Golf group seeks par financially
When it first opened in 1976, the nine-hole Illinois Valley Golf Course was a heaven of sorts for golfers from throughout the area.
Membership was high, and people regularly came from as far away as Ashland, Grants Pass and Medford to take advantage of its affordable golf games.
However, declining membership and rising maintenance costs have caused the course’s board of directors to seek new management and ownership proposals.
“Basically, it’s time to look for a different way out of our financial doldrums,” said Kit Fluck, golf association board chairman.
Continued financial difficulties prompted the board to call a shareholders meeting in March. During that meeting, the shareholders directed the board to seek proposals for improving the balance sheet.
Kerby resident Jerry Work is among the board’s newest members. He joined earlier this year to replace a member who resigned. Work, who also serves as board president of the Southern Oregon Guild, said that he hopes to use his experience to help turn around the course.
“Each year for the past several years, it’s been running at a deficit,” Work said. “One of the reasons I was asked to come on board is to help find a proper path forward.”
Work said that for years, the board has borrowed against the value of the course’s 58 acres of land in order to cover its operating losses.
“It’s incurred $325,000 of indebtedness at this point,” he said.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the course is down to 56 active members. Work said that it would need another 50 members for solvency.
“If we had around 100 members, our financial picture would look very different,” Work said. “We would no longer be losing money. We would be able to create enough of a surplus to pay off our existing indebtedness and start building the kinds of reserves we would need for improvements in the future.”
The board has begun advertising that it’s seeking proposals from golf professionals, existing golf courses, real estate companies and developers within a 180-mile radius of the area. Options include the “outright purchase of the land and golf course,” Work said, but the board is open to suggestions.
“We don’t want to shut anyone out with a good idea,” Work said. “We just know that we can’t keep trying to do the same thing and expect different results.”
The board will accept proposals until July 15, and it’s anticipated that it will make a decision by July 31.
“If we can’t find a proposal that is acceptable that allows golf to be continued, we’re going to have to do something different that might not result in having golf here,” said Work. “But we’ll try our very best to have golf here if we can.
“We’re not closing the doors. It’s not like we’re hanging a ‘For Sale’ sign on it or walking away,” he said.
