Help Needed Lengthy post but please read it and support us.

[tigertot]

There is indeed a Colt Association. Our club is part - I can get the details for the OP if it would help.

which Colt Association is it please?

 

[Grizzly]

which Colt Association is it please?

I'll get the details from our Secretary for you.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Yep. Read it. Also googled it to see if there was more to it.
The council are in the process of selling the clubhouse, which is a grade II listed 200 year old country house, to a company that intends to restore it and turn it into a wedding venue. They don't want the golf course, which the council intends to decommission and add to the surrounding country park - free to use for all.
I would assume that the council employs people who understand money and know what they're doing. The same guys are probably responsible for finding the funds for social care and libraries.
Like I said, I'm sympathetic, but a realist.

I was taught very early in a previous career that when you assume you make an ass of u and me. I would say that this assumption falls into that bracket, and I say that as someone who currently works for a council...

 

[RichA]

I've worked in partnership with plenty of council folks over the years. Much like any other job, I've found that they are a microcosm of society - some good, some bad, some helpful, some lazy.
I didn't assume that everyone who works for a council understands money and knows what they're doing, just that there must be some.
If, as someone who works for a council, you know for a fact that none of you understand money or know what you're doing, then I bow to your greater knowledge.

Having read the OP's posts, petition and website and read the information presented by the other side that I could find, I still massively sympathise with them but can completely understand why it might not have been considered viable.

 

[sunshine]

've worked in partnership with plenty of council folks over the years. Much like any other job, I've found that they are a microcosm of society - some good, some bad, some helpful, some lazy.
I didn't assume that everyone who works for a council understands money and knows what they're doing, just that there must be some.

In my career I've done a small number of projects for government / councils. The gap in the level of competency between private sector and public sector (comparable sized organisations / budgets) is massive. Safe to assume that the council doesn't employ any people who understand money.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Why charge £7.34 a round if they are financially capable. We are looking into how that pricing structure was set and it literally defies any commercial or logical sense.

Did the members complain about being charged only £7.34. ?
Figures seem strange. even at 48,000 members/golfers who had nowhere else to go. It would be viable if the members/golfers only played two rounds of golf a year.
Do you have figures for rounds played for the last 3 years.
Sounds like a common case of folk wanting cheap golf and taking pot shots at the council at every opportunity for not investing.

 

[tigertot]

Did the members complain about being charged only £7.34. ?
Figures seem strange. even at 48,000 members/golfers who had nowhere else to go. It would be viable if the members/golfers only played two rounds of golf a year.
Do you have figures for rounds played for the last 3 years.
Sounds like a common case of folk wanting cheap golf and taking pot shots at the council at every opportunity for not investing.

it's a case of the pricing being set at the wrong level because the owners didn't care about the facility or its longevity. They offered it for sale missing off a very important 18 years of its life and history.Deliberate or Mistake I know not. this was always a quality design left to its own devices. no promotion or marketing. No PGA professional involved at all.If it wasn't a viable business there wouldn't have been at least 8 different groups seeking to keep it alive but all have been rejected from the process. check out our website the details are now in the public domain. www.saveallestreegolfcourse.co.uk In my view #MunicipalGolfMatters. this is how I and many thousands of others got into the game. without these facilities what other pathways are there? forgive me for not being a supporter of the council when they have ignored a petition of 25,700 signatures collected electronically via e petition during a pandemic.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

it's a case of the pricing being set at the wrong level because the owners didn't care about the facility or its longevity. They offered it for sale missing off a very important 18 years of its life and history.Deliberate or Mistake I know not. this was always a quality design left to its own devices. no promotion or marketing. No PGA professional involved at all.If it wasn't a viable business there wouldn't have been at least 8 different groups seeking to keep it alive but all have been rejected from the process. check out our website the details are now in the public domain. www.saveallestreegolfcourse.co.uk In my view #MunicipalGolfMatters. this is how I and many thousands of others got into the game. without these facilities what other pathways are there? forgive me for not being a supporter of the council when they have ignored a petition of 25,700 signatures collected electronically via e petition during a pandemic.

You did not explain the figures 48,000 golfers ?
If the figure you quoted was correct then there should have not been any problems on viability.
No business person would take on a golf course that takes £300 a day off 16k rounds pa i would say do the maths but that would be insulting.
There is re-build and there is mission impossible.

It is a shame that the course is closing I would imagine due to bad feeling between the Council and golfers.

I was involved in a similar fight 10 years ago when a club asked my advice.
I went along to the first meeting and the club members were incredibly rude and aggressive towards the Council and Council Officers
I called a truce and asked the club officials if they were serious about keeping the course. because if they were they will have to negotiate a deal with the people they have just spent 20 minutes threatening and insulting.
We got a deal and club and course are still open.

 

[tigertot]

I appreciate what you are saying but we have reached a point were they simply refuse to engage in anyway.Our review of the data with golf industry professionals cant understand how a loss is recorded either. glad you had a good result.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I appreciate what you are saying but we have reached a point were they simply refuse to engage in anyway. Our review of the data with golf industry professionals cant understand how a loss is recorded either. glad you had a good result.

So where did this 48.000 members/greenfees figure come from. I would be interested to know the way your group arrived at that quite precise figure..

16,000 rounds PA is pretty low mileage for a municipal golf course. It should be, at a minimum, double that. [100 rounds a day]
Even that figure at £10 greenfees will only gross around £320k PA [knock off 50 days due to poor weather, course closures, mid winter etc.]
That would not be enough to run a decent golf course.

BTW In my time I have met quite a few 'golf industry professionals' who have been totally clueless about how to successfully run a profitable municipal golf course.
The lasting memory of one of those 'professionals' was when he seriously told me my course would never be any good as it was always far too busy.