Communication From The President, April 8th
Message from the President
I hope this finds you in good health and good spirits in our time of isolation. We are all aware that the golf club and course is now closed based on the instructions from the Victorian Government. I think it is fair to say we are all very sad about the situation that we find ourselves in.
The closure has meant we have had to dramatically change the way we had to work. The closure means we had to reduce services and therefore costs. Even with the closure some costs to us still remain as we still have many tasks to do both on the course and in the Admin area in order to stay prepared to reopen when it is allowed. The situation has been very fluid over the last 4 weeks or so and remains fluid. So for the moment golf is out and we have been advised to stay home whenever possible.
At this time of year, we are at Subscriptions renewal time for many, and as a result some members have been asking a number of questions as the Operations team work through their tasks to keep the club viable and functioning.
So, I would like to try to answer some of the questions that have come at us and provide some other general information to help members understand the current situation at the club.
Membership – Membership has been growing quite nicely over the last 12 months or so, and at end February we were around 700 playing members. This is up by 120 from 12 months ago. We need every single one of them to make our club viable. This current situation puts that growth at risk and we need every member whose subscriptions are due to renew now.
Course – Since the closure we have dramatically reduced our work output on the course, some of our staff are on annual leave, some have been stood down and some are part of a skeleton crew operating on reduced hours to try to manage costs but still ensure that the course can be ready if the situation changes. We could not just let the course go with no maintenance. Travis is one of our staff working reduced hours and is doing a great job keeping the course at a level that we can respond to open up again when the time is right.
Staff – We have no staff at the club on a permanent basis as they have either been stood down, or are taking leave or are working part time and from home in the main. This is an awful time for everyone involved and we have done the best we can to try to minimise the impact on our staff and the maintain the basic services at the club. We need to be able to come back when the time is right, and this team lead by Andrew have been doing a great job navigating the best way forward in the best interests of the staff, the members and the club.
Golfing Calendar – Obviously this has been affected and will continue to be affected, so the Match Committee led by David Brown will be rescheduling events once we can get back to playing and will prioritise the Board events through what ever is the remainder of the year.
Subscriptions – A large portion of our membership base have a renewal date of 1st April each year. Recently some members have asked about fee relief in the current circumstances and the Board have considered this and has already made an offer. I do need to put this in context though, the golf club is owned by the members and therefore owners have responsibilities to ensure that the club is properly funded. In the situation we find ourselves in, most people have been affected in some way, some more than others which is why the Board has offered that for the period that the club is closed, the calculated value of that period will be put onto your house account. This way the club still gets the funds it needs to operate but when we are open again the members will recoup the closure period through the Food & Beveridge services and / or the golf shop. We are trying to balance the needs of the club about staying viable and being ready, so we really need all renewing members to pay their subs in order to be prepared for our eventual reopening.
The Rossdale Future – Stage 2 – The members gave the Board a very clear instruction after the SGM votes that have been conducted over the last couple of years. I cannot release any information right now and I will as soon as it becomes final. The Board is working hard to implement the instructions that were given to us by the members and the discussions and negotiations relating to those instructions are in the final stages. You can rest assured that this is a high priority for us to resolve, as it guarantees our long term survival as a club. I will provide a full update as soon as I can.
I hope this little piece of information has been helpful, please renew your membership and I hope we all stay healthy and that we can return soon to play golf on a nice golf course with the friends we have made.
Best regards
Geoff Charnley
Club President