NORWALK, Conn. – Business has been brisk this month at Oak Hills Golf Course, making up for revenue lost in a cold April, Oak Hills Park Authority members said Thursday.
Actually, May has been “phenomenal” and “stunning,” they said.
The enthusiasm comes as the Authority prepares to spend $1.5 million in state money to upgrade the course, and as Common Council members scrutinize the park’s financial information with occasional references to maybe forgiving $1 million of the Authority’s debt to the city.
Although OHPA ended April with $1,000 less than it had at the end of April 2014, between $5,000 and $15,000 has been coming in weekly in May, OHPA Chairman Clyde Mount said. “What we should see in May is that we’re doing better,” Oak Hills Park Executive Director Shelley Guyer said, going over the accounting report. “… If we look at current month vs. prior month, we were only $5,000 worse on total income versus April last year.”
A $20,000 payment will be made Tuesday on the $80,000 borrowed from a bank to get through the winter, Guyer said. The plan is to pay that off $20,000 a month through August and then qualify for the line of credit again next year, he said.
People just didn’t want to come out in April because of the weather, Guyer said. But while the rounds were down 14.5 percent the revenue was only down 8.5 percent, with some of the difference made up by golf ID cards, he said. “All in all, considering the weather and everything, I think it was actually a pretty good month,” Guyer said.
“We are just crushing it compared to last May,” Guyer said.
“May is going to phenomenal,” another member said.
“The last few weeks have just been stunning,” Ernie DesRochers said.
“This weekend looks huge again,” Guyer said. The course utilization was at 70 percent capacity Thursday even though the temperatures were in the low 60s, he said.
“Why is all of this happening? There’s a few things happening,” Guyer said. “Obviously, the condition of the course is huge. A lot of the other courses I have been around –a nd I have been to recently, Yale – our course is in better shape than Yale, both greens and fairway.”
Gene Horne, a citizen who spoke to the Authority at the beginning of the meeting, said he had never seen the course in as good condition as it is now.
Neighboring clubs aren’t doing as well, Guyer said. There’s a green closed at Woodway Country Club in Darien and golfers are saying that Oak Hills’ greens are in much better condition than those at Stamford’s Sterling Farms Golf Course, he said.
People are also coming to Oak Hills to use the deals they got through Groupon, which expired Thursday, Guyer said.
“We are surprised by the Groupons and where people are coming from. I mean, Manhattan,” Head Golf Pro Ed Ruiz said.
“Three millennials from Stamford bought nonresident cards,” Ruiz said. “They got tired of how long it was taking and they like our course better.”
There is a Connecticut State Golf Association Amateur Qualifying round Tuesday at Oak Hills, Guyer said. While he was disappointed that there are only 65 people taking part, at least 50 extra rounds are likely to have been played as practice when all is said and done, he said.
“I think all those things combined is why we are seeing much more activity,” Guyer said.
Expenses are “well under control and in most cases lower” than last April, with the net ordinary income “only off $6,000,” Guyer said.
“That is just to me stunning, considering where we were six months ago,” DesRochers said.
“Considering what happened in March and April, yes,” Guyer said.
Council members briefly considered Oak Hills at the last Finance Committee meeting.
“In terms of the P&L (profit and loss statement) year to date they are pretty much overall on track to where they were a year ago,” Finance Director Thomas Hamilton said, on May 14.
It was wise of the Authority to obtain a $100,000 line of credit before the winter started, he said.
Two previous meetings have been marked by prolonged discussions about Oak Hills. In March, Council members indicated a willingness to forgive $1 million in debt, while Hamilton protested. In April, DesRochers said a driving range would make Oak Hills solvent and he could get financing if the previous debt was taken care of.
It wasn’t discussed in May.
“I’ve stayed in touch with Finance Department,” Finance Committee Chairman Bruce Kimmel (D-At Large) said. “They have been meeting with the Oak Hills folks and working on some proposals. Hopefully next meeting we will be able to dig into this a little bit more and satisfy everyone.”
“(We’ve) met with the mayor, had some discussions, working to bring something back with potential ideas and recommendations on ways to potentially move forward,” Hamilton said. “… What we come back with next month may not be final-final, maybe still kicking around ideas, but at least some reaction from the administration, from the mayor, from my office, and some ideas to kick around.”
The Authority recently got the final approvals it needed to begin receiving the $1.5 million it was awarded by the State Bond Commission.
The first Request for Proposals, for architectural services, went out two weeks ago, DesRochers said Thursday.
“It is the basis for everything we’re going to need to have, including golf course improvement designs we have to have, the welcome center design and any other construction things that go into the golf course,” he said.
Nine firms attended an informational meeting, Jerry Crowley said. “There appears to be a lot of interest. People stayed around and talked about it afterwards,” he said.
Based on feedback gotten there, the RFP has been amended. Instead of requiring that a golf architect get the contract, it now says that a golf architect be hired by the winning bidder, Crowley said.
“We, collectively as a group, want to avoid all the BS that went on with the construction of the restaurant because when you have a qualified architect involved who kind of understands all the idiosyncrasies of a golf course and it really can cut to the chase pretty quick, that’s kind of what we want,” DesRochers said. “If we’re going to do a, I won’t call it a redesign but basically a facelift of the golf course, you want to have the best possible talent working on it.”
The master plan committee is “full bore on Phase I,” DesRochers said.
“Our goal is to actually be in the ground in the fall,” DesRochers said. “It may take a lot of work to get there but we are bound and determined to get in so that next spring at least the golf course will be in better shape than it is now.”
Meaning new cart paths and other improvements.
Mount expressed skepticism that all city approvals could be obtained in time to begin work in the fall ,but DesRochers said he had been assured that the bureaucracy would not hold the project up. It’s in the best interest of the city, he said.
DesRochers floated another idea: Because so many people criticize the park for not having a pool, perhaps it would be a good idea to buy the vacant house next door and put a pool there, he said.
“If the city really wanted to do that it would be just the perfect spot for it, because it wouldn’t take much to expand the parking area over by the tennis center,” DesRochers said.
Former OHPA member Jane Walters said that had once been considered but there are buried oil tanks there. DesRochers and others said that could be dealt with. The idea would be looked into, they said.
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