Pro Shops
Revenue for May was disappointing and slowed some of the momentum of winter and early spring. Total revenue was 5% behind budget or $15,892. Merchandise was the only category to exceed budget. While many factors control our revenue potential, weather will always remain at the top of the list. The lack of rainfall year-to-date has allowed us to grow our revenue and a considerably warmer May than previous year, decreased revenues.
Year to date revenue is $50,598 ahead of budget and nearly $79,000 ahead of prior year. Public play continues to not meet budgeted expectations. We are in the process of streamlining our interface with Golf Now. Through streamlining, the times unused by our residents will be released in a more efficient manner. It is hoped that this efficiency will result in more sold tee times.
Snack Shops
Snack shop revenue, at the courses for May, finished $1,438 ahead of budget. Snack Shops year-to-date, are just over $19,000 ahead of budget and just over $21,000 ahead of prior year. Snack Shops are on their summer schedule and are closing at 1:00 p.m., the Snack Shop at Lakes East/West is closing at 11:00 a.m. due to the ongoing irrigation project.
Courses
Golf course fairway aerification is complete and transition to Bermuda is well under way. Please remember that while playing conditions during this time are not ideal. The courses that eliminated the winter rye grass chemically (Riverview, South, Willowbrook and Lakes East) will have very noticeable bare spots. The courses that did not spray will begin experiencing similar conditions as the summer progresses and the rye dies due to heat.
The tee boxes at Riverview are particularly bad; we will be thinning out the dead rye grass with brushes, to give the Bermuda even less competition. This is the second of five applications for Riverview and the other three courses. While the turf conditions are certainly poor, the turf coverage is estimated to be 40% – 50% better than the first application two years ago.
The final green aerification will begin at the courses beginning with Willowbrook on July 26. Please refer to the calendar on the sunaz.com website for the full schedule.
The irrigation project at Lakes West is well under way. The project did experience unexpected delays at the beginning. As with other projects around Sun City, the permitting process with county was more extensive than other similar irrigation projects performed by the contractor. The shallow depth of utilities along the perimeter of the course has resulted in much of the work having to be completed by hand. We were unable to isolate the current irrigation system in the ways we had planned, altering our plans of placing the new main line first. We had planned to tie the current irrigation system into the new main line as worked progressed, enabling us to maintain proper moisture levels. After a full loop of main line had been placed the new lateral lines and sprinkler heads would have been installed and work would have progressed to the next loop. The main line will now be installed in much smaller sections, followed by the lateral lines and sprinkler heads. The size of the work force will also increase in July. We are confident that the new plan along with additional labor will allow the project to be completed on schedule in early September.