A letter from our MVCC General Manager Dear MVCC Members,
I vividly remember starting work at MVCC in early January of this year and I fondly remember my first round at MVCC being January 23, with Chairman Harris. As I played the course, I thought about what it would be like to play in the summer months, when it is dry, firm, and fast. Well, July is now here, and I can tell you, unequivocally, we have one of the best courses in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to moving away from the greater Seattle area in 1995, I had the opportunity to play many of the area’s best private clubs, but for no reason, I never played MVCC. Now that I have (and yes, I am a bit biased!) I can honestly say MVCC’s golf course ranks with the very best in our area. Be proud MVCC members, you are privileged to have a very special course and club to enjoy. July is always a popular month for our members as we host the Men’s Member Guest golf tournament and festivities. I heard from many attendees that this year’s addition was one of the best we have seen yet. Course conditions were up with the level of a PGA Tour event, food was amazing, especially the Asian faire night, the Golf Operations team facilitated a magnificent competition, and our administrative team tied the back end of the event together with amazing communications and after-hours event programming. As always, our goal for this event is to provide a memorable member and guest experience, and from the standing ovation by the attendees and their spouses on Saturday night, I would say we exceeded expectations. Thanks to all who competed and to all staff that helped to stage an amazing event. On the business side, there is one item to push forward to the general membership. The Washington State Dept of Revenue Excise Tax Authority has modified one portion of tax collection at clubs. Previously, the State collected a tax on golf rounds played. This rounds tax has been eliminated and replaced with a tax on membership dues. Our Audit Committee and Club Accounting department has been working diligently to clearly understand the complexity of the new tax collection system. I also personally have been working with other area private club managers, to understand how each club is interpreting the new law. Together we are formulating a plan for implementing the new taxation system. Once we formalize the system, we will provide further explanation to our membership. We are happy to report that our Pickleball courts are open for play! Additionally, our children’s playground is open for your kids and grandchildren to enjoy. Pickleball court booking is available on our Northstar Club App or by calling the Golf Shop. For your equipment needs, the Golf Shop has paddles and balls for sale. By mid-August we will introduce a pickleball play schedule to include both reserved and open play periods during the week. Finally, our Board of Trustees has decided to slightly increase our Full Member Equivalent count from 335 cap to 350. This equates to the very limited addition of ten Proprietary memberships immediately available. The FME count increase is due to the fact that our golf round count is down about 14% year to date from 2021, which means we have less people on the golf course. The Board forecasts that the increase in membership count cap will not adversely affect the pace of play on course. Also, with our addition of the pickleball courts, fitness facility programming upgrades, and wine room, we do expect to be adding more social members to the club. Adding to our social membership categories will not affect on-course play, but will bolster our dues revenue at the club positively impacting the bottom line.
See you on the fairways!
Gordy Walker MVCC GM
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