September 27, 2023
Commission Members in Attendance:
Brit Lawlor – Chairman
Ron Krawczyk – Deputy Chairman
Ryan Stanley – Tournament
Joe Dabrowski – Greens
Mike Mislin – Violations
Others in Attendance:
Jimmy Von Eschen – Head Golf Professional Pat Comiskey – Member
Chris Johnson – Golf Course Superintendent Mary Butler-Person – Member
John Mackie – Assistant Golf Professional Mike Dioguardo – Member
Christine Novelli – Village Employee (Golf Membership) Dennis Maguire – Member
Cheryll Russell – Member Michele Lemoal-Grey – Member
Arlene Trigg – Member
Motion to start meeting by Mike Mislin, Joe Dabrowski 2nds it; accepted by Brit Lawlor. Meeting officially starts at 6:03PM.
Violations Report, presented by Mike Mislin
Mike Mislin begins by saying that there are no formal violations but he would like to bring up the pace of play concerns in the Men’s Tournament Day. He states that today was a shotgun start (opposed to the straight tee times) and as the 5th group out, they finished around 4 hours with the last group coming in around 4 hours and 20 minutes. Mike continues, saying that last week, in straight tee times, there was an early group who played in 4 hours and 15 minutes, holding up the entire Men’s Tournament. Mr. Mislin believes that we should be penalizing slow play groups in tournament play. Brit Lawlor turns the floor over to Jim Von Eschen; Jimmy says that yes, shotguns will always play slower than tee times but he would like everybody to remember that this is not just an issue on Wednesdays during the tournament. It is an issue on a daily basis. Using Joe Dabrowski’s weekend groups as an example, Jimmy says that his groups were very slow and we worked on them for years. Jimmy states that Joe worked with us in changing games that were played, pairings, etc and finally the entire group understands the emphasis we’re putting on pace of play. There are other groups, who simply do not care and have no regard for the rest of the membership, let alone pace of play. Jimmy says that there are individuals who plumb-bob every putt, need it to be dead silent, not playing ready golf, nobody can move and they’re treating a normal Saturday round like the PGA TOUR. In regards to weekend points, Jimmy says that we’re able to penalize the 1 group who is playing slow but Jimmy doesn’t believe that it works when the group has multiple linked tee times. Jimmy thinks we should penalize all the linked tee times so the entire group feels it. Jimmy believes that this would entice the entire group to make it a priority and push the couple of individuals that are affecting the entire days pace of play. During the weekday tournament days, Jimmy says that we can dictate tee times based on pace of play and if people want those earlier times, they’re going to have to play in under 4 hours. Brit would like to iterate that the Pro Shop is not picking on people when talking to them about pace of play; it is part of their job to ensure pace of play. Brit continues, stating that he would like a description of the weekend points in the membership packet at the beginning of the season. He also believes that Jimmy should make an announcement at the beginning of the weekday tournament seasons.
Jimmy states that there are 4 basic etiquette rules in golf; fix your ball marks, repair your divots, rake sand traps and pace of play. Ryan Stanley believes that there is no consequence to not following these rules and Mike Mislin believes that more disciplinary letters have to be sent out. Brit says that there is no way to truly enforce unless you have a stop watch on every group and he doesn’t believe you should get penalized for having one bad day. Jimmy brings up Michael Auerbach and the fact that leading a NYSGA tournament, he was put on the clock on the 4th hole of Day 2. Mike ended up missing the cut after somebody came out with a stop watch and timed him for multiple holes before assessing a penalty. Jimmy says that from this tournament moving forward, Mike now tries to be “not the best golfer in the group but the fastest golfer in the group”. Jimmy also reiterates the sign that is located in the Pro Shop at the famous Seminole Golf Club; “Play good, play fast. Play bad, play faster”. Brit ends by saying he would like to come up with a proposal for during the week and have the commission vote on it at a later date.
Tournaments Report, presented by Ryan Stanley
Mr. Stanley begins with the Member/Member results from Labor Day weekend. Says it was a great weekend had by everybody who was able to participate all three days. The results are as follows:
Nicklaus Flight – Anthony Pepitone & Jim Cottone – 34.5 Points
Woods Flight – Lou Stravinsky & Mike Mislin – 30.5 Points
Trevino Flight – Mike Sagl & Conor Braddish – 33 Points
Watson Flight – Ray Fell & Al Inserra – 34.5 Points
Snead Flight – Steve Clemente & Jim Comiskey – 30 Points
Moving into the Club Championship, the first weekend (Men’s B & C Flights, Women’s B Flight) got rained out and will be rescheduled to the October 14/15 weekend. Ryan would like to mention that this is a new sign-up; those who were originally signed up will have to sign up again. Ryan states that this weekend’s Club Championship will plan to play; tee times are out and are posted in the tee time system. Lastly, Ryan states that the Closing Ryder Cup will be held on Saturday, October 21st with more information to come out in a week or so.
Deputy Chairman Report, presented by Ron Krawczyk
Ron says that he has nothing to really note. Golf course was a little wet with the recent rain but it was still in great shape.
Greens/Course Assessment Report, presented by Joe Dabrowski
Mr. Dabrowski starts by stating we are still in our regular weekly maintenance (cutting, rolling, blowing fairways, etc) especially with leaf season coming up in the near future. Joe continues, saying that we are looking to finalize our project for the Winter – new tee signs/tee stones to correspond with the new tees, tree removal and any left over money will go to fixing the enter/exits of some bunkers. Lastly, Joe mentions that the MGA will be coming to rate the new tees/yardages on October 5th but Jimmy will elaborate on this topic.
Superintendents Report, presented by Chris Johnson
Jimmy begins by talking about the MGA rating system. Somebody from the MGA came out two weeks ago to gps the golf course (size of greens, length of course, etc.) prior to the MGA rating team which will be out October 5th. Jimmy states that the MGA loved what we were doing with the tee system (moving from 4 sets of tees to 3). The MGA also stated that we are allowed to move those tees 25-30 yards on a daily basis and it won’t affect posting; this will allow Chris to change teeing areas based on maintenance needs. Right now, Jimmy states that we have about 12 holes where all the tees are right on top of each other and this will allow us for some flexibility while not effecting the golfer. Mike Mislin questions what the new tees will be called. Jimmy says that we will have a Back Tee (Red) a Middle Tee (White) and a Forward Tee (Blue) with a Back/Middle combo tee and a Forward/Middle combo tee. Jimmy also mentions that down the road, we will introduce a “Family” tee that will be out in the fairways. With that “Family” tee, will be a Family/Forward combo tee but again, that will not be in play next year but in the near future.
Looking forward to next season, the 2024 season will be the 125th anniversary of golf in Bellport and we might want to start thinking about what we want to add to our flags, logos, etc. Speaking with his sales reps, Jim says he’s trying to get an idea of what other clubs are doing or have done in recent years. He says that the 125-year logo will be on some merchandise (glasses, hats, etc) but will not be on everything. We will touch back on this topic as we get more information.
To finish Jimmy mentions the recent outings and the rain outs. Due to the rain, we have pushed outings back into the beginning of November. The tee sheet will be set up accordingly as far as making tee times go. Brit mentions that he, Jimmy and Jeff Nagel met with the Village in regards to the 2024 dues and they were passed via the Village board. Brit says that 2024 billing will be sent out soon.
Comments from the Crowd
Pat Comiskey – Pat would like to thank the board and those who were involved with creating a third flight for the Women’s Club Championship.
Mike Dioguardo – Mike would like to make a comment about the speed of play and specifically the golf carts. Mr. Dioguardo says that everybody just follows each other and they watch every shot, rather than dropping somebody off at their ball and going to their own. Jimmy states that a lot of the issue come back to the electric push cart. He states that once a hole is finished, individuals spend more time guiding their cart around a green rather than getting off the green themselves. Ryan Stanley comments that without consequences, we will not have a solution; some people don’t care and they will never care about it.
Meeting officially ends 6:38PM.