Council hears overview of 2019 Golf year from Prince Rupert Golf Society

Iain Cullen and Ross McNish were on hand on Monday as the Prince Rupert
Golf Society made a presentation to Prince Rupert City Council

While the weather may not be much for a tour of the links, Prince Rupert City Council members did manage to get a verbal tour of the latest notes from the Ninth Avenue course, as Prince Rupert Golf Society members Iain Cullen and Ross McNish offered an update from the course on Monday evening.

Mr. Cullen provided for the majority of the presentation opening up with a bit of a year of review from the golf course, noting of the hiring of Tyler Stene as golf pro and the successful opening to the season with a number of out of town golfers coming to town.

Among the highlights of the year as outlined by Mr. Cullen, was an overview of the youth and high school program that was initiated by Mr. Stene, including the formation of a high school golf team for the first time in over a decade.

Council members heard much praise
for the work of club pro Tyler Stene,
particularly his work in growing the
game with the city's youth

The success of the summer camps hosted by the Golf Course were also made note of, with plans to continue with those in the spring and the summer.

The Golf course also started a new program for youngsters called SNAG, Starting New at Golf, which has proven to be popular with plans to expand it in the year ahead.

As for the 2019 golf season at the course, there was an influx of new golfers and more golf dates were able to be realized this year as opposed to past years. 

The departure of the greens keeper was noted with some disappointment, but with an advisory that a new hire will be on the job soon, with a start date of December 16th.

The work the Golf Course has done towards some corporate funding was outlined, with the Course able to work with the Port to provide for some maintenance work on the eighteen holes to assist with drainage and root structure.

As for challenges, Cullen made note of how wages continue to be an issue, with the Golf Course paying sixteen dollars an hour for greens keeping crews, noting how that puts them in competition with the City and the Port when it comes to seeking out new employees.

Equipment issues also provided some challenges for the Course this year, with a need for some new machinery  on the site which would cost $100,000 which is beyond their budget. Also noted was the fact that the golf course has not purchased any new equipment in the last twenty years because of expense.

They noted that as for operating costs they are doing well and are above water.

Sponsorship features like the
tee indicator above are
helping the financials
for the golf course

An explanation of the structure of the Golf Course and responsibility of staff members and Society members was reviewed for Council, highlighting the work of the Course Pro in that area.

Mr. Cullen also pointed out how Prince Rupert differs from other golf courses in the region, making note that much of the work of the Prince Rupert course relies on the efforts of volunteers.

He also reviewed some of the sponsorship arrangements that have been taken on at the golf course this past year.

The Golf Society had one recommendation for the City, observing how they consider the Society and City to be part of a joint venture, with the Golf Society as the stewards for the facility. 

They made note of a safety issue that they wish to have addressed, but have had some difficulties in getting public works to take care of the problem.

From that experience the Golf Society is looking for a liaison person put in place to be able to sort out some of those issues as they come along.

From the council side of the chamber, the Council members offered their thanks for the work of the staff and volunteers at the facility and took note of their request to provide for better communication on some of the concerns that were raised.

You can review the presentation from the Golf Society from the City's Video archive, starting at the six minute mark.




For more items of note related to Monday's Council session see our Council Timeline Feature.

A wider overview of City Council discussion themes can be found from our Council Archive page here.

For items of interest from the Prince Rupert Golf Course see our archive page here.