The Paddle River Golf Course is in trouble.
Town of Barrhead councillors heard from Guy Aldrich, president of the board of directors for Paddle River Golf, as well as Jamey Sutherland, a board member, at the regular meeting of council on Aug. 9, that the course is operating at a $40,000 deficit and will likely require administrative assistance with regards to its bookkeeping.
“What was turned over to us, myself and the other board members this winter, was not pretty,” Aldrich said, adding with bills left over from last year, the golf course is running deep in an overdraft.
“In order to keep going, we are trying to change things so that we have more income but it isn’t working out as well as we planned,” he said.
Aldrich told council it was likely the golf course would require some help from the town, but he said it would probably not be financial.
“I would like some help with the administrative side of the course,” he said, adding having somebody associated with the town’s administration coming in to look at the golf course’s books would be appreciated.
While the golf course’s financial states are not dire yet, Aldrich said they will be soon.
“We had a good number of memberships paid over the winter and into the spring,” he said, adding the monies gleaned from that — typically used in covering operational costs, is already gone.
From mismanagement, to staff members not having all of the training required to do their jobs properly, Aldrich said he was worried.
“I used to work for Woodlands County as a supervisor, and knowing the things I do from my time in that role, I know there are things that should be in place that are not,” he said.
“I’m sure you are all familiar with the transportation of dangerous goods and all of the other things you have to put your own staff through,” Aldrich told council, adding the same things are not available to Paddle River Golf Course staff because it is not affordable.
When asked by council whether the golf course had thought about increasing green fees, as well as membership dues, Aldrich said the board had settled on a $25 per year increase for senior golfers, over a period of three years, and added that it was expected to carry on through to the course’s other rates as well.
“The only ones that hadn’t changed were the rates for walk-on golfers, but we are talking about having to change them as well,” he said.
Coun Ty Asaf said the state of the golf course was discouraging news to hear, and wondered if assistance from the other golf course, Barrhead Golf Club, might not be an avenue to consider.
However, Aldrich said previous conversations with the other golf course, regarding the possible rental of golf carts, had not proved helpful.
“They didn’t want to be involved with us,” he said, adding while he was unsure why, he doubted they would want to help Paddle River in this capacity as well.
“As a board member, coming into this kind of situation, we are looking at the best way of getting out of this but it will be slow going with this kind of a yearly deficit,” Aldrich said. “As of January 1st, we were $35,000 in the red and we had an outstanding $80,000 bill from a gardening outfit on top of that. In the spring, people pay their dues and we’ve already spent that money to get into the current year. Even if it was all balanced, we would likely have a break-even year.”
Town of Barrhead mayor Gerry St. Pierre said council would suggest to administration that a further perusal of the Paddle River Golf Course finances is in order, adding that an auditor might make some recommendations.
