Receiver: Tobiano Loses $431K

Tobiano's Opener: The ambitious resort is in receivership, but continues to operate.

After hearing the news that Kelowna’s Tower Ranch is being actively shopped across Canada, I took a look to see what the state of Tobiano, the other Tom McBroom course in the area. As you’ll recall, Tobiano went into receivership last year.

The Bowra Group was appointed to run the property, including the golf course, while they searched for a buyer. The group makes reports to the court and the second was posted on its site late last year (find the report here). Interesting to note:

• The course lost $450,000 after the receiver’s adminstrative costs and taxes were factored in.
• It made $1.8-million in revenue, which I thought was a little lower than I would have expected. At 100 per round, that would seem to have only accounted for 18,000 rounds. Since the resort went into receivership in June,  that figure doesn’t account for all of the year’s play (it is a June 1 annual).
• The receiver doesn’t expect much new revenue from golf operations in 2012-13.
• The receiver is going to attempt to reduce costs relating to maintenance, so the course is likely not going to be in the kind of superior condition it has been in the past.
• They termininated head pro Peter Green, who replaced former director of golf Miles Mortenson, because of “member complaints and his inability to provide proper customer service.” Ouch. Wonder who did the buying for the club in the off-season?

Hard to imagine a course like Tobiano not surviving in some capacity, but the situation looks bleak.