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In Spite of the Weather
From Ballston Spa Country Club
As you read this edition of the Fox we are 60 days into the golf season. Mother Nature has not been kind and the cold and wet spring has persisted. The Tuesday night Men’s league had back to back rain outs, and carts were not allowed on the course many days. The front deck awning has not been put on because we are waiting for the new roof on the clubhouse. The Superintendent and his crew had a difficult time as they could not get the mowers on the wet fairways and rough. If the weather forecast is correct we may be heading into a more favorable weather pattern. (I know I said the same thing last month but this time I hope it is more than wishful thinking).
Even with the harsh weather my glass is half full mentality tries to accent the positives. The course is in excellent shape and a few days with no rain has allowed the crew to catch up on most of the mowing and get the rough “manageable”. Bunker renovation on 8 has been completed except for a couple of finishing touches and the greens are in fantastic shape. Memberships are up and somehow we dodged the raindrops and had some wonderful member events. Cocktail tasting attracted 90 golfers and featured Margarita’s (my favorite was on the first tee – Thanks Jess) and concluded with live entertainment in the clubhouse.
The BMW Member/Member weekend attracted 160 plus members with a morning and afternoon shotgun. The Sunday afternoon group got a little rain but not the washout that was predicted. Congratulations to the team of Scott Ferris and Greg Vukelic. Start packing your bags for Pinehurst!
Special Thanks
A special thanks to member Luis Pabon (second from right in the above picture congratulating the winners) for bringing the BMW Cup Sponsored by BMW of South Albany to Ballston Spa. In addition to the winners qualifying for the Finals of the BMW Golf Cup at Pinehurst BMW also sponsored the closest to the Pin competition, lunch for all participants on Saturday, and the great golf shirts and hat. This allowed for more of your entrance fees being returned to all the winners in prize money. If you see Luis on the course be sure to say thanks and if you are looking for a vehicle check out BMW of South Albany.
Technology
We continue to work on technology issues almost every day. Why do you get an error message when you try to view your member statement online? Why do some members get the error message and some do not? Why can’t I login to the WIFI in the restaurant? Why is my playing partner sitting next to me able to login with no issues? Why doesn’t our point of sale system seamlessly integrate with the accounting program? The list goes on. Sometimes I just think there are no solutions and it is just magic when it does work. We continue to work all of these issues and more. We do believe we have solved the WIFI issue by improving access points and upgrading our broadband service. Network and password should work and allow access in the restaurant and pro shop. Give it a try.
Network : BSpa-CC-Public
Password : Summer2017
Only A Few Days Left
We are again offering the popular discounted guest passes. Passes are $35 and include a cart and may be purchased thru June 18 inclusive. You must be in the group using your passes. Passes are good for play this year and expire at the end of the golfing season. Plan accordingly and see the pro shop to get yours.
See you on the course,
Paul
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June 15th, 2017
From Ballston Spa Country Club
I would like to start this Treasurer’s report with a reminder that the June bills (mailed in early July) will contain the bunker renovation project assessment. For all of our new members, in the Spring of 2016, the membership approved a 5 year, $100,000 bunker renovation initiative. This included the adding of new / improved drainage in the bunkers, adding bunker liners and of course new sand. Also included in some cases, were the reshaping of the bunkers or the areas around the bunkers if necessary.
Steve and his staff have completed the bunkers on #1, #8 and #9. The bunker on #7 will be done in the fall. The Green committee will decide later this year what bunkers will be done next year. Because of our increase in membership, the assessment is less this year than last. In 2016, the assessment was 4% of the full dues in each of the membership categories. This year, the assessment is 3.5%. The resolution allowes the club to raise $20,000 each year for 5 years.
With the significant increase in membership, we are projecting approximately $545,000 in revenue. We have continued to have new members sign up even as I write this article. That number is $50,000 above our budget. We have lowered by a smaller amount, our green fee and cart revenue. The weather has certainly impacted our ability to achieve our projected budget numbers.
We are projecting an end of year cash position of nearly $140,000. That is an increase of $80,000. I and the Board remain committed to staying within our budgets as we continue to move through the season. We will certainly have opportunities to make some changes to our spending, but those will be considered on a case by case basis.
As we move through the year, I have been working with Todd and Julia to start the transition to our Club Profit system. This is already used for restaurant and Golf Shop charges. We expect to be using it for dues, seasonal carts etc.and billing next year. We are also updating our membership info in that system. We currently keep duplicate membership info in Club Profit and in our QuickBooks records. This created more manual work than necessary. This has also limited Cindy Walkanowski (Membership Chair) from presenting solid membership numbers. This is a work in progress but I can assure you, the job of the membership committee has been outstanding. We are somewhere around 270 to 280 memberships, which equates to 310 to 320 golfing members.
As always, if you have questions on anything that I have mentioned or you have been wondering about, please email me (tucats@nycap.rr.com) or talk to me when you see me at the course. I would be happy to provide you any info you need.
Sincerely,
Rick Funaro,
Treasurer
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Fox Membership June 2017
From Ballston Spa Country Club
Happy Spring. We finally made it. The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and the greens are rolling smooth. Oh wait, it is actually just about summer. Spring came and went in a day. Regardless of the month, it is officially golf season. The course is in great shape and it appears the word is out that Ballston Spa Country Club is the place to play. Membership is approximately 260 + members, and we have not had any new resignations. Below is the list of new members. Some names and faces may seem familiar since, some “new members” are prior members who have returned. Welcome Back! It is great to see you again.
Ballston Spa Hall of Fame
Our club congratulated the 2017 inductees into the Ballston Spa Athletics Hall of Fame and made a donation to the organization. The induction ceremony was held on May 6, 2017 at the Ballston Spa High school. The recognition by the club (below) was displayed in the brochure handed out at the event.
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June Report
From Ballston Spa Country Club
We continue with this wet and cooler weather pattern for another month. It doesn’t seem to want to break and give us some sunny days. I don’t know how much rainfall we have totaled for the past few months but we sure do have a lot of wet spots out on the course. These wet areas have some ruts in them from carts and mowers. When we finally dry out we will have to go around and fix all these areas. It is tough to avoid ruts when we are this wet. Not everyone knows where to sidestep the squishy spots and we have to try to mow these areas. Tires + soggy ground= ruts. Hopefully this weather pattern changes and we can have a great summer: Moderate temperatures, sunny days, and some rain a couple days a week (at night of course).
We continue to work on the #8 bunkers. The new bluegrass sod around the bunkers was installed. The bunker liner was installed into the floor of the bunkers. The bunkers were filled with new sand. They have turned out quite nicely. New sod and sand always looks nice. BIG thanks to the volunteers who helped. We could not have gotten this project done as quickly without you. Thank you. The only thing left for the green surround is the new bent grass collar. I have been waiting for this sod delivery for a while. We only need a couple pallets so the sod company wants to coordinate our delivery with other sod jobs in the area. The weather has screwed up other people’s sod jobs so it delays us. Eventually we will get our sod and it will look like #9’s collar when we are done.
In the meantime while we wait for sod, we are trying to keep up with our mowing. It has been tough because we haven’t been on any schedule. We just mow as much as we can when we can. The drier part of the course up in the back can be mowed anytime no matter how wet it is. The front is a different story. I’m sure you have noticed how wet the front is and how thick the grass is. When there is standing water everywhere we can’t mow without tearing things up. Eventually we will dry out and we can get a good dry cut on everything. Thanks for your understanding, patience and following the “cart path only signs” on wet days. |
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Men’s Member Guest Event
The 2017 Men’s Member Guest Event is sold out. We have 48 Paid Teams for the event and this is the quickest that it has sold out in 18 years. The event is sure to be a fun Event for all. Please don’t wait to make a practice round tee time on the 22nd of June. We will be running a Team Quota Event on the Practice Round followed by the team evaluation that will begin at 8:00 PM. Friday morning’s shotgun will begin at 8:30 am Shotgun Start and the same for Saturday. Breakfast will be served both days and Lunch will be served on Friday. Saturday will have breakfast and Dinner followed by the raffle and awards presentation. We will have a shootout on holes 4, 8, and 9 for all flight winners following the final match.
Ballston Spa Country Club App
Our new app seems to have been taking off as we have been able to keep all up to date with the latest happenings at the club and any instant notifications that we feel are important to make the entire membership aware of. If anyone is not receiving the instant notifications and would like to stay abreast of all the latest news. Please stop in the Golf Shop and we will assist you.
Rules Question
Lateral Hazards. One question that continues to be confusing to many is where to drop a ball after it enters into a hazard. There are a few options. For example, Our 16th hole with the red hazard on the right side. If a ball enters the hazard there, the option is to go back to the tee and play from that point, or take 2 club lengths no closer to the hole and drop and play from that point. The option of going back as far as you want keeping the point between the entry point and the flagstick may not make sense for this scenario as it will take you over to the 15th hole. The myth that confuses people is they think they can go back as far as they want on the point of entry into the hazard. That is not accurate for any hazard. It is once again going back as far as they want keeping the points of the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard between the flagstick and that point of ENTRY. If you are still confused, ask us in the golf shop for the clarification. |
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June Report
From Ballston Spa Country Club
Ballston Spa Country Club has many plaques commemorating Members who contributed to the club's growth and quality of play, something that is relatively rare at most of the courses I've played at over the years. This recognition is a manifestation of the hands-on nature of our club's membership. No other club I know of has the participation of its members in the running, improvement and maintenance of their club to the degree BSCC does. Most of these plaques are dedicated to prominent past board members but there is one on the edge of the practice range that keeps Hal Van Earden in our memory. Its placement is relevant because Hal would spend hours on the range perfecting his rubber band swing.
Nicknames are a measure of a person's popularity and Hal had several. The Dutchman. The Judge. I called him Halbert. But whatever you called him, he took it in stride, just like he took life, just like he took relationships and friends. Hal was a special friend.
I always told him his golf swing looked like a man wrestling with a python in a telephone booth. He stood on the wrong side of the ball and he swung like he had no bones, Mr. Elastic. But he striped it down the fairway ‘way more than the national average. I was there at a Skenandoah home-and-home tournament when he shot his age. He was 73.
Every Spring I would see Halbert show up at the Club in the same salmon wind breaker and every Spring I would ask him “Is that a new jacket Halbert?” for about 20 years. We were constantly teasing Hal about some goofy bloopers he’d come out with, such as gazing at the Green Mountains of Vermont from the 17th tee at Rutland CC and telling us how beautiful those Adirondacks looked. One day, as we left the 3rd tee at BSCC, he looked up to the right and suggested we take down the trees on the hill behind #16, “They’re all dead!”, he said. We reminded him it was early April.
For his last six years, Halbert and I kept track of our matches, $1 Nassau’s with an automatic press on the back nine. Except Hal would press you to death. He had more presses per round than a dry cleaner but he wouldn't accept a press on the last hole of a match, something he called a Polish Press. For all those years we were always within a few dollars of each other and it was always the source of much butt busting. Whenever you forked over a few dollars to Hal, who was several years older than most of us, he would give us his Cheshire cat smirk and remind us how grateful he was for also keeping his Social Security payments coming.
Hal was not averse to busting on anybody, but he did it in a way that was never negative, always the gentleman. No matter how offensive the person in question might be, Hal was always positive about people. If you complained about a shot or a score he would often look at you sideways with an elfish grin and say “Well maybe you’re just not that good”, and you couldn't help but laugh. That’s as mean as he got. If you were looking at a putt of 3 or 4 feet, he’d say, without exception, “There’s enough meat on that bone to feed a family of four.” Or if you chipped one close but not close enough, he’d pre-empt any thought of a gimme by instructing you to “Bring your putter!”
Hal was always full of memories of friends and associates who filled his crowded life. He talked about the muck farmers (don’t even ask) and had a myriad of stories, from the past, most of which we all heard several times. It seemed like he knew everyone. One day at Cedar Lake we were teeing off on the 9th hole when Hal walked over to the adjacent road, put his arm around a nice looking, elderly lady who was passing by and chatted. Joining us, he just said, “Old girlfriend, knew her about a century ago.”
Hal’s enthusiasm for life and golf was infectious. My most lasting memory of Hal will always be the morning he came crashing through the connecting room door of the motel four of us were staying at during a Florida outing, shouting “Let’s go boys, it’s time to golf!” With the light from his room behind him shining like a halo, his white hair flying every which way, and his tall stature, you might have thought you were being visited by God, except that God probably wouldn’t be pulling on his underwear while he burst into your room. Once we informed Hal he'd misread his bedside clock and it was only 2:45 AM, he calmed down pretty quickly.
But that was Hal, always exuberant, never in a foul mood that I ever saw and philosophic about any setbacks he suffered in life. As good a friend as anyone could ask for.
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