existing Members as well as attract new Members. It will also look specifically at what we can do to attract more junior Members

We have developed an exit survey for Members who resign or do not renew their subscriptions, to give us a better understanding of what factors are influencing Members in making the decision to leave the Club.

• Course

The Captain has provided a detailed commentary on the Course in his report.

The Course remains our key focus in expenditure and investment terms and will retain this priority as part of our strategic plan.

The presentation and quality of the course is a credit to the Course Superintendent Colin Morrison and his ground staff team. I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Captain and the Greens Committee who have continued to develop and refine the work of their predecessors in the management of the Course.

Our ability to gain new Members and grow our green fee revenue is built on the quality and presentation of the course.

• Water

After a period of very dry conditions and limited water availability in 2015/2016 we have been blessed this year with strong and regular rainfall and temperate growing conditions which has enabled us to replenish our water storage reserves.

We recognise however, that climate change is real and we need to be vigilant in ensuring that the Club has the appropriate access to a good water supply in the future.

In this regard we have upgraded the King St water harvesting pumping station to improve its reliability and productivity during rain events. We have also made that site more accessible for regular maintenance and compliant with OH & S requirements.
We are also continuing to explore the opportunity to build another water harvesting pump station in Cove Lane Flinders which would link in with the local Shire Council’s upgrade to drainage and pipe works in this part of the village. It is estimated that this area would have the potential to provide access to a volume of water in excess of 150% of the run off that we currently harvest in King St. At this stage we don’t believe the Club can complete this work without financial assistance from Government or the semi government water or environmental agencies and this is the basis of our current discussions. We will keep members informed on the progress of these talks and any decision on this project will not be made without reference back to Members to seek their views and approval.

• Marketing

Our marketing effort has been focused on using social media to raise the profile of the Club with prospective new members and green fee players. The communications highlight our unique coastal experience of golf and the beauty and challenge of our great course.

We have also been working on an update to our website which will be commissioned in mid May. This new website will showcase a series of new photographs of the course by local photographer Will Salter, as well as new drone photography and video of the course and each individual hole. The new site will be much more accessible for smart phones and tablet devices such as I Pads and become a key tool in our marketing to potential new members and green fee players. The site will also allow us to provide a better site for communication with members.

Coinciding with the launch of the upgrade to the website, will be the launch of a refreshed Club logo. Designed by member, Warwick Cruise, the refreshed device draws on the traditions of previous logo’s, the history of the club and its coastal location and pulls this together in a new and contemporary format.

We are also focused on increasing our collection of information on all visiting golfers and social groups who play the course so that we can strengthen our communications and connection to these players, so that we build a higher level of repeat visits and connect with all prospective future members.

• Clubhouse and Buildings

We have focused our investment in the Clubhouse and our other buildings, on maintenance and presentation. We have painted the internal areas of the Clubhouse and the external areas of the Pro Shop and Buggy store.

We have upgraded equipment in the kitchen and bar area to improve service to members.

A new roller door has also been installed in the maintenance workshop and store. The exiting door had become a safety issue.

2. Income, Expenditure and Profitability

• Income

o Member Subscriptions

At the end of March our subscription revenue is 103.5% of last year, up $27,847. We have another subscription installment payment to be collected, plus the new member applications to be processed so we feel confident that our subscription revenue will remain ahead of last year and close to our budgeted target. Our on-going issue remains that it took a 10% increase in the subscription rate to produce a 3.5% increase in subscription revenue.

o Green Fee Revenue

After a slow, weather affected start to the year, our Green Fee revenue is 102.4% of last year, up $7,171. We have taken a price increase on green fees effective from the 3 April 2017 and we expect that green fee income will stay ahead of last year and ahead of our budgeted position.

o Catering and Bar Contribution

We had budgeted for the Catering contribution to be down on last year following our decision to pull back from the heavy wedding and event program that was run in the 2016 fiscal year. However, Catering is the area that has been most affected by the absence of a General Manager with hospitality experience. While our overall revenue has been solid against our new program objectives, labour usage has been high and this has impacted the contribution from this area. This area is one that we have asked the new GM to concentrate on to ensure that we rebalance and improve overall contribution as we progress through the remainder of this year and ensure we are well placed to have catering deliver a strong contribution in the 2018 fiscal year.

Catering contribution is down $36,298 on last year and down $13,398 on our budget target. We expect an improvement in the balance of the year but do not see that we will make up the entire shortfall to our budgeted target.

Bar contribution during the period has been solid and while down on last year due to the change in the Wedding and Event activity, is ahead of our budgeted target. Bar Contribution is down $5,326 on last year but up strongly against our budgeted target.

o Bowls Income
The Bowls Club contribution is well behind last year but we believe it is in the interests of all Members that we continue to support the Bowls Members as they rebuild their membership.

o Interest Income
Interest payments received are down against last year and this is a reflection of lower overall rates as well as a timing issue. We expect our interest income for the full year to be below last year but track closer to that number as we progress through the remainder of the current period.

o Other Income

Other Income is down $31,451 on last year. The major components of our other income are;

 Competition Income (which includes the Pro Am and Easter Tournament)
 Sponsorship
 Cart Hire
 Profit / Loss on the sale of fixed assets.

Competition playing numbers are down and this reflects the reduction in Membership numbers and a lower rate of participation in weekly events. The Easter Tournament income was included in last year’s YTD March numbers, but will appear in our April result in 2017.

The Sponsorship program has been well supported again and income is up on last year by $ 8,732.

Cart Hire sales are marginally ahead of last year and ahead of our budget target. Net contribution however, has been impacted by the expenditure on replacement batteries for a number of carts. Overall contribution from carts is down $5,795 as a result of this expenditure but this investment has added significantly to the rental life of the carts and future revenue.

Income from the sale of fixed assets is down on last year by
$ 23,182 and reflects a lower level of new equipment purchases this year and less sales (or trade in) of existing equipment.

• Expenditure

o Course Maintenance

Course expenditure is down $6,519 on last year and on our budgeted target for 2017. The reduction has been across most cost centres, but in particular in the area of seed, soil, fertilisers and maintenance. We expect that as we progress through the remainder of the year that our expenditure will remain below last year.

o Course and Building Improvments

Currently, expenditure in this area is well ahead of last year however this is a timing issue and our spend in Major maintenance will track closer to last year and finish the year about $7,500 higher than last year.

o Administration

Administration costs are generally in line with last year and below our budget target for 2017. We expect that expenditure in this area will remain at or below last year for the remainder of 2017.

o House Expenditure

House expenditure is in line with last year. We have incurred some additional maintenance costs in sealing the floors in the wet areas of the locker rooms and to repairs to some appliances in the Kitchen area. We expect that House expenditure will track close to last year for the balance of 2017.

o Other Expenditure

Fees paid to our Professional are in line with the activity undertaken on our behalf in managing the Club’s golf operations.

3. Full Year Financial Forecast

While our surplus at the end of March is lower than this time last year, we are ahead of our budgeted target by $14,721. Member Subscription revenue will finish ahead of last year and Green Fee revenue is expected to continue to track ahead of last year as well. In general, costs are being well managed and we expect to see an improvement in labour usage in the Catering area over the remainder of the year.

We expect that we will show a small profit or break even for the full year as the timing of annual expenditures balance out over the remainder of the year.

Ross Taylor
President

Captain’s Report

My how time flies by, we are already a third the way through 2017, and two thirds through the Flinders Golf Club financial year.

From a personal perspective, it has been an exciting start to the year with many busy times settling into my role as Captain.
I would like to take a moment to thank all of our membership and staff for your support of our fine club.

In just over seven months your committee has achieved quite a lot around the golf club, both on course and through the events we have hosted.

In brief, our achievements on course are –

• Annual Greens renovation in September including coring and sanding;
• Major Tee renovations, partial drainage and surrounds to the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th & 17th tee’s;
• Major renovation of the 3rd green, extensive drainage to surrounds, and remodeling of mounding’s;
• Practice fairway improvements including a new practice chipping green and regular ball retrieval;
• 18th tee and path improvements;
• Removal of fallen cypress trees from 7th & 8th, 8th & 9th fairways and the 10th tee.
The mild weather conditions we have enjoyed have provided sun and warmth, this, coupled with a better than average rainfall has provided favourable growing conditions, and the lack of extreme heat we regularly see at this time of year has benefited our course conditions. To date, we have not been drawing heavily on our dams, which will ensure we have full capacity of water storage heading into summer later this year.

Some of our major course works planned for the upcoming months include a path from the 16th tee; some teeing ground refurbishment, as well as regular maintenance.

Our Club Championships held in November started in conditions testing all of our members in both the AM & PM fields with many raising the bat. The leader after round 1 and posting solid rounds to win the Club Championship was Alec Morley. A first for Alec in his 20 years of membership at Flinders.

We have made some changes to the courses played here at Flinders to assist with spreading wear on the tees, as well as overall presentation and playability.

The main holiday period of January had excellent number of member and visitors rounds alike. Our first major event, the Warrant Officers Cup continued in popularity with a full field contesting the event. Late January saw the commencement of both men’s and women’s club events and competitions that filled our timesheets and continues to do so with the variety of competition offered.

The Flinders golf club presentation night was held on February 4th. This popular event recognises the achievements of our members and staff, and was attended by over 100 people. MC Bill Richardson welcomed our guest speaker Mike Clayton, and an enjoyable night was had by all.

Our Pro-Am was held on Wednesday 22nd of March, and there was a full field for both morning and afternoon golf – with over 60 professionals joining our members, sponsors and guests. The course was presented in excellent condition, considering the 48mm of rain that we received in the 12 hours immediately before the event.

Our 107th Easter Tournament was a great success, with exceptional fields and patronage over the holiday period and a full report can be found on the club website. We now settle in focusing on our regular Member competitions and a variety of board events over the coming months. I would like to welcome our new General Manager, Chris Poulton and pass on a thank you to the many who contributed to delivering what we appreciate and value at the Flinders Golf Club over the Easter Tournament.

My thanks also to our Ground staff, Pro shop, Administration & Hospitality staff, as well as those on the Greens & Golf committees, Dad’s Army, and the Green Girls.
 
I trust everyone will enjoy the golf & social activities at The Flinders Golf Club.

Dean Burrows
Captain

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