Commission Members in Attendance: Others in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman Jim Von Eschen – Director of Golf
Ron Krawczyk – Deputy Chairman Chris Johnson – Superintendent
Ryan Stanley – Tournament / Membership Liaison John Mackie – Assistant Golf Pro
Jeff Nagel – Membership & Marketing Mike Mislin – Member
Joe Dabrowski – Greens Ray Fell – Mayor/Member
Tara Ford – Ladies Locker Room/Food and Beverage Mike Diaguardo – Member
Michael Cioffi – Men’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Dominic Carreras – Member
Jim Dowd – Violations John Daley – Member
Motion to start meeting by Joe Dabrowski, Ron Krawczyk 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:04PM.
Tournament Report, presented by Ryan Stanley
This past month, we officially got into our tournament season. In the Opening Ryder Cup, the Black team, captained by John Mackie, won by a score of 47 – 41. In the season’s first weekend tournament, the President’s Cup saw 8 flights, broken up into two divisions. In the Men’s Division, the overall winner was Ryan Stanley with a score of 137 while the Ladies Division was won by Lee Redvanly, with a score of 155. The flight winners were as follows:
– Ladies A Flight: Lee Redvanly – 155
– Ladies B Flight: Michele White – 155
– A Flight: Mike Aronsen – 143*
– B Flight: Ryan Stanley – 137
– C Flight: Bill Hilty – 144
– D Flight: Wayne Atkins – 141
– E Flight: Tom Curley – 148
– F Flight: Bob Crothers – 149
As far as our weekly tournament days go, both the Men’s and Ladies Tournament Days are underway. As a reminder, the Pro Shop asks that you sign up by the Sunday prior to that week’s event. For those who are unaware, the sign-up sheets can be found on the bulletin board in the Pro Shop. Looking forward, the US Open Tournament will be held on the Saturday of the US Open (June 15th). For this event, you will choose 3 players competing at Pebble Beach and take their Sunday score, combined with your Net score from Saturday. The low total will be our winner. Last but not least, the Governor’s Cup will be held on June 29th and 30th. Please keep your eye out for sign-up information.
Men’s Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Mike Cioffi
Everything is running smooth in the Grill Room. John Daley would like to state that the grill room is great this year.
Ladies Locker Room/Food and Beverage Report, presented by Tara Ford
The only thing which was brought to Tara’s attention is the practice balls that are down the left-hand side of the 9th fairway. Jim Von Eschen states that the lesson balls that are hit are mostly yellow (some are white with a red stripe). He continues to state that there are some people who, when warming up, think they are hitting balls just into the woods but in fact they never reach the woods. Jim says that during slow times, he will have some of the cart kids collect the balls near the woods to eliminate any possible confusion. Tara also states that she played in her first Ladies Tournament Day recently and had lots of fun. She was happy to play with and meet many of the new female members of the club.
Deputy Chairman Report, presented by Ron Krawczyk
I have nothing really to add except I was out on the course the other day and when I got to the water/ice machine by Chris’ office, I noticed there were no paper cups. Chris Johnson states that that water/ice machine isn’t fully running yet. There is a computer part that is out of service, but once that is fixed, there will be cups out there.
Greens Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
All of the new construction on the golf course has been completed. The new bunkers on holes 2 and 3 have sand in them and they are indeed open for play. As for the bunker berms and the mounding on hole 3 and 17, we ask that you remain off of them for the entire golf season. If your stance or swing is impeded by these new mounds/berms, you will be entitled to a free drop. The berms and mounds were hydroseeded earlier in the week. Chris and his crew went with a lighter seeding rate to avoid a thicker growth. Please be patient in the growth of this grass; it will be a 2 – 3 year progress when it’s all said and done. Focusing on the greens, ball marks have still been an issue. As a membership, we should remember that if your fix yours and one other, this will not be as big of a problem. The Pro Shop has sent out emails and texts throughout previous season, but again, it is up to us to help maintain this problem. John Daley states that the bunkers not being raked in the afternoons (especially after the Men’s Tournament Day) is another issue. Joe reiterates, that as long as we do our job as members, Chris and his crew can spend more time on things that really matter. Lastly, there has been an idea thrown around the last few months of creating a smaller, “walking” scorecard similar to the scorecard at Friar’s Head. We have come up with a rough draft to pass around and see what people think. Jimmy would like to remind everybody that the regular scorecard would still be the one that is placed on the golf carts. The walking card would be available to those who want to use it. It would be found in the Pro Shop as well as the scorecard box near the first tee. The commission unanimously decides to move forward with these new “walking” scorecards.
Membership & Marketing Report, presented by Jeff Nagel
Currently, we are now at 378 total members, which is almost the same as what we had at the end of the Summer last season. The Pro Shop anticipates us picking up a few more members before we reach a plateau for the season. Jeff states that he believes a sustainable number of members, based on the revenue that we are budgeted for ($1.3 million) would be 370 total members. He insists that we must create a strong cap for next year, if not this year as is. Yes, more golfers mean more revenue but we also have to consider how much wear and tear will be placed on the golf course. Jimmy states that knowing where other courses are at in regards to membership, 370 members is sustainable each and every year. He continues by saying that even though it is the end of May, we can already see that rounds look to be up as well as an increase in wear and tear on the golf course and pace of play (slightly). Brit suggests that we do not put in a hard cap until the end of June or Early July. He would like to remind everybody that they are just a suggestion to the Village Board. Jimmy would like it to be known that regardless of what the cap number is, there will never be a point where a Village Resident is turned away from joining the golf club.
Violations Report, presented by Jim Dowd
As far as violations, I have nothing to report. I will say that I played in the Men’s Tournament last week and had a great time. Unfortunately, I was in plenty of bunkers, none of which were raked. Jim Dowd states that Jim Von Eschen makes announcements each and every week about fixing ball marks, raking traps, etc. As we stated before, it is up to us to police ourselves as members. Lastly, Jim Dowd would like to thank Ray Fell, Chris Johnson and the rest of the Village Board for the work they’ve done throughout the last few seasons.
Superintendent Report, presented by Chris Johnson
Earlier in the month, we completed our Spring greens aeration. We didn’t get as much sand in as we would’ve liked but the healing process was substantially better; they healed in about 2 weeks’ time compared to past years. Chris was speaking with Jim Von Eschen earlier in the month and next year we are probably looking at 2 aerations in the Spring; one prior to opening and then one at the same time we did this year. Parkland Management bought a new attachment that helped tremendously. As we were pulling the cores, it would sweep them up and pile them at the end of each green; on average the new attachment saved us about a half hour per green. I can’t state enough how big of a help this was. On day one alone, the course was punched and cleaned by 5pm. Looking at Fall aeration, we will still be using the larger tine, creating larger holes but the process will still be the same. As we talked about last year, we are schedule to do this right after the Member-Member (Labor Day) so that the greens can heal in the warmth and be back within two weeks’ time. Unfortunately, the course construction went with the weather but everything is finally done. As Joe stated earlier, it will be a 2 – 3 year process until the grass fully grows in on these mounds but I like where we are heading. In regards to aerating right after Labor Day (which John Daley is firmly against), Chris states that doing so in October, when the weather is colder, causes the greens not to heal as well going into the Winter. In early September, the soil temperatures are warmer and it allows the crew to fertilize the greens both before and after aeration, which will get the greens back in the quickest time possible. Jim Von Eschen states that in prior years, we went against what the USGA suggested that we do. This year we will follow their guidelines and the worst thing that happens is we will go back to what we have previously have done. After talking with Chris, Parkland and the USGA we have determined this time (right after Labor Day) to be the best time to aerate our greens (weather permitting).
Director of Golf Report, presented by Jim Von Eschen
Everybody really covered everything but we’re in season right now. I will say that is everybody sees anything that bothers them, please stop in and let the Pro Shop know. In the next week or so, we will send out an email from the Golf Commission reminding the members that you are not to hit multiple balls off the tee or into a green, driving through the fescue, etc. Additionally, we will have our Starter’s remind both members, guests and residents about what is expected from them (driving in the correct areas, replacing divots, etc.) Last but not least, Parkland has purchased another 5 benches, if Tara can get Chris a list of where they need to be placed, we would appreciate it. Again, these benches are super classy looking and very light when it comes to moving for mowing purposes.
Comments from the Crowd
Mike Diaguardo – Mike asks about what was posted from a previous commission meeting in regards to greens aeration, specifically what ever came about from the Dryject that we were going to try. Chris Johnson states that after sitting down with Parkland, everybody decided to go in another direction. We’ll asses how it went and go from there in the future.
John Daley – The tees and greens have been absolutely wonderful. The changes that have been made to holes 2 and 3 have been great. The group of guys that he plays with on a weekly basis also love the changes.
Ray Fell – I know that the commission has taken the master plan and plans to prioritize it. Hopefully this will be done by the end of August or early September and we can get a repot on such. This also goes for the building committee that has been put together by Brit and Ray. The golf club is moving forward in a good way. Ray would like to thank the commission for all of their efforts in the last few seasons. Not only has the condition of the golf course improved immensely, but the money that we have been able to bring in as also increased year after year. Brit would also like to thank Ray for all his help in the last six years.
Brit would like to thank Tom and Lynn Curley for the American flags that they placed on the first and ninth tee boxes for Memorial Day. Additionally, thank you to Chris Johnson for the American Flag pins during Memorial Day. We had lots of compliments from numerous people. It really meant a lot to people so it was nice of them to do such a thing.
Meeting concluded at 6:46PM