NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS Wednesday — April 28th, 2021 Minutes by Diana Miller Cooper
PRESENT: Steve Shrawder, Gary Sailer, Nic Ingram, Jack Meyers, Mike Royle, Mike Sobba, Joe Mandacina, Gail Michaels, Tina Pederson, Rick Austin and Tiernan Good WELCOME/OVERVIEW/MEMBERSHIP/POOL OPERATIONS — Steve Shrawder, President Membership Stats: We have three new and three resigned National Golf members since our last meeting with a total of 330 as of today. We added six Purple Rose members since our last meeting for a total of 156. Initiation Fees: Initiation fee for Loch Lloyd recently went from $16,000 to $25,000. Steve asked the Board if now was the right time to increase our initiation fee from $16,000 to $20,000. Discussion ensued and the Board agreed that as a high-end Club that puts out a high-end product, it seems doubtful that raising the fee from $16,000 to $20,000 would dissuade people from joining. The general consensus was to raise the fee and to announce the increase early enough to encourage some people to join before the increase effective date. Pool Opening: May 27th is the tentative opening date for the Pool, kicking off with a Kids’ Pool Party. Steve has been working with the management company regarding the hiring of lifeguards. Guest Fees: In 2019, Pool guest fees were $5 each. Steve believes that fee is low and proposed a weekend guest fee of $10 to discourage too many guests taking chairs away from members. A few Board members thought the increase was high. Discussion ensued regarding limiting the number of guests a member may bring on weekends and holidays. GOLF OPERATIONS — Nic Ingram, Director of Golf Rounds Report: Rounds are very close to last year’s numbers; year-to-date we are down 3%. LGA: Two ladies’ days have been snowed out; yesterday we had 20 ladies on the course with 12 of them participating in the “Just For Fun” group. The LGA goes out at 9a; the “Just For Fun” group goes out at 9:30a. Mrs. Michels is working on a ladies’ event once each month to be held in the evening. MGA: We are trying to get more men to participate in the MGA; we have traditionally gotten 10 to 16 men to play. Men’s Night will be moved to Thursday evenings starting May 20th. Play will include 9 holes with a 5:30p Shotgun. Program will run through the end of September. Match Play: The sign-up deadline was last week for Match Play. We have 91 participants … 10 more than last year. Ryan is sending out a link for Golf Genius which shows every match and stats. Junior Golf: Sign ups started three weeks ago. We are offering a PGA Junior League this year with 36 kids signed up. We’ll have 3-4 teams with practice Wednesday evenings and matches Sunday afternoons. The kids will play against each other in a 2-person Scramble. Little Linksters has 40 registered; Junior Camps are sold out at 25 kids each. Mrs. Pederson suggested a tournament for the PGA Junior members with other clubs in the city. Discussion was held on the benefits for young kids to play elsewhere and what a special opportunity that can be. The Hangover: This event takes place May 15th with a 9a Shotgun in a 2-person Better Ball event with breakfast beforehand. We usually have 80 or so players participate. Couples Golf: Our first Couples Golf event of the season takes place Friday, May 28th (Memorial Day Weekend). This first Couples Golf event of the year is usually the best attended. Course Amenities: The GCM team has placed water jugs on the course and water machines outside the Snack Bar and at the Tennis Courts will be operational as of May 3rd. Benches and ball washers have also been placed back on the course. Associates have resumed picking up members in the parking lot and we are returning to more normal pre-COVID operations while keeping mask mandates in the Golf Shop. Locker Room Attendant: We have a strong lead for the Locker Room Attendant position and hope to hire him soon. Monday Events: We have a “green light” to resume outside events on Mondays. Our event count is down compared to other years; we are currently at 20 events for the season. Watson Challenge June 3rd-5th: We are looking forward to showcasing the Club at this event. Rick and Luke Austin are doing a great job of fundraising and Mr. Sobba has 30 volunteers signed up. The course will be closed to member play all three days until 12:30p. Spectators for The Watson Challenge will only be members and player families; the general public will not be allowed. Mr. Austin reported that fundraising is going well and most people are signing up at the $300 level as individual sponsors. He is trying to wrap up fundraising efforts so shirts and quarter zips may be ordered. These will feature The National and Watson Challenge logos with no year on them.
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