News

As we move into the middle of March, it’s an exciting time of year at Egypt Valley. Our 2023 social and golf calendars have been released, the membership is starting to use the Club more and the increased temperatures and daylight are starting to clear the courses of snow and frost. The average daily temperature locally improves from 38 degrees on March 1 to 51 degrees on March 31, and we add over an hour of daylight by the end of the month. While I’m certain that winter has not eased its grip on us quite yet, spring is right around the corner and we’ll soon be playing golf and enjoying the property at EVCC.

At the conclusion of the 2022 season, we noted that although we spent most of the year with a waiting list and full at 550 playing members, we did have the typical end-of-season attrition, and that we would have the ability to accept new members early in 2023 season. I’m glad to report that many of our members provided referrals of friends and family to the Club, and we have had an excellent January and February for new member recruitment. Based on the membership growth to-date and our current backlog of potential new members, it appears that we will head into the playing season close to our cap of 550 members, if not at the limit. If you’re thinking of anyone in particular who would be a good fit for the Club, now would be the time to put them in touch with Hunter!

With our increased membership levels over the last several years, it became apparent there were some logistical challenges with how we’ve been utilizing the facilities during the peak season. One of those challenges was having on-course wedding ceremonies, most of which were held on Saturdays. After reviewing our policies, the Board has elected to make a few changes with how we handle weddings in general at the Club. First, any wedding to be held at EVCC going forward will either need to be for a member, or of a guest sponsored by a member. Second, only playing members or the child of a playing member may host their wedding ceremony on the golf course. As most weddings and receptions are planned well in advance, we do have commitments made for the 2023 season which we will honor, but going forward the new rules will apply. While these changes will ultimately reduce the number of weddings we have at the Club, they will also allow our staff to focus more on member events during the season and will not disrupt member use of the golf courses. The staff is already working on an even more comprehensive social and golf calendar in 2024 as a result!

Last month the Board approved the budget for 2023, and this will be our first full year operating under our new Operating Dues and Capital Dues structure. Our goal for 2023 is to break even from an operational standpoint and generate capital dues of $1.9MM, which will be reinvested into the Club during the season. Our three largest capital items for 2023 include a new irrigation pump house, our range and practice tee renovation (which will start in August after the conclusion of our Club Championship Week) and new on-course equipment to help the grounds maintenance staff. Hopefully in the coming weeks, we’ll have renderings of the updated range to share with the membership, as well as an outlined timeline of completion.

The capital projects we are embarking on in 2023 were all contemplated in our capital reserve study and help balance the investment necessary to catch up on our deferred maintenance, as well as begin to set the table for furthering our Golf Course Master Plan. I should note: Supply chain challenges are still continuing to make capital planning unpredictable (our recently installed generator—which took 18 months to receive—is a perfect example). However, the team is doing a great job trying to manage the process as best as possible in the interim. Should we exceed our forecast through higher than budgeted membership levels or by having less capital spend this year, we’ll be in a better place to further invest in the future based on our capital reserve study and/or dive further into the work outlined in the Master Plan.

Finally, I outlined the results of our membership-wide survey conducted in 2022 in my most recent letter. Later this month, EVCC will survey 25% of our membership on various aspects of the Club, but particularly focusing on our Food and Beverage operations. We received excellent feedback from the full survey in 2022, and these quarterly segmented membership surveys will help us provide trend lines and more direct data on ways to improve. If you receive the survey, please take the time to respond, as this information really is invaluable to the management of the Club.

Thank you all, and I look forward to seeing you at the Club!