Fayetteville, N.Y. (NCC News) — Four Seasons Golf and Ski Center is getting ready for one of its busiest times of the year, the transition from the warm months to the cold months, and that means winter sports. A lot goes into getting the property ready for its customers, according to Operations Manager Bill Hale.
“We put up a cage here for snow tubing, storage here and that. We’ve got to do lift maintenance on the chair lift and the conveyor lift and such that we’ve been doing for the last few weeks,” Hale said.
The last few weeks have been slower for the center, and that’s understandable according to Assistant Operations Manager Joseph Hall, because with cooler weather comes less excitement for golf, plus school and after-school activities taking up a lot of people’s time. But, when people are on the premises, it creates a bit of a dilemma.
“It’s sometimes difficult when we’re trying to work outside and have people also come in and use the facilities. So there’s a lot of balance that has to be done with that and wondering when we should shut down in the season and start working on all the stuff outside or when we should continue,” Hall said.
Hale said the goal is to have things operational for winter sports around Christmas, but that in his 30 years at the center has seen things open up as early as the weekend after Thanksgiving. But, because of all the work that goes into it, there’s a lot more to do compared to golf.
“Because we have to pay for a lot more labor and a lot of electricity while we’re using a lot of these machines out here, we really have to figure out what time work best and we can make the most profit,” Hall said.
Hale added that even though he believes operations are back near “98-99%” of what they used to be before the pandemic, having an outdoor sports property allowed for his business to continue to operate when others could not.
