Save Miramar Golf Club's existing Front 9…

MGC SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING TONIGHT

Hi Everyone

All those people who have or haven’t signed the petition we would like to encourage you to come along tonight.

Over the last few days here are some of the exerts of emails that have been sent through after the responses to the questions.

There are some answers that stack up and some that don’t but what I want to point out is the cost of the Front 9 and in particular the Professional Fees.

Golf Course Architecture  63% = $618k WOW!!

Environmental Consult     14% = $137k WOW

Planner                           3% = $29k  OK

Others                             5% = $49k  WHO??

Project Man. & QS           15% = $147k  WOW  

The percentage of Fees to the actual cost of works is roughly 42% WOW!!!  

They are spending $7m on a Food and Beverage lounge and will receive $270k rent.

Overall, they are spending $16m for a return of $1.54m excluding interest…this is EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Tax) in my language. They haven’t revealed what the  Depreciation expense is…let’s say $500k so that means this business produces EBITDA of $2.04m. Typically, businesses in NZ sell for between 3-6 times EBITDA. So even at the top, they are spending $16m to create a business worth $12m…even less if an external operator of the driving range had to pay rent.

We are approving $16 million dollars where in possibly less than 15 years the Airport are going to compulsorily purchase our front 9 for the unimproved value of the land? Meaning we will receive nothing for the business or facilities.

Would you vote for this option if it was your home or business? 

Some other points: 

The board is expecting members to approve a project where they still have not got overflow parking. So the questions to ask are how would the numbers be affected if there isn’t overflow parking available - who is going to monitor all this.

For all those expected travellers coming across to hit golf balls or have a coffee and a snack that happens to be the most ridiculous assumption. Will travellers actually walk over to the club bringing their bags to visit, when there are 20 cafes on site? Air travel is stressful, no one would want to get all hot and sweaty hitting golf ball prior to perhaps missing their flight.

Have a look at the weather data yourselves with a possible 80 days of possible closure with wind gusting 50+ Knots. (Chapter 14 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://niwa.co.nz/sites/default/files/Wellington_Climate_WEB.pdf)

There is gridlock from the airport to the city Tunnel and beyond and getting worse so it makes the Venue inaccessible for large parts of the day. The population and traffic demographics are being absolutely ignored.

Still no business plan only assumptions!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting.

Response to the News Letter "Club Direction Update from the President"

Hello Evan, 

It was good to get some further information last week around the reasons the Board are looking at the Driving Range Option however what I still don’t see is definitive information behind why you are doing this.

Now as mentioned I am not totally against a Driving Range but from your responses there are still some key points that to me are missing namely:

• A cost breakdown of the various considerations you seem to have addressed and providing nice round figures makes it all look as though you have made things work your way. So again, if you can send through the 3 cost breakdowns I asked for 3 months ago that would be appreciated. Also, the drawings and scope used for these price options.
• An update on the Front 9 Budget you sent to members earlier this year should be included for analysis prior to the AGM.
• The floor plans you sent within these Updates for the Starters Shed and now the Clubhouse are barely legible so please send through clearer plans of these and the Driving Range Building.
• Again, you have not included the 100m length of the Driving Range in any of the information sent to Members or within your Driving Range FAQ’s so this critical dimension needs to be included. You mention that the Financial feasibility models were prepared using several other driving ranges in NZ, Australia, and Glascow however most of these are between 220m and 300m long so a different market surely? The Australian Range ‘Swing City Golf’ with its 60M range, Mini-putt and Amusement Shed looks more like what you are intending and their website shows a lot of Kids enjoying the place so is this the market you are intending to target? When I have looked at the Driving Ranges you used to rationalise ours they all seem to be within large populations that have more than one way of accessing the facility, unlike Miramar, so some understanding of how you have factored things like this into your Business Plan would be good to understand, refer attached Catchment Area Plan I sent to the Board in April 2023 which I said was a guess but more about what most businesses would use to assess the area they were investing in.
• Total Cash Assets now appear to be $23.62m and we started at $31m, plus whatever the additional amounts are for the longer time of Settlement, so please explain with a breakdown where the approx.. $8m has been spent?
• You have included a figure of $270,000 for the Rent of the F & B Club Lounge which to me is way over what any Restaurant or Café would pay within the CBD let alone suburbs so some analysis of how this was factored in would be appreciated.
• Lastly for this to have come out in the last few days and Voting Papers received yesterday prior to the SGM it looks as though you have left this with such a short time for Members to take in and see clearly what the Risks vs Benefits are. The way the Information is presented reminds me of how Councils ask for Public Feedback on things like Cycleways and more recently plans to Redevelop the Civic Square so is it time we asked that a Crown Observer be put in place?
  
  

Nga Mihi,

T o n y   S h o r t
T S  C o n s u l t i n g
                                          

Tony Short asking the MGC Board of Management for further information as to exactly what the plans of the club are....

SENT: 21 October 2024

Subject: FW: Club Direction Update from the President  

Hello Evan,

As below you said that ‘the information that you have requested will be sent out to members over the next few weeks’. It has now been 10 weeks, so I thought I’d ask again, ie when are we going to see some valid information?

I have been away during this time and have seen the various Update emails sent to Members and one that stuck out to me was on 1 October referring to the “Starters Shed”.

From previous Updates it was expected that this was to cost around $700k while the Board Minutes had an estimate of $800k so given that Consents and Tenders have been approved I take it that the Budget has been met?

By the way, the new MGC website seems to have left out the Board Meeting, AGM Meeting Minutes etc so I am basing this on memory, but will the website include Minutes? (Board Meeting Minutes found on the website under the Noticeboard)

Then on Friday we get another Update about the Driving Range where the Building Consent is almost ready for approval then you are looking to ‘swiftly move on to the next stage of getting contract pricing’.

I have been in this industry most of my life and dealt with these types and scale of works throughout and have never seen any Client that would go to the extent that you have without a confident Business Case first showing that the findings from these are reasonably accurate and realistic and yet you have still not provided any of this information to Members so why is this?

Certainly, if the findings are available and show this I am sure that you will have more support and confidence from Members but unfortunately, and as you know, there are some very upset members.

Here’s an example, the latest Update on the Driving Range does not indicate the length but the last time we heard it was 120m so if you have an example of another Driving Range of that length that is proving popular and profitable then again some confidence in your business abilities may be seen?

Another example is now that the construction of the Starters Shed is underway, although with little progress, it means that the reduction of the Clubhouse is a foregone conclusion, so this tells members the expected SGM and Voting ahead is all a waste of time!

Indeed, there are many more items that I could raise but as I say if you provided the Reports that have been done by Deloittes and Graves Road (along with the two reports previously done) showing strong business cases then I’m sure some support from Members may be achieved, or if this was say a listed business it would supply shareholders with confidence in their Board, and as you say ‘All this hard work will be worth it…..’ 

Nga Mihi,

T o n y   S h o r t
T S  C o n s u l t i n g

Sent: 13 August 2024

Subject: RE: Club Direction Update from the President 

Good Evening Tony,

I am acknowledging receipt of your email to me, and have forwarded it to other Board members, as requested. If you wish to communicate with the Board, it is appropriate to route all correspondence via the General Manager to ensure that such comms reach all Board Members. The information that you have requested will be sent out to members over the next weeks, as we firm up our designs and costings to ensure that all members are fully informed, prior to the intended SGM.

Regards
Evan  

Evan Bayly - Board of Management - Chairperson
Miramar Golf Club

Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2024 4:40 PM

Subject: FW: Club Direction Update from the President 

Kia Ora Evan,   Thanks for your latest Update where things are starting to get clearer in terms of where the Board have been heading and explains to some degree why the restrengthening work hasn’t been addressed, as per my last email to you.

I would now like to ask that the following is explained please:

1. The costs associated with the Clubhouse Upgrade presented in 2022 ie Clubhouse Upgrade, Driving Range, & Bar / Café facilities. T
2. The costs for this latest proposal ie Demolish part of the Clubhouse (roughly 1400m2), upgrade remaining 250m2 (Toilet Areas), Proposed 350m2 new Clubhouse Area and the 1st Tee Precinct.
3. The costs to keep the Clubhouse footprint as it is and refurbish to ensure water-tightness, restrengthen to an acceptable Earthquake standard and overall refurbishment.

Could I also obtain the Reports and findings completed by Deloitte’s and Grave Road and the experience these companies have in establishing a Golf Driving Range and associated hospitality venues? I imagine that their respective reports outline the business cases for and against each of the above. 

These, I’m sure, will be questions that many Members have when the SGM occurs and having this well before it is called would make for a more constructive forum.

I don’t have all Board Members email addresses so if you can forward onto them that would be appreciated.

Nga Mihi,

T o n y   S h o r t
T S  C o n s u l t i n g 

Message to Doug - From Anna Harries

Hi Doug,

In response to the statement, "The unprecedented demand for the President's Cup Tournament has caused some negative feedback from some of our more well-established members"...

The negative response could stem from the fact that the organisers of the celebration marking the loss of the back 8 holes to the airport didn’t consider that all members should have the opportunity to participate. They also didn’t extend invitations to life members, ex-club captains, interclub members, and others.

Perhaps the event could have been held over a weekend—starting with a cocktail evening on Friday, 200 members playing on Saturday followed by a dinner, and then another 200 members playing on Sunday, capped off with a barbecue and prize giving that evening.

But then again, why would we want to celebrate the loss of 8 holes to the airport, 3 holes and the clubhouse to the board, and being left with just 7 holes and an outhouse? As usual, there was no consideration for the members. Shame on all involved.

Kind regards,
Anna Harries, a 30+ year member

RISKING IT ALL – 2 years on!!  

I wrote an article back in 2022 and I believe it still holds true today – I called it Risking It All and looking back one of the statements made was “An estimation has been made that we would need a turnover of around $4m to give us a return to look after the MGC about $1.5m – this is a little low and doesn’t count for inflation (but was agreed at the time by our GM)  This would require an approx. turnover of around +$400K per month over 10 months (removing July, August and January at around 40% down due weather and holidays).”

I am still asking – How is that possibly achievable? We’ve gone from a mini putt, a 90 seat restaurant, a 200 meter driving range and a "chip and putt" to the latest First Tee Precinct.   Driving Range: There has been much talked about but nothing put up as viable option. In the meantime, Golf Warehouse have doubled their capacity so the likelihood of anyone from the city coming to a 120m enclosed driving range at the airport is remote.

The demographics do not support a driving range based on the numbers playing golf in the eastern suburbs and the metrics just don’t stack.

The Eastern Suburbs traffic is in gridlock which is a major deterrent with high customer traffic volumes will only be achieved between 9:30am – 2:30pm and after 6:30 windows. During the weekend it is traffic chaos in the Eastern Suburbs and this will only be exacerbated with the planned expansion of the Wellington Airport Retail Park. This will be a major limitation to the success of any enterprise at MGC - the forecast for this time/window is only predicted to get worse.

We have so much wind at Miramar with 166 days where its gusting over 63 km/hr and 24 days where it gusts over 96 km/hr. Building any sort of external structure will have enormous costly, foundation and safety issues.

Pitch & Putt 6 Holes Area: At the expense of losing holes 8 & 9 this is a high-cost folly and is not in the best interest of the majority of members who just have no idea what is happening.   The compression of trying to turn 9 holes into 7 is already failing and a health and safety issue with balls hitting carts and multiple near misses.

We have neighbouring houses being hit and windows being smashed off the new Tees on both holes 5 & 6 (property owners are saying it's is now worse than it’s ever been) we are at huge risk of completely losing that area. The board were advised of the risk of this design by the Facilities Committee 2 years ago but this was ignored. We have to ensure that we preserve 8 & 9 as our fall back position.

The First Tee Precinct: Please tell me how this works?

• Are we not going to lose the clubrooms?
• What’s happening as far as a locker room, lockers, toilets, shower facilities and club storage which are very basic requirements for members and visitors
• Our Conferences provide an annual income of $300k – how do we replace that income?
• With staff at the driving range at one end and bar staff and starter at the other, this does not allow for multifunctioning staff and will require additional staff.
• With a 60 knot southerly in the middle of winter, is the club asking us to sit in a lean-to outside, instead of our full featured clubrooms before and after golf?
• Is the board seriously going to close down our Clubrooms so that they can build a facility for casual visitors in exchange for a shed at the end of the carpark?
• Where is the Business plan for any of the above? Many members who own or have owned businesses and have been involved in hospo are majorly concerned at the future plans and have tried to advise and guide the board, but this has been ignored.

The board are failing in their duty of care and to act in the best interest of the club and all the members. Please do not allow this to continue and pass on these comments to others within the club or have your say...

Ian Goodlet

Miramar Golf Club Governance 

Kia ora koutou,

There have been a few discussions and concerns over the manner in which the Miramar Golf Club is currently governed. The behaviour and attitude demonstrated by the current board members is considered by some to be bringing the club into disrepute.

I am writing the piece to highlight areas of concern that have been discussed with me.

1. A Board member allegedly approached another Board member and advised the Board Member to support the Board's position or any indemnity insurance that Board Member has may be removed.
2. The above-threatened Board member is now subject to a disciplinary hearing around inappropriate behaviour. Bought by compliant members of the Board.
3. The Chairman of the club has failed on numerous occasions to acknowledge and declare a conflict of interest he has with every decision he makes on the club's development. He is a Trustee of the Kiwi Golf Development Foundation, this Foundation will benefit substantially from a par three and driving range at Miramar. These items are the controversial pieces of the “masterplan” to develop the club. Photos on the Foundation website will confirm their association with the Golf Club.
4. Financial reporting and under reporting of decisions is endemic, there is a lack of substantial reporting in a timely manner.
5. Letters of complaint are sent to the Board and in some cases where apologies have been sought they are not given but ignored.
6. The behaviour of the Club General Manager is appalling and continues unabated. This includes ridiculing members, aggressive behaviours towards those who don’t support “his” plan. Manipulation of staff, this is clearly evident through a complaint made against a member for comments made in a local pub. Behaviour expectations and rules 48 to 50 are applicable to all members of the club, the Board seem to be immune from both the expectations and rules. The principles of good governance including accountability rule of law and transparency are missing from the club.

These are some of the concerns members have spoken to me about and have asked if I could highlight, I have some first hand knowledge of some but not all of these allegations

Mike Hinton

Clubhouse Development

Hello Evan,

It has been on my mind for the last month when you sent an update of where things are at with the Course and Clubhouse Development and since your poor response to the Feedback on the 1st Tee Precinct last week I thought it prudent to get on to this namely the Clubhouse.

Seismic Restrengthening of the Clubhouse.

While I was Project Manager of the intended works, I engaged CHP Engineers to do a full structural assessment of the Clubhouse and received their initial report in October 2022.

As you know the building at that time was rated at ~45% NBS, based on the lowest structural element found within the building at that time, however the report still needed some further investigation on how the Dycore concrete first floor slabs were supported by the concrete walls below. CHP were again engaged to do this however as you know my role as PM had finished so I did not know what this report findings were.

My understanding is that this was completed, and the Board made aware of the findings early 2023 and since your Newsletter, over a year after, let us all know for the first time that the building rating came in at ~15% NBS I was shocked that nothing had been done about this or members made aware of this earlier. As you know, after mentioning it within your update, any building under 34% NBS is usually Red Stickered, so where are we at with this?

If this has been delayed due to your endeavours to sell the Clubhouse to WIAL this too seems very risky and probably one reason why they haven’t been showing interest?

Having been involved with this type of work before it was often the case that the Dycore was not supported well enough by the walls and when I saw the cutouts done early last year I would not have been surprised by these findings however I also know that this is easily remedied usually by installing steel angles at regular intervals around the slab edges and bolt fixed to walls.

I also remember that the Budget for this work was around $50k (discussed at Delottes from memory?) which to me was hugely underpriced however it is not difficult to do this work so even if it cost say $300 - $400k I would see this as being a far better spend than demolition, as seems to be suggested in your Newsletter? Also, it would probably only take 3 – 4 months to have done this work so we’d be in a much safer facility than we are now!

I trust that you or someone has taken these findings to WCC for their awareness, and I know that it is up to the landlord whether to register these findings so has anything along these lines been done?

In terms of your other comments on the Clubhouse:

• Yes extensive repair work is required along with solutions to stop water ingress, we knew this back in the Facilities Team era
• The clubhouse footprint is not huge if we still want Conference Facilities if we don’t then some good planning using the current Clubhouse could work around a possible Driving Range incorporation.
• The clubhouse could be at the start of the course if the old holes 8 & 9 are maintained. This looks like a typical no other possibility approach that you still think Members don’t see??
• Why are you calling the driving range an off-course activity? It will still be on MGC land won’t it?? Anyway, I look forward to your delivery on the Business Case for a Driving Range!!
• As for the 1st Tee Precinct you saw my response to the questionnaire.

The fact that this was put out a month before any details of the facility was shown led to a poor response (some people I spoke to didn’t even see the link) and an interpretation that has no merit!

Nga Mihi,

T o n y   S h o r t
T S  C o n s u l t i n g

Transcript of email sent to Miramar Golf Club: Re MGC Newsletter 30/06/2024 - 1st Tee Precinct - Conceptual Design

Dear author of this newsletter,

To suggest the negative comments offered nothing is a blatant slight on the members who took the time to respond in good faith. Because they disagree with your masterplan and possibly can see the propaganda and deflections common to your newsletter this does not devalue their opinion.

These are members of the club it is their club and as such are owed an apology. I would like formally complain about the newsletter and would expect an immediate apology issued to those members.

Mirmar Golf Club - Special General Meeting Request

16 October 2023

Miramar Golf Club

Attention: General Manager – Doug Pollock

Kia Ora Doug,

Miramar Golf Club Special General Meeting

I am writing this based on not receiving any fundamental, practical, or honest responses to the many questions that I and members of this club have requested, and registered their names on the Petition you are aware of, as well as those that have not, by yourself or the Board.

Therefore, I am calling for a Special General Meeting to be held prior to the year ending AGM and within the next Month.

To remind you of the questions raised they fall into five simple fields being Costings, Programme, Course Layout, Clubhouse Layout, Airport dealings, and the intention of having access to other Courses for Members and Interclub.

Costings

• Provide a detailed breakdown of the Consultants Fees spent to date and what is expected and budgeted for in the future.
• Provide a detailed breakdown of the Quotes now received for the initial works expected to be carried out in the next couple of months ie Course Irrigation and Course Alterations.
• Provide Estimates to date for the Proposed Clubhouse Alterations, Driving Range, Par 3 Course and all new course features, including Professional Fees etc.
• Based on these costs provide detailed Business cases for each facility.

Confirm exactly the status of the shares invested with Forsyth Barr what has been withdrawn, how it has been applied, and why?

Programme

• It has become evident that the dates you provided in the email sent to Members on Wednesday 27 September is incorrect, ie 9th Aug GWRC & 11th Aug WCC, as WCC have confirmed that Resource Consent (RC) was not applied for until 22 August and this was to GWRC not WCC. As of 9 October WCC confirmed that RC had not been approved and that once this is done, they will require a Building Consent (BC) application to WCC, which will take another 20 working days minimum for approval.
• Should BC not be approved until the end of October early November how will this affect the actions received in your 27 September email and will it influence the grass growing season or interclub programming?

Course Layout

• Based on the plans provided to GWRC for RC it indicates a different temporary Course Layout than has been presented previously so what is the Clubs true intensions for this?
• Also based on the plans provided for RC it indicates the full overall design of the Course including a reduced 9 holes, Driving Range, Par 3 Course, larger putting green, chipping green and two lakes. Given that the latest SGM and presentations either did not mention the Par 3 Course or that the Driving Range had not been confirmed if there were to be changes what would that mean to the progress of the intended works indicated?
• Ian Goodlet provided reasons and plans for not changing the direction of the current 2nd hole and provided feedback from the previous Course Designer Alex Glascow who had looked at the feasibility of this when the Facilities Team was in action, and he was employed. Confirm why you are not looking at providing studies as to why you believe this is necessary?
• There were great reasons for including an extra two holes within the Front 9 particularly that they would be there when other greens on the course required rest and maintenance. Given the layouts provided in the RC Application remove current holes 8 and 9 defeats this purpose, is this correct and what is the intention?

Clubhouse Layout

• Based on the Clubhouse Layout provided within the RC Application it still shows areas that were indicated to members will not be there eventually like the Virtual Bays on Level 2 so where is the latest layout at now?
• Given these plans still indicate the Outdoor Café Area, is this the main reason for removing the current 9th hole from the Course?
• Has there been a full business plan put together for the Proposed Driving Range? The general feel I have received is that most Members will use it from time to time however don’t want to spend $8M on a 120m Range if it is not viable. Provide evidence that this is feasible.
• If the Driving Range is seen as feasible and possibly very successful has there been any negotiations with WIAL in terms of Carparking and Access?

Airport Status

• Where are MGC at with the possible sale of the Clubhouse and Carparking to WIAL?
• If WIAL were to purchase these how can Members be assured that they will not suffer for this and has the Board investigated the likely ramifications of this from a business perspective?
• With the once Proposed WETA Adventure Golf not shown on the RC plans are WIAL looking to include the land set aside for this in their purchase?

Other Club Progress

• It has been the intention for the last couple of years that MGC deals with other local clubs allowing our members access onto these courses. It was good to receive the progress on Friday 13th October of the deal with Wainuiomata however where are we at with other Clubs?

In calling for this Special General Meeting I have been made aware that this requires 30 Full Playing MGC Members to agree therefore find attached confirmation from Members that want this SGM to occur so far and we are awaiting others that are overseas or have only just received the form but as you will see we are already more than the 30 No. required.

As you are aware the Petition received over 80 petitioners, and these are the first people we obtained their respective support in getting this through, so I call on behalf of the Members confirmed, and all others, that an SGM be held within the next Month and that fully supported, detailed and honest answers are provided by yourself and the Board. Under Rule 28 of the Clubs Incorporated Rules the GM has 14 days to issue a SGM Notice of Meeting.

Nga Mihi,

This will also be posted to Miramar Golf Republic Website 

Open Letter To MGC Board From Mike Hinton - Urgent Concerns and Questions Regarding MGC Transition

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