Commission Members in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman
Ron Krawczyk – Deputy Chairman
Joe Dabrowski – Tournament/Rules
Jeff Nagel – Membership & Marketing
Carol Cassel – Special Events
Ed Santalone – Special Projects
Mike Cioffi – Men’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage
Others in Attendance:
Jim Von Eschen – Director of Golf
Chris Johnson – Superintendent
John Mackie – Assistant Golf Pro
Motion to start meeting by Ed Santalone, Jeff Nagel 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:06PM.
Membership & Marketing Report, presented by Jeff Nagel
As of now, we have 10 new members from September 1st. After talking to Jimmy [Von Eschen] we are expected to get roughly 20 total members during this “Fall Push.” With this new 10 members, we are up to 387 total members. Again, we are looking to get roughly 400 total members before we cap our membership.
Tournaments/Rules Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
Our Men’s Member-Guest was held on Friday, August 4th. The flight winners went as follows:
A Flight: Joe Dabrowski & Kevin Allo
B Flight: Tom Ford & James Murphy
C Flight: Sean Kelly & Nicholas Gianuzzi
D Flight: Kevin Dayton & Chris Barber
Tom Ford & James Murphy won the Shootout in order to be named the Overall Champion.
We held the Ladies Invitational on Tuesday, August 8th. The winners of the Gross Champions were Kathy Dennis, Barbara Forte, Whitney Posillico and Sharon Markey. The Net winners were the following:
1st Place: Kathy Laguardia, Catherine Cervelli, Donna Migdol and Karen Siris
2nd Place: Coralea Lander, Marianne Patti, Peggy Soriano and Maryanne Kerwick
3rd Place: Carol Cassel, Susan Callahan, Denise Agostinello and Kathy Krawiecki
Additionally, we held the Team 4 Ball Championship last month. Matt Kloss, Del Oliver and Charlie Vallillo won the event with a net score of 56. The years last 9 & Dine has come and gone last month. The winners of the 9 & Dine were John Robilotta, George Wasielke, Jerry Valenti and Linda Valenti.
Many people consider the Member-Member the best tournament down here at the club; the 2017 winners were the following:
Nicklaus Flight: Bill Hope and Lee Stocker – 33.5 Pts.
Woods Flight: Chris Monahan and Anthony Pepitone – 32.5 Pts.
Trevino Flight: Pat Dowd and Jim Cottone – 34.5 Pts.
Watson Flight: Brian Strauss and Kevin Sullivan – 31 Pts.
Hogan Flight: Vito Aniello and Tom Curley – 33.5 Pts.
Snead Flight: Al Mucci and Mike Mucci – 35.5 Pts.
On September 14th, the golf course will be closed due to the Fuoco Memorial and the golf course will be closed.
Special Projects Report, presented by Ed Santalone
Congratulations to Jeff Nagel on getting married. I attended the wedding with a few of the other commission members; I had a great time.
Deputy Chairman Report, presented by Ron Krawczyk
The other week, the ice machine filter was clogged; it’s not a problem anymore as Eddie took care of it but I just wanted to let everybody know. Additionally, the bridge going over to the 10th green/11th tee has been extremely slippery; I actually took a spill the other day. We spoke to the village and Jason Crane, and instead of putting turf down the middle, they said that they will power wash it. The other day, they did indeed powerwash the bridge and it came out great. Starting next year, they will powerwash it 3 times a year. Last but not least, the course is in great shape. I brought a ton of guests out recently and they couldn’t stop mentioning how good the course was in.
Special Events Report, presented by Carol Cassel
The ladies have a request that they only play 9 holes on Tuesday (Ladies Day), right after the Ladies Club goes out. Jimmy stated that there are many ladies who already do that (including Carol herself) and requests that the ladies who are not playing in the Ladies Club do not put their name on the sign up sheet; that way, there is no confusion. Additionally, Carol requests that the greens fees for the Ladies day with Island End are waived. Jimmy states that he has already spoke with Angela Matus in regards to this situation. As per Ray Fell, the only two days in which greens fees can be waived are the Men’s Member-Guest and the Ladies Invitational. Last but not least, I would like to ask about all of the crab grass which is on the tee boxes. Chris Johnson states that it is either dallis grass or goose grass; it is very hard to control and thrives in the heat. Come next year, we will spray to help control the different grasses and go from there.
Men’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Mike Cioffi
I’ve spoke with Gus in regards to the air conditioning inside of Peters. The unit did indeed freeze up, causing it to cool the building incorrectly. I believe that most likely, the unit is oversized. Additionally, the fact that the door is opening up so much (roughly 16 times per hour) will hurt the situation. It is something that has to be brought up with Ray as far as getting a properly sized unit. The other way to go about it, would be to build a vestibule. Doing so, would help keep in the cold/heat throughout the season. Gus is in fear that he would lose a table if he does so. Again, this is something that he probably has to bring up with Ray Fell, but I will help monitor the situation.
Chairman’s Report, presented by Brit Lawlor
Jimmy spoke with Bill Love today and he is going to give us a proposal to come up and spend a day or two with us. We’ll walk the course, talk about some changes to be made and additionally (and more importantly) he’s going to talk about a practice facility. In general, we need some fall ideas; in talking with Chris and Jimmy, we have spoke about tree removal around the 2nd fairway, the right side of 17 as in between the 6th/7th, 1st/8th. Additionally, I believe we’re going to widen fairways and some areas around the green where it is possible. Some tee boxes have to be widen as well as possible backing the 10th tee and the 3rd tee box back. When speaking with Bill, he says he wants his hands on this project going forward. Ultimately, when making these changes, we want to do changes that people are going to notice right away and that are not overly pricey. Bunkers for example, are very, very pricey (looking at six figures). Ultimately, a bunker is a hazard, they shouldn’t be perfect. I think it would be more worth our money to see our fairways and our greens be perfect, rather than the bunkers.
Director of Golf Report, presented by Jim Von Eschen
Going forward, we need to make a decision on green fees and golf cart fees; the green fees haven’t been raised since 2010 while carts have gone up a total of $3 in the past 5 years. Personally, we believe that everything should be raised $5 across the board, but only raise our guestbook $25. The math works out to $43.75 per round, rather than $65 or $70 during the prime season and $45 and $55 during the off-season. Our cart lease is coming to an end so naturally, carts will be more expesive. If we do in fact raise the daily cart fee, I think we should keep the unlimited cart plan and the 25 trip card the same price. This will give the person who constantly rides (and has one of these items) a bigger savings by purchasing. Yes it is more money up front, but you are getting more bang for your buck throughout the season.
The person who is bringing down one or two guests a year, might complain, but the person who is constantly bringing down guests has probably purchased a guest book to begin with. They recognized the savings right away and jumped on the opportunity. If we do go to electric carts in the future, you have to realize that they are more expensive than gas carts overall because the lease is only a 3 year lease (compared to the 6 year lease we generally go into). We aren’t a mandatory riding facility, which is why you might see some places with lower cart fees.
Superintendent Report, presented by Chris Johnson
To be honest, everything was kind of covered with aeration and projects. We’re beginning to cut down the fescue, spraying it with some new product to test on the dallis grass and then weeds. We are bringing in this spray to contain our native grass areas. It will kill everything that isn’t grass in those native grass areas. The 8 new benches that we have bought, were put together today. They look good and will be exactly what we have been looking for as far as something that doesn’t stick out on the golf course. Happy Fall to everybody, we’ve made it!
Meeting officially concludes at 6:50PM