No matter the amount of planning that goes into a golf season, Mother Nature always wins. She’s the greatest equalizer, and a force to be reckoned with, especially for a golf course operator. Whether it is extreme ice conditions, extended drought, hurricanes or flooding, Mother Nature always reminds us of who is in charge. Despite the many curve balls, she throws at us, we always find a way to weather the storm together.
The 2023 Season began with a great deal of optimism. We had finally grown through a myriad of challenges from the pandemic, staffing shortages and, in recent months, rising operating costs due to inflation. We were thrilled to be moving into a new time at Oakfield which included launching our largest capital plan in decades. What we did not plan for is what followed.
The year started with extreme drought conditions which resulted in abnormal course conditions for May and the early part of June. We saw increased hand watering along with 16 times the average irrigation usage that we typically would see in the Spring. This placed extreme pressure on our irrigation system and our staff. Following this, Nova Scotia saw its largest recorded wildfire in June and our entire province prayed for rain….
Summer began with a 22 day stretch of rainfall culminating in over 900 mm of rainfall during the Season (3-4 times the annual average). This historic rainfall resulted in a saturated course for the better part of the Summer. We saw an entire month of cart path only restrictions, US Open quality rough and course conditions that were outside of our regular Oakfield standards.
July was no kinder to us. We had mass flooding that closed the golf course for 4 straight days after a whopping 200 mm downpour in only 12 hours. Along with the rainfall, we experienced extremely high and humid temperatures that resulted in out-of-control disease pressure for our fairways and greens. Our irrigation system has sat completely idle for the entire summer.
It's been a frustrating year for our members and an equally frustrating year for our Oakfield Team. The extended cart path only rules and the long rough affected our pace of play to the point that a round of golf under 4.5 hours became an anomaly. The saturated turf made it impossible to maintain a regular mowing schedule with crews having to turn to night mowing, even using hand mowers to try and cut down the rough. The saturated turf suffocated areas of our fairways and created damage visible for the past month. Overseeding has already begun in some of these areas, and we are seeing a positive recovery to date.
Each event we hosted this year was upset by rainfall in some form or another. Our Pros worked hard to ensure each event went off as scheduled. This came with many challenges, but our Team pulled off every event flawlessly and I couldn't be prouder of their skills, flexibility and ability to think outside the box in pressurized circumstances.
Our overall Club Operations have understandably also been affected by these extreme weather patterns. Rounds played are down roughly 12% compared to the prior year. This has dropped our tee sheet use to under 65% and golf cart utilization to under 15%, both affecting our overall bottom line. August saw our average revenue per round dip below $50.
Access to the tee sheet has been maintained with tee sheet utilization below 70%. Our guest play remains under 5% with only 2% of this being unaccompanied guest play. The unaccompanied guest play is a result of a number of outside events – 2 in June, 1 in July and 2 in August. These events are an important part of our overall revenue generation, allowing the Club to invest back in capital improvements whilst maintaining a competitive membership model.
The extreme amount of rainfall has made our “nice weather days” highly desirable. The lottery system has worked overtime during these periods to ensure members have fair access to tee times. We are expecting demand to remain high as we move through our shoulder season months as members try to recover rounds they may have missed during the summer months.
We fully understand that some members will not fully recover the rounds they have missed during the summer months. I would encourage you to try to get to Oakfield in the coming month as these rounds will not be carried forward. Our membership structure is based on membership to the Club, and should never be viewed as a cost per visit or a number of rounds. The same goes with our Club Loyalty Program as this will end on October 31st. If your loyalty requirement is not fully met, the balance will be charged to your account at the end of October. We have lots of opportunities to fully realize this loyalty requirement. This is a very important part of maintaining our complete range of top-quality services.
The tinge of Fall in the air brings with it our annual request for Committee volunteers. These Committee roles are essential to the Club’s day-to-day operations and offer a peek behind the curtain of the Club’s various departments. They are a great proving ground for potential Board of Director positions. We will be sending out information on Club involvement opportunities soon. While we do not have openings for every Committee, we do try to bring fresh perspectives whenever possible.
Weather aside, our Summer Season at Oakfield was one to remember. I want to thank you for your continued support of our services and activities offered at the Club. As a Member Club, your patronage keeps our facility running. All profits generated are put right back into operation for our members' enjoyment. We strive to provide high quality service to all our members, and we recognize that without all of you, none of this would be possible.
Eric Tobin General Manager
Comments