2015 Men’s Inter-club

This is a team competition held annually competing against teams from Cedar Brae, Meadowbrook and Oshawa Golf Clubs. Each team is comprised of 14 players: one coordinator, one Professional, and twelve players ranked by handicap. The competition is match play, with each person in your foursome receiving strokes from the low handicap player in the group. You compete for three matches simultaneously, one point for a front-9 win, one for a back-9 win and one for an overall win.

Participation is open to any male member in good standing, whether A, B or C playing category. Each spring a qualifying process is run. For a fee of $20 (to be chatted), any male member can have three attempts to post scores. After signing up, and before playing, the Pro Shop must be notified that you are qualifying that day. Additional attempts to qualify may be purchased for an additional fee of $20.

The team will be comprised of the 12 best qualifying scores, with other qualifiers being retained on a ‘spare’ list. The ideal scenario would be to have 18-24 qualifiers, as that would allow everyone to be guaranteed two matches.

The dates for 2015 are:

·         Monday, June 29 – Oshawa

·         Monday, July 20 – Whitevale

·         Wednesday, August 5 – Meadowbrook

·         Tuesday, August 25 – Cedar Brae

The matches begin at approximately noon with a double tee start, and are followed by a light dinner. The funds from qualifying help cover the costs of meals and team shirts. There may be some charges laid off on a per rata basis at year end to compensate for all costs incurred. Traditionally, this has been less than $100 if a player participated in all four matches.

Please see the poster announcing the qualifying and sign up. Members who have played in past seasons all enjoy the opportunity. We are looking for more participation, it is a great chance to play three other fine courses and meet some interesting players from other clubs.

Walt Lemon

Inter-club Coordinator

416 493-5521

Thursday Ladies

This is a friendly invitation to all the “Women of Whitevale” whether A, B or C members.  Some of our newer members may not be aware that there is a group of around 20 like-minded, golf-loving, social individuals who sign up to play together on a Thursday morning.  We tee off between 8:30 and 9:30 and we play a different “game” each week, using handicaps to keep a level playing field for all.  We each play our own games every week except for our opening scramble (teams of 4), and our closing Thursday Cup competition in September when we play with a partner.  However you do not need to commit to playing every week as sign up is done on a week by week basis.  We accommodate requests for early or later tee off times so that people can work around their shifts, appointments, etc., and we try to shuffle the groups around so you get to play with different players. 

To find out whether or not you would enjoy playing with the group, do come out to our Opening Day on Thursday, April 30 for a 9:00 am shotgun start.  We recognize that most players will be decidedly rusty at this stage of the season so we traditionally open with our Gamblers’ Scramble, in which we draw cards to see who will be in our foursome and then roll the dice to see whose tee shot will be used on each hole.  After that the format is that of a step-aside (aka drop out) scramble.  Lady Luck therefore has more input into the eventual winners than any golfing prowess we may possess.  (All will be explained on the big day.)

So, if you would like to join us for this fun event, please call the pro shop by Tuesday, April 28 to add your name to the list, and make sure you arrive before 8:00 am on Thursday, April 30, so that we can enjoy a coffee before we see what the cards foretell regarding the make up of each foursome.  After the game we’ll have a casual lunch in our new Whitevale “palace” and talk about the plans for the season.

We look forward to seeing lots of Thursday Ladies out this year - the more the merrier!

Sue Dickinson

If you would like to be included in the Thursday Ladies group email in the future, please let me know at psandadickinson@hotmail.com

Save the Date

Whitevale Golf Club Huge Demo Day

Every year companies release their new equipment for the upcoming season and let’s be honest; when it comes to new clubs everyone gets excited. Whether you’re in the market for a new driver, a set of irons or a new putter the golf shop will have you covered.

On Saturday May 9th from 10 am to 4 pm leading manufactures in golf will be on the range with the latest and greatest equipment for you to try. Some of the companies that will be in attendance included Callaway, Mizuno, Ping, Taylor Made and Titleist, having a set up like this will allow you to try different clubs all on the same day. These companies also bring with them fitting experience and technology that helps in getting you using the proper clubs.

So save the date, more information will follow as the date approaches.

There will be individual fitting days throughout the year for all of the brands listed but a demo day like this allows you access to most of the major all at once.

End of January Clubhouse Tour

Already at the end of January, soon the front doors of the new clubhouse will swing open welcoming the members back to a highly anticipated 2015 season.

Lets take a look at what was completed this month.

Front foyer fabulous stone work.

This type of lighting is prominent throughout the building.

Fireplace, a focal point as it should be. 

Chandeliers for the Grill room. 

Bar looking good.

Ceiling detail on the Garden entrance.

Men's Washroom off the main dining hall.

Women's washroom entrance off main dining hall.

Porter area between locker rooms complete. 

Women lockers are in (just the boxes, the doors not installed)

Locker room vanity

Significant upgrade in our showers

Lined up and ready for opening field day. 

Working over the holiday

Christmas slowed down construction but it didn't stop. Some crews made their way in over the break to keep the project moving. 

Main stairway, still needs finishing work.

Wall covering in the Boardroom going up.

We have doors in the Pro Shop. 

All public space in the basement is finished with wall coverings and crown molding.

The bar's bulk head is framed up. 

The Grill room ceiling looks fantastic.

 

Sanding the drywall, ready for paint.

We have come a long way from this Grill room view. 

Clubhouse Tour

It's been a few weeks since we posted some new pictures of the clubhouse. For those of you who follow us on Twitter @WhitevaleGC will know we have made some great progress. For those of you who don't follow us........What are you waiting for.

It was not an easy race but we beat the weather on some items.

The parking lot and the entrance drive have the first layer of asphalt down for winter. This was our goal and we got it done. The final or top coat will happen sometime next year, followed by parking lines and some soft plantings. 

The cart barn is moving along. The doors have been installed, you can tell we went for the classic barn look on this building. 

With the concrete floor in work continues with the interior electrical, plumbing and a dividing wall yet to be built. 

We are struggling with the interlock install. We even built a small tent and tried heating it to keep the frost out of the ground so we could finish this work before Christmas. Alas, Mother nature is not working with us. There is a very real chance this will need be completed next year. This was not the plan but after what we dealt with this past season, this is a drop in the bucket. 

Having said that, it does look great. 

 The front entrance.

Looking down the hallway to the Boardroom and Pro Shop on the right (out of picture). Notice the wall to the left, framed and waiting for the built in trophy display cases.

 Pro Shop ready for final ceiling drywall starting Monday.

 Main dinning hall has some very elaborate ceiling detail.

 The most anticipated spot of the clubhouse.....THE BAR.

 What a view from the grill room today.

Garden entrance stairs installed today. This is just the skeleton of the staircase, the finish detail happens much later.

Look at this view from your Garden entrance window. 

 Mens lockers install has started. And yes, you get the same locker number you had in the old building.

FINALLY AN UPDATE FROM THE TURF DEPARTMENT!

 

Fall is always a busy time for the turf department. Preparing the golf course for winter, or “putting it to bed” as we usually refer to it, is a process that cannot be completed in just a few days. Winterization of the irrigation system alone is a two day event; applying fungicide to greens, tees and fairways can take a minimum of two days if the weather co-operates. Applying dormant fertilizers, installing top dressing of sand and tarps to greens, leaf clean up, and storing all the course furniture (or hardware) adds to the time it takes to properly prepare the property for the winter ahead. This year a snowfall  one week after closing gave us more challenges than normal.  I am happy to say that weather this week helped us accomplish everything we needed to, before winter sets in for good.

 This fall has been a little more hectic than normal with the new clubhouse development happening. In addition to my daily responsibilities, I have been highly involved with many of the developments in and around the Clubhouse and its surrounding landscape. From curb installation to interlock and retaining walls, light standards, cart barn construction, irrigation additions, power supply, septic tank decommissioning, sewer and septic tie ins, even down pipe locations to drain the roof during rain events and shuttling water tanks up to the clubhouse so the tile guys can continue with their work, I have been working diligently with all levels of the installation to make it a seamless process.  There has been nothing normal about 2014 so why would the fall be any different? Our ultimate goal is to have all landscape installed before the winter, but this goal is looking less likely as frost is setting in. There will most likely be some tree and grassing work required in the spring.

Back out on the golf course we are continuing improvements on many fronts. For starters, we have a new tool in our arsenal which we used to strip a 6 inch wide channel of sod off of the 16^th green to allow a low spot that holds water and  causes ice build-up, a better chance at draining away.

 

 

This small puddle usually becomes a large spot of ice over the winter on 16 green

This manually operated sod cutter allows us to cut a channel for water to flow off of, and away from the turf grass.

 

After the snow melts we will simply lay this sod back down and it will mend quickly enough members won’t even know it had been disturbed. A bigger job is happening on the 13^th green where we stripped a significant portion of the left side to remove a high spot that trapped a lot of water. This area will now surface drain and significantly reduce, if not eliminate, water pooling up.

 

Sod is already being reinstalled on 13.

There is also the never ending tree work.  We are continuing to remove trees that are dying from disease or from insect infestation such as our Ash.    We are now at a point where the vast majority of diseased or rotting trees have been removed.  Of all the tree work completed there is only one tree I think the majority of members will notice in the spring. The large white birch tree that was to the right of the 1^st green is no more. We have battled with this tree over the years, it roots had invaded the bunkers and it produced significant amount of debris all season long both in the bunkers and on the putting surface. The tree was damaged in the ice storm last winter and we did our best to prune it back to health in the spring. Once the leaves were out and that extra weight was on the branches many more cracks appeared which were very noticeable after the tree dropped its leaves this fall. The kiss of death came earlier this week with the 100KPH wind storm causing more damage. I brought in an arborist to consult and it was determined the tree couldn’t be saved so it has been removed. This does open up the view between 1 and 8 greens, but I believe after two or 3 rounds of golf in the spring members won’t even remember it was there. Careful planning in the future will continue for planting replacement trees in many locations, just not where they will cause shade issues it the future.

While most of the outdoor closing duties have been completed, there is still a lot of work to do to course hardware and machinery during the coming winter month. I hope you enjoy your holidays and the down-time the winter brings. I will be hard at work prepping for the coming 2015 season which we all expect to be the best year ever at Whitevale.

 

Racing against the weather.

Everyday it seems we are in a race right now to beat the weatherman. 

We started this week with the trusses on the cart barn. 

 Today they will have both the south and north side boarded up. This board will be painted to resemble the cape cod boarding of the clubhouse. 

 Also, this week the huge retaining stones arrived for the west side of the building

 The landscape crew made great progress this week. If the weather holds they me be finished with the west side of the building tomorrow. 

The big one, the event we have been pushing so hard for happened today.

CURBS!

 

This has taken more effort, more negotiating and more time then we ever thought possible. But, we did it, we got them in before winter, now our fight starts with the base coat of asphalt.

Blair's crew has been busy this week getting the old 1st tee stripped and sod ready to be placed on the new tee when built. We hope to start work this next week..........

Weather pending, of course.