Lakeview Golf Course annual plan presented to Nye County Commission

With the close of the current fiscal year looming, officials with CourseCo made their annual presentation to the Nye County Commission last week, giving an overview of what the management company has in store for Lakeview Executive Golf Course, which was acquired by the town of Pahrump three years ago and which has been the subject of intense debate by both commissioners and the public since that acquisition.

CourseCo Chief Operating Officer Tom Bugbee headed the presentation, starting off by detailing that CourseCo has a long history of operating golf courses and currently manages 40 such facilities in six states and the last year has been something of a challenge at each.

“Like so many industries, we had COVID-19 impact us in many different ways,” Bugbee explained. “One of the restrictions was single-rider golf carts unless people were from the same household, which is unusual, where usually there are two people in a golf cart. Specifically at a course like Lakeview where we have a limited cart inventory of only 20 golf carts, effectively cutting that inventory in half makes an impact not only on the available revenue from cart rentals but also, frankly, sometimes we just did not have carts available, which alters people’s decisions on whether or not they want to play golf that day.

“Also, food and beverage limitations, not being able to have people inside, impacted overall both the revenue and the overall experience,” Bugbee continued. “And then things like tournaments and event restrictions and community events, which are an integral part of our operating philosophy, were canceled or not available to be hosted for the year.”

In addition to the challenges from COVID-19, Lakeview also experienced an unfortunate disease on the greens in 2020, called “Take All Patch”.

“It had severely impacted playing conditions at the course and a recovery, while we moved quickly in order to diagnose and address it, the reality is, grass is a living organism and there is a certain amount of, even with the proper treatment, it takes time to recover,” Bugee said. “Especially at a facility that operates under a limited budget. And so that definitely, when layered over the top of COVID-19, impacted our financial performance through the late summer, fall and into the winter last year.”

The proposed budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 projects that there will be 15,500 rounds of golf played at Lakeview, which should bring in revenue in the amount of $370,098. Calculated against projected expenses of $463,920 this means that the town of Pahrump will need to contribute roughly $93,000 over the next 12 months. The expenses anticipated for the next year include a variety of capital plan improvements, such as repairs to the clubhouse deck, which is one thing that commissioners have expressed grave concern about. Tree removal, the purchase of a new sprayer and utility cart are also planned.

“Just a reminder, any subsidy needed for this course as we strive toward that break-even, as well as capital projects, is funded by the hotel tax,” Bugbee added, referring to the room tax charged on stays in Nye County, which are typically paid by out-of-towners. It is portion of this funding that the town of Pahrump has earmarked for providing any necessary subsidy to keep Lakeview operational.

Bugbee said CourseCo is now focusing on building on the momentum that Lakeview had seen before the pandemic hit and this includes increasing activities, inviting community events, building customer loyalty and more. “That includes golf programming as well as non-golf programming,” Bugbee detailed. “We view this as, again, a recreational asset and it’s very important that we are not just a golf course. We are not a resort golf course, we are not a private club that is really focused on a small group. Instead, we are looking to service the widest range of people at all times.”

Bugbee explained that CourseCo is planning an increase in league play to utilize the golf course during off-peak hours and will be working to create golf instruction programs to attract new golfers, such as free junior golf clinics, a “Clinic and Cocktails” program for $20 per participant and even a Women’s Clinic for just $15 per participant. On the non-golf side of the company’s plans, the course will be hosting a holiday open house, an Easter egg hunt, car shows and education programs for youngsters to help teach them about the science side of golf, all of which would be free to the public.

During public comment, one resident touched on a subject that had been discussed last month, the possibility of the town selling the course. That subject was raised when a party interested in purchasing Lakeview had approached the town. However, that item was not on the agenda and therefore, could not be discussed that afternoon.

“Currently, based on the item we’ve got before the board right now, it doesn’t have anything to do with that,” commissioner Frank Carbone stated. “This is just to discuss the plan… It’s their (CourseCo’s) presentation to us on where they are.”

Commissioner Donna Cox chimed in, “We did ask the company (interested in buying the course) to come back with more information because they didn’t give us enough information… So that’s a totally different thing. The other one is still hanging out there and we’re working on this one (CourseCo’s annual plan).”

The financial figures associated with the course since it was acquired by the town were not discussed during the June 15 meeting either, so the Pahrump Valley Times reached out to the county to request a breakout of just how much it has cost the town of Pahrump to keep the course running since it was purchased in mid-2018. Despite some members of the public who have been asserting that the course has cost the county upward of half a million dollars per year, the reality is that the total cost over the past three years all together has been less than that purported amount.

Nye County Public Information Officer Arnold Knightly responded with totals for the first two fiscal years of operation, detailing that in fiscal year 2018-2019, the first in which CourseCo was the management company, the town had lost just over $172,000. In fiscal year 2019-2020, the cost to the town was about $148,000. The exact cost for fiscal year 2020-2021, which has not yet come to a close, was not available, but the course’s annual plan as presented last year outlined an anticipated loss to the town of roughly $130,000 for fiscal year 2020-2021. That would bring the total amount invested in the course by the town of Pahrump to just over $450,000 in a three-year time period.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com