(File photo/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Melfort Golf' Club AGM

Melfort Golf Club out of long-term debt, sees a surplus after 2019

Jun 30, 2020 | 9:54 AM

While operations restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic will affect its 2020 finances, the Melfort Golf Club can breathe a sigh of relief after 2019.

During its annual general meeting on June 29, the Melfort Golf Club’s financial statement showed the club paid off its long-term debt. Operationally, the club saw a near $66,000 deficit (near $400,000 gross margin and near $466,000 expenses), but additional income from donations and sponsorship – including a large donation from a Melfort family – gave the club a near $57,000 net gain.

In golf terminology, donations and sponsorships helped turn a double bogey into an eagle.

“It puts us in a position to start a rainy-day fund for the golf course,” Ken Singer from the Melfort Golf Club’s Board of Directors told northeastNOW. “In the past, we’ve carried a considerable amount of debt here, which is most often related to equipment purchases and maintenance. Right now, we’re in a pretty good situation, but we do know a lot of the revenue we’ve counted on each year won’t be there this season.”

Instead of opening on April 20 like in 2019, the Melfort Golf Club opened on May 15 with restrictions as part of phase one of the provincial government’s Re-Open Saskatchewan plan. There have been no tournaments, mixed nights, or larger functions to serve as the club’s bread and butter for income; strictly tee times and golf only.

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Manager Kevin Ryhorchuk said it hasn’t been a struggle to find golfers to book times, with only early afternoons during the week being the only stretch where the club has downtime.

“It’s been going fairly good,” Ryhorchuk said. “We’re allowed to move into 10-minute tee times and gain another [booking] which will help. As we move forward, hopefully we’ll be able to get back to normal seven to eight-minute tee times and maybe host bigger functions and create some sort of normalcy.”

Despite an increase in golf activity during the month and a half stretch of re-opening, Ryhorchuk said it’ll be tough for the rest of the golf season to be as financially viable as previous years without tournaments, gatherings, and minimal food and beverage service.

The Melfort Golf Club will hold a strategic planning session in July.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow