The Weyburn Golf Club announced their new five-year Legacy project to eliminate their long-term debt at the club's annual general meeting Wednesday at the golf course lounge. They currently have a long-term debt of $475,000.

Phase one of the project is to collect $100,000 in corporate contributions. The second phase of the project would be to relinquish the golf course's land to the Rural Municipality of Weyburn and/or the City of Weyburn for $250,000.

"Quite frankly, for the Golf Club to remain a viable recreational facility and have prices stay reasonable, this is the route we have to go," said out-going president John Corrigan in his report to the members.

Phase two comes on the heels of the Golf Club's five-year tax agreement with the R.M. and the school boards coming to an end in 2009. In the current agreement, the Golf Club pays $10,000 in taxes per year. Currently, the Weyburn Golf Club is the only golf course is southeast Saskatchewan that is taxed because it is not on park or city property, according to Corrigan.

Recently, the R.M. received word from the Holy Family and Southeast Cornerstone School Divisions saying that they would not renew the agreements.

"Personally, I think the R.M. could be convinced to renew the agreement, but we can't do it without the support of the two school boards," said Coun. Ron Fellner, who attended the meeting on behalf of the RM of Weyburn.

In his presentation to the Golf Club board, Fellner went through figures about how much the RM has spent for the golf course. He said that they spent $187,000 to pave the road to the golf course and $212,000 to do repairs to the road. Fellner did admit that there are farmers in the area that also use the road, but that wouldn't make a difference in the numbers.

"If the golf course was not here, the road would not have been paved," Fellner said.

Fellner added that the RM also canceled $46,000 in back taxes that the golf course owed. He also pointed out that, of the $10,000 paid out by the Golf Club each year, $5,300 goes to the school boards and $4,700 went to the RM. Working out the numbers, Fellner said the agreement saved the Golf Club approximately $577,000 in taxes. Corrigan said that, with the new assessment, they could see an increase from $10,000 to $50,000 in taxes per year.

As for the Legacy project, Fellner said the RM has no interest in purchasing the golf course at the moment, but remain in talks with the City about going into a partnership.

"At this time, the RM will not purchase the golf course. There could be some involvement with the City, so don't rule the RM out because we might go into something like that," said Fellner.

According to Fellner, there is also the possibility of changing the tax structure where the golf course would be recognized as a recreational site and would be taxed accordingly.

The third phase of the Legacy project will be the Legacy Golf Tournament, which would need to bring in $125,000. Corrigan said the debt could be paid off quicker if the golf course can continue to produce a profit.

The first ever Legacy Golf Tournament is slated for Saturday, May 31. It will be open to both male and female golfers with silent and live auctions, a 50/50 draw and entertainment.

"We hope to get teams from the Red Wings, Roughriders, Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats and NHL players that are out of the playoffs," said Golf Club board member Elmer Franks.

Manager Bill Rudachyk added that the entry fee for the tournament will not be cheap, but he hopes to see a good turn out to support the golf course.

In the financial report, the Golf Club showed that they had $544,268 in expenses over the past year, which was up by about $2,000 from the 2006 season.

They brought in $195,846 in gross profit plus $409,438 in fees for a total income of $605,284. This left the Golf Club with a net income of $61,016, which is up from a net loss of $24,254 in 2006. With $365,838 of members' equity at the beginning of the year, the members' equity for the end of the year was $426,854.

In his manager's report, Rudachyk looked back at the two priorities he highlighted in last year's report. The first was the general change of attitude at the Golf Club, which he felt was successful.

Rudachyk's second priority was to have the Golf Club become more financial responsible. With a profit of about $61,000, he felt that priority had been obtained.

"The bottom line tells the whole story, but there is still work to do and room to improve," Rudachyk said.

Rudachyk added that at last year's meeting he made it clear that he would be manager on a year-to-year basis. The Golf Club, however, couldn't find a new manager so he will return this year, but the pro shop managing duties will now fall on Stan Runne. Rudachyk will now just look after the administrative side of managing at the golf course.

Rudachyk also outlined a few of the initiatives that will take place this season. They include the Legacy Tournament, new on-course washrooms, an environmental tree planting project, a new web site design, new signage on the course, new pro shop items, Grey Cup and Super Bowl pool tickets to replace the TV raffle tickets and Drew Krainyk will return this summer to run the junior golf program.

To finish his report, Rudachyk reminded the members as well as the general public that they will be hosting a pancake breakfast on Saturday, April 12 from 8 a.m. to noon, sponsored by the Weyburn Co-op and Weyburn Credit Union. It is free of charge for anyone who would like to attend.

Fellner asked Rudachyk and the board if the weather had any effect on the financial success of the Golf Club this year. Grounds superintendent Lach Reeve and Rudachyk answered that the weather was similar to the previous year, but more activity in the city as well as a variety of other factors more than likely resulted in the financial success.

Reeve began his report on the golf course conditions with an update on the vandalism done over the winter. He said a truck did doughnuts on the 12th green, leaving six to eight inch deep ruts. It was reported to the RCMP and they have received no word on the culprit.

"After it happened it snowed, so you couldn't see how much damage had been done. Now that the snow is going away, it is pretty ugly," Reeve said.

He added that it will be tough to sod the green because of the circular pattern of the ruts. He said they have a couple of options, but for now repairs will begin the first week in May and it will take him two to three weeks to smooth out the ruts and make it as smooth as possible.

Reeve was asked if there is insurance that would cover the damage and he said there is insurance, but it isn't enough to cover the cost to fix the green.

Other than the vandalism, Reeve was happy to report that the rest of the course is in the best condition it was ever been in. The only other repairs this season will be replacing culverts and repairing a irrigation break on the sixth fairway.

Reeve talked a bit about the new tree planting program that will be happening this season as well. He said, right now, the program is in the first stages of identifying what trees need to be removed, what can stay and where new trees can be planted.

"I think we are taking the right steps with the equipment we have," Reeve said.

Board member Brian Bakken touched on the new tree planting program some more in his report. He said the Golf Club has purchased a trailer with a 1,250-gallon tank that can be used for watering which will allow the grounds crew to easily take care of new trees.

In Bakken's house report, he said the club house is generally in good shape but the old club house is starting to deteriorate. His priority right now is to replace the on-course washroom, which he said is in the final stages of being complete.

Bakken added that the water system for the club house desperately needs to be updated. He said the mechanical room is not ample size for the system and the water pressure is inadequate.

When asked about air conditioning in the lounge, Bakken replied that there is ample air conditioning, but the staff need to keep the kitchen door closed so the heat doesn't come into the lounge.

Club Captain Jim Pennington reported that the Monday skins was a success with about 380 golfers. It ran for 10 nights although they missed seven nights due to long weekends and weather. They are looking into the possibility of rescheduling skins night if it is missed for any of those reasons.

In the men's regular league night, they had between 50 to 60 golfers with a different format each night. Pennington felt using a different format each night worked well and they will probably do it again next year.

Blanche McCrae gave an update on the ladies club. She said the Wednesday morning league had about 35 golfers with 25 coming out on a regular basis. They will be starting up against on Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. and will run until September.

The Tuesday ladies league had between 60 to 90 golfers and their first session will begin on Tuesday, May 13, and will wrap up at the end of June. The second session will begin in July.

Finally, McCrae said the eighth annual Pharmasave Ladies Open will be taking place on Friday, July 25, and Saturday, July 26.

The Weyburn Golf Club's driving range opened this weekend and they are hoping to open the course the weekend of Saturday, April 12.