MALONE — A group from a local golf course was on hand for a town council meeting Wednesday to discuss impacts that the drop in Canadians traveling to the area has had on the club and how they plan to move forward.
According to Malone Golf Club Board President Steve Vanier, the course is in a similar position to other businesses in the North Country and has seen less Canadians this year than in the past.
“We have lost Canadians, not all but the vast majority of our Canadian business this year,” Vanier said, “Our estimate is about $400,000 of revenue that the golf course has lost. We are looking at every possible avenue for making up that shortfall.”
Vanier said one of the things that has come up is trying to increase out-of-town membership.
“Our in-town membership numbers have been stagnant for a number of years and that’s just a function of our economy we don’t have the economic base we used to have,” he said, “We need to go out of town and what’s preventing us or prohibiting us in some ways is that we have to charge out-of-town members a lot more than in-town members.”
Last July, town council voted against a proposed modification to a lease agreement between the municipality and the Malone Golf Club by a margin of 4 to 1.
The board’s vote last year followed a public hearing in June 2024 and two previous meetings, in January and May of 2024, with representatives from the course. The proposed change would have impacted the portion of the lease agreement that deals with annual dues at Malone Golf Club with the goal of the change being to bringing out-of-town and in-town membership into more parity.
Currently, the lease calls for a 25 percent difference between the two with the golf club requesting a change to a difference of 10 percent last year.
“The more we increase our memberships the more that the diversity between the out-of-town and in-town becomes, and the less attractive we are to out-of-town members,” Vanier said, “That’s our pool and as I tried to make the pitch last time, Canadians especially, god willing they are going to start coming back and if they come back as members great, we can get them here, their heads into beds and their feet into stores.”
According to Vanier, the Malone club still offers a basic membership structure, while across the golf industry there has been a move towards tiered membership systems.
“Where you can get certain privileges for this level of membership or you can get playing privileges but only on certain days for a different level of membership, things like that,” he said, “With the provision we currently have it makes it almost impossible because if we make our membership structure more complex we are now throwing the 25% thing on top of it, it just becomes a nightmare.”
Vanier said the Malone Golf Club is a valuable asset for the area.
“It’s one of Franklin County’s, Titus and the golf course are probably the two major draws for tourist hours and we would really like to keep doing that,” he said.
Arlie Collins, chair of the club’s finance committee, reading from the club’s lease with the town said the club agrees to discount annual dues in the amount of 25 percent from the regular rate of annual dues for residents of the town of Malone.
“Before we asked if you could lower that to say 15 percent, I think the narrative has changed and we would like to see that gone completely,” Collins said, “If you don’t think you can do that we would ask that you would at least entertain the idea of a five year moratorium to give us the ability to get back on our feet financially, to recover from what is going on right now.”
Councilman Brian Taylor asked how many Malone residents and how many Canadians are members at the golf club.
According to Malone Golf Club General Manager Scott Delair, there are currently 287 residents who are members. He said the course has 147 out-of-town members, 33 of which are Canadian.
Delair said the $400,000 of revenue figure the course has lost is based on golf packages that were booked in 2024 and did not book this year or booked and then canceled.
“Geopolitical tension has been a massive factor but right behind that is the exchange rate,” he said, “Both of those functions we have no control over.”
Delair said reduced hours at the port of entries in Chateaugay and Trout River, both formerly 24/7 crossings, is another factor cited by Canadians who no longer travel to Malone for golf. Economic tensions have contributed to a decrease of 22 percent in Canadian border crossings at ports of entry across New York in April, with Northern New York experiencing a 31 percent decrease in Canadian border crossings at the Champlain Port of Entry last month compared to May 2024, according to the North Country Chamber of Commerce.
President Donald Trump has threatened Canada’s sovereignty repeatedly, calling for the country of 40 million to become “the 51st U.S. state,” and launched a trade war by implementing far steeper tariffs on the neighboring country than have been in place for decades.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Town Supervisor Andrea M. Stewart asked for more information on the tiered membership model.
“To see if maybe there’s a way through one of the tiers to somehow acknowledge Malone residents through that part of it,” Stewart said.
Delair said the tiered membership gives potential members options.
“It’s a really expensive sport, just equipment alone the cheapest driver you can get is about $600 and if you want to get a brand new set of clubs as a new golfer, and you want a name brand, you are looking at three or four thousand dollars,” he said, “Adding tiered membership gives us the opportunity to capture different demographics within our membership structure, not necessarily this is the in-town and this is the out-of-town rate as your two options, this gives us the ability to acknowledge working individuals.”
Delair said people who work during the day could have a twilight membership where their playing privileges are restricted to certain times of the day.
“It also gives us the opportunity to allow people to play on certain days of the week,” he said, “If we have all these categories, we’d have to double these categories if there was an in-town and out-of-town rate. We are all consumers in here and buying a product just becomes more frustrating the more confusing it is. If we have 20 to 25 different rates that somebody could purchase I think that just becomes confusing and frustrating for the consumer.”
According to Delair, the club’s membership numbers have been cut in half over the past decade-and-a-half, adding when he first started working as an intern in 2011 there were 850 members at the Malone club.
“Now we have about half of that, 425 members,” Delair said, adding about a quarter of the club’s membership is around 80-years old or will be in the next five years, “Of course we need young people, we need the youth and younger people, especially looking at an in-town versus an out-of-town rate, if they live outside of town, for a lot of people, it’s a nonstarter just because of the price difference.”
Councilman Paul Walbridge asked what the course could offer to residents in lieu of the 25 percent reduced rate.
“There are various services, ancillary things that come with a membership that maybe we can get to town residents,” Vanier said, “A cart coupon for instance or lower cart fees, bag storage, or lockers, things like that we can definitely sweeten the pot for in-town residents.”
Councilman Jody Johnston said he thinks there was a misunderstanding around the club’s request last year.
“We’re not asking town residents to pay extra. We have a set fee for town of Malone residents and a surcharge for people who aren’t residents,” Johnston said.
Stewart said she would like to see proposed language from the golf club on the clause in the lease agreement that they would like to change.
The proposed changes to the lease agreement would go into effect for the 2026 season.
Stewart said a public hearing would need to be held before any changes are made to the lease agreement, adding the board can review proposed language at their first meeting in July, and hold a public hearing during the second July meeting.
