Eliminating Golf Memberships Short-Sighted

I am writing to the Toms River Patch as a lifelong resident of Toms River.  For 39 years, I have been a part of a group of avid golfers and other Toms River residents that play golf at . We are at the course almost every morning all year long, playing in the hot summer heat, the rain and even in the frigid cold of March. Getting exercise while playing golf with lifelong friends has allowed many of us to stay healthy long into our 80s. We all love the game of golf and it is a huge part of our lives. It is also a big part of the quality of life that makes Toms River special for all us.

What has made this possible is the yearly membership rates, which made it affordable because many of us are on fixed incomes. There are only 29 full members at Bey Lea. The majority of us have our names on plaques in the hallway where the winners of tournaments and club championships are displayed, with dates going back to the time the course first opened. We are at the heart of the history of the golf course. Some of us have worked alongside the mayor and golf course staff in an advisory capacity and our valuable input has helped make positive changes to the course.
 
We thought we were considered valued patrons until recently, when the Township Council decided to take away the yearly membership rates. If this were to happen, all of us would have to either play somewhere else or cut way back on the amount of golf we play because the daily fees for golf would make it no longer affordable. Many of us are already paying between $3,000 and $4,500 to play golf at Bey Lea, which is a municipal golf course. In the last two years, the yearly rates have nearly doubled and new fees for tee times and mandatory carts on summer weekends have already been added by the township. These added expenses have made the yearly cost for the avid golfer so high that they surpass many private clubs, yet all of the members continued to renew and stay loyal to our hometown golf course. We love our course and do not want to find another place to call home!

Many of the 29 yearly members went to the and we voiced our displeasure with the township's decision to eliminate the yearly membership fee. At first it seemed to fall on deaf ears, but after listening to almost all of the members speak (some feeling strongly enough to speak two or more times) the council decided to take another look at the figures and tabled a final decision until February. We left the meeting realizing that the words "valued patron," "long-time supporter" or "historical commitment" or even "Toms River resident" mean almost nothing to the Toms River Township Council. After hearing some of the comments made by the council, we fear that the end is inevitable for our memberships. It surely did not seem like government by the people for the people of Toms River to us! Forty years of paying taxes and thousands and thousands of dollars spent at the golf course and the council is now saying they no longer want or need us. After speaking with the golf course staff, it would seem that having more nonresidents on the golf course is the direction they want to take to increase revenue. They are now going to price us right out of town. Bey Lea Municipal Golf Course will cost more for the avid golfer than some of the private clubs like Woodlake, Eagle Ridge, Sea Oaks and Blue Heron, and that is just not right.

Does a Toms River resident have to be member of a private club (Toms River Country Club) to play golf affordably in Toms River when Bey Lea was built for the township residents and was supposed to be an affordable public golf course? We support the course despite the fact that Bey Lea has no clubhouse, no driving range, no place to sit and have a sandwich. The locker room is old, dirty, and stinky and there are no working showers. The pro shop is so small you blink your eyes and you've passed right through it. This golf course should not cost a lot of money for anyone -- full members, daily golfers or non-members -- because it's just an average public golf course. But it is our course...the golfers and residents of Toms River!

They say they need to increase revenue. They have already increased fees dramatically as I indicated but moreover, they will not achieve their goal of increasing revenue with their plan. Rather than break the back of the local resident golfers who play the course all year, they should be advertising to attract more members. Simply put, more members means more revenue. The more rounds of golf played, the more carts are sold and more people spending money in the golf shop. While every other golf course around is giving discounted rates to try to acquire new members, Bey Lea is looking to get rid of their members...the same members who have been the bread and butter of the course since it opened in 1967. Where did this new approach come from? We feel this idea did not actually come from the council but from the new golf course superintendent Joe Kinlin and the head of the recreation department Eric Schubiger. These people are not even township residents! They do not live here, nor did they ever play the course as we have all these years.  Let me say that again: people who do not even live in Toms River and never played the course regularly are the ones who are taking the course away from its longtime members. That is simply not right! They have neither the best interests of the residents or the course in mind at all.

Councilman George Sevastakis says he's a golfer, but I find that hard to believe because anyone who likes and knows the game of golf knows that this decision to eliminate memberships in addition to continuously raising rates is the wrong way to go. Every business owner knows your frequent patrons are the heart and soul of a successful business. They help pay the bills when times are slow, as we all have done for many, many years when the course had many fewer players wanting to play it! It's like an airline telling its frequent flyers they can no longer fly anymore or a restaurant telling its regulars not to come in anymore.

We hope the town council does not single out the members by eliminating or continuing to raise membership rates. Increasing the rounds of golf played per year by adding members and some advertising ultimately will increase revenue. We urge the council to keep the memberships, promote the course and do the honorable thing for the members who have been loyal to Bey Lea Golf Course all these years.

Ron Fidalgo

Bey Lea Golf Association Member