By Tom Blakeman, June 2, 2020
Editors note: Tom Blakeman sent the following email to the HSV Board of Directors and the HSV Finance and Planning Committee on June 2, 2020.
***
As some of you may know I have been offering suggestions and critiquing HSV issues for a few years. Now that a new board is in place and the Covid-19 issues are diminishing there is an opportunity available. But, ACTION is required IMMEDIATELY for maximum benefit.
The issue is Golf. The Opportunity is: Restructure the HSV Golf Program.
If done aggressively and without delay, second half 2020 golf losses may be mitigated. It is even possible that break-even or profit may be achieved. The key elements required are:
Price – Reduce All Pricing across the board; Eliminate surcharge; Effective July 1.
Promotion – Marketing & Advertising Push; Local Region (150 mile radius); Effective June 25.
Product Management – Fill all tee slots; Charge all no-shows; Enhance all Performance Metrics; Effective ASAP.
Many of us moved here for reasonably priced and quality golf. That no longer exists and hasn’t for some time. Most of us recognize that Hot Springs Village and our Golf in particular is known as a “best kept secret”. Golf is our largest amenity and most expensive to maintain asset. We lose approximately $2 million per year on our Golf Program. Our total rounds of play have been steadily declining for 10 to 15 years. Worst of all we now have a growing number of non-golfer Property Owners voicing opinions that we need to close one or more courses – permanently! All of this has to change. Here’s how:
Price – Our golf pricing, both for members and visitors, is based on out dated legacy concepts that may have worked 20 or 30 years ago but no longer apply. We are not a country club, we no longer have a Developer supporting us with subsidy dollars and we cannot continue to think we are some kind of “Premium Venue” like Pebble Beach or a resort hotel in Florida. We are none of those. We are a rural Arkansas community with poor access and competition all around.
It is now cheaper for an HSV Property Owner (particularly a senior) to play golf anywhere else in a 60 mile radius than to pay the Member Daily Rates at HSV.
Outside (non property owner) players pay as much as double what they would pay anywhere else. Don’t believe me? Please view “Area Golf Rates for June 3, 2020” PDF below. In fact, I could play on a PGA Pro Tour course, which recently completed an 18.5 million renovation, in Houston, TX, as a senior, for less than here. Don’t believe me? Look it up here for yourself.
***
Area Golf Rates for June 3, 2020
Golf-Rates-for-Wednesday-June-3-2020***
On top of this our past management with the help of TROON implemented a flex pricing model for daily paying Property Owners. We not only pay different Property Owner rates from course to course within the Village (stupid and unfair) but the system increases the rate for all the “prime season” months. Insane. This scam (you can’t call it anything else) is fully detailed here in my “A New Plan” published last year.
Last month, on the Hot Springs Village People website I responded to a posting with 15 suggestions on what our new Board needed to do to put the Village on the road to recovery. Hardly anyone noticed. Fortunately, the new Board has already accomplished (or we assume they are working on) a few of the items. That list of 15 items is included as a postscript on this email. For your quick reference the golf items are numbers 5. and 6. Please review them.
Bottom Line is that just like anything else golf is subject to what’s called “Elastic Demand”. Changes in price impact the quantity of products, goods, or services demanded. Again, please see “A New Plan” published last year.
Promotion – In case it wasn’t clear already, or if you have not yet read “A New Plan” we need to revitalize our Golf Program by reducing all fees. This includes Property Owners and Guests (that means any and all outside players). We also need to attract these outside players from our immediate surrounding area. We do this by not only making the price right for them but we must let them know about it. No more “best kept secrets”. This means TV advertising, Billboards, Magazines, Newspapers for our local market area. This includes high population areas like Little Rock and probably even Texarkana. When I visited Bella Vista last year and turned on the local TV news station the first thing I saw a 30 second commercial extolling the virtues of the Bella Vista golf courses. “Come out and Play” they said. If they can do it so can we.
This promotion does not need to cost big bucks or take months to create. We have supposedly accumulated a slush fund of $161,971 as of April 30 financials thanks to the surcharge. Take some of that money and make it work for us to generate the Outside Revenue we need. We have the Sells Agency already onboard with some of their ‘creative’ work already done. They are in Little Rock. Let them implement it. Or, hire the Dannett Botkin agency which is right here in the Village. She has worked for POA before, and does excellent work.
Again, and this is simple, we can price it right but if nobody knows it is “on sale” or however we decide to phrase it, they will not come out and buy it. We need buyers from our surrounding area and we need them now. They will come if we make them an offer they can’t refuse. Promotion is Key.
Product Management – Just yesterday our Board Chair was lamenting on NextDoor about how she could not get a tee time for she and her husband. How can this be? As I recently waxed poetic online:
“I look out my window and what do I see?
An empty golf course looking back at me. . .”
Tom Blakeman
I live on a green on Cortez Golf Course. I also play some golf. It is not unusual, in fact it is commonplace, to see that course (one of our more popular and most played) to be only 1/3 to maybe 1/2 utilized throughout the day. All the courses are that way. Sure, between 9:00 AM and Noon there is a reasonably steady flow – on any of our courses. But there are often many gaps even then. There are lots of 2 golfer only groups and 3 golfer groups too. No one at the pro shops or in the Golf Department ever seems to do anything to try and fill those gaps.
There is also the problem with groups booking 3 and 4 back to back tee times (4 golfers each) and then a number of the players either cancel or just simply don’t even show up. I see this all the time. No one ever gets charged a no show. Everyone thinks this is normal. It may be normal for HSV but it needs to change and change now.
Then there is the tournament issue. The party line excuse is that if only we had a hotel all our problems would be solved. NOT TRUE. The problem lies with the fact that our tournament acquisition is extremely poor. Obviously, this year with the Covid-19 is an exception but take a look at last year. Below is a study I did in April 2019 of tournaments reported in the Arkansas Golfer Magazine. These were mostly ASGA and USGA sanctioned tournaments. Of 101 total tournaments, HSV had only 12. Hot Springs Country Club (which only has 2 golf courses and no hotel) had 26. Rebsamen Park in Little Rock (only 1 course, also no hotel) had 13.
***
Arkansas Golfer Magazine* – Volume 38 – Spring 2019
2019 Tournament Calendar
2019-ASGA-Tournaments***
Finally, the metrics of how we account for golf need to change. Or if we have them, they need to come out of the closet. The only things reported to the Board (or anyone) are the “playable days”, total number of rounds played, and how many $$ per round. Virtually nothing else. And then there is the question of how those “playable days” are calculated? Do you know? I don’t. Do you know how the “Annual” rounds are factored in? Of course not. It’s been kept secret. We do know that “Annual” pay players have been dropping consistently for the last 10 -15 years.
Obviously, changing the reporting, metrics and management will take time. But it needs to start immediately.
Thank you for considering these facts, comments and suggestions for the HSV Golf Program. Changes need to be made. The Golf Program can be made profitable or at least break even. For what’s left of 2020. . .
ACTION is required IMMEDIATELY for maximum benefit.
Attachments:
1) Click here to see “Golf Rates – 60 Miles – June 3, 2020” PDF. It reflects data from Golf Now which is where HSV and most others advertise Golf tee times and rates.
Postscript:
The following is the comment I made on the Hot Springs Village People website. Edited for clarity and completeness in BLUE:
The new BOD is doing great, so far. Here is a simple recipe to start Village on road to recovery:
1. Fire little “ceo”.
2. Fire those on Andy’s list above (and do not refill the positions). [Andy’s list: Director of Golf, Director of Tourism and Community Affairs, Director of Food & Beverage, Director of Agronomy] [ There is also Walter’s list: CFO, CMEO, Director of Place Making]
3. 30% pay cut for all other salaried (exempt) staff – remainder of year, to be reviewed in 2021 by new General Manager.
4. All POA restaurants adopt the “Magellan” food service model including minimal staffing. Cease the “free” entertainment” program. Reduce staff as appropriate. Effective immediately.
5. Roll back all property owner amenity fees to those of 2010. Yes, 2010. Effective immediately. [For golf that would be Property Owner Green Fee: $13.10 (without the $2.00 surcharge) and Cart Fee: $9.50] Refund annuals as needed. ELIMINATE THE GOLF SURCHARGE. DITCH THE FLEX PRICING MODEL.
6. Set golf fees for outside golfers at $10.00 (including tax) BELOW any other course in a 150-mile radius. Also effective immediately.
7. Implement TV and Print Media advertising blitz for outside golfers for a 150-mile radius. Effective immediately.
8. Implement $5 per car toll fee for any visitor entry to Village (unless you have a reserved golf tee time). No other exceptions! Effective immediately.
9. Freeze all capital expenditures for the remainder of the year. No exceptions.
10. Freeze all non-exempt pay increases – the remainder of the year, to be reviewed in 2021 by new General Manager.
11. Freeze any and all “ongoing contract renewals” (such as residential street mowing just approved) and implement zero-based re-justification for all with ROI and in-house tradeoff hurdles.
12. Implement an immediate BOD level review (not another damn committee) of organization structure, job descriptions, and redundancies. Act on results. *
13. Hire a new auditing firm (not EGP) for evaluation of, investigation of, and restatement of financial records for the last five years with an emphasis on potential fraud uncovering.
14. Implement an immediate BOD level review (not another damn committee) of our IT capability and systems. Emphasis on real-time reporting and real-time management tools. Act on results. *
15. Start the process (not another damn committee) to find a replacement General Manager who actually has experience managing a city and understands and plays golf and understands how a retirement community should function. * (No hurry on this one, the process should take six to nine months – minimum).
* Those now on the BOD have the talent already for these specific tasks. Use it. This is not the time to spend days and days (weeks) arguing, debating, seeking legal opinions, chartering committees and so forth on all of our governing documents, policies and bylaws.
Not to use a hackneyed expression but this is our “Nike” moment. Or, as they used to say in Ancient Rome “Acta non Verba”.
Sincerely,
Tom Blakeman
Village Resident / Property Owner
June 2, 2020
***
Editor’s note: Thank you for reading. Click here to go to the home page to bookmark this website so you don’t miss any updates.
***
Click here to visit Hot Springs Village PEOPLE private Facebook Group.
Minn Daly
06/02/2020 — 6:42 pm
Tom Blakeman, I agree totally with your article! Please all members send e/ mails to our BOD requesting change in the way golf is implemented here in HSV. Also please let our BOD know that we approve of all actions currently taken to take back control of our great community, but actions that includes golf, all recreational activities need change & clear direction. All members are tired of a non-productive financial report! BOD also needs to take charge of overbloated staff & start on infrastructure. BOD work sessions begin tomorrow, I am certain BOD will look & consider all members voices on these an other subjects. Minn Daly
Cheri
06/02/2020 — 7:10 pm
For the most part I agree with what you are suggesting. One thing I question is the Visitor fee. Are you suggesting that we charge a visitor fee to family and friends who come here to visit? Sorry I don’t think that will fly.
Second stop the nonsense of charging per seat on the carts. Charge a flat fee. If my grandson or another family member wants to ride along while I play they shouldn’t have to pay for the seat. We get charged enough as it is.
Third, the courses are not utilized enough, why not set 1 or 2 days a week on 1 course for newbies and those who rarely get to play . Then they can play without being intimidated by the curmudgeons behind them.
Do more to encourage new people to come out and play. Offer free lessons every month not just once in 10 yrs.
Mike
06/02/2020 — 7:23 pm
This is excellent, Tom Blakeman.
We are not anything special anymore. We are just rural Arkansas with average golf.
Check out the roads leading to this little hidden community. All roads leading here are time consuming. Then pay up over $80 as a non member? After that trip? I probably won’t be back.
Have you taken a hard critical look at our courses lately? Not pristine. I hate to be critical but it is true.
Our pricing is out of touch with reality. I’m sorry. But people are not making the wages that it takes to play here. Not in Arkansas.
Bill Griffin
06/02/2020 — 7:37 pm
Mike,
When funding keeps getting cut for the courses it’s kinda hard to have pristine as you say. You gotta have the money to make it happen. Keep that in mind.
Joseph Vlasek
06/02/2020 — 8:21 pm
Tom Blakeman: interesting article! But I have a question? Do you really think lowering fee’s will help us get more players from the Village? Or better yet from people willing to drive here? I question that premise. We simple have two many golf courses for the amount of people willing to play here and a much lower fee structure than is needed to break even. Your never going to fill the courses we have.
Tom Blakeman
06/02/2020 — 9:20 pm
Yes I really do. It’s also known as the “Walmart Model”. Low prices, quality management, eliminate waste, good product, well maintained stores, and undercut your competitors. Works every time. There is no other choice.
TomBlakeman
06/02/2020 — 9:34 pm
Oh, I forgot: Advertise!
Anne Shears
06/03/2020 — 9:33 am
Re: Advertising…We need to kick our advertising up a couple of notches NOW. Why? Because, right now, there are thousands of people fed up with big city life. They will be looking for a peaceful place to live. We have that in spades. Target the big cities that are presently riot-torn.
Beverly Murphy
06/02/2020 — 9:27 pm
And here we go again…….tapping into money that is set aside for the Balboa golf course. Get the money someplace else, please.
Dave
06/02/2020 — 9:35 pm
I agree that changes are badly needed. However some of the suggestions are poorly thought out.
a. The surcharge is for renovation of balboa. DO NOT touch that for other projects and keep charging it so that badly needed repairs can be accomplished.
b. Print ads are useless. Newspapers and magazines are a waste of money. What are you reading right now? Internet based ads that target golfers can be tailored to certain geographical areas.
It was stated that people in the pro shops do nothing to fill up a tee time when 2 or 3 players book a slot. That is absolutely FALSE.
I agree the fee structure should be simplified but I don’t think what was suggested is feasible.
Tom Blakeman
06/03/2020 — 6:08 am
Dave,
a. Your opinion. You are entitled. But if rounds keep dropping there will never be enough accumulated to fix anything. We need to increase total revenue coming into the Golf Program. That means we need significantly more volume of play. Soaking the resident golfers isn’t going to do that. Just the opposite. Besides, the surcharge implementation was flawed to begin with. For example, why would they charge a nine hole round the same as an 18 hole round? That was very poorly thought out.
b. It should be left up to the marketing folks as to the media mix. Most likely TV spots, as mentioned would be most effective. Golf now, which the comparison pricing came from needs to be used too. We have used them in the past.
Maybe you work in a pro shop. I don’t know. But I can tell you I don’t see it. What are your ideas to save our golf courses and stop losing $2 million per year?
Thank you for commenting.
Dave
06/03/2020 — 4:08 pm
If you worked in a pro shop you would know that spots are filled with players when there are no openings. It is done on a as needed basis. Now, you would also know how much pushback is done by residents saying they don’t want a single to join them. Many have resorted to being ignorant towards the employees. Then, when groups book tee times they put in place fillers so that the empty spot isn’t available.
Unless you address the issue of non value adding activities you will never control your bottom line no matter how much revenue increases. Get control of expenses before anything.
How? Eliminate all marshalls. First, not all are bad but most are pretty much worthless. You have one marshall selling/giving away homemade peppermint schnapps. I am waiting for a lawsuit on that one. You have a number of them that ride around, write down cart numbers and do nothing else. What value do they add? Today, the marshall continued around the green while I was chipping. Many have no clue.
Eliminate 50% of the individual course managers. One manager should be able to handle multiple courses. The golf department management needs to be more hands on.
Centralize maintenance. Close a course a day and 2 courses per day in the winter and eliminate a few of maintenance positions. You could increase their pay to attract better applicants.
Using WalMart as an example is a poor analogy. Unless you have done business with them you don’t know how many businesses they bankrupted because of their demands. They are ruthless on their suppliers.
Your plan may be viable part of turning the ship around but I won’t buy into it as being the answer.
DanO2
06/02/2020 — 10:20 pm
Have lived here for 3.5 years and never played a round of golf here. Just too expensive. At Tom’s suggested prices, I would start playing again.
Gene Garner
06/03/2020 — 9:13 am
Not being an expert in Market Research I believe it would be worthwhile to engage an experienced organization that does this for a living. At the moment “we don’t know what we don’t know”.
“Market research is the process of gathering information about your business’s buyers personas, target audience, and customers to determine how viable and successful your product or service would be among these people.”
I’m sure we could hire a reputable company to tell us what we should do about our golf courses and for a more reasonable sum than we were charged for the CMP. We need to take action soon and answer Tom’s question “What are your ideas to save our golf courses and stop losing $2 million per year?—Gene
Andy Kramek
06/03/2020 — 10:04 am
Tom, I would agree with most of what you are suggesting and, despite valid comments about internet vs print would also agree that a LOCAL print media campaign could be effective. Especially if it advertised not only the low rates but also the relatively easy availability of tee times (always a contentious issue for single courses!)
I assume the proposed $5 per car fee for visitors does not include family members, and would be a one time fee for those staying more than one day (i.e. having and displaying a multi-day pass).
Just hope the people who can, will read and take it on board. Signs so far are good though.
Tom Blakeman
06/03/2020 — 11:02 am
Andy,
Yes I tend to agree about gate fees comments for the most part. Family or a friend coming for dinner may need a waiver. But we have to do something about the endless parade of folks coming thru for whatever reason. Nobody knows just how many there are weekly but the idea that somehow everything from going to church to estate sales to whatever being ok is simply foolish. Otherwise why have the gates at all?
Andy Kramek
06/03/2020 — 11:21 am
Tom,
Couldn’t agree more about the gates. I have proposed several times that we should:
[1] Reduce the time delay on unmanned gates so that only a single car (no trailers, no big RVs) can use them. At least until we have a new system that can actually handle things properly – i.e. with RFID tags for vehicles, trailers etc. Just use a manned gate – it’s not that far!
[2] Restore the requirement to use a card to exit through an unmanned gate. Again, until a new system based on RFID (or equivalent) is in place.
[3] Require all residents to display a valid tag on all of their vehicles. There is absolutely no valid reason not to do this and a lot of excellent reasons for it. Either fine people who refuse to comply or deny them entry when they show their card and tell them to use an unmanned gate.
[4] Have contractor passes valid only for Monday thru Friday and make them inoperative on Saturday/Sunday (I believe the current system can handle that – all cards are 7-day by default but don’t have to be).
I could go on, but these would go a long way to reducing the influx of non-residents who abuse the current gate (lack of) security.
Linda Van Scotter
06/03/2020 — 11:07 am
I would like to suggest you add in the packages some comfort services like massages and facials and nail care. We have quite a large number of massage therapists who work offices and out of their homes in the village and nail spas in the surrounding area. I am dual licensed and people love to get body work after a few days of golf.
Everyone needs some pampering and quiet time too.
Dan
06/03/2020 — 1:49 pm
John Paul will handle golf, he did for 16 years and he knows what to do.
Dave
06/03/2020 — 4:11 pm
If John Paul knows golf then why are there 2 different types of greens at Desoto? My understanding is that he oversaw the latest renovation and didn’t budget correctly so they didn’t do the same greens on the back as the front.
Chipmunk
06/03/2020 — 4:59 pm
The golf decline started on JP’s watch. He was part of the decision to hire Troon. Unfortunately he has no clue. Way past his expiration date. I saw him on tv today with the board. He’s another pleaser just like turncoat. Big mistake to dredge him out of the closet and our board is acting like he’s going to be some sort of savior till they hire some new dude which they appear to be in a panic mode to do. Losing confidence rapidly in this new board
steve bylow
06/07/2020 — 6:56 pm
Mr. Munk
Really? “Losing confidence rapidly in the new board”?
I guess our informal “votes” will offset each other because after 60 days I think they are doing a great job. What I like is they make a decision and then seem to check and adjust if needed – I trust them.
In regard to taking shots at someone who is willing to help out during a transition – that seems cheap to me but maybe that’s just me.
Thanks
Steve
Linda Anderson
06/03/2020 — 5:15 pm
TOM, Thank you for all your solutions to save HSV and GOLF. Our Home values and future depends on changing what has not worked. Your Walmart Pricing Concept is great. Everyone loves a DEAL. That’s why Walmart has become so successful. With that in mind, how about promoting GOLF Tournaments with prize money sponsored by manufacturers of Golf products. Nothing gets more attention then the possibility of winning with prize money. Local Guys and Gals would be rushing to the Golf courses to brush up on their golfing skills. This would inspire others to learn how to play golf. How about Golf Pro Tournaments? We have a fantastic opportunity to revive community growth.
Time to take action now.
Tom Blakeman
06/03/2020 — 5:48 pm
Thank you Linda. I appreciate your comments and praise. Your idea on the tournaments is also a good one. Maybe someone will listen. Unfortunately I’m afraid no one is listening to any of us. I was very disappointed in the Board discussion session today, or whatever they are calling them.
John Sowers
06/05/2020 — 9:12 am
Linda,
Golf is only the tip of many icebergs; see below. However, golf is the biggest elephant in the room. Something about not being prepared and not being informed by a lot of the current POA board members. Go to the volunteer golf committee meetings; Dick Garrison is now a member; what does he say about Tom’s plan?
Podawiltz said several bylaws need to be changed to reflect the new relationship between the board and the staff, and the fact there will no longer be a CEO.
She assigned director Alvord to lead the review. Alvord said he did not agree to sit on the board to write bylaws. That’s something POA lawyers should do, he argued.
Alvord urged the board to better define what “working board” means.
The first POA board gathering without the presence of CEO Lesley Nalley took place today. What discussion there was about replacing her ended up in a disagreement over whether the board had reached “consensus” about what was going to happen.
Director Chuck Alvord wondered when a “consensus” was reached. Board chair Diana Podawiltz said the “consensus” was reached in a closed board meeting last week in director Tucker Omohundro’s office.
Alvord said he was there and never heard the board agree to such a thing. Podawiltz said the search would be under the direction of director Dick Garrison, who is vacationing in Florida. Alvord said he heard two Villagers and Garrison were thinking about hiring a search firm which specializes in executives in the nuclear-power industry.
That’s ridiculous, Alvord contended, saying the POA’s needs are vastly different.
Diana Podawiltz on HSV golf, June 1, 2020 “It’s a very perplexing situation. I know our courses are under utilized. But, I wasn’t able to find a tee time, it was last minute due to my current Village related “job”, for either Saturday, Sunday or today. Hubby & I did manage to get a tee time for Thursday – hope the nice weather holds out.
Danl
06/03/2020 — 6:43 pm
The new board put JP back in, did. They do. Wrong?
Stick
06/03/2020 — 9:11 pm
A 30% reduction in salaried staff would bring some of the managers below minimum wage. How would you expect those people to keep working for less than the part time workers? If you think they aren’t working enough, how about you spend a week or two in their footsteps.
Tom Blakeman
06/04/2020 — 8:45 am
OK Stick. Here’s the real story: Our POA total compensation for employees including, insurance, payroll tax, 401k contributions and other benefits exceeds the total amount of assessment dollars we take in annually. Plus all employees get 1/2 price fees for all amenities including golf. On top of that imbalance we have way too many manager and supervisor and executive positions. And virtually none of them are actually generating any outside revenue to compensate.
I’ve already walked in many shoes and dealt with recessions, workforce reductions, pay cuts and the like. It’s not pleasant but it is a fact of life. It should not be the responsibility of retired senior citizens to promote a big city lifestyle and compensation for rural Arkansas.
Stick
06/04/2020 — 8:02 pm
So you are ok with a middle manager taking a pay cut to below $10 an hour! How in the world would you expect to keep anyone in a position like that. Half price golf is only good if you actually get to use it.
George
06/03/2020 — 10:35 pm
Tom,
Here is one for you…private cart owners are charged $650 for an annual trail fee or about $7 per day if they pay daily. Add in $63 for every cart.
It appears the number of private carts are on the rise, for various reasons.
This money is all profit. Where does it go? Hopefully within the golf department, but even better would be a cart path maintenance reserve. Besides the obvious problems with Balboa paths, there are numerous places on almost all the courses that have uneven paths, with “jarring” landings or tree roots pushing up though the paths. Some are marked, but most are not.
Tom Blakeman
06/04/2020 — 8:32 am
There’s a guy posting on FB who talks about how private cats are declining and how there used to be no POA charge for them back in the day. POA thought they could squeeze more revenue out of folks so they started the charging thing.
I wasn’t here back in the day so I couldn’t say. Don’t forget you also get to pay a personal property tax to the state for a golf cart, boat, etc.
George
06/04/2020 — 7:48 pm
Yes, it generates a good amount of revenue. I just would like to know how it is used.
No state fees for a golf cart. Only the trailer gets registered and taxed. Just a few bucks a year.
Gary Godfrey
06/05/2020 — 5:34 am
Tom, I’m one of those guys from back in the day. All you have to do is look at all the golf charts that Frank Leeming has posted over the years to see the decline in private carts and rounds year by year up to now. Look at the year that JP came in to run Golf. Compete decline. Charging more and more for golf over the years, for members and outsiders. Outsiders would get a break if they rode on a private cart saving them bucks. Family members rode on a private cart for free and paid five dollars more then a member price. We used to have a book that you could bye with five rounds in it that you used for visitors the then got a round for five bucks more the Member price. On weekends we had so many people there that the parking lots were full. 2008 360,000 rounds!!!!! That was with 87 inches of rain fall! Its very clear that the Village is way over priced. I remember walking into the clubhouse at Isabella and I guy was paying in front of me. He was told 95 bucks. He said WHAT!!! I am on a private cart too. Doesnt mater 95 bucks. Last word I wont be back. Im done with this place. People were selling their carts because it had no advantage to them anymore. If it bettered the member in any way it was taken away with higher fees.
I bought a lot on Ponce in 1996 and built on it in 2002. Moved there for the golf and left there because in my home state I could play great courses cheaper and be by family. Remember we are seniors and in the home state we get senior rates. Much cheaper now then in the Village. So we moved back to the home state back in 2015.
I like your idea of moving prices back to around 2010 prices. Remember it took 10 years for this decline of golf in the Village. If you change the pricing its going to take a while to get those golfers back.
Moe
06/04/2020 — 9:28 am
Tom – your ideas are all good and need to be implemented. Now.
Plus, if you live here and own your own cart you should never have to pay anything to use it on our courses. Insanity.
How these fools ever got here and put in charge is beyond me. Everyone KNOWS that when you tax something or charge more for something then people stop buying/using. It happens every time it is tried. The net result is ALWAYS lower total revenue.
Always.
Same for our golf…all the fees, surcharges, cart fees, etc. make people stop using the courses. And they have done just that. And it is NOT the weather. It is fools charging too much.
Wait until you see how few people end up using the leaking new outdoor pool with the chlorination system that doesn’t function. At $5 a pop they will just go to the beach. Trust me on this. What a joke. It is a pathetic and total waste.
Any, by the way, we lost 100’s of thousands of dollars on the failed Troon contract….don’t let anyone say otherwise, because it is a fact – we lost big. It was a very big mistake made by people who don’t know how to do their jobs.
Troon was an abject failure in every way possible and should NEVER have been implemented. Now the guy who signed on to the failure is back running stuff?
Maybe not the best idea.
So, hopefully, the new BOD will listen to your ideas and implement them. The requirement to close the exit gates to non-residents is something that should be done immediately. I would sure like to know why it has not been done. We are encouraging poachers in our community…for certain…I don’t blame them for coming…they get to use the amenities we all pay for for free! What’s not to like about that. It has to stop….it is utter madness to live in a so-called “gated” community when anyone can come anytime for any reason. Madness.
I like the fee idea. I like it a lot.
Much to be done…but you are right on all counts. Especially on the need to reduce the salaries immediately. Most of these people are costing us much more than their salaries with their failed negotiations….such as the new pool, for example, which leaks and leaks and we get stuck repairing it despite the fact that it is brand new. Who was the genius who forged that contract???
Bill Griffin
06/04/2020 — 2:53 pm
Tom I can assure you that if you reduce salaries of managers by 30% you will finish sinking the ship. You say it’s not the people’s place to support the big lifestyles well it kinda is. You wanna have nice amenities right? Well you gotta pay people. I agree you do not have to pay outrageous salaries but you have to be competitive. They aren’t gonna work here just out of the goodness of their hearts. People aren’t breaking the door down to come work here I think after all the squawking you do and no one has listened yet maybe put the keyboard up. It’s mindsets like yours that will sink us.
Tom Blakeman
06/04/2020 — 4:26 pm
Bill, this ship was sinking before I got here. Since then our leadership has just been rearranging the deck chairs. We did get a little righting of the list with our new BOD but I’ve still got my life jacket on.
There is great news on the horizon though. One of the preeminent leaders of our demise just landed another plum Captain’s job at another retirement community. Wonder how long it will take him to find the iceberg there?
https://vimeo.com/412843727?fbclid=IwAR2a2dlhRFh4HrlWJpdeHUg2FdIIjISP0AdgdgaI6Yb2NXguRrUKNJfvCQQ
Gene Garner
06/06/2020 — 3:07 pm
OMG, where’s my wooden stake and hammer. What happened to the doggies that he was caring for, did he mess up their “Ol Roy” and do them in?
Do you think Lesley will be moving out west? —Gene
Dan
06/04/2020 — 5:43 pm
The sinking started about 2006 when CCI decided they had made all the money they could and didn’t want to sink anymore money into adventure just as they had at other communities, and turned it over to POA, keeping their voting rights from properties they still owned.
We took over all infrastructure upkeep that we had no money to take over, because we had depended on CCI and did not save money.
It was a good business deal for CCI but bad for us.
Judy Weatherly
06/05/2020 — 9:23 am
Tom I agree with your article. Having spent 40 years in Advertising and Marketing we are in desperate need to promote this wonder place.
That diffentely includes golf. Fees are rediculious. My husband plays but has cut back on rounds. The afternoon rate is less then other times but that rate could be used all day and as you said more would play. I also agree we are sticking it to outsiders which stops golf revenue plus may even reduce opportunities to sell those golfers into becoming a permanent Villager.
We have to start positive advertising campaigns about Village and all of our amenities especially golf.
Folks..don’t get upset with our new BOD. It’s taken years to get us where we are…give them longer than 2 months to fix it. Correct Financials have to be known. Some ideas stated on this feed can be done almost immediately. Let them look over ideas and discuss. They are working as fast as daily problems let them.
I support BOD and the many good ideas stated on this feed. The BOD will be seeing the Villagers input on Tom’s article.
George Sorrell
06/05/2020 — 2:44 pm
Golf
I support reduction of fees for Golf as I personally have experienced having guests unwilling to pay the outrageous prices or else I was too afraid to suggest playing golf which would put my guests in a embarrassing position to say they couldn’t afford it.
Advertising
My suggestion on advertising is as follows. Our advertising should include evaluation of using a YouTube campaign with 5 second targeted teaser spots. This would be followed with more information if the viewer doesn’t click “Skip”.
It is of course impossible to tell the HSV story in 5 seconds. But, one HSV story that can be told quickly seems to be almost unique to HSV. Simply this. More house for your money, lower taxes in a beautiful, safe setting. This proposal isn’t talking about putting out the Remax video (which is extremely well done and I am glad it exists). What I’m proposing is an orchestrated campaign using the YouTube platform and their expertise to “laser target” the people who would love HSV. This would be new retirees from a broad financial range with focus on specific geographical areas.
Tom, thanks for your continued contribution to the “ideas” mill. Also, I do want to say we need to give our new BOD time to chew the bite they’ve already bitten. They’ve lifted the spirits of many HSV property owners.