Riddell’s Bay To “Immediately Cease Operations”
[Updated] PwC have been appointed as joint provisional liquidators of Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club, and said the company has “insufficient cash to meet its operational costs” and “there is no alternative but to immediately cease operations.”
The statement said, “Alison Tomb and Simon Conway of PwC were today appointed as joint provisional liquidators of Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club Limited, by an order of the Supreme Court of Bermuda, following a petition presented by the Board of Directors of the company.
“In their petition, the Board indicated that the company had been struggling financially for some years and that their efforts to seek a buyer or investor for the club had not been successful.
“Furthermore, given the company’s operating losses and its inability to meet its debts as they fell due, the Board considered they had no alternative but to seek the appointment of provisional liquidators.
“The joint provisional liquidators, having carried out an immediate assessment of the company’s financial position, have confirmed that the company has limited and insufficient cash to meet its operational costs and that there is no prospect of the necessary funding becoming available in the immediate future.
“In these circumstances, they regretfully have reached the view that there is no alternative but to immediately cease operations of Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club Limited for the foreseeable future.
“The joint provisional liquidators will be reaching out to communicate directly with the employees, the creditors and the members of the club.
“The current membership year expires at the end of April and given the decision to cease operations, memberships will not be renewed for the coming year.
“Over the next few weeks, the provisional liquidators will assess the situation and the most appropriate strategy to generate value to enable the company’s creditors to be paid.”
Update: The photo below was sent in showing a ‘closed sign’ on the golf course
Meanwhile Cayman is Rockin’….Just saying.
My I extend my sympathies to the staff there. I do hope that you are compensated appropriately and are able to find gainful employment at another establishment.
Money should not be the reason to rock like Cayman .. It is a country without a soul…
If I were the Greens I’d swoop in and get another bargain buy. Perfect link to From Hamilton Princess to the Beach Club via a private water transport. Also adds to their amenities of the hotel
great idea
They already had a standing contract with Fairmont Southampton
It may sound far fetch, but I pray that this don’t become another Club med situation as far as the golf course is concerned, after the P.L.P allowed the property to go out of our hands, it has been a disaster ever since, and the golf course in the east end looks despicable and desolate, Riddles bay is far to great of a area to let the green pastures go unattended and maintained.
This to me is a project for the government to step in like they did at Port Royal, and maybe this is another revenue stream for the public purse, instead of selling more prime Bermuda real Estate off to the highest bidder.
What kind of policies do you think would make things better for high end golf clubs?
Port Royal was always a public course? Not sure if involving government is the answer. Actually I know it is not. The Reno at Port Royal was something like $20M over budget wasn’t it? And all they did was move dirt around. No new construction.
The property alone would raise quite a bit of money and then people can / will build homes / apartments (this costing Government nor its members a dime.)I also support the fact that all employees should be compensated handsomely for their services etc.
What comes around goes around…very snooty club who denied memberships to many including my Irish expat aunt and her Canadian and American flatmates who lived just down the road. Bet they wish they had their business now!!!! These are the difficult times Bermuda is facing and as much as I hate to talk against my own country,it is well overdue and we have yet to hit rock bottom!
Good idea BermyBhoy.
I would not bet on it.
Look at the stays at both Princesses.
Things are tight…..
future not looking that great..
Even in their last years opening up to everyone wanting to play a round made no difference in the end .
I’ve heard that the numbers at Port Royal have been dismal for a very long time as well.
The local economy is not rejuvenating or recovering . It’s re-evolving into one the size it probably was back in the 60′s and 70′s.
Less people and with less money . How are businesses and service providers going to adapt ?
Make the foreigners feel welcome again and give long-term residents status.
90% of the ones I know that left, didn’t leave because of LTR or a lust for another country’s status. It’s way too expensive living here. Even with the higher salaries, its costly, when you consider US residents still have to pay taxes on the amounts in excess of the allowance and taxed on top of any bonuses earned!
I would agree that is one reason but I would say more will be leaving because of the hatred and vitriol that many have been subjected to . Why would they want to stay in a place they are made to feel unwelcome? Heard this week of two long term resident friends(over 25 years here) that are throwing in the towel,finally decided there was never going to be any security for them so they are going, this is just the start.
The hatred and vitriol was thrown both ways ‘little girl’. Comforting to hear they have a home to go back to and are not stateless as claimed by others.
@So Tired ,I disagree with you ,the hatred and vitriol was not thrown both ways . Maybe both sides fail to perceive each others perspective however the venom spewed by some and the animosity shown to the foreign workers was unforgivable.Some have lived here for 30-40 years ,lived amongst people they thought were their friends. They will tell you that the anger was palpable and directed at them !Speak to some that have felt it ,I can understand being angry at the Government however to take it out on innocent people that have done nothing but help and contribute to our community is disgraceful in my eyes.This island will reap what it sows !
I feel it now
You are weak!
I agree with @So Tired.
I also think that @little girl’s inability or refusal to accept that it went both ways is a clear sign of why we will continue to struggle to fix it, as I’m sure she’s not the only one that thinks that way.
I don’t think it was both ways at all. I never seen expats behave the way Bermudians behaved last week. Pure naked hate. Disgusting and shameful.
And many times it means you can’t get everything you want …and when some folk who are accustomed to being in charge don’t get their way it simply feels like you are bring mistreated….poor babies!
Finally – if you raise a puppy in an environment full of abuse and the grown dog bites you, just maybe you have to accept some responsibility for your wounds…
little girl you have no idea how some people appear so innocent while they are cutting a thousand times instead of one swift blow! when you understand reciprocity than maybe you will understand that just because someone appears friendly there may be another agenda.one should not have to make everyone else feel comfortable in thier house forever!
Pardon me???….”throwing in the towel, finally decided there was never going to be any SECURITY for them so they are going”??…going where?…BACK HOME to where they came from!
They have options and always did!…why is Bermuda the promised land to everyone else except a Bermudian?
Do you remember when only “certain people” were even allowed to enter the club and definitely not getting membership?
This long term residency and PRC thing should have NEVER happened here.People were hired on a contract for a specified amount of time and what should have happened was to end their employment and bring the next contract in (IF they were needed because it was all about hiring friends and back room cronies)
Far to many Bermudians are displaced in their own countries…..maybe you all need to read Dr Eva Hodgson’s book ‘Second-Class Citizens, First-Class Men where she spoke about exactly what is going on now back in the 1960′s
Riddles Bay are the architects of their own destruction
Right on !!!
And that is the reason Bermuda is screwed. We need foreigners to survive here and yet some people viciously turn on them. Bermudians…without any sort of exaggeration have more opportunities than almost any other country in the world. If a Bermudian can’t make a life for themselves; its their own fault. plain and simple, no one else is to blame.
Let them leave. They should have made that decision decades ago …Adios!!!!!
If you want a certain life style then you will pay for it. Living in other islands is just as expensive if not more. The ‘Bermuda is to expensive to live’ card is old and a lie these days—-other islands have caught up to Bermuda and go after the folks with money which means the price of everything goes up as the quality goes up. The Turks & Caicos is more expensive to live—Power is about equal, food is more expensive-it is $80+ for a case of beer, restaurants are equal for worse food and the high end ones are more expensive, fuel is $5>$6 a gallon granted they have land so you can buy a house pretty cheap but then everything else will cost you. Same for the Bahamas, Barbados, etc…..I travel around the islands for business and if you want to buy something that looks edible you will pay equal or more in other islands. The larger islands-Jamaica, DR, and Cuba will be much cheaper and they should be-all small islands are expensive and many are more expensive than Bermuda—
Make foreigners feel welcome? How about piss poor Management since the last General Manager left Riddells Bay. Foreigners have always been made to feel welcome in Bermuda question is are Bermudians welcome in their own country?
@Mixitup ,where have you been living ?
?the anti foreigner vitriol is evident everywhere !!
That’s funny, I feel Anti Bermudian Vitriol everywhere…maybe we need to sit down and talk about this.
The anti Bermudian vitriol has been in play since forever. Particularly if one is of a certain persuasion. It is not overt but damaging just the same.
I have worked in multiple industries and in very senior roles – this silent mistreatment of Bermudians is alive and flourishing – deny it if you will but you know like I know that it is true.
It is now shhhhh! Noooo,
Yep!!
There you have the anti pro foreigner bs…
Just make them feel welcome.
When I was a member in 2010 I had both Bermudian and expat friends as fellow members.Then the quest workers, many of whom worked in IB started their exodus. This sad news is a result of that push by certain government leaders to make my golfing friends feel unwelcome.
Join them in their country for a few rounds of golf ….
exactly the type of rhetoric that pushed them away.
i truly don’t give a damn… would gladly live poorly versus being subjected to a return to foreign control .,,
What ‘foreign control’? And without foreigners Bermuda wouldn’t be poor it would be gone.
The control that comes from the very obvious attempt by the unelected Fahy and former UBP stalwarts to skew voting numbers .., Stop with the bull as we both know what this is all about..,, a shhhhh!!!
you said ‘subjected to a return to foreign control’ and your last statement has nothing to do with that….unless your logic is that at somepoint the PRCs were Bermuda’s rulers. or that the OBA are foreigners?
This is the trouble with politics in Bermuda people literally just say things regardless of the facts of lines of logic.
According to history, the immegrant colonist FOUND civilized people here and the crops that were sent overseas were of the best and only ceased because of the size of the land unable to yield enough to feed the “new”world, however we did notNEED the foreigner and never have, the Foreigner has always needed us, remember THEY come looking for a better life amongst US!
you seem happy that this happened? you happy about the bermudians who used to work there that will now be jobless?
Silly you… A company is run poorly and rather than accuse it of mismanagement you like many make it an immigration matter ….
Go to Cayman and let me live poorly ….
Or run the operation prudently and encourage long term residents to exercise their basic human right to go home…
Truely annoying to hear folk that chose, yes elected to live in Bermuda, without guarantees, to now demand status and voting rights. Vexing!!!!!!!
Pure ignorance. What’s wrong with their own country, why they fight to stay in another’s? And I’m not talking about the ones who were born here because their parents beat the system.
As a former member of Riddells Bay, this is extremely sad to see. Riddells have always done a very poor job of attracting new, young members – losing out to the likes of Mid Ocean, Port Royal, and Tuckers Point. Having an older membership base does them no favours, nor does being run by a board completely out-of-touch with the times. They really haven’t done themselves any favours. Word on the street is that several offers were made, but the board valued the club far too highly, and hence offers were rejected. I really, really hope that something/someone comes in and does something about this – Riddells is too good of a club, too nice of a course, and too perfect of a location to go to waste. Hopefully the Green’s are waiting in the wings to swoop in!
GREED.
I agree that “Riddells Bay is too good a Club, too nice a course and too perfect a location to go to waste”. This beautiful spot will make it a very appealing investment for the right individual or group.
With new owners will come new vision and a better sense of financial management.
Saundra Cowen, Kelowna BC
Great Golf Course. I was there this last week for a round. However, no AC in the restaurant and bar area and the menu. I would have wanted to stay longer but it was muggy and not comfortable so we left.
In my opinion a Golf Course on its own is a bad idea. What they need is something else to attract people to the area when the weather is less than ideal for golf and something else for people to do that don’t necessarily like golf. Things like tennis, squash, racketball, spa which will attract a broader range of people and get people in there on days when the weather is not so good.As it stands now all they have is golf and an average quality restaurant and bar. If it is raining , you still have to pay 30 staff and have no income. At least with squash courts , spa and renovated restaurant you can get some foot traffic in there on those off days.
I’m sure the Green’s wouldn’t want it. Sounds like an absolute disaster.
Purchasing in a fire sale a centrally located prime piece of real estate with access to water, and accessible roads links to other amenities throughout the island sounds like an opportunity to me. Toss in the lots of lands for sale, potential for a golf course that doesn’t take 4.5 hours to play in a picturesque setting and a unique means of arrival as a guest to the clubhouse/first tee.
The only disaster was the apparent reluctance to embrace change from the RB board, operating costs associated with a declining membership due to age and population decrease.
Just a shame we take so long to achieve any actual development projects in Bda. The greens to date are the only ones who actually step up and deliver.
Cuba will be lauhging at us soon enough.
As a former U.S. Naval personal stationed in Bermuda
it upsets me very much to see Riddle Bay close down. It seems to me that Bermuda is letting it’s self go straight down the tubes
Hmmmmm, soooooo, could it simply be poor management ?
Govment should buy this from the owners and build a big wall around it and then the PRC’s can live in there. Maybe then they will stop trying to tear our cummunity apart!
Make Bermuda Great Again
#FREEBERMUDA
Tragic
Very Sad news attended more than a few great weddings as a kid at Riddles Bay.
The somber reality is golf and yacht clubs across north america are closing at a 2-1 rate nationally and 4 -1 in some states. Its a growing problem everywhere.
Young adults simply aren’t joining these organizations at the rates their parents once did years ago in their late 20′s and 30′s. Simply put these kinds of institution are beginning to age out. Unable to financially and socially lean on the baby boomer generation that ushered in the growth of these types of spaces in the 60′s through the 80′s. (saw even coral beach had a membership drive recently)
Millenials are choosing private organizations and social spaces like The Spoke Club , The Norwood Club and Soho House over the Country Clubs and Yacht Clubs of old. The generational shift may be happening slowly in Bermuda but be clear its happening.
The lesson to all is adapt or die.
MA$E
Park Slope, BK
No. Bermuda’s situation is very different than the US. Bermuda has been very unfriendly to Expats with money and hence they have left our shores and taken their money with them. Tucker’s Point is in the same situation for the same reason. And like Riddells, TPC started giving away memberships for the price of a cup of coffee and now their new low budget members are sending the original members (who paid the required $100,000 initiation fee – yes, TPC USED to be THAT prestigious) packing to MOC for a truly “private club” vibe.
And this, my friends, is the Trickle Down Effect of Exiting Expats.
That is one expensive cup of coffee!
lol – Riddell’s Bay has been poorly Managed, it refused to move with the times and re-invest and here you have it…
Your post stinks of you know what!
Because of idiots saying “close the island down” every chance they get.
My solution, don’t give them the “chance” to say it then…
You don’t like taking the consequences of your actions, obviously.
You close the island fown, businesses give up.
I don’t see how that’s good for ordinary working people. But you keep going with your stupid slogans.
Maybe if YOUR idiots did what they promised to do then we wouldn’t take to the streets!!!
Unfriendly, code for not knowing their place. Damn Bermudians!
No, sometimes unfriendly just means unfriendly.
And many times it means you can’t get everything you want …and when some folk who are accustomed to being in charge don’t get their way it simply feels like you are bring mistreated….poor babies!
Finally – if you raise a puppy in an environment full of abuse and the grown dog bites you, just maybe you have to accept some responsibility for your wounds…
So you admit it. You’re attempting to justify the rudeness and unfriendliness of some people to expatriates.
Hmmm…now would kind of government policy.might help membership numbers at a golf course…let me think now….hmmm
Any government policy that would result in improved golf club membership would be opposed by the opposition (i.e. Furbert and Tweed, the unelected self-imposed people who stand in the way of improving the economy).
It is not possible to run a successful golf club in Bermuda without a significant number of members who in turn need to pay around $10,000 per annum as dues. Having accommodation attached is also important as well as decent well thought out catering facilities. Port Royal and Ocean view are clearly money losers and in my view destined to fail. Tuckers Point might survive, Mid Ocean probably also. Southampton P has good accommodation attached and is quite querky and might pull through. Sad days ahead!
I also had good teen memories and its special bartenders as well social interaction with a different crowd from the RBYC and MC.
Very sad to hear. Another long standing establishment dissolved.
Port Royal is next.Troon management will pack up their laptop and leave in less then a year.
Port Royal needs a decent restaurant and bar. Could be amazing venue. Instead wwe head to Pompano.
Golf tourism would be a no brainier but Bermuda is too expensive. And arrogantly so.
There were offers made to buy Riddells but the board rejected them…..there is no money to pay the staff who were completely caught off guard…Riddells just sent out there renewal letter 2 weeks ago…if a few of the board members had a clue they could have made it work…..
Bermuda could be an absolute haven for golf vacations, but prices would have to get competitive with Florida and South Carolina.
Some folks would have to put some water in their wine and tone their airs down a bit. Oh well, someone will pick it up at a fire sale price.
Is this the part where Dr Evil and Zane build condos on the land that has been talked about for years?
DONALD TRUMP.
More PLP fallout. Bermuda is on the way to 3rd world.
Hurry and leave to avoid the departing masses… The beauty of democracy – adios !
If you travel Ed, you would know that Bermuda has been third world for years.
If you despise third world Betmuda exercise your basic human rights and leave … This is not North Korea , just go … Say bye or not …
The board members were losers .
They just sat there and did nothing
Shareholder
As a former staff member I can tell you the problem. The accountant and the golf pro were in it for themselves. They did not want to work with the membership and selfish. This is a waste of a great golf course. They had a dying membership and did not want to lower rates to attract a younger crowd. I know the members that supported the club for years are disappointed. Like my mom always said what goes around comes around. Thats why I am not surprised that the so called staffer ran the company to the ground.
Ahhhh!!
This has absolutely nothing to do with the accountant and golf pro, and sounds a lot like sour grapes – as a member there for 25+ years I can vouch for that. The golf pro, at least the former one and one who is (was) there currently always wanted the best for the club. The accountant was the only one who ever did any bloody work at the place and had the club’s best interests at heart. This is down to the board being absolutely clueless, and repeated GM’s (I can think of one in particular) who were paid an absolute fortune, were equally as clueless, and did absolutely nothing but infuriate membership. I won’t start on the dining room operations which were also a complete joke – perhaps 15+ staff when they needed what, 3 or 4 good ones? Riddells lost 99% of their younger members in the past 10 years or so to Mid Ocean, Port Royal, and Tuckers – they did NOTHING to try and keep them or attract new ones. And a select group of older members were to stuck in their ways to accept any potential change anyway – never have been the most welcoming bunch, and resisted change at any change they got. I know it, because I experienced it. As a junior golfer they used to complain about me being out on the course at various times of the day, they complained about tourists getting use of the course, they complained when outside groups wanted to host tournaments at Riddells – all of these things would have lead (perhaps) to the sustainability of the club. These same members are now left with no club to call home. Both they and the board should have opened up their eyes a long time ago.
You are so right as you speak as someone who knows what’s going on I too was there some years ago and you are spot on
You make me laugh!
All of the corporate and the disposable income people were chased out of bda by the plp and you all wonder why a golf course then closes? Think about it!
Please explain ?
Conyers made staff redundant solely because the world economy sank into the abyss … There were many other companies that did the very same thing and if memory serves me correctly it had everything to do with the acts of greed on Wall St and bib banks in the US and Europe ..,
I didn’t know that the PLP had do much influence ..,,
There are a number of factors combining to put the golf industry in trouble. Primarily, there is a shocking lack of management sophistication at Bermuda’s golf courses. Six or eight years ago, the Bermuda Golf Association looked into the problems at OceanView. The place really was a management disaster. As part of that investigation, the price of golf island-wide was analyzed and determined to be between 38% and 53% overpriced. Riddles was among the overpriced clubs.
There is a basic economic principle known as the price elasticity of demand, which basically says that the more you charge for something the less people are willing to consume. You can sell one round a week at $2000 or you can sell 5000 rounds per week at $5. Somewhere between those two extremes is the right number, the number that maximizes profit (not revenue). Given the very low marginal cost of a round of golf, lower prices tend to generate more profit in the aggregate. Rounds of golf, much like airline seats, are a perishable inventory. If an unused tee time passes and the club could have realized $50 profit off that tee time, you might as well have the starter stand on the tee and burn $50 bills. Discussing this analysis with the clubs was pointless; management simply could not grasp the concept of lowering prices to stimulate demand with a goal of maximizing aggregate profit.
The clubs also fail to practice any form of price discrimination by segment. Different segments of the population have different sensitivities to the cost of golf. This is why the clubs suffer from an aging demographic. They have simply forced the young adults from the game through cost. Mid Ocean is the only club that realized this and created membership packages that allowed players in that demographic to remain engaged in the club. Mid Ocean is thriving as a result.
The lack of sophistication does not lie strictly with club management, The Bermuda Professional Golfers Association has a relatively low entrance requirement when compared to similar organizations elsewhere. They lack a continuing education requirement, so skills are allowed to stagnate. There are some very fine pros on the island, but in the aggregate, they could be contributing more to golf and they know it.
So what is the solution? I don’t know. I’m hoping the introduction of Troon into the mix helps raise the level of management sophistication at Port Royal and I hope that influence spreads to other clubs. I’m also hoping the BPGA will bring in a continuing education requirement for their membership. That should force the pros who are not contributing to the sport to exit the profession while allowing the pros who are contributing to continue to contribute and to increase the value of those contributions.
I’m also hoping the clubs recognize the aging demographic and become committed to growing the game as part of a grass roots initiative. There are very few entry points into the sport unless a kid is driven to the sport by an interested parent. There is no golf in schools program and that is likely the only way many potential participants will get exposed to the sport. Collectively, the clubs, the golf association, the government, and the private sector could make a more strategic, long-term approach to the development of the game. Thus far, they lack the initiative to truly make that happen.
Perhaps the closing of Riddles Bay will be a wake up call to everyone of the importance to golf in Bermuda.
Thank you for your analyses of Bermuda’s golf courses, in particular Riddles Bay. After reading all of the back and forth comments over who hates who and who is responsible for pushing this group or that group out, your comments were the only ones that made an impression on me. I am an expat who lived in Bermuda in the 60 and 70″s, I have a very large family on the island, some of whom were employed by Riddle’s Bay in the past. As native Bermudians they were not treated very well and although I have golfed all over the world, I have never played at Riddles Bay simply because I have the wrong economic status. So, I’m not all that sorry to see the management of Riddles Bay fail. But I have played many rounds at Ocean View and believe your comments to be spot on as far as their management. Bermuda is simply too expensive, with too little given in return. The days when the island and its economy belonged to the “upper class” have long since been over. Golf course management, in particular, needs to recognize that fact and do something about it.
Well written and logical. How refreshing to see. 1 out of 1000 isn’t bad.
I know nothing about Riddells Bay, I dropped a few passengers when I drove taxi part-time ten years ago. It looked to be a fine golf course, I don,t know about the golf club at all. The big question I have is what was the ro le of the Board of Directors. It seems in reading some of the blogs, that they were not accountable to the membership. Were the directors business owners them-selves ? What was the cost of membership, compared to simply come and play and pay as you go ? The economy has been at a standstill for awhile. Golf is a form of recreation, and recreation is something we all need. The directors need to speak, and really, they should have spoken a few years ago to the general public, and encouraged more to come.
Snooty club and snooty members.
Unfortunately this is a great example of the direct impact the large exodus of ex-pats can have on the Bermuda economy. As a member of Riddell’s for over 20 years it has been sad to see the decline of the club since the membership started to dwindle and cash ran out. Without those ex-pat numbers the club was unable to survive and unfortunately it is Bermuda that is left behind to suffer as a result. We’ve lost a golf club, Bermudian jobs and a Bermudian membership who have lost a place to play golf and socialize with their friends.
Without a shadow of a doubt bad management contributed heavily to this outcome but the writing was on the wall unless something drastic was going to happen. It’s unfortunate that the management of the club did not want to change with the times and were reluctant to make the necessary changes. I’m hoping this will be the turning point for the club and that an investor will have the vision to see the true potential of was RBGCC has to offer.
What about suggesting the members buy it? Or even offer shares in a company setup up specifically to take it over?
Private nagotiations were held amongst the board and various members about the members buying the course but the board had suggested they buy them out of the very large debt they had accumulated over the years and the members being bermudaian “weren’t hearing it”.
Bad news in a Bermuda context, but if the members don’t want to support their private club, financially, then let it go.
They should have never fired Dennis Paul! The constant manager shifting played a major role in the clubs closing! Business was just fine when Dennis was there and events were booming at the course, weddings, the annual Indian night, and seafood night had more people than ever before. How do you expect five different people to provide the whole service of what goes on as a manager in one year? Blame the board who was pushing everybody away!!!
you are joking right? he was a disaster..hired way too many people….chefs chopping changing….maintainance issues….it all goes at the feet of the Directors and a few of the main share holders who sat back when times were great and were too slow to change when the tide started to go out…..we probably have close to 10,000 fewer people on the island over the last 6 or 7 years after the Purge….
Very sad..
Hello To All…..Sorry to hear of the closing of Riddells Bay….I started visiting Bermuda in my college days, the early 70′s, honeymooned there in 1980 and for the last 20 years run Golf Groups to Bermuda every November & January for friends { usually 16 in Nov & 8 in January }….I do not have an understanding of the Board or Management Team of Riddell’s that may have caused the closing, but over the years I have found the Staff & Pro’s to be very helpful in making our day at Riddell’s very enjoyable….the course was always in fine shape & they always worked with my group to give us a rate that I believed was fair for the product…..actually, the staff’s @ many of the courses have always treated us well….will always “take something off the rate” and work with us for Tee Times…..I play a fair amount of Golf on Cape Cod & in New England & can see that golf is hurting….the courses that survive and do well are competitive in pricing and forward thinking in attracting membership & keeping membership…..I hope Riddell’s Bay survives, finds a new owner or investor who has a plan & vision for the future…..I will be back in November for our 20th year….we will play Port Royal, Tucker’s Point & replace Riddell’s with another fine course….we will eat good food, drink good wine and say hello to many old frinds….it still is a very special place…however, I miss the old St. George’s Course just like I miss the old Waterloo House …..we must be careful in what we eliminate as new is not always better….