Spring’s early arrival and continued warm weather as summer progresses has the city’s director of golf optimistic the three courses he oversees will not be nearly the financial drain on city coffers as they have been in recent years.
Tom Forsythe said Strathcona, Chapples and municipal golf courses have an extra 10,000 rounds played in 2010, compared to the previous year, and could see his budget creep as close or closer to the break-even point than 2007, when they lost $13,818.
“We got off to a great early start, which obviously helps the numbers for the year,” said Forsythe on Friday, a steady stream of foursomes firing shots at Strathcona’s par 3 first hole behind him.
“July was a little flat, but for the most part we’re well up in our rounds and numbers. Revenues are up. We’re down a little in members, but our punch-card sales are up, so it may be a case where some people decided not to buy a membership and are buying the punch card instead.”
Last year the courses lost $227,000, about the same as they lost in 2008. Since 2003 the taxpayers of Thunder Bay have subsidized operations to the tune of $923,653.
Weather is always the biggest factor in course usage, Forsythe went on to say, but it’s not the only one. A short winter allowed him to open the course in mid-April, at least two-weeks ahead of normal. But too much sun can be a bad thing at times, he said.
“Believe it or not, July, as dry as it was, it was still very humid, a little more humid than normal for Thunder Bay. That has an impact on our rounds. Really, when we start to get above 25 C, with humidity, we’ll get cancellations, particularly with the afternoon rounds,” Forsythe said.
The picture isn’t quite as rosy at the privately owned, nine-year-old Dragon Hills Golf Course, where owner Mike Komar estimated he’s seen business grow a bit from last year, but only because he’s been open since mid-March.
Komar said it’s been steady, but there have been plenty of times when there is wide open space on the starter’s list, leaving plenty of inventory unused and unrecoverable.
Still, it’s an improvement, he said.
“The last two years have been really bad, basically because of the weather. The two years previous to that we had really good seasons. On Saturday and Sunday you’d have lineups around 11 o’clock in the morning, and you’d have 20 or 30 golfers here at seven in the morning too,” Komar said.
“Now we don’t get very many people here in the morning … The afternoons are pretty decent, but there is never a time when someone can’t get on the course. It’s more spread out.”
It’s a far cry from what Komar would have expected.
“Considering the weather, we thought we’d have a really good year this year. We opened up March 16 this year, which is probably a month-and-a-half earlier than we’ve ever opened before, and we started out really good, but then it kind of petered out,” he said.
June and July, in fact were each down between $5,000 and $10,000 over 2009. He’s still ahead of last year’s pace by about $25,000,though not yet at the break-even point.
“I think we lost $40,000 last year. We’re hoping we’re going to have a decent fall.”
Bill French, general manager at the 18-hole Fort William Country Club, said usage at his facility is up between 10 and 20 per cent, which he attributes to good weather, good promotions and the absence of summer pests.
“I was sitting on my deck at home and there was not a mosquito in the air. You get into June and you hear people say, ‘Aw, I’m not going to golf, I’m getting eaten by flies and bugs.’ There was none of that this year.” French said.
“We just had a really good mix of weather. The rain came at the right time. We didn’t get a lot of rain on the course during the day, it came at nighttime, so people had lots of time to golf. It just seems like it’s been a really good year.”
Tom Forsythe said Strathcona, Chapples and municipal golf courses have an extra 10,000 rounds played in 2010, compared to the previous year, and could see his budget creep as close or closer to the break-even point than 2007, when they lost $13,818.
“We got off to a great early start, which obviously helps the numbers for the year,” said Forsythe on Friday, a steady stream of foursomes firing shots at Strathcona’s par 3 first hole behind him.
“July was a little flat, but for the most part we’re well up in our rounds and numbers. Revenues are up. We’re down a little in members, but our punch-card sales are up, so it may be a case where some people decided not to buy a membership and are buying the punch card instead.”
Last year the courses lost $227,000, about the same as they lost in 2008. Since 2003 the taxpayers of Thunder Bay have subsidized operations to the tune of $923,653.
Weather is always the biggest factor in course usage, Forsythe went on to say, but it’s not the only one. A short winter allowed him to open the course in mid-April, at least two-weeks ahead of normal. But too much sun can be a bad thing at times, he said.
“Believe it or not, July, as dry as it was, it was still very humid, a little more humid than normal for Thunder Bay. That has an impact on our rounds. Really, when we start to get above 25 C, with humidity, we’ll get cancellations, particularly with the afternoon rounds,” Forsythe said.
The picture isn’t quite as rosy at the privately owned, nine-year-old Dragon Hills Golf Course, where owner Mike Komar estimated he’s seen business grow a bit from last year, but only because he’s been open since mid-March.
Komar said it’s been steady, but there have been plenty of times when there is wide open space on the starter’s list, leaving plenty of inventory unused and unrecoverable.
Still, it’s an improvement, he said.
“The last two years have been really bad, basically because of the weather. The two years previous to that we had really good seasons. On Saturday and Sunday you’d have lineups around 11 o’clock in the morning, and you’d have 20 or 30 golfers here at seven in the morning too,” Komar said.
“Now we don’t get very many people here in the morning … The afternoons are pretty decent, but there is never a time when someone can’t get on the course. It’s more spread out.”
It’s a far cry from what Komar would have expected.
“Considering the weather, we thought we’d have a really good year this year. We opened up March 16 this year, which is probably a month-and-a-half earlier than we’ve ever opened before, and we started out really good, but then it kind of petered out,” he said.
June and July, in fact were each down between $5,000 and $10,000 over 2009. He’s still ahead of last year’s pace by about $25,000,though not yet at the break-even point.
“I think we lost $40,000 last year. We’re hoping we’re going to have a decent fall.”
Bill French, general manager at the 18-hole Fort William Country Club, said usage at his facility is up between 10 and 20 per cent, which he attributes to good weather, good promotions and the absence of summer pests.
“I was sitting on my deck at home and there was not a mosquito in the air. You get into June and you hear people say, ‘Aw, I’m not going to golf, I’m getting eaten by flies and bugs.’ There was none of that this year.” French said.
“We just had a really good mix of weather. The rain came at the right time. We didn’t get a lot of rain on the course during the day, it came at nighttime, so people had lots of time to golf. It just seems like it’s been a really good year.”
