4/9/2025
Tariffs
Tariffs and counter tariffs are on everyone’s mind these days and we continue to follow the developments closely. Of primary concern to us was if and how the counter tariffs might impact our project parts and supplies, as virtually all our parts and supplies are sourced from the U.S. Fortunately, we made the decision to lock in our parts and supplies to 2024 pricing, receive the product and pay early. This decision avoided 2025 price increases and limited supply chain concerns that might have delayed the project.
Another benefit of this decision was the savings we realized on the drop in our currency last fall and impact of the potential tariffs. We estimate the combined savings to be over $650k, a significant amount indeed.
At this time, we’ve received and paid for two-thirds of our parts and supplies and the remaining seven-hundred thousand dollars of mainline pipe is in Canada awaiting better weather for delivery, storage and payment.
With respect to the counter tariffs and our day-to-day business dealings, they have or are likely to impact us primarily in three areas;
- the cost of our course maintenance equipment, which all comes out of the U.S.
- some of our golf shop equipment, and
- some of our food and beverage purchases.
At the moment, all the course equipment budgeted for replacement this year have counter tariffs of 25%. As a result, we’ve deferred the equipment that we’ve not already received until we have more clarity on the situation. This decision won’t impact our course maintenance in any measurable way this summer.
You may have heard that golf clubs and golf balls made in the U.S. are also facing counter tariffs of 25%. Most of our other golf shop merchandise has either been received already or isn’t on the tariff list at present. We’ve also received many of our spring golf balls orders and our entire range ball order. Some manufacturers product is assembled in Mexico and not subject to the tariffs, other manufacturers have decided to absorb the tariffs for the short-term until there is more clarity. If cooler heads don’t prevail, we expect some of the product assembled in the U.S. may see noticeable price increases compared to the product coming out of Mexico, it’s still too early to predict what will happen.
In food and beverage, we will have to source some products from other regions of the world and Michelle will speak to this in more detail in her Mad Post article.
Project updates
Now that all the project approvals are in place and we’ve received the bulk of our parts, our focus has turned to working through the detailed implementation plans. As with any significant project there are risks associated, quality of work and cost overruns are at the top of our list.
We’ve hired two experienced contractors that have worked together on numerous projects over the years and at many of the top golf clubs in the GTA area. We’re confident they will execute the plan and deliver the project to the standards we expect. Their experience, along with the oversight from Doug Carrick and Sean Lavin will provide additional security and Chad and I will also be working to not only ensure they deliver the quality we expect, but also, that we stay to the prescribed scope of work and deliver the budget.
We’ll provide more details in the coming weeks on the specific timing of the planned work, which is scheduled to begin in July. Thus far everything is proceeding to plan and budget.
Annual General Meeting – May 10th at 3:30 pm at the Club or via Zoom
After a busy 2024, with the Annual General and Special Meeting, the Town Halls and the Fall Special Meeting, this year we return to a typical AGM agenda.
The meeting package will be sent out digitally by April 25th and the meeting will be available for attendance in person or virtually.
If you have any other questions, you can reach me by email at [email protected] or by phone at 705-428-3673.
Thank you,
Gary Ward,
General Manager/COO