Exclusive Qld golf club split over theme park plans
MEMBERS of the century-old Royal Queensland Golf Club are at loggerheads over plans for a revenue-raising theme-park style attraction at the exclusive course.
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BATTLE ON THE GREENS
MEMBERS of the Royal Queensland Golf Club are split over a proposed $35 million theme-park style Top Golf facility on their century-old course with some complaining it will diminish the brand of one of the state‘s most exclusive institutions.
But members have been warned that the club needs to raise more cash in order to maintain the standard of facilities at the course, which was granted its Royal Charter in 1921 by King George V and has hosted three Australian Open Championships.
Top Golf, which already operates next to Movie World on the Gold Coast, allows players to hit micro-chipped balls at targets positioned on a driving range course while sipping cocktails and eating snacks from air-conditioned bays.
That contrasts with the storied greens of Royal Queensland where a strict dress code of tailored trousers, collared shirts and golf skirts applies, there is a ban on jeans and baseball caps and where etiquette requires players to be on time and remain silent while others are teeing off.
A survey of members about developing the now fallow eastern section of the course found 42 of 105 members favoured the Top Golf proposal while 54 wanted the land used to develop another nine-hole course.
Members against the Top Golf option objected on the basis it diminished the “RQ brand”, surrendered prime riverfront land and was too commercially risky.
But the club said it needed to look at generating moire revenue from a non-membership sources to maintain the standard of facilities in the future.
“The number of members we require at the current subscription rate, to offer the standard of facilities we all enjoy is too high,” the club said in an email to members. “To solve this problem, we either need more facilities or revenue from a non-membership source.”
It said the Top Golf facility could cost between $25m and $35m with the club contributing up to $20m through a combination of member funds, debt and grants.
“The clear difference of this option is that it creates a revenue source independent of members,” it said. ”If successful, it will strengthen Royal Queensland making it less reliant on membership growth and subscription increases to fund operational and future capital improvement.”
It said the option to build an additional nine holes on the fallow land could increase available tee times by 50 per cent but cost than $9m.
“The cost of capital and additional operating costs would remain dependent on the current member funding model we have today,” it said.
GREEN SHOOTS
THE renaissance man of the Queensland investment community is back in business.
Charlie Green has reactivated his investment firm Hunter Green Institutional Broking after a stint at Suncorp as a corporate advisor and right-hand man to chief executive and footy fan Steve Johnston.
Your diarist broke bread with Green (illustrated) at Tattersalls this week where he outlined his plans for the future that will focus on company research and advisory services.
Green has enlisted the help of experienced analyst Daniel Seeney who spent several years at Investors Mutual in Sydney before marrying a German beauty he met at a local bakery and returning to his native Queensland about a year ago.
Seeney is the son of former deputy premier Jeff Seeney. Green tells us he is working on revamping his famous Cane Toad investment newsletter as he ramps up the business.
SALT AND PEPPER
SOME things never change: like the famous pea and ham soup that has been served in the members dining room of Tatts, also known in some circles as the Queen St Workers Club, for the past 80 years.
But your diarist notes even Tatts has had to adjust its traditions to deal with the pandemic. Firstly, the leather-bound menus have been replaced by single use paper menus and there are no longer individual salt and pepper shakers on each table.
Your diarist this week had to call over a waiter to salt his pea and ham soup with one of those big wooden dispensers.
The biggest change is that dining room numbers are restricted to 56 people, requiring staggered sittings of lunch and dinner.
