The Board held its monthly meeting over Zoom last Wednesday 28th July, 2021.
We now find ourselves in the middle of an extended lockdown, with COVID case numbers in Sydney continuing to rise. As with all other golf clubs, a large number of Avondale members are not able to attend the club due to COVID restrictions. For Avondale, this is around 30% of our membership base. Mark and the Golf Ops team have begun to establish a network of temporary reciprocal arrangements with other Sydney clubs with the aim to provide some golf to members who cannot currently come to Avondale. These arrangements are in their early stages, and we are very focused on achieving geographic coverage for all our members who are excluded from attending Avondale. I would like to thank all members for their patience as these arrangements are put into place – this is not an easy task.
The Board has discussed at length a range of options to recognise the fact that we have a large number of members who cannot attend the club. At this stage, the level of uncertainty around COVID restrictions is so great that we are not yet able to reach a decision that we can be confident is the right one. If the restrictions were to tighten to a limit of 5km from the club, for example, or to exclude all members from the club, we could find ourselves very quickly in a situation where any decision we make today either becomes irrelevant or creates a financial issue for the club.
The Board and staff have already and will continue to reduce our operating expenditure as far as reasonably possible, whilst ensuring we have the foundation to re-open the club when restrictions ease. Given that the timing of any possible re-opening remains unknown, these are difficult decisions to make. A large proportion of our costs are fixed and relate to the maintenance of the golf course – these are costs that remain, independent of how many people are able to access the course.
I know it is not ideal that subscription notices have been issued at a point in time when there is so much uncertainty. The Board took the view that we have to keep the club moving forward in the face of the very significant challenges right now. I am sure members believe, as I do, that these few difficult months are a very small part of a long term membership of a wonderful club.
Kerry Skellern
President
Filed under: App News
