WELCOME TO MARCH

BY TOM SCHUNN GENERAL MANAGER

FROM THE GM’S DESK

Retention

You have likely heard it is easier to retain a customer as opposed to attempting to gain another customer. This is also true in the club industry when referring to members. It is much easier to keep a member in comparison to recruiting a new member. It is also costlier to recruit. My belief is the best way to retain members is to continually improve services and to add amenities. The Club has recently rolled out some great new amenities. The fitness center is a momentous example. It is a member service that did not previously exist. It was a brilliant project to driving a future trajectory. Outdoor dining areas have been added. Outdoor dining is now amazingly popular. The back Courtyard Patio is a charming location, and it is used extensively for member events. The Founders Café Patio with the new pergola is a attractive area to dine and gaze out on the pristine property. This is especially true at the end of the day with the sun setting in the west. Also, worthy of mention is the new practice golf facility. It is world class. It rivals any other private practice facility in the area.

Recruitment

On the other side of the coin is recruitment. I believe wholeheartedly that it is a member’s obligation to recruit other members in order to create a sustainable organization. Purely retaining members is not a long-term sustainable model. I will refrain from explaining further. It is altogether necessary to replace those that leave for all various reasons. It is worthy to mention that your Club was immersed in employee recruitment in the months following COVID operating restrictions. It was a national story about the worker shortage. It even had its own buzz phrase called the great resignation. The Club got through that period of time, and now there is more of a focus on employee retention. We want to retain the most talented and enthusiastic staff. The aforementioned new amenities were solid tools that contributed to membership recruitment. The Club continues to attract new member families even during periods of time that historically are cyclically really slow. You have hopefully heard about the Legacy Program. The very busiest time for membership applications is in early spring. Please help your Club achieve its membership recruitment goals and refer any prospectives to Director of Membership, Marketing & Communications Kristine Roberson.

Inflation

The prices for goods and services across the entire country have become outrageously expensive. It is hard for many families to make ends meet even for just the essentials. The Club experienced cost increases in seemingly every area. The increased costs impacted the 2022 financial performance. Possibly the largest increases came in the way of food prices. Households experienced high inflation when going to the grocery store and to restaurants. Increases were also prevalent in utilities and fuel. Fuel prices also impacted things such as fertilizer and other materials used in golf course maintenance. There was also wage inflation. Since 2020, payroll expenses have increased significantly, not just headcount through expanded services, but also minimum wage, middle tier, and management compensation. All this said, we are operating under a new budget. Management is committed to operating within that budget. Members experienced increases in dues and fees. It should be expected. It is also understood that with those increases there should be an elevation of quality; management is working diligently in this area.

Contribution

I finally would like to share with you some specific information of what best contributes to your Club’s financial health. There are certain activities that are positive forces to the Club’s overall finances. Already mentioned and absolutely paramount, membership retention and recruitment protect the most important inflows of revenue, namely dues! The dues income line should be a reflection of the payroll and benefits costs. The initiation fees are also important and the primary source of capital expenditure funding. Discretionary spending is another critical contributor to club financial health, but certain discretionary spending is more beneficial to finances than other spending. It depends on the costs and overhead to provide for that spend. Food and beverage have high costs to deliver. Banquet and event income, on the other hand, does highly contribute to the bottom line. There are all sorts of reasons for this. One for you to know, during a cocktail hour the total sales might equate to three days of daily bar sales. You can guess which is more profitable. Rentals are another source of valuable revenue. This would be cart rental, room rental, locker rental and other rentals. Guest fees are an notably impactful source of club financial health. Bringing guests to the Club has the harder to quantify, but clearly a huge benefit, of promoting membership to prospective members. Bringing it all back around to the earlier information, membership recruitment and retention are the top priority. Please contribute to the Club as much as you possibly can to keep your Club healthy. It truly is YOUR Club when it comes down to it, so keep looking out for its well-being. See you around Woodbridge soon!

the Gift of Legacy for you & your family

Woodbridge Golf & Country Club is known in our community as a welcoming family club. We are proud of this legacy, and it is because of this long-standing value that we are opening membership to your children, grandchildren and immediate family through the Gift of Legacy.

For a limited-time, the Gift of Legacy program allows you to offer any of our Woodbridge memberships to your children, grandchildren or immediate family with no upfront Initiation Fee, with a two-year commitment to membership. Our families, who are just heading down their chosen career paths and starting families of their own, want a Woodbridge membership, but the Initiation Fee is very likely a barrier of entry for them. The 2023 Legacy Program will allow them to join your Club with no upfront costs, now through March 31, 2023.

Also through March 31, 2023, current members can upgrade their memberships to a higher category for no upgrade fee, providing they sign a new two-year commitment to membership!

See Kristine in the Membership Office for more information!

Friday Dinners are back

Our Dinner Menu runs each Friday night, 5-8pm. Reservations are highly recommended, and can be made online using the QR code.