- Pambula Merimbula Golf Club board talks frankly about its financial situation and urges community discussion
Less than one year on from the highly divisive and failed amalgamation between Club Sapphire and the Merimbula RSL Club, the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club is warning that its long-term prospects are not good. It has written an open letter to the community urging everyone to be part of a conversation about how clubs can continue to operate in the local area.
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Among board members, the survival of local clubs has been a subject of concern for several years but more recently the golf club has shared its concerns with its members, the boards of Club Sapphire and the RSL, and local representatives from all levels of government.
President of the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club, Peter McMullen was blunt in his assessment of the club’s situation: “The club’s financial situation is one of continuing trading losses. We have reducing income from the poker machines and at the same time increasing costs.”
In addition the club has a diminishing golf membership. Director Robert Pritchard said: “That’s a universal problem but in the small community even more so.”
Mr McMullen said that there had been no real influx of members under 50 in the last 16 years.
“We were unable to see anything that could change our fortunes dramatically. Whatever we did would be no more than tinkering around the edges.”
- Robert Pritchard Director, Pambula Merimbula Golf Club
There is also the question of the club’s ageing irrigation system which uses recycled water from the nearby council sewage plant to keep the greens in good condition.
The irrigation system will cost $1 million and the club recently approached council for assistance. Council agreed that it would provide $150,000 if the club could secure a National Stronger Regions subsidy funding of $500,000. However, even if this grant funding is successful, the extra money the club needs to provide for the project is likely to put it in financial stress.
At the end of last year the club drew on the business expertise of members to form an advisory group. In April they came forward with a number of options but Mr Pritchard said: “There was no substantive change we could make. We can prolong matters but we can’t guarantee the future.
“We were unable to see anything that could change our fortunes dramatically. Whatever we did would be no more than tinkering around the edges.”
The golf club is not alone in its financial position; Clubs NSW tells of increasing numbers of clubs wanting to amalgamate or of those who have folded.
Mr McMullen said: “There is no silver bullet but are we going to sit around and let it happen?”
The board believes there are ways in which the three clubs could work together alongside the many community, sporting and service clubs which also use the club spaces and want to start a community conversation. The board specifically named the RSL Sub Branch as being an important part of that conversation.
Mr McMullen said that when clubs failed there was a further impact to the community through the jobs lost, and money that flowed into the community through services that were purchased by the club. There was also the lost to the wider community through the lack of events, such as golf tournaments, which might attract visitors from outside the area.
He said that both the Bowling and the RSL Clubs have agreed the need for a review of the club business model in Merimbula but have shied away from making any public statement following the bruising battle over amalgamation last year.
Long after that debate, the question still remained as to which clubs would manage to survive and for how long.
“Waiting to see who fails and whether the remaining club/s can get a windfall outcome as a result, ignores the reason for having a club - it is not to build the biggest and best castle - it is to serve our community and to ensure such service and support can exist and grow into the future,” the board said in its open letter to the community.
Both Mr McMullen and Mr Pritchard talked about the possibility of one community club with outposts offering specific services or facilities but did not go further.
The board has said that the community needs to be aware of the possibilities and engage in a serious review. Failure to do so could lead to a far less palatable outcome, it said.
They are keen to see a community conversation start and realise that in raising the issue, it will open up old wounds and cause rumours to start of people losing their jobs. The club’s general manager Michelle Vernon is leaving the club at the end of the month.
Mr McMullen said: “We recognise that there will be a lot of negative comment around this but we’re looking at the bigger picture.”
The golf club board is urging community members to contact club boards and let them know if they would like to see the club issue openly discussed.
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