A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT DAVID WILKS
To the Board of Directors of Wilmington Country Club:
At that time, leadership concluded that when the irrigation system came due for replacement, the North Course would need a lot of work. Advice provided by the USGA and other agronomy and design experts supported that conclusion. In 2016, the Board put into writing that the time would soon be ripe for that to happen. The estimate at that time was that the North Course work would cost about $10 million, which translates to about $14 million in today’s dollars. That Board document has been circulated recently and its text is included in this package. At that time -- almost ten years ago -- it was assumed that the North Course renovation would be done to coincide with the replacement of the irrigation system. Why? Because if the two projects were not conducted simultaneously, we would need to replace the North Course irrigation system twice, thereby wasting at least $5 or 6 million, which would be manifestly wasteful and imprudent. It was on that basis that the Board waited to address the North Course’s shortcomings until the irrigation system’s inevitable replacement. The irrigation system is now at the end of its life and the time has come to proceed with Club leadership’s long held plans…or not to. This is a watershed moment. We either do the work we always planned to do and rectify the North Course’s pronounced weaknesses - or - we conclude that economic and membership conditions compel us to choose to tolerate those weaknesses until the irrigation system fails again, which will be at least 40 years from now. A number of things would make this decision far easier: maximum membership and a long waiting list; a lot of money in the bank that had been set aside for this renovation; five more years of life in the irrigation system that would allow us to start saving up. We have none of those luxuries. But what we do have is a very active, enthusiastic and affluent membership, and a famously wonderful high- end country club with a debt-free balance sheet. Though we did not start saving for this project when we first anticipated it, a renovation is very much within our financial reach. That does not, however, mean that we should undertake it.
We have reached a consequential moment in the history of this wonderful institution. For the past several years, we have pursued the possibility of renovating our North Course as our forebears have long anticipated. Over that time, we have gathered information, challenged every assumption, sent our professionals and consultants back to their drawing boards, gathered more information, and run endless sets of calculations based on every assumption that we have again challenged. We have negotiated and made insistent demands, all in an effort to make the best and wisest decision possible. Some have criticized us for moving too quickly and rushing to judgment. Others have criticized us for taking too long. In our view, this has taken exactly as long as it needed to take. We do not aim to force any outcome on any member of the Board. We have explored a wide variety of alternatives and present our investigation in the pages that follow. The Executive Committee and other leaders in this endeavor have labored mightily on these issues. We have heard and listened to an enormous amount of member input both in favor of and opposed to various aspects of this endeavor. Never before in the history of our club has so much information been shared with the membership so far in advance of a Board vote. And never before has so much member feedback been solicited, received and considered. That input has been valuable. But the Club’s governance and decision-making are in the hands of the Board. This decision is among those with the most far-reaching impact in Wilmington Country Club history. The renovation of the North Course was seen on the horizon since at least 2008, when renovation work was performed on the South Course. That’s right, every golf course needs renovation at some point. The South Course is considered a fine example of Robert Trent Jones, Sr.’s work and we made alterations to it. The North Course, in contrast, is widely considered to be one of Dick Wilson’s weaker designs and it has never been renovated since 1960. It is more than understandable, therefore, that the Club’s leadership 20 years ago anticipated this moment.
There is broad consensus that we must -- and will -- replace the irrigation system. That alone will cost
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