Deer Park golf fees set for 2012

Yorkton Council approved the 2012 fee schedule for the Deer Park Muncipal Golf Course during their regular meeting Monday.

"A review of the Deer Park Golf Course fees and charges is completed each year following the golf season and during the budget process for the following year. The review is completed to ensure the fees are relative to the operating expenses as well as remain competitive. This review is completed by administration with the Deer Park Advisory Sub-Committee after which a recommendation is submitted to the Community Development, Parks and Recreation Committee," explained Darcy McLeod, Director of community Development, Parks and Recreation with the City.

The changes to fees include;

No increase in the New Junior Season Pass category

A range of three to five per cent increase in all other Season Pass categories

A decrease in the Family Season Pass from $1,800 to $1,700 to encourage families to golf. A Family Season Pass has not been sold in the past four seasons

Increase the Adult 9-hole fee from $25 to $26 and the Adult 18-hole from $39.50 to $40

Three per cent increase in all other green fee categories

A range of three to six per cent increases in the Promo and Tournament categories.

In addition there will be some incentives for early membership purchases.

"The committee also supports the Deer Park Advisory Sub-Committees recommendation that anyone purchasing their 2012 Season Pass in full by January 31, 2012 be able to do so at the 2011 rate. Their hope is that this will be an incentive for people to purchase their season pass prior to the season. This equates to a savings of $27 per Adult Season Pass, however, if all season pass holders from 2011 participate in this incentive, the total impact on course revenue would be $10,000," said McLeod.

"This new fee freeze incentive is in addition to the Win Your Season Pass promotion, which is an existing incentive to promote purchasing season passes prior to the season. The Win Your Season Pass promotion will have a maximum impact of $1,025 on course revenue in 2012. The average uptake of the Win Your Season Pass promotion over the last three years is 55 per cent of the total season pass sales. If we apply this same participation rate to the fee freeze promotion, we could expect the impact to be $5,700.

"Some courses use the fee freeze promotion to generate cash flow in the off season to keep the course going.

"There are many factors that will impact the uptake of this initiative such as the timing being just after the Christmas season and when a number of pass holders are away to a warmer climate. Therefore, it is hard to anticipate exactly how many people will take advantage of this initiative and estimate the impact to course revenue. For this reason administration is recommending that the fee freeze incentive be offered on a one-year trial basis with the results considered during the annual review process to establish the 2013 fee schedule."