Commission Members in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman
Ron Krawczyk – Deputy Chairman
Ryan Stanley – Tournament / Membership Liaison
Jeff Nagel – Membership & Marketing
Joe Dabrowski – Greens
Tara Ford – Ladies Locker Room/Food and Beverage
Michael 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
Mike Mislin – Member
Motion to start meeting by Ron Krawczyl, Tara Ford 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:03PM.
Membership & Marketing Report, presented by Jeff Nagel
Jeff would like to start the meeting by suggesting that we increase membership $100 across the board, while we keep the Course Assessment (CA) at $250. Jeff suggests this mainly because our fee for Parkland has raised and we would like to keep the current course conditions, if not make them better. Our Fall “membership push” will begin in October and we will limit this promotion to the first 20 members who join; come March 2020, we will re-assess where we are with membership and decide whether or not to continue accepting members. Additionally, Jeff states that we will keep our current referral program as is.
On the topic of guest fees, Jeff would like to add an Unaccompanied Guest Fee to our current fees. He continues, there have been more and more unaccompanied guests playing BGC throughout the season and many high-end clubs charge 3-4x what their guest fees are. Jeff suggests that the unaccompanied fee would be $130, including a mandatory cart; this would begin in 2020. Additionally, Jeff suggests that we raise the Resident Rate to match the current Guest Rate for 2020 and beyond. He states that the privilege is that the Resident is able to play the course (whereas the Non-Residents can’t), not the rate at which they pay. Ray Fell says that this is something he will support. Lastly, Jeff would like to see the reduced rate begin at 4PM, rather than the current 3PM but only between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This will give the Twilight Pass more of an advantage over somebody paying fees each day. The Commission unanimously accepts these.
Greens Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
Joe states that Chris and his crew are starting to clear the mounds on the right of 17, in order to re-hydroseed later in the month. The green aeration is set for early next week (September 3-5) with the fringes and collars to be done shortly after. The golf course will be shut down on the 3rd and 4th, with the 5th being a “rain out” day.
List of Projects
– Construct a new 9th tee complex to further enhance the playability of the hole, as well as, accommodate room for a future practice facility. In doing so, additional tree removal will be necessary near the new tee location and the line of sight towards the fairway. In the future, the access road will be removed and/or relocated.
– Fill in the existing 18th hole pond to make room for the shifting of the new fairway landing area to the left to accommodate the future practice facility and subsequent adjustments to the 9th hole. Add additional bunkers in replace of the pond to provide a new challenge and enhance the aesthetics of the hole.
– Relocate the 1st hole tee complex to the right to accommodate a future practice putting green, as well as, make room for the new additions to the 18th hole approach. In addition, selectively remove trees to accommodate the relocation of the tee complex.
– Further assess the trees and shrubs beyond the bunker and mounds behind the 4th green. Selectively remove trees and shrubs and replace with additional plantings to enhance aesthetics and provide greater airflow to improve turf conditions. Increase the size of and rebuild the front of the 4th green into a Biarritz style design.
– Remove the small tree on the left side of the 5th hole and add a sand bunker to improve playability and to enhance the strategy and challenge of tee shots.
*All improvements are meant to have a direct enhancement and improve playability of the course*
Brit would like to remove the 4th hole “Biarritz” because that is something you will have to bring in an architect (Bill Love) to do. Jim Von Eschen states that this is something that he has spoken to Bill Love about over the phone. Additionally, based on price, Brit believes the bulkheading should not be included on this list. Ray Fell then states that this is actually something the Village has to consider and should be on a separate list, rather than the list for Course Assessment. Joe states that he will update the list to show the difference between those projects to be paid for by the CA and those that would be paid for by the Village.
Deputy Chairman Report, presented by Ron Krawczyk
Ron would like to start by telling Chris Johnson that the golf course is in great shape. Ron believes that the woods on the west side of the 16th hole needs to be cut back as well as cleaned out. Additionally, he has heard that walkers would like spike cleaners on more holes. He continues by saying that the spike cleaners can go near holes which already have ball washers. Chris states that this is something that can be done and he will look into it.
Ladies Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Tara Ford
Tara says that all the Ladies have had positive things to say. She would like to point out that the back of the 4th green looks like it is very dead. Chris Johnson states that it is indeed, very dead. He continues by saying that he has given it a little aerification in addition to a slit seed a few weeks ago. We will aerate again come next week and reassess the situation once the greens heal.
Men’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Mike Cioffi
Mike states that all is well, with all projects moving in the right direction.
Director of Golf Report, presented by Jim Von Eschen
Since Ryan Stanley is running late, he has forwarded his Tournament Report to Jim Von Eschen to be read. Jim states that the Ladies Member/Guest was a success with more participants than in past years (48 Ladies in total). The winners of the Member/Guest were Donna Migdol, Karen Siris, Sally Hayes and Cindy Grauer. Coming up we have the MGA/MetLife Net Qualifier; this is a one best ball event in which the winner from the Men’s and Ladies Divisions will go on to represent BGC at The Vineyards in September. Our teams in the past have competed well and we look to ultimately advance to the finals. August 18th was our Inaugural Mixed Pinehurst event. Mark and Linda O’Connell ended up taking home the top honor. All in all, it was received well by everybody. With that being said, Ryan would like to tweak a few things with the format (still staying with the Pinehurst theme) going forward. Brit Lawlor says that he participated in the event and both him and his playing partner had a great time. Jim states that although participation was lower than we would’ve wanted, there were lots of people who just weren’t around that weekend for whatever reason. Upcoming we have the Member-Member tournament this weekend followed by the Club Championship at the end of September, last weekend to be exact. Lastly, we recently held the WLIGA Pinehurst at BGC. The participants included Ladies from Shinnecock, Maidstone, Glen Oaks, etc and they all had great things to say about the course. Many of the ladies have played the course in April during interclub matches. They noted the difference between April and now are astonishing; they couldn’t have said better thing about the course.
On a different note, Graeme Baxter (a well renowned golf artist) has been bugging Chris to come see the course for the past year and a half. Well last week he did come see it and he absolutely loved the place. He called BGC a “hidden gem” that felt as if he was in Scotland. He continued to say that our members must appreciate what we have because not only is it a true gem, but some of the green complexes and surround are so, so good. “New architects try and recreate what you already have, but they simply can’t.” All in all, it was a huge compliment.
Superintendent Report, presented by Chris Johnson
Joe already covered a lot, but the Putting green which was already aerated, was done so with no pre or post emergent. It was done 10 days ago as a test and it is already coming back much fast than what we are used to. After calling around to come different clubs, we found that many courses (St. George’s, Plandome, Bethpage, the County Courses, etc) aerate during the 3rd week of August. According to Parkland, taking play and course out of it, they suggest doing it during the 3rd week of August; they say it’s the most optimal time of the year. After speaking with Jimmy and looking at the calendar, August has 5 Mondays next year so we will be able to aerate during this time and still have them back for the Member-Member Tournament.
Comments from the Crowd
Mike Dioguardo – Mike would like everybody to know that John Daley is recuperating from his operation, but he is doing well. In regards to their bunker presentation, he says that they will present at the September meeting.
Mike Mislin – The fairway bunkers on the 15th hole, Mike would like to see some rough added to the fairway side as you walk up the fairway. He states that some older gentlemen would slip and fall, rather than taking an unplayable if they were to try and play the shot. Additionally, he suggests making both of those bunkers waste areas since they often go unraked. Brit disagrees with both of those ideas as a player can take an unplayable, as Mike stated and he continues by stating that adding rough would potentially stop a ball in the fescue that would originally fall to the bottom of the bunker. Ray Fell agrees that the ball should fall to the bottom, rather than getting caught in the fescue.
Ray Fell – Very quickly, there are a couple of places on the right side of 9, 18 green and the left of the 17th fairway, where we recently placed fill and planted seed. Ray believed that the fill in these areas was not good. Jim Vogel suggests that we bring in good fill and top-soil, and re-seed these areas. Chris Johnson and Brit agree with the suggestion and will do so in the future.
Brit concludes the meeting at 6:40PM.