In 1950, Cedar Hill Golf Course came under the proprietorship of Lyle Barnes. In 1952, Barnes was one of the founding members, along with 29 others, of the Cedar Hill Golf Club. During Barnes' proprietorship, membership grew from 30 to more than 600.

Saanich expropriated the golf course in 1967. It began administration of the course in 1971.

Saanich inherited 600 Cedar Hill Golf Club members, along with the goodwill of all those loyal golfers.

These golfers brought in substantial revenue and in fact, after only eight months of stewardship, Saanich realized a profit large enough that it was able to pave the parking lot and do some landscaping at Gordon Head Rec Centre. And membership grew to 800 within a few short years.

The course made a healthy net profit in succeeding years, due in large part to a vibrant and healthy club membership. Golf was a growing industry and discussion about enlarging the clubhouse started. In 1978, the Cedar Hill Golf Club donated $50,000 towards that expansion.

In 1997, the club donated a further $40,000 toward completion of the current clubhouse. The Cedar Hill Golf Club, to this day, continues to contribute toward the golf course both monetarily and by donations in kind.

Passholder numbers grew through the 1980s and into the 1990s, reaching over 1,000. Imagine having the revenue of more than 1,000 passes being dropped into the coffers of Saanich in April of each year. Those were the days when Saanich proudly declared Cedar Hill the busiest golf course in Canada.

Sadly, even though passes were at the heart of the golf course's success, that fact was not acknowledged by management.

Passes were never marketed and that practice continues to this day. Up until 2011, pass costs were not even advertised on the website.

A person had to phone the golf course office to find out the cost of a pass. As one would expect, passes have been steadily increasing in cost but with decidedly fewer and fewer privileges.

Rather than show appreciation to their most loyal supporters, management chooses to charge them more and give them less.

At a recent Saanich council meeting, one member of the public pointed to the folly of this practice by asking us to imagine a business proprietor putting a sign on his/her front door and declaring "Hey, loyal shoppers, we've raised our prices, we're giving you less, happy shopping!"

Aki Graber is a member of Cedar Hill Golf Club and the author of a recently completed history of the club and course.