Monday, December 10, 2012

R2R Approved


The membership have voted with 91% support to move forward with the club's Road to Revitalization project.
Thank you to all who voted!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Kevan Goble Publishes a Novel




  Whitevale's Teaching Professional Kevan Goble has published his first novel, Peter Burke Hates Golf . Kevan will be selling copies at Whitevale on December 8-9, the week-end of the AGM.
The book retails for $20 and is an outstanding read.

I have been fortunate to have read an advance draft and Kevan has woven a wonderful story that I know you will enjoy. To give you a feel for what the book's about, here's the synopsis from the back cover:

"Peter Burke's in trouble. He's a slave to his job, disconnected from his teenage daughter, and hates golf. Not ideal for a golf pro. Humiliated after a particularly bad round, he vows to quit. Listening to his brother's passionate trumpet playing at a jazz club that night reinforces the truth: his life has bottomed out. Searching for answers, he re-examines his past hoping to confirm his bond with golf was once as strong as his brother's to music. To reclaim some meaning in his life, Peter needs help. Perhaps an old diary he happens upon at a yard sale will offer him a lifeline."
A real family affair, the book cover was designed and illustrated by Kevan's wife, Laurie Lafrance.

Copies will be available to purchase in the Pro Shop during the annual Christmas Sale. If you email Kevan in advance at goble@xplornet.com  he will make sure a signed copy of Peter Burke Hates Golf is waiting for you to pick up in the Pro Shop.


If you cannot make it up on Dec. 8 or 9th, Kevan will be at the Club the following week-end, December 15-16. Come up, buy a copy, and shoot the breeze with him while he's setting up the indoor teaching net in the Clubhouse.

Monday, November 12, 2012

So You Think You're Tough....NOT!

The annual So You Think You're Tough tournament closed out the year yesterday under extremely difficult 16 degree temperatures. 72 players "toughed" it out on the adventurous cross country track. Players submitted an individual score and 4 player teams were determined via blind draw. All players received 50 percent of their 18 hole handicap. Congratz to Craig Ferns for scoring the lowest 9 hole net score of 32.5. It feels like Men's League all over again for Fernsie who would have most likely posted 52 on the back nine to protect his questionable 11 handicap.

For those of you who have not played in this event before, here are a few holes that we're popular amongst those that played.

Tee off on the black tee on #2 and hit to the 4th green.
Tee off on the white tee on #15 and hit to the 16th green.
Tee off from the fairway on #11 and hit to the 13th green.

The winners were.....
Tied 1st
Justin Timlin, Paul Cormier, Greg Shea, Wayne Carpenter
&
Steve Rodriguez, Clayton Spahn, Howard Kirke, John Dimopoulos
3rd
Steve Campbell, Ed Griffin, Tom Fennell, Tim Charlton
Tied 4th
Bryce Percy, Craig Ferns, Brian King, Art Belanger
&
Dec Dunn, Dave Denysek, Kim Blake, Elmar Moser

Winnings can be collected in the Pro Shop.

Thanks to those of you that came out, and we look forward to seeing you all next season!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Whitevale Golf Club tells Hurricane Sandy…….........…..NO MEANS NO!!!!!!!!!

After the promise of Frankenstorm Sandy wreaking havoc by dumping 100mm (or 4 inches) of rain and 150 MPH winds that would take out every tree in Ontario, Whitevale Golf Club slaps Sandy’s unwanted advances right in the face. Rain fall total from the actual Hurricane was only a half inch. Winds may have made a mess with small branches and leaves all over the golf course, but we only lost one tree. The tree that we did loose is behind the 12th green, and it is a tree we are happy to lose as its removal continues to help improve air circulation in this micro environment.
Rain fall leading up to the actual Hurricanes arrival has made the golf course very wet and soft. All Turf Department staff were given Monday and Tuesday off as we were concerned about the damage that we could potentially cause trying to get clean up underway. It is very likely that clean up is going to take a couple weeks, only because many areas are just too wet to enter with any equipment. We ask for your patience while we do our best to get this debris out of play, while we make the priority of “zero damage” to any turf area. With the forecast calling for rain all week carts may not go back out onto the golf course until next week at the earliest.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Solheim Cup 2012


For the 5th year, two teams of 12 ladies each battled it out for the Whitevale Solheim Cup. The FUSCHIA Team, headed by captain Linda Briggs, scored a Three-peat (winning the cup for the past three years in a row). PURPLE Team captain, Donna Power, was gracious in defeat – promising that 2013 would have a completely different result!

Final score was Fuschia 13 ½ points – Purple 10 ½ points

Fuschia team members were:

Lisa Mackie, Zona Pereira, Kandice Brackenbury, Barb Rogers, Darlene Doyle, Sandy Milner-Docking, Meri Calder, Lynne Sage, Joan Store, June Atam, Sandy Connors, and Linda Briggs

Purple team members were:

Karen Parsons, Norma Columbus, Anne Trimble, Mary Charleton, Suzi Snow-Liska, Dawn Faller, Joanne Kagjanich, Anne Griffin, Anne Hill, Josette Bell, Connnie Van Dusen, and Donna Power.



The day was framed in glorious fall weather, and on-course score reporting was handled by the dynamic duo of Ed Griffin and Wayne Carpenter.









Thanks to Shawn, Andrew and staff for a most plentiful and delicious post-game feast!


Submitted by Linda Briggs

Friday, October 26, 2012

Ron Swartz

Ron Swartz a Whitevale member since 1959 passed away this week. Ron loved his golf and Whitevale. Although his rounds decreased over the years, he still managed to count over 20 rounds this year.

Ron will be greatly missed, he was true gentleman and a great ambassador for the club.


SWARTZ, Ron - Suddenly on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at his home. Ron Swartz, beloved husband of Nancy. Loving father of Pam Swartz and Neil Schneider, and Carrie Swartz and Shawn Stillman. Dear brother and brother-in-law of Howard and Susan Swartz, and Audrey and Lucian Michaels. Devoted grandfather of Daniel, Jolie, and Cooper. Beloved son of the late Manning and Sybil Swartz and son-in-law of Evelyn Laiken. At Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, 2401 Steeles Avenue West (3 lights west of Dufferin) for service on Friday, October 26, 2012 at 11:30 a.m. Interment Beth Tzedec Memorial Park. Memorial donations may be made to B'Nai Brith Canada, 416-633-6224.




Monday, October 22, 2012

Closing Dinner and Dance

This past Saturday was our Closing Dinner and Dance. Over 100 members and guests enjoyed the elegant 5 course dinner prepared by Chef, then hit the dance floor until the wee hours of the morning. Below are the only PG-13 pictures from the night.

Special thank you to Lori our Social Director for her all work this year and Shawn or F & B Manager and Chef Andrew for making all the 2012 social events mega hits!







Friday, October 12, 2012

DYING PINE TREES??? NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!

Pinus strobus (or White Pine which is the common name) is a very popular coniferous tree. Some might even say iconic as when we travel to the Muskoka’s this prevalent tree is used as a logo in many forms for many businesses. We have many of them throughout the golf course. This time of year I receive a lot questions about the White Pines. Many people think that they are dying from lack of water or fertilizer or have a disease, when in fact they are going through a very natural process.


Each year the White Pine puts out new growth, which means new needles. So it loses last years needles and they fall off. Right now last year's needles are very yellow and are falling all around the bases of the trees. Just as our deciduous trees lose their leaves, the pines shed and grow new needles in their yearly cycle of growth. A close look at cedar trees revels the same cycle of shedding old growth. There is no concern for any of these trees.

Every year, right after Thanksgiving, there are a couple of immediate changes that affect all members playing the golf course. The more obvious of the two is the addition of artificial mats to the blue and white par 3 tees. All of our par 3 tees are extremely undersized for the amount of play they receive. By asking all member to use these artificial mats we are able to stop any more damage from occurring to these tiny tee decks as we move toward winter. It also gives us the opportunity to get seed soil mix to all damaged areas and start the healing through new growth before the weather turns the turf areas dormant. We feel very strongly it is a necessary evil in order for us to provide better course conditions for spring opening.

The other change is an increase in the height of cut on our greens, which ultimately means a slower putting surface. Once again this is necessary for the over all health of the putting surfaces. A longer leaf blade going into winter makes for a stronger grass plant that will be able to store more carbohydrates for the long Canadian winter. Just like a hibernating bear, the turf is still alive and respiring all winter, which requires a certain amount of stored food to feed off through the winter. The longer leaf blade will also help protect the crown of the plant from bitter north winds that can cause desiccation. The turf can handle the death of the leaf blade, just as humans can live without a finger or an arm. The crown of the plant is the main part that new growth is produced, so this is the part of the plant that must be protected at all cost.

The last three winters in this part of the world have really not been winter at all. So far this fall we have seen more frost mornings than we did in the same time in the previous 3 falls combined. I hope this means a return to a traditional winter where we get frost in the ground by early December and a good 10cm snow fall before Christmas. This is the ideal conditions for the turf providing the temperature stays consistently below the freezing point……………but………………it’s probably too soon for me to be talking about winter quite yet. Let’s hope we have some awesome fall golf weather over the remaining season.



Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Women's League Closing Event

Over 50 League members showed up on Tuesday evening to celebrate the close of another succesful season. The turnout all year has been tremendous and we had almost 900 rounds played over the 16 weeks of the League and Playoffs.

The winners of this year's League Shield which ia awarded to the Play off Champions went to the Chicks with Sticks team. Captain Zona Pereira teamates were Lisa Brewer, Angela Colm, Pamela Cooper, Liane Garvey, Betty Lemon, Linda Lennon, Jane Moser, Karen Parsons, Glenda Roberts, Susanne Sambleson, Lori Sheffield, Terri Toms, Barb White and Joanne White.
The Par Tee Girls lead by Sandra Milner Docking finished second. Her team was Theresa Arbuthnot, Kitty Braid, Joan Brandham, Ingrid Braun, Linda Briggs, Margaret Chew, Sandra Connors, Alice Ferns, Eileen Fitzpatrick, Anne Hill, Joanne Kajganich Melody Robinson, Barb Rogers and Connie Van Dusen.

The third place winner and also the League Champions were the Birdie Babes. Captain Kandice Brackenbury led the team of Jennifer Aird, Marilyn Ankenmann, Phyllis Burgan, Meri Calder, Debbie Couch, Lynne Downey, Kathryn Lebo, Lisa Mackie, Dawna Matton,  Suzi Snow-Liska, Enid Stephenson, Anne Trimble, Helen Ullock and Dee Steinwall.
Some highlights of the Season included the Low Net Average going to Michelle Miles with a 35.4 and Betty Lemon with a 35.44. Low Gross Average went to Gail Pimm with a 38.
The top proficiency rating went to Betty Lemon who competed in all 16 weeks and counted every week! The Birdie Babes were the top team with rounds played by a team at 193.

A short survey will be forwarded to members of the women's section looking for some feedback on how to make the League an even bigger success next season.
Congratulations to all and a special thanks to all the Captain's who rallied their troops every week.!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Fall Derby Wrap Up!

The 2012 Fall Derby is in the books and the Team of Dave Myrvold, Tom Kelly, Pat Burrell and Jerry Kimber were this year's Champions. Mother Nature factored into the weekend with a lovely two hour frost delay on Monday morning. This didn't slow down this team whose 3 day total of 50 points put them 9 points ahead of the field.
 Second place overall went to the Team of Josette/ Ron Bell and Darlene/ Bob Doyle who finished with 41 points. There was a close battle for third place with Bob Spahn, Clayton Spahn, Ross Davidson, Steve Campbell and John McCormick picking up 34 points, one point ahead of the Team of Kevin Ashe, Larry Aicken, Fred Calvert, Dave Sutton and Glenn Davis. Finishing 5th overall was the Team of Paul Lacour, Manny DaCosta, Louis deCarvalho and John Toman who had 29 points.

Day 3 Winners
1st D. Myrvold, P. Burrell, J. Kimber, T. Kelly - 18 pts (204)
2nd J & R Bell, D & B Doyle - 14 pts (212)
3rd B. Spahn, C. Spahn, J. McCormick, S. Campbell - 13 pts (213)

Day 2 Winners
1st  J & R Bell, D & B Doyle - 18 pts (122.5)
2nd D. Myrvold, P. Burrell, J. Kimber, T. Kelly - 14 pts (127)
3rd K. Ashe, G. Davis, F. Calvert, D. Sutton - 13 pts (127.5)




TeamFall Derby 2012BeatBeat Beat Final
12Myrvold, DaveKimber, JerryBurrell, PatKelly, Tom18141850
8Bell, RonDoyle, BobBell, JosetteDoyle, Darlene9181441
2Spahn, BobDavidson, RossMcCormick, JohnCampbell, Steve1291334
3Ashe, KevinCalvert, FredDavis, GlennSutton, David1413633
15Lacour, PaulToman, JohnDa Costa, Manuelde Carvalho, Luiz1011829
1Hogan, EdLiska, JohnSnow-Liska, S.Dahn, Heinz135523
11Glover, JimCooper, StevenWilliams, DaveLambrinos, Peter86822
10Griffin, AnnGriffin, EdSchuch, PeterRogers, Barbara77620
13Hewitt, JoshFerns, CraigKarl, MikeBurrell, Mark48820
4Hudson, AdamBillington, AlDunphy, PaulO'Brien, Don611219
14Couch, ChrisCouch, DebbieIordanis, NicholasSinovic, Jeff331218
6Trimble, JohnNebel, BobMatton, DennisKing, Rick113216
7Power, DonnaBrackenbury, K.Brackenbury, W.Trimble, Anne011112
9Lemon, WaltAtam, BarneyAdams, BobDowns, Neil19111
5Darby, PadraigRodriguez, SteveFennell, TomBarrett, Grant4026
16Milner-Docking, S.Docking, BernardAtam, JuneDuda, Kevin2204

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Fall Derby - Myrvold Team Leads the Way!

The Team of Dave Myrvold, Pat Burrell, Tom Kelly and Jerry Kimber were the leaders after Day 1. Their score of 104 was 4 clear of the team of Kevin Ashe, Glenn Davis, Fred Calvert and Dave Sutton. The weather seemed to get worse as the day progressed and no afternoon groups cracked the top 5 spots.

A close battle for third spot saw Ed Hogan's team of Suzi Snow-Liska, Heinz Dahn and John Liska finish with a 98, one stroke ahead of Bob Spahn group with John McCormick, Steve Campbell and Ross Davidson.

Interestingly, the leading score for this year's Day 1 format of 104 was the same as the Day 1 score in 2011. We will see if the new stroke holes will make a difference on any of the other format scores this weekend.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

New Stroke Play Card / Just in Time for the Derby!!

The Annual Fall Derby Event takes place this Thanksgiving Weekend and the new stroke play card will be used. This popular Event is a three day tournament where a new format is used everyday. Four players teams may be any combination of men, women or a mix there of! A fifth player may be used to ease the commitment of playing all three days.The Event is open to all A and B members.

In addition to the Main Event Prizes there will be daily prizes awarded. We had a tie in the Spring Derby for the first time ever!

The Captain's committee has adjusted the format to allow male players with an index of 16.8 the option of using the White Tees.

The New Stroke play card has new Handicap Stroke holes that reflect the actual degree of difficulty of the hole. You will notice that unlike a Match Play card, the strokes do not have to alternate between the front and back nines. (ie # 18 is the 2nd stroke hole and # 15 is the 3rd stroke hole)

To those of you who are new to the Club and would like some more information, please contact us in the Pro Shop and we would be glad to answer all your questions on this fun Event.

Sign up is available online or on the Mixed Board.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Closing Field Day Weekend

Early in the week weather the forecast was for a wet and cold weekend! Once again Whitevale was blessed with some outstanding conditions for both the Men's and Women's Closing Field Day events.

The Men's Closing was held on Saturday and the team of Jim Glover, Walt Lemon, Tom O'connor and Mike McDonald finished on the winners podium. They shot a net scramble score of 58.9.

Second place went to Terry Calder, Ed Griffin, Harry Cummins and Wayne Wellman who fired a 59.72. Close behind in third place was the team of Jeff Sinovic, Steve Flude, Brad Hewitt and David Dean who came in with a score of 60.025.

The Women's Closing Field Day was won by the team of Gail Pimm, Karen Parsons, Dee Steinwall and Theresa Arbuthnot who shot a net scramble score of 64.475.
Second place went to Jacquelyn Dunne, Kelly Glass and Lynne Downey who fired a 65.75 narrowly defeating the third place team of Meghan Dove, Joan Store and Kandice Brackenbury who shot 66.25.




Thursday, September 27, 2012

"FROST"..........A four letter word in these parts!!

You may not want to believe it, and I’ll bet you don’t want to hear it, but we have already had one frost delay this week, and a second morning with patchy frost that didn’t require us to hold up play, but did require us to make adjustments to our morning maintenance schedule. If you haven’t heard before, when frost is on the turf the leaf blade is frozen and putting any traffic on the leaf when it is in this state breaks the cells within the leaf blade killing it. The result is dead leaf blades that turn black from damage of the foot traffic or the wheels of the vehicle that was driven across these areas. It is imperative that we don’t enter any turf area when frost is present. This is the reason we have frost delays in spring and fall.


On Tuesday of this past week we had the United States Greens Association (USGA) come in for a consultation. The agronomist toured every area of the golf course with us visiting every hole from the tee to the green. We discussed all our cultural practices such as aerification, verticutting and top dressing, fertility and fungicide programs, mowing heights and so on. We spent more time on areas such as the 5th and 12th greens talking about every aspect of our maintenance practices as well as the environment in which they are located We also spent extra time looking at the areas in our fairways that were severely beat up during the verticutting and aerification process.
In general speaking we are doing most things right. His recommendations, again, generally speaking is that more aerification, more top dressing, more sunlight, and more air movement will improve turf conditions, and thus the overall health of the turf. We already knew all that and continue to make head way in that direction within the limits of the budget, and such things as the TRCA which dictate what trees we are allowed to cut down.
One thing we identified was a weedy grass prevalent in our fairways. Most of us are familiar with Poa annua, well this turf is in the same family and has also caused us grief.
The grass I am talking about is Poa Trivialis. This turf is used in the southern states as an over seeding turf to Bermuda grass in the winter. If you have ever watched a golf event on TV in Arizona, you probably notice the tees, fairways and greens all look like normal healthy turf. But areas around bunkers are just brown. In that climate it’s too hot to grow Bent grass. Bermuda grass is the predominant turf in that part of the world, but it goes dormant during the cooler winters. So they over seed the flatter and main play areas with Poa Trivialis. When the heat returns the Bermuda grass wakes up and out competes the Poa that is under sever stress from the heat.
Poa Trivialis is as much a weed as its brother Poa annua. This grass probably came in contaminated seed used to over seed fairways in the mid to late 90’s. At that time, seed companies ensured their quality by only focussing on the fact that there was no contamination from bluegrass or rye grass in their bent grass seed cultivars.
Because of the weak growth habit of this turf, and how it thatches up, it was easily ripped up during our normal fairway program. Areas that stood up well are predominantly Bent grass. So what’s the solution for the future? Well, that’s mainly going to depend on budget and how we want to handle it. There is a herbicide available that will help to choke this weed out but it is expensive, and it will also makes the rest of the fairway turn a sickly yellow. Another option might be to aggressively verticut once a year knowing this Poa Trivialis will be torn out, then aggressively over seed with bent. Either way there is no magic bullet to rid our fairways from this invasive weed.
All recommendations from the agronomists visit will be made available to all members in his detailed report which we should have in the next few weeks.

I heard my first comment yesterday that the green are too fast, so safe to say the vast majority of the healing is complete with all other areas continuing to improve. We have a vast amount of seed in many areas which continue to germinate and heal.
Clubs leaving their aerification programs to October will enter the winter in a weakened state and risk higher possibility of winter kill from many different weather patterns.
All our programs are scheduled to prepare the turf for the most stressful times of the season which are through the summer and winter seasons. As always we review everything about all maintenance programs and timing, and make recommendations for how to improve for the least possible disruption to members play. Safe to say we already have a number of improvements to implement for 2013.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Husband and Wife Tournament - Finally!

The Annual Husband and Wife Event was finally held on Saturday after being rained out on two previous occassions. The weather looked like it was going to play havoc again but the afternoon cleared and the players only had to contend with some windy conditions.

Ann and Ed Griffin are this years champions with a score of 68.5. They narrowly defeated the second place finishers Lisa / Mark Brewer and Darlene / Bob Doyle who tied with scores of 69.
Josette and Ron Bell finished fourth at 72.5 with Ron Stoneburgh and Kelly Glass finishing with a 74 good for fifth and Julie and Art Pingree shot a 74.5 which secured sixth place.

Men's Night Shot Gun

The final Men's Night Shot Gun of the season was held on Wednesday afternoon and the small but elite field were treated to some fine weather. The format change produced as close finish for top spot and the leaders were evenly distributed between the Blue and White Tees.

The winners, with a score of 133 were Bernie Docking, Cam Hreljac, Mark Brewer and Dave Walker. Second place went to Fred Calvert, Garnett Gaham, David Hulme and Chester Sadecki who shot a 134. We had a tie for third place at 136 between Peter Smith, John Thompson, Kevin Collins and Brian Godin and the team of Kevin Ashe, Fred Nuremberger, Larry Aicken and Ken Josling


The Flop Wall contest produced some interesting shots!! All those who cleared the wall were entered into a draw for a bottle of scotch donated by Diageo.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Men's Night Shot Gun - New Format

The final Men's Night Shot Gun of the season takes place this Wednesday (Sept 19th) at 1:00.

NEW FORMAT:
Count 1 Gross and 1 Net score per hole.
Play Blue or White Tees

A Handicap adjustment of 2 strokes will be applied to those playing the White Tees.
Blue Rating 70.5 - White Rating 68.7 = 1.8 (rounds to 2)

In place of a putting contest we will be having a "BIG BREAK" Flop Shot contest - so get your 60 wedge warmed up!

Sponsors - we are still looking for a Prize sponsor - failing that a $10 entry fee for prizes will apply.
(Anyone wishing to sponsor the day please contact Tony or Alex.)

Sign up is open online.


Thursday, September 13, 2012

NAGA's Consumer Behavior Study

The National Allied Golf Associations have released a Canadian Golf Consumer Behaviour Study to the golf industry with the objective of understanding the current state of the game, as well as factors that influence the behaviour of consumers as they relate to golf.

You kind read the entire study here :
http://canadagolfs.ca/canadian-golf-consumer-behaviour-study/

Below are some key points from Golf News Now
http://www.golfnewsnow.ca/category/blog/




The study was conducted by Navicom and was based on a national survey of over 1,300 respondents. The study focused on the population of Canadians who are capable of playing golf and eliminated portions of the overall population not able to play due to age, health, finances or location.

The effective populations of golfers were broken into categories such as Avid (25 plus rounds per year), Frequent (9-24 rounds), Occasional (3-8 rounds) and Infrequent (2 or less).


The following is an executive summary that was provided by NAGA and Navicom:

CORE FINDINGS:
Among the population of approximately 5.7 million golfers, the number of people entering the game is equal to the number of people leaving the game (18% or approximately 1.026 million people).

Among the population of golfers, the number of golfers playing fewer rounds (38%) is greater than the number of golfers playing more rounds (14%).

There is a fundamental lack of engagement among consumers in the Canadian golf industry (engagement is defined as playing, following, supporting and endorsing the game).

Those that are engaged represent 25% of the golfer population (approximately 1.4 million people) while 75% of the golf population (approximately 4.3 million) are of the mind that they can ‘take or leave the game’.

The majority of rounds are being played by less than 26% of golfers (approximately 1.5 million people).

The game has a focused appeal across the effective population (well educated / higher income / male dominated / attracts executives, professionals, sales & service, trades and retired / little ethnic diversity – although changing with Canada’s ethnic demographic). This finding represents both a positive in terms of the strength of that base of players, but also a threat in terms of its current narrow focus across the effective population.

KEY LEARNINGS:

Time and money constrain the playing of the game – they do not drive the game (prior to the study, the industry would say time and money are the drivers).

Engagement with the game is emotional and self-expressive – it is not functional (it’s about how the game makes golfers feel).

The game today is both vulnerable and on the cusp of greatness.
*Vulnerable because too large a portion of playing population not engaged with the game.
*On the cusp of greatness because you have a very large population of players who play the game even though they’re not engaged.


Men and women see much differing value in the game. Although women will tell you top of mind that they have an interest in playing the game, statistically they associate with “the game is not worth the cost”. Conversely, men statistically associate with “the game is worth the cost.”

There is a recognized, identifiable progression by golfers coming in and going out of the game. 
Golfers come in young and enthused…as they get older in the game, they begin to lose some enthusiasm…as they continue to age, they tend to get more disillusioned and they begin to leave the game. The largest influx into the game are 18-25 year olds; the largest outpouring of the game are 46-59 year olds; and we see in 26-35 year olds the flattening of enthusiasm within the game.

CONCLUSIONS:

In order to drive engagement and subsequent increases in rounds played and dollars spent on lessons, equipment, apparel, accessories and in the clubhouse, it is essential to have more golfers statistically associate with the benefits of the game of golf.

The Canadian golf industry must work together to find innovative ways to show golfers that the game and everything attached to the game is fun, enjoyable, social, challenging but winnable, inspiring, prideful and lead edge.

The game needs more engaged/loyal consumers – arguably more than it needs new participants

From a consumer behaviour perspective, success means getting golfers more engaged by playing more, following more, supporting more and spending more. The degree to which that measure goes up has all sorts of impact. The more engaged golfers are, the more they will spend.



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Fall Derby - Update!!

At the Captain's Meeting last night it was decided to allow male players with handicap factors of 16.8 or higher to play the White Tees during the Spring and Fall Derby.


White Tees:
Male Players may choose to play the White Tees if their handicap factor is 16.8 or higher.
(This is the same factor used for the C Division in the Men’s Club Championship.)

Handicap Adjustment (Section 9 – Handicap Rules)
Different Tees in Same Competition

Men – Blue Rating/White 70.5 – 68.7 = 1.8
Women – Red/ Men White 70.5 – 68.7 = 1.8

White Players handicap will be reduced by 2

Monday, September 10, 2012

Weekday Men's Stableford

This year's Team Stableford event was held on Monday September 10th with near perfect golfing weather. The winners score of 128 was 10 shots ahead of their nearest competitors.

The Team of Ron King, Frank Winter, Tom O'Connor and Luiz de Carvalho finished first and second went to Bill Harburak, Brian Murdoch, Paul Lacour and Manny Dacosta who shot 118 points.













Third place went to Peter Cant, Rick Johnson, Paul Cryne and John Toman who fired a 116.
Closest to the Hole Winners were John Elia and John Toman.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Although most areas on our greens have made significant progress in their healing, we have seen mechanical damage to some areas on more greens than we would normally anticipate during this type of event. In order to get through the aerification process as efficiently and productively as possible, we borrowed an aerifier from a neighbouring course. Unfortunately this equipment caused gouging every time it was lifted or lowered into the turf. By the time we had caught up to this aerifier significant damage had occurred.

Another challenge and one of the most frustrating issues we had is what we call lifting.
When the aerator tines are being pulled up out of the soil there is a certain amount of friction between the soil and the tine. This causes a lifting action on the surrounding turf.
This is very common and we specifically roll the greens to level them out and firm them up after cores are removed. But in some areas we experienced more “lift” than usual. When the roller goes over these areas it is not heavy enough to fully firm the surface to where it was. Then, when the top dresser which is loaded with heavy sand, goes across the surface the wheels leave depressions. Renting a very heavy roller to possibly give us a better firming of the surface will also cause compaction, one of the main things we are trying to reduce.
These depressions now hold sand at a deeper depth than the areas around them and this can cause a couple of problems. The sand can smother the grass and the sun can heat this sand up to temperatures that can be detrimental to the turf. We did send crews out to reduce the sand in these depressions and did extra watering to keep temperatures at bay, but clearly there is some damage that has been sustained. This lifting is a bigger problem in areas of heavy compaction. So what can we do to reduce or eliminate this problem in the future? Simple, aerify more often!
All greens were over seeded at the same time as our aerification and we have significant germination in all areas, unfortunately, as you know they won’t fill in over night.
Green speeds have improved since the first 10 or 12 days but have still not returned to normal. We attempted to lower heights yesterday but found we were still mowing sand, so we determined it necessary to leave the height of cut where it is at least through this weekend.
We began the process of verti-cutting fairways this week ahead of aerification which starts Monday. This is another necessary program to ensure the continued health of our fairways. Removal of the thatch that accumulates through normal growth will, if left unchecked, cause significant turf loss under drought conditions, which can happen in the form of desiccation in the winter just as easy as drought in the summer. A thick layer of thatch is also ideal for insects and significantly promotes diseases which would cause increased pest control applications which are very expensive. And by using cultural practices instead of chemical control, we continue to show our environmental commitment.
Just like our aerification program, we have planned this event to coincide with the best possible growing condition for our quickest healing time.
If you remember how awesome the course was on opening day, all these programs are imperative to having a strong healthy stand of turf, especially heading into winter.
The old saying “PAY ME NOW, OR PAY ME LATER” really does play here. We could put off all these cultural practices until late in the season, but we would not see recovery until well into June the following season, and we set ourselves up for major winter kill to a weakened stand of turf.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Pro Shop Sale - Update!!

50 % Off - Ladies Summer Wear
25 % Off - Golf Bags
25 % Off - Men's Summer Wear
Just Reduced - Foot Joy Shoes - 20 % OFF

Fall Demo Club Clearance
Iron SetsTaylor Made Burner 2.0      -      $395.00*  

Graphite - Reg Flex - 4 to PW + AW

Ping i15     -   $395.00*

Steel - Reg Flex - 4 to PW

Callaway Razr X HL    - $395.00*

Graphite - Regular Flex - 4 Hybrid / 6 to SW

Ping G15      -  $395.00*

Graphite - Regular Flex - 4 to PW

Fall Demo Club Clearance - Drivers/Fairways

Callaway Razr Fit Driver    -  $199.95*



Nike VRS Driver    - $199.95*

Titleist 910 Driver     -  $199.95*











Callaway Razr Fit Fairway $149.95*


Callaway Razr Black Fairway $149.95*


We will also have a bag of assorted drivers, fairways and hybrids that will be priced to clear.

**All prices will be plus applicable taxes and there will be no returns or refunds.**