The 2021 season was the best one yet for the Legends Golf Club.
Membership increased 38% from 220 adult members last year to 300 this year; its revamped food and beverage service made money, as did the pro shop; and both the driving range and the 18-hole course were busy seven days a week from late April till early October.
But the biggest change from a few years ago is on the club’s balance sheet.
“We made a profit in excess of $300,000 this past year,” said Legends General Manager Davidson Matyczuk. “That goes a long way toward ensuring a secure future for the club.”
That’s a far cry from a few years ago when the club struggled to make its annual loan payment. Now, after adjusting the terms of the loan to a more affordable level and focusing on providing a more cost-effective and convenient food and beverage component, the club is in good financial shape for next year.
Matyczuk said despite a shortened season in 2020, the club’s bottom line is looking better in part, ironically, to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of uncertainty because of public health concerns,” said Matyczuk. “But once golf was given the green light as an accepted outdoor activity provided that proper protocols are followed, its popularity really took off.
“Golf is definitely on the rise. A lot more people are participating in the sport at courses across the province.”
Matyczuk said junior membership in the club has doubled over the past couple of years.
“Kids couldn’t participate last year in baseball or hockey,” he said. “So a lot of them got exposed to golf for the first time. We’re also seeing more families coming out because the kids are involved. They may not be members, but they’re playing six to eight times a season, and that’s very encouraging.”
Matyczuk said the decision by the club’s board of directors to revamp the food and beverage area was based on giving patrons better service while abiding by public health guidelines.
“In past years food and beverage service was a break-even proposition at best,” said Matyczuk. “When COVID hit, we had to close the restaurant. We decided to keep it closed and utilize the outdoor ‘grab and go’ concession instead.
“It turned out to be a real positive, especially with the new patio we put in last year. People want to have a wrap or chicken fingers or a hot dog and a beer and just relax outside. It’s a more conservative way of running that service, and it turned into a profit centre for us.”
Matyczuk said the restaurant is still used for tournaments and other bookings, but a third-party caterer is contracted to provide the food, while the club handles the bar.
He said while the dry, hot weather last summer was bad for farmers, it boosted bookings at the club.
“People were surprised at how good a good shape the course was in,” said Matyczuk. “One of the reasons for that is we were able to use a lot of irrigation at a much lower cost than we would have in previous years. We recently signed an agreement with a farmer to supply us with untreated water from the river. So now we have a stable water supply that we pay an annual fee for, regardless of how much we need to use.
“It turned out we needed quite a bit of water last summer. Next year the weather might be different and we might get more timely rainfall so our holding ponds, that collect runoff from city streets, won’t fall as low. We will still pay the same price, but the farmer will come out ahead, so it’s a good deal for both parties.”
Matyczuk said the club is close to capacity in terms of membership, and he expects the majority of members will be back again next year.
“The club is going in the right direction,” he said. “We’ve got a couple projects in the works to improve the facilities and handle bigger events.”