OCEAN PINES– After years of negative dollar signs – and summer rumblings of turning it into a park – the Ocean Pines Association last week began sending out requests for proposals on the leasing and management of the golf course.
Ocean Pines sent bid requests on the Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed facility on Oct. 16 seeking “an experienced Golf Course Management Company interested in either leasing or managing the OPA Country Club course.” Operation would include maintenance of the golf course as well as the country club and associated support facilities during an initial three-year term.
Board Treasurer Jack Collins, who drafted the RFP with board Parliamentarian Tom Terry and former board member Jeff Knepper, said the community was, “simply doing the right thing and doing our job for the betterment of the membership of Ocean Pines.”
Several members of the board balked after the proposal was posted without first facing a vote. Vice President Marty Clarke defended the move.
“It’s an RFP,” he said. “If we get four people to come back and there’s something we don’t like, that’s when you vote. This is basically just a fishing expedition – drag some bait behind the boat and see if we can get a few nibbles. I think we’re going to get four or five legitimate offers.”
Collins admitted the community had lost significant money on the golf course, including a massive drainage bill, but said putting a specific number on the deficit “depends how you define lost.”
“To me (drainage improvements) have no reflection on the golf course,” Collins said. “That not only improves the golf course drainage, but it protects the homeowners around the golf course, so that’s a win-win for a lot of people.”
Ocean Pines also spent nearly a $1 million to upgrade the course’s greens.
“The number is squishy,” said Collins. “It’s hard to put a definitive number on it. However, it’s far too high. What we’ve got to do is we’ve got to determine whether or not that’s the reality of this golf course or whether there are better options out there that will allow us to control those costs a lot more effectively and efficiently.”
Clarke said the highest bidder would not necessarily win the bid.
“If we leased it for $1 a year over the last three years we’d be up a million bucks,” he said. “I’d like to see us get a real first-class operator – somebody that makes money selling golf rounds – that’s the way it’s done everywhere else in the world.
“A property that pays no rent and no taxes and loses a million dollars in three years – that’s not good,” Clarke continued. “I compare it to a kid selling balloons on the Boardwalk: the only way he could do worse is if the string breaks. And the string is broken at our golf course. It’s obvious.”
Clarke would not place blame on current golf course manager Billy Casper.
“I think it’s us,” he said. “I think it’s the board.”
As an example of incompetence, Clarke said his daughter, formerly a server at Seacrets, came home one evening with more than $750 in tips after a single shift.
“I said, ‘Holy crap, they don’t need any old ugly guys do they?’” Clark said. “She said, ‘That’s nothing, dad. My friend Tara made $1,000 in tips at Ruark Golf. She drives a beer cart.’ I said, ‘$1,000? Was she topless?’ She said, ‘No, that’s what they make.’
“I asked someone at our golf course how much our beer cart makes and they told me, ‘We don’t run it,’” Clark continued. “I said, ‘What do you mean we don’t run it? There’s a 17-year-old girl at Rum Pointe making more money than we are. Are you kidding me? That about sums it up, and it ain’t a pretty picture.”
The possibility of converting the course into a public park surfaced over the summer, triggering the reactive move to entertain bids for the facility. Collins admitted the community’s dissatisfaction with the overall performance of the course led to the development of RFPs.
“I think it was a proactive movement,” he said. “We’re listening to the folks and hearing what they’re saying. They want to make sure that we are getting the biggest bang for the buck as far as the golf course is concerned.”
Clarke called the measure to convert the course into a park “ludicrous.”
“I don’t believe that’s ever been a real alternative,” he said. “It scares me because I think it hurts the value of the property.”
Collins said the idea was “illogical.”
“All it does is it puts an expense item on our books, and that’s not what our folks want,” he said. “People in Ocean Pines – they’re not interested in increasing the responsibility for anything if it can be avoided, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to see if there is a way that we can avoid any unusual expense to the membership.”
The lease or management of the course would come with certain strings attached in order to protect the community, according to Collins.
“That particular facility is used for other purposes,” he said. “Anyone who would be coming into Ocean Pines either in a lease arrangement or a management arrangement would have to be respectful. When you’ve been operating in such a matter you just don’t make a dramatic change.”
Collins called the course, “an integral part of what makes Ocean Pines what Ocean Pines is.” In the 1990’s, Collins and his wife, Connie, were enticed to move back to the Eastern Shore by amenities including the Yacht Club, the marina, the swimming and tennis facilities – and the golf course.
“We could have gone to Ocean City, we could have gone to Bishopville, we could have gone to Berlin – we could have gone anywhere,” he said. “We decided to go to Ocean Pines. Why? Because of the community as a whole, the people that live here, and the amenities – that’s why we picked Ocean Pines.
“Speaking for myself – not speaking for the group that is going to be involved in this, or the board itself – a Robert Trent Jones golf course is a diamond in the rough in Ocean Pines,” Collins continued. “It’s a neat course, and it deserves the best management that can be provided.”
Ultimately, Clarke would like to see the golf course turn a profit for the community that has invested so much money only to see diminishing returns.
“Until we take the bull by the horns and start selling a first-class golf afternoon to people for a reasonable amount of money, buttering up these hotels to send these packages over, and treating those people like the earth is here for them, we’re never going to make any money no matter who runs the joint,” he said. “If we lease it out, hands off, give it to an operator who lives or dies on the bottom line, we’ll end up with a first-class golf operation that makes money for them and money for us.”
Ocean Pines sent bid requests on the Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed facility on Oct. 16 seeking “an experienced Golf Course Management Company interested in either leasing or managing the OPA Country Club course.” Operation would include maintenance of the golf course as well as the country club and associated support facilities during an initial three-year term.
Board Treasurer Jack Collins, who drafted the RFP with board Parliamentarian Tom Terry and former board member Jeff Knepper, said the community was, “simply doing the right thing and doing our job for the betterment of the membership of Ocean Pines.”
Several members of the board balked after the proposal was posted without first facing a vote. Vice President Marty Clarke defended the move.
“It’s an RFP,” he said. “If we get four people to come back and there’s something we don’t like, that’s when you vote. This is basically just a fishing expedition – drag some bait behind the boat and see if we can get a few nibbles. I think we’re going to get four or five legitimate offers.”
Collins admitted the community had lost significant money on the golf course, including a massive drainage bill, but said putting a specific number on the deficit “depends how you define lost.”
“To me (drainage improvements) have no reflection on the golf course,” Collins said. “That not only improves the golf course drainage, but it protects the homeowners around the golf course, so that’s a win-win for a lot of people.”
Ocean Pines also spent nearly a $1 million to upgrade the course’s greens.
“The number is squishy,” said Collins. “It’s hard to put a definitive number on it. However, it’s far too high. What we’ve got to do is we’ve got to determine whether or not that’s the reality of this golf course or whether there are better options out there that will allow us to control those costs a lot more effectively and efficiently.”
Clarke said the highest bidder would not necessarily win the bid.
“If we leased it for $1 a year over the last three years we’d be up a million bucks,” he said. “I’d like to see us get a real first-class operator – somebody that makes money selling golf rounds – that’s the way it’s done everywhere else in the world.
“A property that pays no rent and no taxes and loses a million dollars in three years – that’s not good,” Clarke continued. “I compare it to a kid selling balloons on the Boardwalk: the only way he could do worse is if the string breaks. And the string is broken at our golf course. It’s obvious.”
Clarke would not place blame on current golf course manager Billy Casper.
“I think it’s us,” he said. “I think it’s the board.”
As an example of incompetence, Clarke said his daughter, formerly a server at Seacrets, came home one evening with more than $750 in tips after a single shift.
“I said, ‘Holy crap, they don’t need any old ugly guys do they?’” Clark said. “She said, ‘That’s nothing, dad. My friend Tara made $1,000 in tips at Ruark Golf. She drives a beer cart.’ I said, ‘$1,000? Was she topless?’ She said, ‘No, that’s what they make.’
“I asked someone at our golf course how much our beer cart makes and they told me, ‘We don’t run it,’” Clark continued. “I said, ‘What do you mean we don’t run it? There’s a 17-year-old girl at Rum Pointe making more money than we are. Are you kidding me? That about sums it up, and it ain’t a pretty picture.”
The possibility of converting the course into a public park surfaced over the summer, triggering the reactive move to entertain bids for the facility. Collins admitted the community’s dissatisfaction with the overall performance of the course led to the development of RFPs.
“I think it was a proactive movement,” he said. “We’re listening to the folks and hearing what they’re saying. They want to make sure that we are getting the biggest bang for the buck as far as the golf course is concerned.”
Clarke called the measure to convert the course into a park “ludicrous.”
“I don’t believe that’s ever been a real alternative,” he said. “It scares me because I think it hurts the value of the property.”
Collins said the idea was “illogical.”
“All it does is it puts an expense item on our books, and that’s not what our folks want,” he said. “People in Ocean Pines – they’re not interested in increasing the responsibility for anything if it can be avoided, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to see if there is a way that we can avoid any unusual expense to the membership.”
The lease or management of the course would come with certain strings attached in order to protect the community, according to Collins.
“That particular facility is used for other purposes,” he said. “Anyone who would be coming into Ocean Pines either in a lease arrangement or a management arrangement would have to be respectful. When you’ve been operating in such a matter you just don’t make a dramatic change.”
Collins called the course, “an integral part of what makes Ocean Pines what Ocean Pines is.” In the 1990’s, Collins and his wife, Connie, were enticed to move back to the Eastern Shore by amenities including the Yacht Club, the marina, the swimming and tennis facilities – and the golf course.
“We could have gone to Ocean City, we could have gone to Bishopville, we could have gone to Berlin – we could have gone anywhere,” he said. “We decided to go to Ocean Pines. Why? Because of the community as a whole, the people that live here, and the amenities – that’s why we picked Ocean Pines.
“Speaking for myself – not speaking for the group that is going to be involved in this, or the board itself – a Robert Trent Jones golf course is a diamond in the rough in Ocean Pines,” Collins continued. “It’s a neat course, and it deserves the best management that can be provided.”
Ultimately, Clarke would like to see the golf course turn a profit for the community that has invested so much money only to see diminishing returns.
“Until we take the bull by the horns and start selling a first-class golf afternoon to people for a reasonable amount of money, buttering up these hotels to send these packages over, and treating those people like the earth is here for them, we’re never going to make any money no matter who runs the joint,” he said. “If we lease it out, hands off, give it to an operator who lives or dies on the bottom line, we’ll end up with a first-class golf operation that makes money for them and money for us.”