Communication from the President – 11th May 2020

11th May 2020 - Board Communication

Dear Member,

As we move towards the relaxation of some of the lifestyle restrictions in Victoria, I thought it timely to provide an update. 

Whilst many members have been away from the club since March 28th, a number of members, all the Board members and all of our staff have been continuing to prepare the course and the venue for the eventual return of members playing golf and eventually members socialising at our club. 

Some of the activities that have been going on are:

  • Venue freshened up with a clean & paint.
  • Under flooring & flooring repaired properly
  • Ladies locker room has been gutted and is currently being refitted
  • Deck refurbished
  • Gardening and repairs around the course.

The course is in amazing condition and members should feel proud of the work that our staff and some members have done over the last 6 weeks or so.

The COVID – 19 restrictions have allowed the club to do some things that in normal circumstances we could not have done. With limited resources, ie money, we feel we have done the very best we could do, we hope you do as well.

This period has also been Subscription renewal time for a large number of our members and it has been great that most members have renewed to support the club. This has been really important as it allows us to continue to employ our staff to get ready for when we return. Some members though have chosen to withhold their subscriptions until there is a clear picture of what will happen after COVID-19, with other members deciding to resign from the club. This has been very sad and puts a lot of financial pressure on the club. As members of a club, we own the club, therefore we are all responsible to ensure that the club is financially viable. 

Before COVID-19 our playing membership was around 730 and heading steadily upwards each month, and today our membership is around 660, which has created a big financial hole that we now need to fill.

Here are some of the things that the Board considers as we try to find the right path forward.

The club spends around $600,000 per year to maintain the course and those costs never go away even if we are not playing, just like the Council Rates and a number of other fixed bills, ie electricity etc. This is about 50% of membership revenue.

You may recall that at the time the course and venue were closed the Board made an offer to rebate a portion of the annual subs to reflect the period of club closure. At the moment the Board is considering how to do that. That is, how to apportion the clubs fixed and variable costs so that we can have a formula to apply to any rebate to a members House Account. Once we know the period of the shutdown, shortly after that we will be able to advise members what the rebate calculation will be and how it will be applied.

These are very difficult and unprecedented  times and  we are trying to recognise that everyone is impacted and the club is trying to play its part to reduce the impact on our members. In all this, we must ensure the clubs viability and be fair to our members and our staff.

One last thing about our staff; the staff have been amazing in their adaptability in this period and they have done things that most people would not, so in all our conversations with any staff we need to remember that we are all on the same team trying to achieve the same thing, and respectful conversations are a requirement from each of us.

I think shortly, we will have some more clarity around social restrictions in the community and at that point you will hear more from the Board about how we will return to playing golf.   

Geoff Charnley

PRESIDENT 

Rossdale Golf Club

Sixth Avenue, Aspendale VIC 3195

PH:    (03) 9580 1008

Previous Page