After 10 years of development work, and only six years in operation, Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort's fairways and greens will now sit empty.
Garibaldi Springs development president Sid Brickman said he and its six other shareholders, all based in Hong Kong, decided this week the company can't afford to keep the course afloat any longer.
Brickman said the voluntary shut down is immediate, but emphasized it is not a bankruptcy.
"It's shut down, not shutting down. It is shut down right now."
Garibaldi Springs Development notified staff on Thursday (April 29) that closure of the Tantalus Way course was approaching. All leased equipment and power carts were collected on Friday (April 30).
Golf course manager Keith Riel said he understood the course would be open for walking rounds until Monday, May 31 when the entire facility would shout down. He said he was surprised to hear the course is entirely shut down, especially since it comes at the start of the golf season.
Riel estimates he along with about 19 other full-time and 10 part-time Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort employees are now out of work.
Brickman said he plans to pay all of the employees through to Monday, May 31 whether they put time in during the month or not.
"Whether they stay there or not they'll get paid," he said.
Brickman apologized for the situation and said he feels bad for all of the course employees.
"Those employees were the most loyal, hardworking dedicated employees I've ever had work for me anywhere in my whole life and to have to do that to them is terribly sad," he said. "We're sorry. We're terribly sorry. We're sick about it."
The resort needed at least 20,000 rounds of golf a year to break even but the course only had between 7,000 and 12,000 a year, he said.
Shareholders had hoped the construction of a hotel and residential townhouses would dramatically increase the number of rounds played at the course but the effects were minimal.
"We didn't get enough golfers paying enough rounds to support the operating costs," said Brickman. "We were putting $60,000 to $70,000 sometimes $90,000 every month just to make the payroll and make all the costs and everything else. And we weren't getting that much in revenue."
Construction of the Executive Suites Hotel and the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project actually hurt business, according to Brickman.
"It's a beautiful golf course and it's cost us $7 million to build it, and we never make a nickel profit from day one but we kept going and kept hoping and hoping."
The course was in trouble practically from the very start, according to Brickman.
"I'm not blaming anybody. It's the economy and we're not the only golf course, there are seven golf courses in the [Vancouver] area that are broke and shutting down."
He said he tried selling the course to six different organizations over the last four years, but no one was interested because of the poor numbers.
"It got to a point the shareholders felt they couldn't keep putting over $1 million a year into it anymore. I mean you don't mind putting money into something if you're getting money back but when it's just sucking up the money like a vacuum cleaner, you have to turn the electricity off."
Since Rockwell's Bar and Grill and the Executive Suites Hotel are separate entities, both will remain open for business.
Restaurant owner and operator Surinder Brar said the course closure affects the number of new staff he hires for the summer season, but there will be no need for layoffs.
"Nobody's going to be losing jobs. I was going to add on jobs, so those jobs will not be added on now."
Brar said he hopes another owner comes along that will have a closer involvement with the course.
"I think what this course needs is a hands on ownership, not sitting in Hong Kong."
The future of the course may be unclear but Brickman estimates the course needs about another three or four years to build up its membership to a point where it could sustain itself.
"I'd say in four years it would be a good golf course but we can't keep putting a million dollars in every year waiting for it. Who would? Nobody would."
The future of the course lies in the hands of the bank that owns the mortgage.
Executive Suites Hotel general manager Kris Szylowski said a portion of the hotels business has a direct correlation with the golf course but he can't estimate exactly what kind of financial impact the closure will have on Executive Suites.
However Garibaldi Springs's closure may actually benefit other courses in the area. Szylowski said the hotel is looking into substituting Garibaldi Springs golf packages for Squamish Valley Golf and Country Club and Furry Creek Golf and Country Club packages.
Although he hopes the closure is only temporary, Szylowski said he doesn't expect the hotel to face excessive hardship over it.
"As much as closing the golf course will have an affect on our operations it's not something that will force us to go through any great difficulties," he said.
"We hoping somebody will step in and after a re-structure continue with the golf course offer on this site."
