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From Ballston Spa Country Club
The golfing season is flying by. By all accounts we are past the mid-point of a very successful year. Club Champions will be crowned this coming weekend (19 & 20 Aug) and the deadline for sign-up is tomorrow. We are talking end of year events for the Men’s and Woman’s leagues, fall aeration schedule, 2018 budget planning, and the Annual Stockholders Meeting and Elections.
The weather has finally cooperated, the golf course is in great shape and the compliments from our guests keep coming. We are getting quite a reputation for the beauty and quality of our course. A special thanks to our Superintendent and Staff for all they do to provide you the best playing conditions possible. When you see the staff out working hard give them a wave and a smile to acknowledge their hard work in providing you “The Capitol Districts Best Golf Value”.
As many of you are aware we had an incident in our parking lot a couple of weeks ago. Two cars were broken into and access was gained by breaking a window. This happened between 12 and 1 on a busy weekend. Please secure your vehicle and place any valuables in your locked trunk.
ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS MEETING
The date of the Annual Stockholders Meeting has been established as Monday, October 2nd, 2017 commencing at 6:00 PM in the clubhouse. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending.
The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect four (4) members for the Board of Directors who will be responsible to carry out the important work of operating your golf course. One vacancy is for a one year term and three vacancies are for three year terms. As we have decided to forgo the December information meeting we will also include a club update.
To be eligible to serve as a Director you must have at least three (3) consecutive years of membership and be a Member in good standing. He/She must also own at least one share of stock in the club to be eligible to serve as a member of the Board.
If you are interested in serving on your Board of Directors, please let Julia know and send a short essay (no more than 250 words) and a photo to her at office@ballstonspacc.com. Platforms and pictures will be published in the September 15th Fox Newsletter in the order they are received. Please forward not later than September 12.
RESTAURANT UPDATE
I am pleased to announce that BSCC has entered into a new agreement with Henry's Tavern to continue to be our restaurant operator through the 2020 season. If you recall the original contract with Henry’s was for 3 years and was to expire at the end of the 2018 season. A special thank you to the Restaurant Committee, Roger Laime, and Rick Funaro for locking down this agreement thus providing our Club with a stable restaurant operation as we move forward.
TECHNOLOGY
Have you ever wondered why the majority of your monthly bills offer “Green” or online options for billing and payment and BSCC did not?? Our Office Manager, Julia, also wondered and started exploring some options with Club Profit. As of today we are spending about $250.00 a month for paper, envelopes and stamps, in addition to the manpower hours of printing and assembling the paper bills.
With the August bill processed on 1 Sep we will test our ability to send your monthly statement via email. You will still receive your monthly statement via USPS mail.
Your comments and feedback are important to us and appreciated. You can email Julia at office@ballstonspacc.com, or Rick at tucats@nycap.rr.com.
MEMBERSHIPS
This year has been an extremely successful year in recruiting new members and retaining current members. A net gain of 50 is unheard of in this business. I believe our members are the best source for generating the new members we need to continue to grow. If you are happy with the condition of the course, with the BSCC leagues, with the new friendships made, and with the pace of play, to name a few, then tell your friends and invite them to become a member of BSCC. We still have room for new members. Our Midyear Membership Special (see Cindy’s Membership Report below for exact amounts) is a great opportunity for your friends and acquaintances to experience all that we have to offer. Refer to the New Membership Packet link on our home page. Be sure they list your name so you get credit under the Member Recruitment Program.
RECIPROCALS
Our discussion after the Tuesday night league last week turned to reciprocals. We are fortunate to have reciprocity with several clubs that Ballston Spa CC members are able to utilize. Reciprocal clubs are beneficial because they allow members the chance to play golf at another private facility for only cart rates, normally $20 a player, although some have set a higher fee. List of reciprocal course and instructions can be found on our website at https://www.ballstonspacc.com/golf/reciprocals.
Know back to the discussion: What is your favoured reciprocal and why? After your next “road trip” let me know and I will post your comments in the Fox.
See you on the course.
Paul
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By Tucker
From the gazebo, three days ago, I watched the 81 year old golfer hit his second shot on the 18th hole to a spot about 60 yards short of the green. "Par", I thought. His third shot, a half-swing pitch, ended up about nine feet from the hole. When it came his turn to putt, he gave the line a perfunctory look and knocked it dead in the heart of the cup but about an inch short.
"I've been doing that all day," he said, sounding exasperated, explaining that his mid 80's score should have been much better. And the quick read on the green probably was just a formality - he's been a Member at BSCC for 65 years, joining in 1952 at the age of 16.
Now, after working for 38 years as Transportation Supervisor of the Mohanasen School District in Rotterdam, Stan Ziobrowski is retired, father of 3 boys and 3 girls and grandfather to their 14 offspring.
Stan was first infected by The Game when he was about 6 years old and living next to The Edison Club. He would spend hours hawking golf balls and for every 400-500 balls he collected, the Edison pro, a Scot called Alex McIntyre, would give him a club. He also let the kid play a lot of golf, especially on Mondays when few members were present.
By the time he was 11, he was shagging balls on the driving range and caddying, making $1.25/round and hoping for a tip. "In those days, members, mostly GE employees, had big leather bags that weighed a ton but I would still do two bags at a time for $2.50. Before I turned 12 McIntyre gave me a job as a bag boy in the Pro shop. I told him I was only 11 years old but he wasn't concerned.
"The next pro at Edison was Bobby Haggerty Senior, father of the current pro at Glens Falls CC. Bobby treated me like a son. Every Sunday he would pick me up and we'd go to church, then for breakfast at the Silver Diner in Schenectady before we went to the course. He did warn me to tell anybody who asked, that I was 16 years old. Back then I didn't have great attire, I had patches on my pants, that sort of thing and a few years later when I started playing in tournaments in the city he would tell me to pick out a shirt from the pro shop. He always said he'd take the $9 cost of the shirt out of my pay but he never did. I was shooting in the 30's for 9 holes at this point.
"Balls in those days cut pretty easily and Haggerty would take them, fill the cut with putty, repaint them and sell them for 25 cents. Spalding Dots and Dunlops would cost 65 cents new but the GE engineers would always go for the refurbished balls."
His membership at Ballston Spa Country Club came about because Stan was playing in an Eastern NY amateur tour and shooting in the 60's. After winning three tournaments in a row, the organizer came to him and told him the other players were complaining and insisting that you had to be a member of a club to play in the tournaments. Stan looked around and found the best deal was BSCC, at $35 for a junior membership, and that was that. He still played mostly at Edison but soon joined BSCC as a full Member after Johnny Hathorne and George McDonough convinced him to make BSCC his home course.
When Stan qualified in Greenwich Connecticut for the USGA National Junior Championship in Tulsa at the age of 16, he was shocked to learn that he'd have to pay his way and told Haggerty he couldn't afford it. Haggerty assured him he'd have the money and placed a large bowl in the pro shop for members to make contributions. When Stan's train arrived in Tulsa the temperature was 110 degrees.
"On the first day I went to the 1st tee and the starter was a big ol' boy with a huge straw hat and a handlebar moustache. He told me that if my opponent didn't show up in the next minute, I'd be 1-up on the first hole. There was a big kid on the edge of the tee and we thought he was a caddie. When he heard what the starter said, he identified himself as my opponent with about ten seconds left."
Stan was 16, and Jack Nicklaus, age 13, beat him three up. Stan shot 77, Jack shot 74. Stan remembers a man following Nicklaus around, taking notes on his club choices, etc. and assumed the guy was hired my Jack's father.
"After High School one of the many contacts I'd made offered me an assistant pro job at Ponce de Leon CC in Sarasota Florida but I decided to take another offer - a golf scholarship at Florida State.
"Back in those days we had tennis courts out front at BSCC and a total of 6 tennis memberships. I believe the fence to the right of the 6th green was taken from those courts. We had a number of Members who did what had to be done to keep the club afloat from a financial standpoint. Guys like Sharpie (Bob Sharp),
Fuller and Garbrecht basically ran this course - they were the grandfathers of BSCC. It was different then, we had about 4 tournaments a year, tops.
"Everybody would play on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and then we'd all have our supper at the club and maybe a dance. Every year we'd go to a restaurant on Round Lake and the awards for all the tournaments for the year would be handed out."
I asked about the original layout before the second 9 holes were put in.
"Number 3 hole used to be our driving range. #1 tee was where the driving range tee area is now and was a par 5, then #2 then #3 was our present day #18, our #4 was today's #10. The back tee for #5 was where the 17th tee is now and then 6,7, 8 and 9 were the same as they are now.
"Green speeds were much slower than they are now. They'd cut them down for the club championship, then let them grow because the theory then was that there was less chance of losing them."
I tell Stan we've had a lot of interesting characters even during the 26 years I've been a Member here, and that I'm sure he had some great stories.
"Oh, Jeez. Do I ever. I remember these two guys (who shall remain anonymous; we'll call them Mickey the Mouse and Donald Duck), were playing Bob Sharp and I. These guys used to take a six pack for the front and then get a six pack for the back. We get to the 16th and Mickey says he's out of beer and asks Donald if he has any left. Donald says he has two left but he has three holes to play, so forget it. We get to the 17th and we're on the green and realize Mickey isn't with us. He always wore white pants and we looked over and saw him appear, covered in mud. He'd pretty much fallen off the 17th tee into the creek.
"Lonnie Parks was the best golfer this club has ever had. He was a plus 2 and often hit 16 greens in regulation. He'd just wear you out."
Stan Ziobrowski has been our Men's Club Champion four times. His lowest score at BSCC is 66 and his lowest handicap was +1. He has 11 hole-in-ones and has shot his age every year since he was 70.
"My last ace was on #15," he says."Now I can't even get to the green with my tee shot."
More important: the 6 year old kid has been playing The Game for 75 years now and still gets passionate about a putt that comes up an inch short for par on the 18th at BSCC. Stan Ziobrowski is a Member we can all look up to as a golfing icon at Ballston Spa Country Club.
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August 15th, 2017
From Ballston Spa Country Club
As we move through the year, I have been working with Todd and Julia to determine if we could use our Club Profit system more in the future.. This is already used for restaurant and Golf Shop charges. We are looking into using it for dues, allowing seasonal carts to be paid monthly, emailing bills instead of mailing them. These are just a few examples where the system can help us. 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. There will be more information coming as we progress through our analysis and we will certainly communicate any changes to the membership in advance of them happening.
With the significant increase in membership, we continue to project approximately $545K to $550K in revenue. We have continued to sign up new members even as I write this article. That number is $50K to $55K above our budget. We have lowered our green fee and cart revenue by $25K. The weather has certainly impacted our ability to achieve our projected budget numbers.
We had an opportunity to purchase some top soil at a great price that Steve will use on the course. We have had some issues with the clubhouse that are being repaired that will cost us some monies that were not budgeted. All of this has contributed to a smaller projected cash position at the end of the year. The financial outlook continues to look great for the end of the year, with cash on hand of around $90K to $95K. This will be an increase of approximately $30K to $35K.
I did receive two estimates for adding additional chain link fencing around the first tee box and replacing the existing fencing that is already there. Those estimates were more than we expected ($5k) so we will be taking on the project ourselves and saving the club thousands of dollars. That project will be worked on in September.
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 August 2017
From Ballston Spa Country Club
I hate to say it, but summer is slowly coming to an end. I see the school busses doing their test runs, and soon the students and teachers will be back to school. For some of you that is a big sigh of relief, for others that means the course is wide open. Either way, there is lots of golf to play, so get out and enjoy it.
We had some new members take advantage of our mid-summer special. Welcome! Don’t forget, we are offering the late summer and early fall specials, so please share the rates with your friends and family.
Please welcome the following newest members:
Randy Elliot : Student
Richard Mitchell: Single
Michael Grieger: Y/adult
Thomas and Linda Hughes: Couple
BSCC_- 2017-Late Summer/Fall New Member Special Rates
50% off - Beginning 8/1/17
75% off - Beginning 9/1/17
SINGLE- 34 Years of Age and over
Year 1 $1760. ($300 towards stock prepay)
8/1 $880 - ($150 towards stock prepay)
9/15 $440 - (No $ towards stock prepay)
Year 2 25% off-2018 published rate ($300 towards stock prepay)
Year 3 15% off-2019 published rate ($300 towards stock prepay)
Year 4 2020 published rate
COUPLE
Year 1 $2795. ($300 towards stock prepay)
8/1 $1398 -($150 towards stock prepay)
Children + $50.
9/15 $700 -(No $ towards stock prepay)
Children + Free.
Year 2 20% off-2018 published rate ($300 towards stock prepay)
Children + $100.
Year 3 15% off-2019 published rate ($300 towards stock prepay)
Children + $200.
Year 4 2020 published rate
Children + $300
Jr. Executives Reg, Rate 50% Off 75% Off
($150-towards stock Prepay) (no $ towards stock prepay)
(25-26) $930 $465 $235
(27-29) $1240 $620 $310
(30-31) $1655 $828 $415
(32-33) $1965 $982 $492
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August Report
From Ballston Spa Country Club
August Report
From Ballston Spa Country ClubAs we make our way into the month of August, we are seeing a relief from the monsoon type of weather we saw the past months. The rainfall was getting to be ridiculous. The golf course was soft and the grass was growing so fast we could barely keep up. The course has finally dried out and the cart path only sign has been put away for some time now. Temperatures have been moderate and the course has shaped up very nicely.
We are now making plans for fall aerification, which is only a month away. This annual cultural process is extremely important to the health of the turf grass. The surface of greens, tees, approaches, and fairways gets compacted over the course of the season and the aerification helps to reduce the compaction. On the greens where you need a smooth firm surface, sand is applied to give you the best environment for grass to survive and thrive at a short mowing height. This process is a massive job and is time consuming. The hard work pays off because we have some of the best playing conditions in the area and this is a result of all these cultural practices. This fall we are going to do things a little different. The greens have had a decent amount of sand added to them over the years and the root zone area is mostly sand, which is a good thing and what is needed for healthy greens. All the rain we have had this year can lead to the surface of the greens getting that black algae all over them like we use to get years ago. We don’t have this black algae problem which means there is a good amount of sand in the top of the greens where we can back off from pulling a plug and adding sand this fall. Instead we will deep tine the greens just like we always do but not do the second process of running the little aerifier over the surface and pulling a plug out. The holes that you will see are small and there will be fewer of them. Sand will be applied to the surface but will look like a typical sugar coating of sand much like you would see during the season. The greens should be back to their current condition much faster. (Our wetter greens (1, 2, 6, and 11) will still have the typical aerification done to them.) I am still asking for a lot of volunteers to help shovel plugs because we will be pulling plugs on the collars, approaches, and tees as well as those four wet greens. There will still be a lot of work to do and we always appreciate help from volunteers. We are scheduled for the Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day. As always we will do the front 9 on Tuesday and the back 9 on Wednesday so the course will never be totally closed. The fairways will be done at a separate time the following week. Emails will go out to keep you informed about any changes to the schedule and to update you on the timing for the fairways aerification. I need sun in order to complete these jobs so if the weather is no good we will have to reschedule. Please check with pro shop with any scheduling questions you might have. |
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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.
Ball Marks Repair
I would like to just remind all of the logic of the ball mark repair. We all have to try and get in the habit of looking for the ball marks that we create. When we ride on a cart, and drive to the greens, we drive past where we made the mark and go directly to the ball. Unfortunately, with the creeks that we have on the course, we don’t walk past the mark that we made. This allows the player to do a quick forget that they actually have made a mark. If we all try to fix 1 plus 1 other, that will definitely help the cause. Thanks for the understanding and helping keep your golf facility as nice as possible.
Technology at Ballston Spa Country Club
We are on the cutting edge of all of the new latest and greatest technology that is involved in the golf industry. We have the Golf Genius, our own App, and our website with the ability to pay your statement online. This is all great stuff to allow us as members to make your life as easy as possible. If anyone is having any issues with embracing all of this great stuff, please contact us in the golf shop and we will do our best to get all up to date with the latest updates. We will be changing the look of our website for all as to keep everything fresh is a good thing to continue our improvement of the golf facility.
Golf Academy Update
We have been working on the inside of the Academy and it should be completely finished by beginning of September. We will be offering workout classes and yoga classes as well as our golf instructional classes this fall and year round. We will be doing an open house for all to see the finished product as soon as the completion. We feel that you will all be very pleased with the finished product. |
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August Report
From Ballston Spa Country Club
Mixed Gruesomes
The following article is from the archives (2010) but since The Amazing Max and I played in the BSCC Mixed Member/Member last week I thought it might be appropriate to repeat.
There are few, if any, circumstances in the cosmos of connubial bliss that demand that one unit of the pair perform a task which then requires the other half to adapt to the resulting change in the circumstances of their relationship, and perform the next task. We don’t drop a glass on the kitchen floor and expect our spouse to clean up.
Except in golf. There is an odious competitive format that is as invaluable to lawyers as that bathroom wallpapering project you took on together last week.
The British call it “foursomes” and Americans sometimes refer to as “alternate shot”, or “Scotch Doubles” (probably because a double scotch is what you both need after most holes), but which I call “The Divorce Format”. The game is played in the Ryder Cup and other prestigious competitions, and it is a fine thing indeed. But once you change the team makeup to mixed foursomes, things get a bit dodgy. When the mixed foursomes are made up of teams who sleep in the same bed, it is an act of the devil.
The state golf organization my wife belongs to used to stage this matrimonial disaster annually and for a couple of years The Amazing Max signed us up. I initially looked forward to the event, but soon we both realized that the entrance fee was but a spit in the ocean compared to the potential legal fees the afternoon on the links might end up costing us both.
"What’s the problem?" you may ask. The problem is that, if you are standing over a relatively easy shot to a green, knowing that wherever you place the shared ball, your spouse will have to deal with the next shot, you will, without a doubt, foozle it into a place where no man or woman has gone before. If, after your partner has stroked a beautiful 60 foot putt, you are left with a 3 foot par putt that in any civilized match would be conceded, with your yokemate standing nearby you will always miss the putt. And, as you are standing over the putt, you will experience the wish that lightning might appear out of the brilliantly blue sky and strike you, sparing you the humiliation of the inevitable choke.
I have seen an early, involuntary gasp of astonishment from a spouse, after watching their mate miss a short putt, make the rest of the round a study in misery. This often results in the next shot being missed as well, with the resulting puttfest resembling what Bernard Darwin likened to a sort of “funereal ping pong”.
Normal everyday decisions regarding course management and reading putts become diplomatic horror stories. You don’t want to contradict your spouse’s evaluation lest (s)he takes your advice and it results in failure. If, on the other hand, the advice is taken with a favorable outcome, the spouse who had the opposing view feels chagrined.
There is no good to come of it and I strongly suggest that anyone boneheaded enough to play in this format adopt the following two rules: No advice shall be solicited or given and apologies are out of the question, no matter how much penance may seem appropriate at the time. Better still, before the first drive is stroked you should stand facing each other and recite in tandem, "During the course of this dreadful exercise I will screw up in the most flagrant way on a regular basis and I expect you to follow my example."
If you stick to these dicta, you may survive the round and, as you exit the eighteenth hole, you will be able to walk briskly past the rows of tables set up by voracious lawyers at such events, knowing that, at least until next year, barring any more wallpapering projects, your marriage remains intact. |
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