Castleisland Golf Club is latest victim of falling membership and Covid-19 squeeze
THE county has lost a second golf club in a short space of time on Monday last as Castleisland permanently shut down, reducing Kerry’s number of clubs to fourteen.
Following on from the closure of Killorglin the previous week, the members of Castleisland suffered the same fate, as the Dr Arthur Spring-designed course built on a 200-acre site overlooking the town on the Limerick road finally succumbed to its long struggle, mainly due to falling membership numbers.
From a high of almost 650, the club was in recent times reduced to just 125 members as the game of golf continues to battle the falloff in membership world-wide.
A letter sent out to members in the past week stated that recent years have been very challenging for golf clubs everywhere with the huge fall in membership, and following Government advice the golf course had closed on March 24 due to COVID-19, but it was not expected to re-open.
The Covid-19 closure put paid to three planned three fundraising events, projected green fee revenue, sponsorship and society days, meaning an estimated loss of €40,000, and already in a perilous financial situation following three months of bad weather since Christmas, and with membership renewals halved, there really was no option left but to close down.
Castleisland held an EGM in March that was well attended and full of enthusiasm, urging the committee to continue and keep the club open, but according to the letter to members, which The Kerryman has seen, the positivity at the EGM was not matched by the expected payment of outstanding subscriptions by the due date of March 17. Having considered every option, examined ideas from members, sought professional advice, engaged with national politicians and consulted with CEO of Golf Ireland, the committee was left with no other decision than to close.
The Kerryman understands that the club does not have sufficient funds to pay all of their creditors in full or to compensate paid up members. A final financial statement will be prepared shortly and sent out to members in the coming weeks, with the committee recommending that the limited assets of the club be used to pay outstanding debts.
The sad closure of Castleisland coincides with golf’s governing bodies’ recent issue of a statement on its plans to lobby government departments and agencies to support golf clubs experiencing financial hardship in the current emergency, but even if funding comes through in the coming months, it will be too late for the likes of Killorglin, Castleisland and Castle Barna Golf Club near Daingean in Offaly, which is also about to close down.
A survey has been circulated to all golf clubs this past week which aims to capture the economic impact on clubs, and it is the intention of the governing bodies to collate the data and prepare a high-level paper for government to consider.
However, and I sincerely hope
I’m wrong, I don’t see rescuing golf clubs high on the government’s priority list in the aftermath of Covid-19 (whenever that will be) as it is expected that up to 25% of the population could be unemployed in the fall out, and funds will be needed to deal with that.