City Golf Club Toowoomba has seen a lot in its eight decades, surviving through depressions, wars, floods, droughts, and now a global pandemic. But despite all these challenges and changes, the club has experienced nothing but growth.
During the 91-day shutdown in 2020 due to lockdown, the club re-evaluated its budget and redefined the scope of its business, allowing it to come back even stronger and grow player numbers by 20 per cent, despite the constant threat of Covid-19.
One of the key drivers to the club’s success has been Pulse – the most comprehensive software suite for licensed sports cubs in Australia. City Golf Club Toowoomba is loyal customer of Pulse, having used it for around 20 years. The software has a range of features to help clubs operate smoothly, including a membership database, loyalty features, event management, marketing functionality, and reporting.
One of Pulse’s most useful aspects is the Fixed Assets module. It allows users to maintain, run and report the depreciation of their assets. Lisa Shaw has been part of City Golf Club’s Finance Team for the past 12 years and is a regular user of Pulse as the club’s Financial Controller. The Fixed Assets module in particular is central to her role.
“We use the Fixed Assets function on a monthly basis to manage the club’s equipment for the course, motel, driving range and clubhouse, as well as all our gaming machines and renovation expenses,” she says.
“It’s so simple to use, with brilliant integration. We can define groups and locations, record revaluations, define timeframes, and run our taxes. It certainly makes my job easier and allows us to keep on top of things, which means our business operations are slick and we can plan appropriately. It saves us so much time”
All of this is important because of just how many strings City Golf Club has to its bow. Since its humble beginnings in 1926, the not-for-profit organisation has been giving back to its community, distributing profits to the places that need them the most. In 2014 alone, the club supported 76 local services and charities.
City Golf Club also proudly supports professionals such as Karen Pearce, Greg Norman and Peter Senior, as well as hosting big tournaments like the PGA Championships, which it has done for the past 11 years. The club has won numerous awards and in 2010, it added a 4.5-star City Golf Club Motel, which offers luxury breaks, weddings, functions and live entertainment.
City Golf Club Toowoomba’s board and management team are extremely hands on, constantly generating new ideas and looking at ways to improve the club and course. Because of this, they also regularly use Pulse, which Lisa credits for being exceptionally user friendly, regardless of who is operating it and for what.
“The monthly reporting is easy for anyone to navigate through, which is great for our busy management team and board of directors. It was also a delight to train our staff on – people picked it up really quickly and use it with confidence”.
This is the secret to the club’s success. The team is constantly upgrading and looking to the future, making sure the equipment and software they use matches their forward-thinking nature. They’ve also recently invested in a bunch of renovations, including a new Craft Bar, an updated gaming room (with many clients saying it’s the best they’ve ever seen), fresh amenities and revamped dining facilities with a new Alfresco Deck overlooking the 18th fairway and practice greens.
It’s safe to say City Golf Club in Toowoomba is a special place. It goes beyond just being somewhere for recreation; it’s a vital lifeline for the community too. With such a brilliant team of staff and clever investments, the club has become a cornerstone of Toowoomba. A city that they’re making better, one game of golf at a time.