Margaritaville (I've Bought A Golf-Course!)

[Bigguns50]

Thanks. The bright side is that it woke me up. I was overworking myself to an extreme level. Now I'm enjoying myself to extremes.

We should talk soon. I've had undiagnosed and misdiagnosed issues. Out of 7 billion people, you're not the only one with these issues. Someone has an answer. We need to get you back to 100%. Health issues tend to wake us up. To remind of of what's truly important in life. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

Well... The winter season has progressed very well for us. I'm still having fun 4-wheeling in the desert. I have 2 trips to moab, a trip to Wyoming and Montana planned this spring/summer. Mostly to visit family but with fun built in.

All the issues that I talked about through this thread have been primarily solved. We have a great mechanic that keeps our equipment and pumps in shape. We basically purchase a couple of big ticket items each year.

The muck that was plugging up the sprinklers had been reduced to a maintenance program. Turns out that the protozoa was growing in the "wet well" portion of the irrigation system. We maintain it with chlorine and similar chemicals.

We have owned the course for about 4.5 years now. For the first 2.5, I worked 7 days per week from 4:00 am until after dark. Got a lot of issues resolved. Then I got sick.

The last 2 years I have had to work on my health. I developed diabetes and the dizziness/nausea problem discussed earlier.

Went through different diet iterations to get the diabetes under control. I am currently eating a high nutrition diet that does not include any processed foods. The result has been great as I was able to get off of the insulin injections. Was shooting 28 units of insulin a day into my stomach. Now none, and the blood sugar is staying under control.

The next hurdle is with the nausea. After 2 years, 3 doctors, and many doctor visits, I may be zeroing in on what is going on. Someone suggested that I go see a chiropractor. It was cheap enough so I did. He found that my head was not on straight. Literally... The skull and top couple of vertebrae were seriously out of alignment. He made the adjustments and I felt great for a few days afterward.

I have been 4 times with similar results. What may be happening is that the blood flow to the brain is being reduced. Not sure yet though but have a battery of tests coming up to look at the area.

The golf course will be paid off in September so there will not be any mortgage payment.

Looking forward, I don't plan on jumping back in on the heavy workload. My efforts will be on planning and cost reductions. Time to finetune the income and expenses.

 

[Bearcorp]

Glad to hear your getting on top of the health issues @SteveO

 

[thijskrijs]

Hello SteveO, just wanted to say that i really enjoyed reading this thread! Thank you! It makes me want to come to the USA to see how your golf course is doing, as I am a golf fan myself. Hope your health is doing better and you can tell us more about your endeavours in the future.

Thijs

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks for the update Steve, my well wishes for continued progress on your health challenges.

 

[SteveO]

I suspect that we are going to see some fallout from the current virus threat. Most of our business comes from winter visitors. Assuming travel is reduced and there is less social interaction, we will have less business at the course.

So, to do my part in slowing down the national economy, I am severely curtailing our capital expenditures for the coming year. Need to do what I can to keep my business afloat.

 

[SteveO]

The golf course run by the city of Yuma just shut down operations. Another is considering.

I don't yet know what this will mean to us.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[juuldiks]

Amazing thread!

I wish you all the best during the virus outbreak

 

[SteveO]

We shut the dining area and bar down. Still selling food and drinks to the golfers but the volume is way down. We declined in revenue by a significant amount this month. First drop since we bought the place.

We are making adjustments on a regular basis.

 

[biophase]

We shut the dining area and bar down. Still selling food and drinks to the golfers but the volume is way down. We declined in revenue by a significant amount this month. First drop since we bought the place.

We are making adjustments on a regular basis.

I drove by Silverado yesterday and people were still golfing. Maybe you can keep it open and schedule groups going out every 30 minutes instead of 15? Or only do singles or two-somes?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

I drove by Silverado yesterday and people were still golfing. Maybe you can keep it open and schedule groups going out every 30 minutes instead of 15? Or only do singles or two-somes?

We are still sending people out on the course. Many of the snowbirds have left though leaving a large gap in play. Our daily volume has dropped significantly. We are not worried. We will adjust to whatever happens.

If the volume drops low enough, we will send out one person per cart. We may also place a requirement that the flagstick does not get handled.

 

[Sander]

In Denmark, golf courses are required to shut down by our government. Don't know if that could be the scenario for you in the US. Hopefully you'll find some way through this.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@SteveO -- sidebar, how you feeling?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

@SteveO -- sidebar, how you feeling?

I have been feeling decent for over a month now. Finally got the doctors on board with exploring the backbone area for an issue. The current thought is that the vertebrae in the neck are putting pressure on a nerve. I definitely get relief after a session with the chiropractor.

It really is too bad that the doctors do not explore potential issues better. I had to be forceful with the fact that the chiropractic work was helping. Had to change neurologist also.

It was a retired dentist that alerted me to the potential neck problem. Part of a controlled shotgun approach.

 

[SteveO]

In Denmark, golf courses are required to shut down by our government. Don't know if that could be the scenario for you in the US. Hopefully you'll find some way through this.

The way I see it is that being outside in the sunshine is a great way to get out and socialize. We have a number of ways to enable distancing. Golf courses are not shut down yet.

 

[Bearcorp]

Golf courses where I am have banned bunker use (free drop to avoid people touching the rake) raised the cup an inch above the ground, so any putt that touches it is counted as in. I’ve also seen courses adding a spacer in the bottom of the cup so the ball sits higher, so no need to touch the flag or sides of cup getting your ball out.

We had all licensed venues forced to close as of lunch time yesterday so club houses have closed for sit down dining but still offering takeaways. Course play is up as more people are home from work. Hopefully all goes well for you @SteveO, in theory the course should be a good place to be, only touching your own equipment, no need to be close to anyone else...

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

Golf courses where I am have banned bunker use (free drop to avoid people touching the rake) raised the cup an inch above the ground, so any putt that touches it is counted as in. I’ve also seen courses adding a spacer in the bottom of the cup so the ball sits higher, so no need to touch the flag or sides of cup getting your ball out.

We had all licensed venues forced to close as of lunch time yesterday so club houses have closed for sit down dining but still offering takeaways. Course play is up as more people are home from work. Hopefully all goes well for you @SteveO, in theory the course should be a good place to be, only touching your own equipment, no need to be close to anyone else...

Thanks.

We removed all rakes from the course already. We also installed the cups upside down to reduce the space inside.

 

[Kak]

We shut the dining area and bar down. Still selling food and drinks to the golfers but the volume is way down. We declined in revenue by a significant amount this month. First drop since we bought the place.

We are making adjustments on a regular basis.

I am shocked! I can hardly get a tee time right now. Golf courses out here are slammed.

I hope the decline is only temporary and people realize that getting out on the course is a safe and fun thing to do right now.

 

[SteveO]

I am shocked! I can hardly get a tee time right now. Golf courses out here are slammed.

Our winter visitors are what fills the course. Not enough population here to support the courses. Winter visitors are mostly gone.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GPM]

Steve, I go to a chiropractor that uses an activator that is hooked to a computer. It measures the pressure of each push on my bones, and measures how my body reacts to it.

Essentially my problem is that the joints in my back stop functioning properly and stop moving, small bits of pressure on targeted areas get them to start moving again. Most Chiro is a shot in the effing dark. I found one that uses science and measures this stuff. The difference is amazing!

See if you can find something similar. If you want I can ask for a referral down there. I am sure someone has a similar setup.

 

[SteveO]

Steve, I go to a chiropractor that uses an activator that is hooked to a computer. It measures the pressure of each push on my bones, and measures how my body reacts to it.

Essentially my problem is that the joints in my back stop functioning properly and stop moving, small bits of pressure on targeted areas get them to start moving again. Most Chiro is a shot in the effing dark. I found one that uses science and measures this stuff. The difference is amazing!

See if you can find something similar. If you want I can ask for a referral down there. I am sure someone has a similar setup.

A referral would be great. I like my guy though. What he is doing is helping immensely.

 

[biophase]

I have been feeling decent for over a month now. Finally got the doctors on board with exploring the backbone area for an issue. The current thought is that the vertebrae in the neck are putting pressure on a nerve. I definitely get relief after a session with the chiropractor.

It really is too bad that the doctors do not explore potential issues better. I had to be forceful with the fact that the chiropractic work was helping. Had to change neurologist also.

It was a retired dentist that alerted me to the potential neck problem. Part of a controlled shotgun approach.

@SteveO Next time you are back in Phoenix, go see Andria again. She may be able to help if it's a neck muscle pinch issue that is causing the nerve thing.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

@SteveO Next time you are back in Phoenix, go see Andria again. She may be able to help if it's a neck muscle pinch issue that is causing the nerve thing.

Yes. I wish there was someone like her down here in Yuma. She really knows what she's doing!

 

[SteveO]

Business has really picked up lately. We are still down about 80K for the year compared to last year. Most of that came in March when our winter visitors bailed out. But thanks to one of our competitors shutting down, business has picked up nicely. Some of the loss has been recovered.

All is well here in the golf world.

There are only 20 known cases of the virus here in Yuma. Fingers crossed!

 

[SteveO]

I can't imagine how difficult it is for owners of small Golf clubs right now. I hope the state is helping everyone now.

We are really doing pretty well. Had some initial setbacks when the winter visitors left early but have been doing fine since. Fortunately, Arizona let the golf courses stay open.

And for the record, we are not a small golf club. We are a full size, Arnold Palmer designed course. We grossed 1.8M last year.

Would have been a disaster for us if we had shut down. Our expenses to maintain the course are over 80k/ month. Mowing, watering, fertilizing all still need to happen even if there is no play.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SteveO]

Picture taken this morning by one of the maintenance team as the sun is beginning to peek its head...

 

[Private Witt]

Picture taken this morning by one of the maintenance team as the sun is beginning to peek its head...

View attachment 39759

Looks beautiful man!

When is your typical high season? Hope this year is a lot better for you. My parents are snowbirds in a small town that has a huge golf community (5 courses for 7k seasonal population, 3k out of season) and its been so brutal for so many businesses, but sounds like the snowbirds are coming back this year and should be better.

 

[SteveO]

Looks beautiful man!

When is your typical high season? Hope this year is a lot better for you. My parents are snowbirds in a small town that has a huge golf community (5 courses for 7k seasonal population, 3k out of season) and its been so brutal for so many businesses, but sounds like the snowbirds are coming back this year and should be better.

January, February, March are the main months. The border to Canada has not been opened yet. We need that or will face another money losing season.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GIlman]

Steve we need to get together and catch up. Been too long. Maybe a round of golf!! Although I’m rusty.

 

[SteveO]

Steve we need to get together and catch up. Been too long. Maybe a round of golf!! Although I’m rusty.

Come on down to Yuma. Golf is on me!