Souris golf club misses the mark with funding ask: council

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This article was published 26/04/2018 (2902 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Souris and Glenwood Community Golf Club missed the cut in its bid for government cash.

Plagued by declining revenues, a shrinking membership base and repeated flooding damage, the golf course requested an operating grant from the Municipality of Souris-Glenwood.

But council decided in late March to not provide funding to the privately run course.

“It’s a bit of a tough call, but we’re under some financial restraints ourselves,” said Souris-Glenwood Mayor Darryl Jackson.

“We just felt the golf club had put themselves in this position by not having a more solid plan in place to pay off their new clubhouse,” he continued, alluding to the $500,000 clubhouse built in 2010 that the golf course must afford.

Gary Noto, president of the golf course’s board of directors, was not willing to disclose the amount of money the club was seeking.

However, The Southwest Post reported the club wanted $40,000. When questioned by the Sun, Jackson said the golf course’s request was “right in the ballpark of $40,000.”

Jackson said the clubhouse is “what’s dragging (the golf club) down.”

“If they totally had the money to build that clubhouse and had no mortgage on the building, they’d be in far better shape,” Jackson said.

Still, he’s sympathetic to their plight and is encouraging the club to fundraise on its own.

“It’s just not something we felt … we should be spending ratepayers’ money on,” he said. “If people feel strongly that they want to help the golf course out, let them make their own personal donation rather than the council of the day taking their money.”

In addition to the unpaid clubhouse debt, Souris’ nine-hole, par-35 layout has been battered, like many courses nationwide, by a declining number of memberships and green fees.

And then there’s flooding, a near-yearly occurrence this decade.

Noto explained that the club has applied for and received aid through Manitoba’s Disaster Financial Assistance fund to rebuild sections of the course devastated by 2011 and 2014 flooding.

A DFA application for 2017 flooding is still being considered. Until then, the course spent thousands on repairs, and is out that money in the meantime.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated sort of the weather and the decline (in membership),” said Noto, who wouldn’t speculate in hindsight on whether the clubhouse was a good investment.

“We haven’t had what I would call a good year since the building went up.”

Noto said the club missed its most recent mortgage payment by three months. It has since been paid off.

He explained the club has struggled to break even in recent years.

“We have a line of credit to buffer us and we’ve had to dip into that a few times to get through the year.”

In response to the municipality’s rejection, the golf course is forced to bail out itself.

Tentative plans include a new fundraising golf tournament, complete with various prizes and a hole-in-one contest, as well as a raffle for a condo rental down south.

The Souris and Glenwood Community Golf Club’s predicament is comparable to the Souris Cooperative Day Care Centre, which only months ago went to the same municipality for cash. The daycare, however, rescinded their request following a strong fundraising push.

Noto hopes the golf club can amass the same success.

“Souris is pretty famous for supporting projects,” he said.

But Noto isn’t optimistic about the future of the golf course, a tourist attraction with many who bring their clubs to the lake. At some 125 members expected this year, the course’s membership is half of what it was 20 years ago.

“I’d have to say I’m not” encouraged, he said. “It will depend on how this year turns out.”

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