2026 President’s Message, Long Range Planning Update & GM Report.

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President’s Report

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In my remarks tonight, I would like to reflect on some of our highlights as a Club over the past 10 years.

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Let’s start by comparing tonight’s presentation of our financials to those of 10 years ago. For 2016 our excess revenue was only $21,674!   As you can imagine you can’t fund many improvements or changes with only about $20k in your back pocket.  We definitely experienced some lean years.  However, by 2019 the excess revenue grew to just over $135,000 for that year, and was nearly $200,000 for fiscal 2020.  The COVID outbreak brought a resurgence to golf … as well as to our financials.  Remarkably, for 2025 our excess revenue is about 11 times that of 2016!

So, you may be wondering – how has the excess money been used over the years?  The answer is that mainly it has been reinvested in your Club: the course and grounds, the equipment, the facilities, and our full-time staffing.

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A partial list of improvements that have been made to the course over this time includes:

• In 2021, after much research and business-casing, the Board approved a major project to automate our irrigation system at a cost of over $200k. The project was begun after golf season that fall, and finished the following spring. We now have unattended, efficient and focused course watering – watering where it’s most needed and at the best times of day.

• In 2022 all sand traps were refurbished with new sand and additional drainage.  Over 250 metric tonnes of sand was required tp complete this project!

• Two new walking bridges (first on hole #1 and now on #18) have been installed.

• Several portions of cart paths have been paved.

• The range has seen various recent improvements, including netting.

• Hundreds of dead or dying trees – partly attributable to the ash-borer - have been removed and new ones have been strategically planted.

• The green on hole #16 was completely revamped in 2024 to enlarge it and reduce its slope.  We can expect the new surface to mature and improve more for this year’s play. To give you a sense of the scale of this type of project, that new green cost the Club just under $90k, plus additional internal staff time.

• And lastly, starting in 2021 we’ve added and/or expanded well over 20 tee decks!  The added decks have enabled more golfers of various skill levels to further enjoy the game at our course.  Last year, for example, there were 38,220 rounds of golf played at Elmira – members and juniors accounted for about 45% of those.  No wonder it felt like the tee-sheets were full!  As a comparison, for Ontario, the average number of rounds per course in 2025 is estimated to be between 28,000 and 32,000 per club – putting us more than 6,000 rounds, or nearly 20%, above the high end of that range estimate.   We must be doing something right!  This is yet another reason for all the investment in expanding our tee decks, especially on those Par 3’s.  In fact, you may have seen that this past fall tee decks on hole #’s 6 and 11 have been enlarged, once again. 

 

On the equipment front, we are continually replacing end-of-life mowers and other equipment with new and better models.  Additionally, during the 10-year period we’ve added a new greens aerator and greens roller, sprayer, range ball picker, range ball washer and dispenser, as well as a tilt-bed gator - just to name some of the new or upgraded equipment.  And included in equipment investment are the new GPS-enabled power carts that were leased in 2024.    

Thinking about our facilities, there are things that you can readily see but many others that are not so obvious.  Examples of things that are tangible to most of us are:

• Enclosing the deck with glass in 2019 - which greatly extended the season for its use;

• And who among us remembers parking our newly washed vehicle in our lot only to have it lightly dust-covered at the end of a round?  Paving most of our parking area has improved that immensely. 

• New flooring throughout the clubhouse was yet another necessary item.

Things we don’t see, but that are definitely needed and appreciated, are:

• the replacement of furnaces and A/C units, a new water treatment system, the new well pump, security cameras, and computer hardware, servers and software, just to name a few. 

Also during this time period we have strategically grown our management staff complement - to improve your experience as well as to accomplish the many items I have mentioned so far, with more to come.  We now have a full-time Office Administrator, enabling our GM to focus on other important issues.  We added a Head Pro to manage the Golf Shop and contribute to the organization of member events, as well as the development of our emerging junior program.  The addition of an Assistant Greens Superintendent will help distribute the workload, including crew management, enabling the Superintendent to spend more time researching and implementing course improvements, and new equipment and methods.   To keep EGC competitive in the employment space, we updated our compensation structures and reviews. And this year we will be putting an improved Benefits package in place for our full-time staff.

In addition to all this reinvestment, over the past few years our sound financial position has enabled us to ‘give back’ – that is: to support our local community and young staff more, as well as to promote golf, through annual scholarships (which includes Elmira District Secondary School as well as the Bill Duffy staff awards) and through charitable donations.  You may have noticed that we’ve broken this out for you in a separate category in this year’s financial statements in order to provide some additional transparency.  

Lastly, we have begun to set some funding aside in anticipation of the need for investment in longer term initiatives and requirements. 

Looking back, there have been some significant events over the past several years.  For example:

• In 2018 we celebrated the club’s 55th anniversary, having been thankfully founded by some local and passionate visionaries back in 1963.

• Five years later, in 2023, we celebrated our 60th anniversary.

• The summer of 2023 saw Elmira successfully host the Ontario Juvenile U17 Boys and Girls championships. 

• Then in October of 2023 a final and Special Meeting of EGC shareholders was held right here at The Lions Hall.  At this historic meeting, shareholders, in person and by proxy, agreed to cancel their shares - thus starting the Club on a path to retain its not-for-profit status under the newly-enacted Ontario legislation.  That journey to a member-driven Club culminated in April 2024 with our inaugural Annual Members Meeting, where the Members endorsed the Club’s new By-laws.

• Another first for our club occurred in the summer of 2024 when our Club hosted the first-ever annual Canadian U15 championship, showcasing once again our wonderful course, our staff and greens crew, and many volunteers.

• Last year we celebrated EGC’s 60th ‘Birthday’ – which is different from the 60th anniversary, because 2025 marked the 60th year that golf was actually played at EGC, beginning with a 9-hole course.  Unlike those early years, this time no ‘stone-picking’ forays needed to be arranged and sent out on the course.  But, we did have a celebration on the first tee that included the installation a couple of new larger ‘stones’ – one at the first tee entrance to welcome all players and to commemorate our Club’s roots, and one on-course to recognize Jim Whibley, Elmira’s original course builder and Greens Superintendent – the bridge at hole # 15 is now ‘The Whibley Bridge’.      

• Also in 2025, the Club supported a ‘swarm’ of volunteer Members to act as gallery marshals at the RBC Canadian Open.  EGC earned the tournament sponsorship for the 4th hole at Osprey Valley, and we received very positive feedback from the RBC organizers after the event. 

 

I don’t know about you, but for me, all of this speaks of a very successful Club!

So, what makes our Club so outstanding? … why is it so successful?

In my mind there are 4 main components:

1. First, we have a highly competent full-time management team.

   •  Callum Tilley, our Greens Superintendent and now aided by our new Assistant Superintendent, Rob Vogt, effectively manage the course and grounds maintenance crew, which is annually made up of both new and experienced crew members.

   • Members and guests are always greeted and well looked after by the Golf Shop and back shop staff under the direction of Adam Ferraro, our Head Professional.  Like the course crew there are always new staff members working alongside our reliable and experienced shop staff.    

   • Our efficient office administration centre, including billing, invoice payments, accounting and many other activities, is the purview of Adam Brubacher, our Office Administrator.

   • And finally, Jeremy Logel, our General Manager, shoulders the overall responsibility for the operation of the Club as a whole.  As I have learned by working with Jeremy, in addition to annual and regular work there are an endless number of tasks and day-to-day issues that arise that he handles in his dedicated manner – most go unbeknownst to Members, but enable our on-going full enjoyment of the Club.  Jeremy was recently recognized by the Club for his 25-years of service here – and we hope there will be many more to come.   In short, Jeremy has been a pleasure and a joy to work with, and he has gained my admiration for all he does on our behalf.

2. Second, in my component list, are ‘relationships’.

   • There are numerous external parties and services that we rely on for help, for course improvements, for equipment maintenance, for web services, for golf shop inventory, for golf lessons and camps, for on-going maintenance and repairs … and the list goes on.  Building, cultivating and maintaining these relationships is an important responsibility of our management team. 

   • One key relationship worth highlighting is our partnership with John Tsintaris who operates The Grill on our premises.  John and Jeremy work together to provide a valuable service and experience for our members and tournament guests.  The Grill is a not only an enjoyable post-game place for golfers, but also attracts many local customers.  This appeal to local and non-golf customers helps provide a continuous dining option at our Club, especially in the off-season, and notably contributes to Club revenue. 

3.  In my mind the third component is our financial success.  I’ve already talked about that at some length, so I won’t add to that now.  However, its importance to our past and future success as a Club cannot be understated.     

4.  The fourth and final component is you – our Members. 

   • I’ve had conversations with many incoming members about how welcoming you are to people that have joined our Club for the first time.    I myself had that same experience. New members report that it is relatively easy to find games and groups with which to play regularly – and that they have not experienced the same at other Clubs.  So, Kudo’s to you!  

   • Our Club depends on, and is strengthened by, the willingness of our Members to volunteer. For example, we have a volunteer Board of nine Directors who meet monthly and provide input on operational issues as well as planning insights and direction. All of our Directors are also active on other committees - so their time commitment goes beyond those monthly Board meetings.  On that note, a sincere thank-you to Bill Trout, a former President, for his many contributions as a Director as he retires from the Board now in accordance with our By-law’s.

   • Additionally, we have two committees that members are welcome to join - the Games and Greens committees.  These are some of the ways that you can get involved to make a difference and influence the direction of our Club – and I encourage everyone to think about that, the experience can be very rewarding.  But if working together with others is not your thing or if time is currently at a premium for you, we can simply all pitch in by filling in a few extra divots and repairing some extra ball marks each time we play.

 

Let me sum up by saying, and I hope you agree, that we have one AWESOME Club!

So, this concludes my reflections on our last decade … and I look forward to the what the next ten years will bring!  

It has been my distinct honor and privilege to have been your 20th President.  A ‘privilege’ because of the many fine individuals I’ve been able to meet and work with, including Board members, staff members, as well as many others who share a passion for our Club.  And, it has been an ‘honor’ for me to represent you, our Members, knowing that there are so many others in our Club that would be qualified to do so.  It has been a truly rewarding experience, and I sincerely thank you for that opportunity.

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Long‑Range Planning Committee:

 

Purpose & 2025 Work by Michael Lanteigne (committee members: Bill Traut, Douglas Stewart, Ric Black, Jeremy Logel)

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Why the Committee Was Established

• Created to take a long‑term (5–10 year) view of the club’s opportunities and challenges

• Intended to move beyond year‑to‑year decisions and support sustainable, compliant future planning

• Exploratory in nature, recognizing not all work leads to immediate projects

 

What We Did in 2025

• Completed a comprehensive review of infrastructure, servicing, parking, facilities, and land‑use limitations

• Identified key interdependencies impacting future planning (regulatory, municipal, shared‑use agreements)

• Clarified what is feasible today versus what depends on future approvals or changes

• Achieved Ministry approval for the club’s septic repair Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA), a critical prerequisite for future planning

 

 

What’s Next & What’s Out of Scope

What We Are Not Doing

• In 2025, we reviewed boundary lines and adjacent lands

  • No viable expansion opportunities identified

  • Current property boundaries will remain unchanged

  • No golf course expansion (e.g., additional holes)

 

Focus Areas Going Forward (2026)

• Parking

• Infrastructure and servicing approvals (including septic)

• Evaluation of potential expansions or relocations:

  • Clubhouse

  • Office space

  • Equipment maintenance and storage

• Review and modernization of shared‑use agreements

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GM Report “Highlights” for 2026 from Annual Members Meeting on April 7th.

 

Congratulations to Calum Tilley after a great first year as Superintendent. Calum now has a new full time Assistant Superintendent, in Rob Vogt (who returns to EGC as Rob was an assistant with former Superintendent Jason Andress). This will provide a great boost to an already strong returning turf team for 2026.

 

To create more communication, we will continue to use our App – Elmira Golf, under Member News, called Turf Talk posting about once a month in season. We will continue to use this platform to post important on course info, as well as print and post on the member information board at the club. We have just posted this week a recap of some of the key challenges from 2025 with plans to improve these areas. To high light the list of the challenges the Calum and the team will be working on continued bunker improvements, improved turf health for #16 green, spraying for crab grass on various tees, ants on greens, addressing the sandy divot mix on the range/tee decks to name a few.

 

The new tee project was completed by Flightline this past Fall and we look forward to these new tees once ready and projected for June.

Tees completed include:

Hole #6 of which we more than double the space at Gold, Silver Bronze.

Hole #7 has a new large – double stepped tiered tee with Black and Gold on the back tee and Silver and Bronze on the front step.

*Please note to the right of #7 tee, we now have two nurseries to use as required…the back portion will be used as a green’s nursery (old #16 green salvage turf) and the front area will be used for tee or fairway, as we have irrigation in the area.

A new much large tee Hole #11 for the Gold & Silver tee.

 

On the radar for future improvements would include the #13 Gold Tee (possibly an expanded Black tee), pathway up to the Black tee, the bridge crossing and area as well as the tees at hole #2 as they were the original tees pointed at the old #2 green (now #15). This area requires some careful planning and permits due to flood plain. For now, we will plan to keep the Gold tee in the best shape as possibly and use about 50% of the time in season, ideally.

 

The new #18 Walking Bridge will be ready for opening day.

 

Tree Planning: The course has lost about 150-200 trees over the last 10 years or so due to storms, age, disease etc. Many of the poplars, several willows and other dying trees will still need to come down over the next several years with a plan. We have teamed up with Reforest Woolwich to plant 300+ saplings along some of our edges and in some nursery type areas which were identified. The saplings will include about ten various tree species selected by Calum as best suited trees for this property. We also have purchased twenty new more mature maple trees, which will be planted in 2026 after a proposed plan by the Green Committee plan. Calum and the Turf Team will also be selecting on course trees that can be spaded and moved as required over the next several years, until the saplings in the nursery can full fill this need. This plan should make for a healthy tree program well into the future at EGC, allowing us all to breath a little easier.

 

We will have a new scorecard this year which was required due to some yardage changes and a fresh change to the ABCD pin positions.

 

Two exciting recent programs lead by the Membership & Community Committee of Bill Traut, John Limoges, Jeremy Logel along the with support from Ric Black.

 

A new Member Bag tag program to celebrate significant and continuous membership. This program is currently planned through 2030.

Junior Program (18 & under) and Members (1-4 years) will receive a traditional Green Bag Tag. At 5 years, with etching of first initial and last name members will receive a: Bronze 5-14 years, Silver 15 - 24 years and Gold 25+ years.

 

The second program is to recognize those who have made significant contributions as a Volunteer with a now, new special plaque for Elmira Golf Club.

 

The committee complied a list of about 25 deserving persons and selected five for 2025 and 5 for 2026. We will post information about this program on the member area of the website. This will include the plaque details, recipients, and a nomination form, for you the members to submit at anytime. Ideally 1-5 persons would be honored each year for this plaque, annually at the AMM.

 

It would be impossible to provide all the significant details of each person; however, in the coming weeks we will update some of this key info about each person on the website, under the Member Section. Please find the plaque details along with these first, very deserving individuals for 2025 and 2026.

 

Acknowledgement of Volunteers who have made a Significant impact to the continued success of Elmira Golf Club.

“In the early years, numerous members and locals recall spending many volunteer hours picking stones throughout the golf course. This began the great tradition of volunteerism at Elmira Golf Club which continues each year.”                                                                                  Est. 2025

Don Martin

Bruce Ferguson

Ron Kilbey

Connie Kilbey

Bill Clemens

Pat Bishop

Gail McLeod

Clark McAlpine

Oscar Weber

George Wilson

 

 

We have a member survey coming likely within the next week, about 10-minutes asking your opinion of areas of membership, course, golf shop, projects, communication, Food & Beverage, Events etc., We are asking all to complete by the end of month of April, essentially basing your answers on 2025 as a baseline. We then plan to send out a similar survey, early each fall to outline that season and assist us moving forward.

 

The current platform of Tee-On (POS, online booking system, member account system) is nearing end of life. A careful review is already underway to find the best software program that fits our needs and provides us with some new features for all to enjoy. More information to come on this with an ideal plan of implementation for fiscal 2027.

 

Adam Ferraro and assistant golf professional Tyler Budder are working on some great additions for the Junior Program to provide a little more opportunity to those juniors currently on the waiting list, with out taking any key tee-times. The total waiting list of all four categories of Junior, Adult, Intermediate and Flex combined total of 340. The future is bright for the next 5+ years at Elmira Golf Club.

 

Thank you to John Tsintaris and The Grill on the Green as we look forward to another wonderful year of tasty food and cold beverages. In John has purchased numerous new patio furniture for this season and the club has put in a new ceiling on the deck patio, including pot lights and a few fans.

 

Thank you to the splendid work of all the committees, Games, Greens, and the Board of Directors. Thank you so much to Bill Traut and Ric Black, both long time board members and presidents who I have worked very closely with, on so many key projects over so many years. Many accomplishments lead by you have set EGC up for many yeas to come. Thank for the major contributions you have made to Elmira Golf Club

 

Thank you to Andrew Navicakas once again and for all your support and assistance you continued to provide. A special thank you to our team of Andrew Brubacher, Adam Ferraro, Calum Tilley, and Glenn Leman for the magnificent work each of you all do for Elmira Golf Club and especially for all your work in setting up for the AMM. We have a talented team of dedicated people in all areas, a great membership, supported by many volunteers and I feel lucky to be part of all!

 

Thank you all again for attending and we look forward to seeing you on the first tee, very soon!