Commission Members in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman
Jeff Nagel – Membership & Membership Assessment
Joe Dabrowski – Greens
Mike Mislin – Violations
Ryan Stanley – Tournaments/Membership Liason
Tara Ford – Women’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage
Others in Attendance:
Jim Von Eschen – Director of Golf John Mackie – Assistant Golf Professional
Chris Johnson – Superintendent Vic Cisario – Member
Michael Auerbach – Member John Daley – Member
Michael Dioguardo – Member
Motion to start meeting by Joe Dabrowski, Jeff Nagel 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:01PM.
Brit Lawlor would like to congratulate Tara Ford on her school board win; Tara will sit on the South Country School Board for the upcoming term
Membership Report, presented by Jeff Nagel
Jeff states that Price Waterhouse Cooper has upgraded their corporate membership to Gold, giving them 20 rounds per month. In addition to them, Jeff reports that BGC gained two new Full Members (both Residents) and five Junior Members.
Tournament Report, presented by Ryan Stanley
Ryan begins by reminding everybody that the Team 4 Ball event is being held this upcoming Saturday. He continues by saying that the event will be a 1 Best Ball of 4, with handicaps taken at 80%. On May 14th, BGC held our yearly President’s Cup with Lisa White winning the Female Division and Mike Gentils winning the Male Division on a match of cards over; thank you to all who played. Looking forward into June, Mr. Stanley states that the Match Play Tournament will begin on the 1st of June. As a reminder for those who are new or may have forgotten, Ryan mentions that the Match Play Tournament is open to all Full and Weekday Members with a cost of $10. Once the field is set and broken into brackets (by handicap index), there will be no shot in the matches. Jim Von Eschen states that the entire flight will be playing the same set of tees; he continues saying that the tees will be determined by what the majority of the flight plays. Lastly, Ryan introduces the Men’s Member/Guest. He states that the event will be held on Friday, July 22nd with the cost of the event being $850 per twosome. Ryan finishes by saying that the Men’s Member/Guest sign-ups will begin on June 6th and that the catering hall (Bellport Country Club) will be handling the lunch and dinner.
Violations Report, presented by Mike Mislin
Mike has been talking with Jason Crane in regards to areas of the parking lot that people should not be parking in; specifically, those areas that have the diagonal white lines. Originally, Mike suggested to Jason that they should be handicap spots. Jason said that this could not be done, only because these areas are diagonally striped as they are a fire hazard. Jimmy Von Eschen says that he spoke with Jason and the Village will send down Code Enforcement with warning stickers. Jimmy wanted to make it clear that Code will not be ticketing cars with bad inspection stickers but they will ticket the same cars if parked in these designated areas.
Women’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Tara Ford
Tara has nothing to report from the Ladies. She states that she will set up a meeting with the Women’s Member/Guest Committee to try and finalize details in regards to that. Lastly, Tara reports that she is still working on amending the BGC bylaws and will get something to Brit shortly.
Greens Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
Joe starts his report by mentioning that Chris and his crew are into the general maintenance part of the season. Joe says that he has heard from multiple members that the greens are the best they’ve ever been. He mentions that Chris has been training some new employees and asks membership to be patient if they see some rakes that are in the wrong place or some employees who are in spots they shouldn’t.
Looking at the flagpole and the 18th hole project, Joe states that the flagpole plaque is up and the bowl on 18 is getting green! Sand should be going into the bunkers sooner rather than later. After talking with Chris, Joe says that they will re-seed some areas up near the first tee and then they’ll be done with that; the first tee should be open this weekend. Lastly, Joe asks everybody to be patient as they are going to grow the fescue up on the right side of 18 and then cut back when needed.
Superintendent Report, presented by Chris Johnson
Chris says that Joe covered a lot but the 18th hole is not exactly going as fast as everybody would like; Chris would like to reassure everybody that it is indeed growing. Chris and his crew will possibly be re-hydro seeding some of the bunkers, but after talking with some guys throughout the industry, they have noticed a lot of fescue coming through. Chris reiterates that if you were to re-hydro seed now, a year from now you will be unable to find your golf ball, which he says we do not want. Chris mentions that it sucks but we have to be patient with the Spring seeding. Jimmy mentions that after talking with some guys from the MGA, Sleepy Hollow has eight greens closed and the MGA says our greens look better than anything they’ve played on this Spring.
Director of Golf Report, presented by Jim Von Eschen
Jimmy begins his report by stating the WMGA matches on May 5th were a bug success; between this event and the Ike Qualifier, people had a lot of good things to say. Jimmy states that he received word from the MGA that our greens are much better than the current state of Fenway Golf Club and some other Westchester courses that they have recently held events at. Speaking of our own club events, the Men’s and Women’s Tournament Days are underway; the Women’s Days are a little slow right now because of the Cross County events but Jim says that will end soon and Tuesdays will pick up. The Governor’s Cup as well as both Men’s & Women’s Member/Guest information will be out soon.
Lastly, Jim mentions the death of Bob Lawless. Bob was a great member who will be truly missed.
Comments from the Crowd
Michael Auerbach – Michael suggests putting ropes around the new fescue right of the 18th hole to train the members to stay out of this area. Jimmy explains that this will be okay and once the bowl is completely open, the cart traffic will disperse.
John Daley – John would like to thank the commission for all the work they’ve done in the last few years.
The meeting concludes at 6:25PM