KEY POINTS:
Tuesday's announcement about The Hills, near Queenstown, as the New Zealand Open venue for the next three years brought some of the best publicity for New Zealand golf in years. But all that good stuff cannot protect another piece of awful golf news from close scrutiny.
A week
ago Friday, at the inconvenient time of 4.45 pm, New Zealand Golf advised by email of the huge financial loss from last year's Open. We knew it was bad but $695,472 bordered on the breathtaking.
That was almost good news compared with what came a few paragraphs later. NZG's other operations in 2006 ran at a loss of $345,539.
What the hell has been going on to rack up a loss that size on income which is probably around $3 million? I say probably because the annual report and accounts haven't been made public yet, although they will be in time for the annual meeting on May 22.
In 2004 the old NZGA transferred a surplus of $38,541 to reserves. The 2005 operating surplus for the new combined men's and women's body was $116,181, offset by the New Zealand Open loss of $459,100, for an overall deficit of $343,919.
So the reserves at the start of 2005 were down to $2.66 million from just over $3 million. Thanks to the combined losses of just over $1 million this year, accumulated funds are down to just $1.62 million, a 46 per cent decrease in just two years.
New Zealand golfers, whose levies are the major funder of NZG, have every right to be steaming mad. No wonder the previous chief executive left so quickly in March.
The NZG board are in the process of appointing a new chief executive. This person has an enormous task on many fronts but first must be to get NZG back into a surplus-producing situation.
Golf administration at national level has lurched from crisis to crisis for most of this decade and the status of our players on the national stage merely a reflection of a sport that has been poorly run for far too long.
The deal for the New Zealand Open may just be the turning of the corner. At least it won't cost NZG anything and the deal with promoters Tuohy and Associates may even see some of any profits funnelled back to NZG.
This latest bottom line result is appalling. We're told there were "unexpected financial adjustments in the first full year under the new amalgamated organisation" and "provision for liabilities from the previous year." What does that mean?
If NZG were a company and I was a shareholder, I would have sold out. The sad thing is that, along with 130,000 other club members, I am a shareholder and I feel powerless. I have little to show for my investment and I'm as mad as hell.
Incoming CEO and board be warned: We won't stand for any more disasters like 2006.