Hole in One Rarity!

This past Sunday Kevin Duda recorded his first Hole in One on the 12th hole. The person he bumped out of the parking spot - Rob Connors just happened to witness the shot while he was getting ready to tee off on the 13th Tee.
The passing of the parking spot was a civilized transaction with only a large amount of kidding involved!
Congratulations Gents!

Construction update

Progress on our new practice facility was moving right on schedule………….until we received an inch of rain this morning……….and at this point the rain continues to fall. Companies that move and shape dirt for a living are use to weather challenges, and knowing we might get hit with rain they had implemented some proactive measures to reduce the delays rain might cause. It’s a little early for me to say for certain, but I would anticipate losing today to weather, but expect the construction to commence tomorrow. It won’t take them long to make up a days work. The normal schedule for our construction crew is to work 12 hour days, taking weekends off. If production is lost due to weather, weekends will be used to get our project back on schedule. By the end of this week we will be able to see things taking shape. We will be able to see where the new road is roughed in, what area the parking will take up, and where the new range tee is located. I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is for anyone to walk into the work area with all the heavy equipment running around. The blind spots for the drivers on this heavy equipment are huge, and with the dust blowing around it is easy to have incredibly poor visibility. Please do not, at any time enter the construction zone.

 

The aerification of our six sand greens was completed successfully. These areas were also over seeded at the same time. Thank you to members who have been so patient and understanding as we mow and water these greens in the afternoon in and around play. If you don’t recall, we mow aerified greens in the afternoon when they are dry as we pick up a lot less sand. In the morning the wet turf makes the sand sticky causing a big mess, duller blades and slower recovery. Watering in mid afternoon keep the turf canopy cool and gives life giving moisture to all the new seedlings.

This week you will see the enlarged portions of the greens on 9, 13, 14 and 15 have the sod and the organic mat layer removed. These areas will then have new root zone installed and they will be prep’d for sod installation which is scheduled to happen on Tuesday September 4^th. Each of these areas will be marked G.U.R. probably for the duration of the 2013 season. The reason the areas will be striped of sod this week, but not sodded until next week is simply because of the time it takes to complete the task. Remembering we still need to maintain the golf course, and we have already lost staff who have returned to school, we need the full week to get all these areas stripped and properly prepared for the sod which will all be cut, transported and installed in one day by another crew.

Some members have questioned why we don’t just allow the Poa to take over on these greens as it seems to be performing better than the bent stand. Under the low oxygen conditions we have been experiencing Poa actually stands up to that better than bent. Simply put, we will always have a blended stand of both Poa and bent on our greens. The only way to eliminate one over the other would be to undertake a complete reconstruction program such as the one Donalda club is currently going through. This would encompass complete excavation of all green cavities removing the root zone right down to the sub grade and rebuilding them from there. And, after re-establishing the turf, many extra chemical applications and hand picking the Poa out on a regular basis would be required. We have been removing Poa plants manually on the 12^th green (but not the collar) and even I was surprised at the extra man power required to stay on top of the program. Attempting this on 18 greens would be monumental and a very costly venture. Once we get our aerification program on track we will all see healthier bent grass.

PRO SHOP SALE

It is our last few weeks in the Pro Shop so we have everything on Sale!!


Mens Wear - 40 % off


Women's Wear - 40 to 60 % off


Rainwear and Outerwear - 30% off


Accessories - 20% off


Shoes - 25% off


Wedges and Putters - 25% off


Demo Clubs are on Sale Now!


* Sale applies to all in stock merchandise - does not apply to Special Orders.

Long Drive Champ - Niilo Schonfeld

Our own Niilo Schonfeld has qualified and will be competing in the Canadian and World Long Drive Championships this fall.

Niilo will be showcasing his talent for each group Wednesday afternoon on the first tee from 12 to 5pm.

Any or all contributions in support of Nillo's quest to be a world champion will be greatly appreciated.

Great Construction Shots

Thanks to member Norm Ullock who sent over some great pictures of the range construction. Currently the top soil is being stripped and stockpiled for use later on. The big push may happen within the next two weeks. On Monday August 18th the asphalt on the upper and lower parking will be ground up and stockpiled on the entrance road just east of the 17th tee. Members will need to veer right at this point to access the parking. We encourage all members to carpool when possible as parking will limited. The clubhouse patio and washrooms will be open until the temporary trailers are fully up and running, we hope this is within a week.

IT BEGINS..............................

 

So there's no need to tell you we are in a "Go for full throttle" position on our practice facility. The fill permit is now in hand so the practice facility and the parking lot construction can move full steam ahead. Silt fence will be completed before the end of this week. And the stripping and stock piling of top soil has begun. Once all top soil has been stock piled and saved outside of the actual construction zone the major earthworks begin. Currently the northern most parking lot is the highest point of land we have. This area, along with our current (or former) tee deck will drop in elevation just over a full meter. When the entire R2R process is finished, the new clubhouse will be on the highest point of land which promises to be a spectacular site. For the many member who have been with us for 8 or less years you probably have no idea of what Whitevale Golf Club was like before the 2004/2005 renovation.

 

So here we have the 4th hole as we all know it today. Many say our signature hole, I say one of our 18 signature holes. But upon my arrival to Whitevale in 2004 it looked MUCH different than it does today.

Here we are in the spring of 2004 looking down the same site line on 4 as the previous picture. For most member this may seem alien. The huge oak tree between 4 and 5 is there, you just can't see it from all the cedars all the way down the left side. You could almost just about run and jump over the pond. I think everyone would agree that what we have is a huge improvement over what we had. But, keep in mind it took a while to go from one......to the other.

Here's what we had mid construction. Lots of dirt, heavy equipment, and a closed golf course. And this is exactly what we are going to have on our practice facility and clubhouse for at least a year. There will be dirt. There will be dust. There will be parking shortages..........and the list goes on. If we all accept what the short term pains and inconveniences will be, and keep an optimistic and positive attitude, we will all be happier and this will be relatively painless................and in a year from now we can post what the range and clubhouse USED to look like. So from here we go hammer down, pedal to the metal, full speed ahead, full after burner...................well...........................you get the picture.

Club Championship 2013

The 2013 Club Championship was held this past week with qualifiers competing on Championship Monday. A few familiar faces were again crowned Club Champs. Congratulations to Mark Brewer and Angela Colm -  your 2013 Champions.

The weekend had some beautiful, almost fall like weather. Strong breezes made conditions interesting for the Sunday and Monday rounds especially since they were out of the north on Sunday and the south on Monday!

A special "Thank You" to all those who volunteered their time over the weekend to assist with the Pace of Play. The juniors helped as Spotter for any errant shots and the Timers let groups know how they were doing time wise. The result - a great pace of play all weekend.

Congratulations to everyone who played this weekend!

2013 Club Championship Results
Men		Score
Championship Flight
1st	Mark Brewer	294
2nd	Alex Letros	299
2nd	Mark Burrell	299
4th	Niilo Schonfeld	317
A Flight
1st Gross	Jim Glover	240
2nd Gross	Heinz Dahn	249
1st Net	Ed Griffin	215
2nd Net	Paul Lacour	220
B Flight
1st Gross	John Liska	263
2nd Gross	John Jumas	266
1st Net	Don Hobb	217
2nd Net	Ryan Robillard	223
C Flight
1st Gross	Neil Downs	266
2nd Gross	Ryan Chong	277
1st Net	Tom Kelly	210
2nd Net	Ken Fedosen	215
	Weekday Men's
1st Gross	Sasha Mikijeli	258
2nd Gross	Tom O'Connor	266
1st Net	Frank Winter	213
2nd Net	Ted Addie	269
Women		Score
Championship Flight
Champ	Angela Colm	251
2nd Gross	Jacquelyn Dunne	255
3rd Gross	Ann Griffin	268
B Flight
1st Gross	Barb Rogers	282
1st Net	Debbie Couch	225
C Flight
1st Gross	Joan Store	311
1st Net	Kandice Brackenbury	232
Junior Champion
Brenden Dunphy		251
Juvenile
1st Gross	James Daigle	267
1st Net	Andrew Rogers	235
Bantam
1st Gross	Eamonn O'Neill	315
1st Net	Matt Billington	212
Girls
1st Gross	Lauren Bevan	276
1st Net	Kaprice Brackenbury	219

Club Championship - Live Scoring

To view Championship scoring go to : www.golfscoring.net/whitevale

Scores will begin to be posted after 11:30 each day.

Don't forget to join the crowd on Monday and cheer on the Champions as they finish at the 18th!

Free BBQ - so bring your family and friends to celebrate this great Annual Event.