The following are the minutes of the Brewster Golf Commission meeting held on 10/2/2012 at the Captains Golf Course. The meeting was called to order at 4:00 PM by Cindy Bingham.
Commissioners present: Cindy Bingham, Chairperson
Jim Ehrhart, Vice-Chair
Anne O’Connell
Ed Pavlu
Marc Fontaine
Lori Arnold
Jeff Odell
Staff present: Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations
Others Present: Ginny O’Loughlin, Women’s 9-Hole Assn.
Joanne Liberles, Women’s 18-Hole Assn.
Orin Segall
Jerri Carlin
Review of meeting minutes:
It was noted that the minutes indicated that the Women’s member-Member raised $8,500 for Special Olympics and it should have been $850. Lori Arnold made a motion, to approve the Brewster Golf Commission meeting minutes from September 11, 2012 as amended. The motion was seconded by Anne O’Connell and approved 6 in favor with Jim Ehrhart abstaining as he was not present at that meeting.
Association Reports:
Joanne Liberles reported that the Women’s 18-Hole Association would like to go back to the continuous block time in July and August as opposed to the split block time that was used this year.
Ginny O’Loughlin reported that the Women’s 9-Hole Association has 85 members this year which is about the same as last year.
Suggestion Box:
Make sure the divot mix bottles are filled in the rack at the turns.
Played 9/21 and thought $89 was too much money for green fee and cart, but loves the course.
Put yardage markers out in the driving range.
Calendar is now up on the web site.
Clocks are in place at the turns.
Mark O’Brien still needs to put the non-slip strips on the steps to the pavilion.
Director of Operations Report (Mark O’Brien):
Mark O’Brien reported:
On the September financial report.
Steve Mann received a commendation from the Board of Selectmen for achieving certification from the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America.
Nauset Athletics Booster Club had a successful tournament here.
The Captains was recognized by the Brewster Garden Club for the work we have done to our parking lot area.
Superintendent’s report
In Steve Mann’s absence, Mark O’Brien read the following report:
Golf Commission Meeting 10-2-12
Aerification is complete with the overseeding of the fairways. We will topdress the greens a few more times very lightly in the next couple of weeks. Most of the greens have healed in nicely. Cutting at the normal height of cut has resumed and green speed should increase. The Port Course has been fertilized and the Starboard side should be done this week, weather permitting. So the fertilizing of the course is pretty much completed for the year except we will be spot fertilizing greens and other areas if needed.
The irrigation electrics are still somewhat in limbo. The golf course is still having shorts and we are narrowing it down to two transformers. Both will be replaced and they are on order as of today. It may take a week to get one of them. The driving range has not been fixed as yet. Hopefully this week the new drive (controls the speed of the pump) is on its way from Wisconsin. This gets us to the point of finding out if the pump actually works. It’s the next piece on the line. So when the relays and the drive get put back together, we will learn the fate of the pump and maybe the satellites. The insurance company and Town Hall have been informed of the current status of this situation.
The yardage markers for the irrigation heads are now in. They will be replaced as soon as we can. The irrigation tech will be doing the work replacing the covers but he has other priorities at this point.
We did get three+ inches of rain over the weekend. There are puddles still hanging around but the rest of the golf course seems to be coming back quickly. There is a lot of grass out there right now. We should catch up with it if the weather stays nice for a few days.
We will be refacing two or three bunkers this fall. They are two on the 16 Starboard fairway and thirteen Port fairway left side.
We have now a new insect that is killing our oak trees. The Cynipid (sin a pid) wasp is infecting the twig of the tree, then saps all the juices from the twigs and leaves. At this point there is only one registered chemical in Massachusetts. The life cycle is unknown at this time for this region. UMass is studying this pest and will have some report out hopefully by next spring. Let’s hope this doesn’t destroy our trees!!
Comments below followed:
· Marc Fontaine thought the Port Course came through aerification much better than Starboard and wondered if we put out enough top-dressing on Starboard.
· Jeff Odell said the bunker at the practice range still needs attention.
· Several of the ball washers are missing the spike brushes.
· Marc Fontaine said the pond on 14 looks great due to the work of Jeff Odell and his crew.
Discussion of Brainstorming Session from the last meeting:
The ideas from the last meeting were discussed and narrowed down further for discussion at the next meeting. (See attached)
Jim Ehrhart made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Marc Fontaine. Motion approved unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 5:45.
The next meeting is scheduled for November 13, 2012.
Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations
Brainstorming Part III
November 13, 2012
Membership:
Reward for bringing in a new member
80 yrs. old/10 yrs = freeze AFP rate
Review non-resident rate
Sales – Customer Service:
ATM machine
Sales – AFP’s:
Higher cost for earlier call-in time
Association Times:
July 4th week – no block time, convert all to DFP
Miscellaneous:
1. Catch illegal “walk-ons”
2. Penalty for making tee times and not showing