Course Update 11/23 - Best Memories and Pictures of the Year

Happy Thanksgiving!  What a great time of year to spend with friends and family!  I hope eveyone enjoys their own special holiday celebrations and traditions.

With the early snow fall this year, the golf course is obviously closed at this time.  The ground temperatures before the snow were very warm and with the mid and upper 40s coming there is a chance for 9 holes to open back up for walking only, no carts.  

We did get 90% of the leaves picked up, blown, mulched and swept before the snow.  The fall colors where amazing this year and it helps us so much when we have the leaf drop come early like it did this year.  We hope to get back out Monday and Tuesday to finish up the fall clean up. 

We had enough snow accumulation to just barely groom our cross country trails this week but with the warm temps I'm sure they will be fading away over the weekend.  

I have so many things to be thankful for in my life, it was a challenging year for my family and this Club and membership supported me in so many ways, thank you.

  To close, here are my best memories and pictures of The Club in 2022.

 

The Secret Garden Update

 It's been a slow process this year getting the secret garden project off of the planning stage.  Our hold up has been waiting for the additional pool fencing we needed, its been on back order all year but I just found out it's in production at the factory.  I am hoping for an early December installation of the fence which will go around the secret garden.  

Last week we had the future garden area prepped and here are a few pictures of it taking shape.

Looking Southwest

Looking South

Looking East

Here is the latest in house rendering.

2022 Blue Bird House Report

Thank you for the time and effert of John Hardy and Becky Odinga for their continued involvement improving our blue bird house program.  Last spring we moved all of the boxes so they faced east.  Here is an inventory they collected and a few pictures from this years blue bird houses.   

#1. Near first tee on left. No evidence of occupancy. (Facing west instead of east) 

#2. Left of #2 Fairway. Nest with white chicken feathers and straw. (Facing north instead of east.) Possible swallow? Books say they use white feathers. 

#3.  Right of #3 fairway closest to tee. Moss nest. Remains of a dead Chickadee baby inside. 

#4. Right of #3 Fairway toward green. Packed loosely  with some dry leaves. Not a bird nest or nest of any kind. (mouse?) 

#5. Right of #5 Fairway. Moss Chickadee nest. 

#6. Near out building left of #12 Fairway. Nest of moss and feathers. Probable Chickadee. (BOX IS Loose at bottom, needs to be attached to the post.) 

#7. Near Tee for #8. Nest of grass and pine needles. Nice nest. Not sure what bird. (Close to where you saw a blue bird this summer.) 

#8. Right of pond closest to # 17 tee of the 3 in that area. Grass base with some kind of white fur piled on top. Found 3 partially grown mice living there. We left as is they were comfortable and cute were not hurting anything, I will clean it out in the spring. 

#9. Same location as above but closer to pond tee area between #15 green and #16 tee. Could have been a nest at one time built with moss by chickadee. Possibly abandoned before using. 

#10. Closer to #15 green in open area. Moss bottom chickadee then milkweed fuzz piled on top. (Maybe a mouse was moving in after abandoned or birds left the nest.) We cleaned them all out and disinfected them for next years use.  

 2023 Plans 

We will be fixing the loose birdhouse and move the box on two, east.

Four of the houses will be moved from out in the open areas to placing them closer to the woods and brush for the simblings to have more areas to fly to and be protected as they grow.

Thank you so much for your help John and Becky!!!!!!!!!

 

An #ElliottStrong Update

The support from everyone here at The Club has been so amazing!  I wanted to share the latest Elliott update written by Sue, last night 9/20/22. 

 

Steve and Ell made the trip to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital today for some follow-up appointments. It was all GOOD, GREAT actually! His eye surgery in early July has produced some really astounding results. His pediatric ophthalmologist is so thrilled with his progress. That muscle strengthening/correcting surgery did its job and then some. His eye alignment looks nearly perfect, and she is really happy with his ability to track in sync with both eyes. His double vision is nearly nonexistent which is so much easier for him. The pressure and swelling around the left optic nerve has decreased (still from surgery on 12/30/21), but his eyesight has not improved.

He has vision loss in both eyes, which of course has been such a heartbreaking pill to swallow. But he has accommodated so well, and is learning to live his life to the fullest even with the discrepancies with his eyesight.

Elliott also saw the endocrinologist today for a medication review, several blood tests, growth analysis, etc. The team is happy with his growth and assured him there’s a lot more to come. The combination of growth hormone and other prescriptions to aid in his pituitary function has transformed his body. He has strong, healthy body mass and he’s growing taller each day. He’s gained much needed weight, 2 1/2 shoe sizes, and 3-4 inches in height. Elliott has started PT at POMH to teach his body how to deal with this rapid growth, and he loves it. It’s another step to healing. To say that we are proud of him is the absolute biggest understatement in the world. His determination, courage, strength, patience, flexibility, grit, tenacity, and HEART…god, his heart….everything he is and everything he does has brought us to our knees in deep, humbling gratitude. For his soul being assigned to us, for his ability to keep all of us afloat, for his every waking moment.

It’s not always easy…the injections, the meds, the appointments, the travel, and of course HS woes, missing sports, navigating schoolwork, and going solo to Homecoming, ugh. But there’s always those silver linings that keep us hanging on…our family, friends, medical teams, his supporters, the one friend that insisted he got to HOCO with her, her date, and all the gang. It is ALL a part of his journey and we get to watch it all unfold.

The worries, the sleepless nights, the tears, AND the wins, the good test results, the positive MRIs, the friends who know when we need a hug, and when he needs an invite. Here we are, doing this. And here he is, kicking butt and pushing forward with heart and soul. Love ya, El!!! #ElliottStrong #BeElliottStrong @BeElliottStrong

Pro Shop Golf Staff 2022

 I took this picture of the pro shop bag staff during the Derby.  It was great to see them all out there enjoying the evening and the event.

Congrats to Scott on building a great team inside and outside of the pro shop again this year!  Being open 7:00 am to dusk all summer can be a lot of staff to schedule.

Driving Range Divot Patterns

This is not the range tee divot pattern we are looking for.  Having them all scattered like this example removes almost 250% more turf than a single row pattern.

This pattern is better but it's actually two rows side by side making it a double width, not the best.

Here is another double or maybe a triple row.

This is the best divot pattern and The Club's recomended way of practicing on the driving range tee.  

Our range tee sign.

This is one of the worst examples I have seen.  This style is called the sod cutter!

The ribbon cutting opening the new practice facility after the 2005 renovation.

 

A Few Slip n Slide Pictures

We always look forward to The Club's iconic slip-n-slide event! 

 

Here is an early picture of the event just getting started.  We moved the start of the slide further down the hill so everyone could enjoy the ride past the bottom of the hill and not stop in the grass.

Here we are about 1/2 way through the event, it was too windy to fly the drone to get aerail shots.  I heard we had over 140 people attend the event.  Great job to the kitchen staff for their County Fair themed food and to the waitstaff and bartenders, it was a crazy busy and fun night.  Mark your calendars for Friday, September 2nd for the second slip-n-slide of the summer.