May 26, 2021
Commission Members in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman
Ron Krawczyk – Deputy Chairman
Ryan Stanley – Tournament / Membership Liaison
Jeff Nagel – Membership & Marketing
Joe Dabrowski – Greens
Mike Mislin – Violations
Don Maxwell – Handicap
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
Lou Stravinsky – Member
John Daley – Member
Michael Auerbach – Member
Motion to start meeting by Ryan Stanley, Jeff Nagel 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:03PM.
Violation’s Report, presented by Mike Mislin
Recently, we have had some members who are refusing to pair up or pay the higher rate to ride in a cart by themselves. We spoke with this individual and it was solved. As long as the entire commission is on board with it, we can avoid sending them a letter. The commission agrees to avoid the letter. Mike Mislin states that Member (M.M.) is “walking” but really pulling his cart, while riding. Jim Von Eschen states that he was asked to either pay for the cart or walk; the individual decided to laugh in our face and continue to ride/pull his cart. Brit believes this can become a slippery slope from the standpoint of allowing individuals to sit/stand on the carts to get back to 7th & 13th tee, what is the difference. Mike Mislin, and many other commission members believe that there is a complete difference between the two. Mr. Mislin says that he will write a letter to document this.
Women’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Tara Ford
Nothing to report from the Ladies. Everybody seems super happy, going great.
Handicap Report, presented Don Maxwell
It seems that this year, in our club tournaments, members will be able to play from the tees in which they normally play from on a daily basis. Jimmy states that with the new World Handicap System (WHS), it allows people to play from different tees without additionally having to add or subtract shots. Brit asks if this will be something that is done in every event. Both Jim and Don state that it will depend on the format of play. In the Summer Match Play event (flighted by INDEX), whatever the majority of the flight plays, that will be the tees that they play from for the entire tournament.
Deputy Chairman’s Report, presented by Ron Krawczyk
Nothing really. Ron states that it was great that we had a MGA Qualifier, especially with the current condition of our golf course. Brit states that on the topic of the MGA Qualifier, he would like to read an email that Jim received from Chris Gaffney of the MGA…
“Jimmy,
Thank you for hosting the Ike SQR yesterday, I heard nothing but great feedback all day and the conditioning of the course was world class. It’s been a slow start to the year for most of the courses we’ve been at but Bellport was in mid-season Championship form yesterday. From our perspective everything went very well, pace of play was great, players enjoyed the golf course and best of all the course held up very well against a stellar field and the leaderboard was filled with the top players. I have the course stats linked below, always fun to check them out and see how these players handled the golf course. No surprise the par 3’s played tough but I am a little surprised at how hard 11 played for this field, I’m sure it will make the membership feel a lot better about it too!
Thank you to you and your team and I know we’d be thrilled to bring another event to Bellport in the future. If you need anything from myself or the MGA please don’t hesitate to reach out.
All the best for a great season,
Chris”
Jimmy also goes on to say that Pat Vetrano (a BGC member) was a huge help in getting the IKE Qualifier here at Bellport, so thank you to him as well. Mr. Vetrano brought Chris Gaffney out to play a few different times and he loved it. Brit says that we’re officially on the radar.
Tournament Report, presented by Ryan Stanley
Throughout the month of May, we have seen 90+ players in each Men’s Tournament Day, with the Women’s Tournament Days starting to grow once the WMGA Matches are finished. Ryan continues stating that in the last month, we held our President’s Cup. The President’s Cup was a sold-out event, featuring 18-hole stableford scoring. Below are the results of the event:
Overall Men’s Champion – Ken Becker
Overall Women’s Champions – Sally Hayes
A Flight – Bill Niosi – 20 Points
B Flight – Ken Becker – 21 Points
C Flight – Anthony Pomilla – 17 Points
D Flight – Ray Fell – 18 Points (Won on tie breaker)
E Flight – Bill Ayers – 16 Points
F Flight – Jim Comiskey – 20 Points
Ladies Flight – Sally Hayes – 18 Points
Coming up, we have the Team 4 Ball this weekend, the US Open Tournament on the Saturday of the tournament. Starting June 1st, our Summer Match Play will begin with our Governor’s Cup taking place near the end of the month (June 26th).
Ryan adds that he has had numerous complaints about the ceiling in the Men’s Locker Room. Ryan believes that we probably need a new ceiling as there is most likely a leak. Overall, Ryan says that despite the fact that we have a beautiful Locker Room, it looks horrible with the ceiling the way it is. Brit says it is something that he will mention to Ray in the upcoming weeks.
Membership Report, presented Jeff Nagel
Since our last meeting, Jeff states that we have had 2 new members join; both being Residents but one joining as a Full Member and one as an Associate Full. Jeff says that our waitlist is up over 100 people with our Junior Members totaling around 20 members.
Greens Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
Joe states that we’re at the time of the year where it is cut grass, roll greens, top-dress and keep the golf course alive. Joe continues, we now have a dedicated mower for tee boxes and a different one for our collars. The collars are being mowed a little tighter, which will hopefully help with the inconsistencies that we have seen from year to year. Chris Johnson has been talking to one of his vendors about the possibility of doing a demo of his product. He would like as many commission members as possible (as well as Ray, Jimmy, John and Kyle) to see this demo done. Chris believes it will be a great addition to our yearly maintenance. The machine that they are referring to, is used to get as much sand into the greens profile as possible. Joe participated in the Ike Qualifier and thought that the golf course has never been in better shape. Jimmy says that he would love to see a Match Play tournament held at Bellport, considering all the half-pars and risk/reward holes that are out there. Kudos to Chris and his crew.
Joe says that as a commission, we should move our train of thought toward spending the member assessment money. On the same topic, Joe continues, saying that the commission agrees that priority number one should still be a practice facility. Joe says that moving the 9th tee box and adding the new putting green was the first step. The next step would be to remove the pond, move the first tee box West and add the bunkers to the approach of 18th. Joe says that with this added space (once 9th fairway gets shifted) we would have enough room for an adequate practice facility. Brit asks Joe to meet with Chris and Parkland to get an idea of what actually has to be done. Brit asks that any other ideas (smaller projects) are emailed to the respective commission member; those email addresses can be found on the BGC website.
Chairman’s Report, presented by Brit Lawlor
Brit states that he has two pieces of correspondence from long time members. The first is from Billy Rignola; Mr. Rignola has been a member for 68 years and is looking to cancel his membership for the 2021 season. He is asking for a full refund. Unanimous yes to receive 100% refund. The second is from Neil Laskowitz. Mr. Laskowitz has experienced major eye issues and is not going to play for the rest of the 2021 season, but will return in 2022. Mr. Laskowitz is asking to move his 2021 dues to 2022. Unanimously approved.
Director of Golf Report, presented by Jim Von Eschen
Jim Von Eschen states that the Ike Qualifier came through all the hard work that has been done the last 7 years here at BGC. We knew that the system was broken and then everybody here was part of the solution. With Parkland, came along Chris and then we’ve been sprinting ever since; none of this would have happened without Ray Fell.
Moving forward to the topic of rakes in the bunkers; New York State says that we should be sanitizing the rakes multiple times per day if they are going to be out. Jimmy states that when he and John sat down to talk Pros/Cons, the only Pros that we could think of, was that the ball never has to be touched. Additionally, in the last year and a half that we have not had rakes in, there has been zero complaints about the sand. Brit asks the commission to take a vote: 7-1 in favor of leaving the rakes out for the time being.
Superintendent’s Report, presented by Chris Johnson
Joe covered a lot of it as we speak rather frequently. Chris says that him and his crew are buckling up for a very dry season; we’ve been super dry throughout May and we expect it to continue through June. To elaborate on the demo that Joe spoke of, high pressure water and amendments are pumped into the greens, creating a better core profile. This process doesn’t take any material out of our greens but aeration is all about getting sand into our profile. Chris says that the Spring Aeration (small holes) doesn’t do as good of a job as Chris would like; this new process would get some sand roughly 8 inches into the greens as opposed to about 3 inches. Sand is better for the overall health of our turf.
Lastly, Chris states that Ed Jakum recently retire from the Village (he is still working at BGC as part of Parkland Maintenance). Chris would love if the Village get a plaque and flag frames to present to Ed. With over 20 years of work at BGC, it would mean so much to him for something to be done.
Comments from the Crowd
John Daley – John states that the Locker Room has gotten much better in recent years, regardless of the ceiling. More importantly, John states that his group of guys would like a ball washer somewhere besides the 1st tee, stating that “they are useless there, everybody starts off with a clean ball”. Brit says that they are trying to remove them from around the golf course and that there is one on the 1st tee and next to the new putting green (near 9th tee). Additionally, John Daley says that in talking to some of the “Island Hills guys” the online reservation system should be used to make guest times again (only for times after 12pm), rather than calling one day in advance. Brit states that there are over 400 members and getting them out is our priority as opposed to getting a guest out on the course. Brit mentions that this is not set in stone either as they will revisit this policy throughout the year and years to come. Mr. Daley also wants the scrub pines on the 15th hole to be mentioned in the minutes, as he still believes they should be taken out (see last month minutes).
Michael Auerbach – Mike states that he played in the Ike Qualifier and has never seen our course in better shape; he says that people were floored with the conditioning and overall play of the course. As far as the assessment money, Mike suggests that any changes that get done, that they retain some historical sense to Mr. Seth Raynor. Jim Von Eschen states that these specific changes that Joe was talking about are done to create room for practice facility.
Lou Stravinsky – Everything has been great this season. It’s good to see the Ike Qualifier here at Bellport and it was also good to see BGC well represented throughout.
The next meeting will be June 30th, held at the Village Community Center.
Brit concludes the meeting at 6:59PM.