Lakewood Oaks Golf Club
Read the FULL HISTORY of the Golf Course!
This full report was written by the GM, Mark Reid, during Summer 2017. It's purpose is to help provide ALL RESIDENTS with as much information about the Golf Course as possible. If you have further questions, please be specific and contact [email protected] so he can clarify.
Golf Course: Introduction
Golf Course Part 1: The Acquisition
Golf Course Part 2: The Recession Years
Golf Course Part 3: The Recovery
Golf Course Part 4: The Way Forward with Lakewood Oaks
Golf Course: Introduction
Golf Course Part 1: The Acquisition
Golf Course Part 2: The Recession Years
Golf Course Part 3: The Recovery
Golf Course Part 4: The Way Forward with Lakewood Oaks
Top 10 Amazing Facts about the Golf Course!
- What are the Golf Course Membership numbers? There's approximately 235 LPOA members at the golf course, out of an est. 270 members. The Club is at about 70% capacity, and is continually growing.
- 30% of Lakewood Homes Depend on it! There's about 700 homes that are 1st or 2nd tier lots on the golf course. This is a whopping 30% of Lakewood families whose home values are dramatically impacted by the success of the club!
- An Essential in our Community! The Golf Club was purchased in 2006, per a Vote of the Lakewood Membership. Therefore, it is the duty and legal responsibility of the LPOA to ensure the proper care and growth of the company we purchased. According to our governing documents, it is a non-negotiable amenity, since we voted on it, and considered "an essential" in our community!
- What's it Worth? In 2006, we purchased the club for $3.1million. The debt is now down to $1.7million. If we were to rebuild this golf course today, and all that it entails, it would cost $11.5million!
- How do we benefit? The asset is a phenomenal benefit to Lakewood as a whole. It will essentially pay itself off in approximately 7 years (est. 2025), at which point it will become strictly a revenue generator, at around $250k per year. (see Part 4 above for those breakdowns.)
- What happens if it fails? If the golf course were ever to fail due to neglect, it would cost the LPOA over $500,000 per year to decommission it, mow the green space and pay off the debt. If it were to be sold, there would be no way to ensure the care and priority of the 30% of Lakewood homes who surround it.
- What about Office Space? One large efficiency of the clubhouse itself is that we are able to combine facilities with the LPOA staff, and most of the office equipment, to essentially operate 2 businesses with shared resources and office space. This is a model that many private country clubs have followed nationally, and this has provided a huge cost savings since the offices merged several years ago.
- Does it make money? Contrary to misconception, the club not only pays down it's debt to the bank each year, but also provides a source of revenue to the LPOA each year, averaging around $50k annually, as detailed in Part 3.
- What about upgrades? The ongoing revenue is after it has managed to upgrade its own facilities, including a new roof, renovated Snack and Pub facility, and new pristine locker rooms, which are significant for attracting new members.
- The Golf Course is one of the most amazing amenities we have! Thank you for your support of the course throughout the years!
Thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully reconsider some of these Big-Picture topics that are commonly overlooked or unknown, and are enormously positive facts about our Club.
ABOUT THE ARGYLE RESTAURANT:
The Argyle Restaurant is owned by LPOA, not the Club, and we will cover some facts about it under separate cover.