July 2020 Newsletter

Smoke Signals JULY 2020

SUMMERTIME FUN RETURNS FINDING NEW WAYS TO CREATE MEMORABLE AND REMARKABLE EXPRIENCES

President's Message

By Bill Vose

I miss ICYCC! I had no idea what to expect in quarantine. Being retired, I first thought maybe it is no big deal. What I did not expect was how much I missed my time at the Club. In the past, I took the Club for granted and did not reflect upon how much a part of my life it is. I suspect I am not the only member to see their appreciation of the club increase rather than decrease during the pandemic.

The Board can see this in our membership data. Our members are sticking with us and are determined to get through this together.

No one has left the Club because our services have been curtailed. Adding new members is still occurring. However, it is not easy to show off the Club to new prospects, given how we have had to alter our social and dining activities. Our day will come!

While the Club has had to make cautious operational decisions for the short term health of the Club, it continues with its capital planning for the long-term sucess of ICYCC. Brian and I have approved the purchase of long lead time items for the Clubhouse renovation, which starts on January 2,2021.

This purchase is mostly for seating and carpet.

Connemara Construction will be doing the construction work, which is scheduled to be completed in 60 days. The new bathrooms adjacent the Veranda are nearing completion and may be operational when you read this. (prepare to be impressed!) These were put together by House Committee Chair, Ken Bransford and his team of talented decorators.

In July, upgraded energy-efficient lighting will be installed in the Tennis Center. These will reduce costs and bring the brightness up to meet USTA standards for competitive play. A new computer system has been installed for

the campus. This will increase the connectivity for the food and beverage services and generally enhance office productivity. And not to leave anyone out, Pete Stephens has finally gotten his wish of four years-a used backhoe! This will save on rental costs and increase timeliness of larger projects.

It's time to prepare for our November Annual Meeting.

The Governance Committee (Rick Saunders, Chair) is charged with submitting a slate of nominees to the Board. The slate can be four or more candidates. Typically, current Board members who have an additional term to serve are selected by the Committee. Of the four current members whose terms expire this year, three have indicated they wish to stand for re-election.

I applaud them for this. Your President will be retiring. So, we need at least one new Board member for a 3-year term. Should you have an interest in serving, I encourage you to make your interest known. There is a fact sheet on the Club website, which gives more detail about Board service.

The management team is appreciative of your patience and understanding as we initiate our operations as permitted by the powers that be. We are operating under a brand-new set of circumstances, and there may well be some kinks along the way. Let me say, "it's complicated."

As your President, I have been in contact with the team almost daily. I have been blown away by what has been accomplished by so few people. The team will continue to focus on delivering the best service possible under the circumstances.

Commodore's Corner Another month of cautious conduct and limited opportunities for cruising as a club.

However this month we do have the “On the Hook or by the Pool ‘ cruise to look forward to. It will start on the 12th July in the Great Wicomico river and gently travel south down the Bay side of the Northern Neck and conclude at IndianCreek on the 18th July. An opportunity to explore and enjoy our home waters and the camaraderie and hospitality of Yacht Club Members.

Our social programs have also taken a a major setback with limitations on gatherings. The “Bubbles by the Bay” is an attempt to abide by current regulations and provide a safe environment for club members to gather in limited numbers.

I fear I am in danger of being called the "Cancelling Commodore “ as unfortunately we have now decided to cancel the Past Commodores cruise to Cambridge in early September. Many of you know the level of effort required to put together a cruise and it was becoming a significant challenge in the current environment for a most uncertain return.

We will continue to seek out opportunities to cruise and gather as a club and we would welcome all suggestions you might have for these unusual times.

The Yacht Club’s finances are very ably managed by our Treasurer, Paul Harris. As a consequence of the cancellation of events, Paul has managed to accumulate a bit of a "slush fund "#. Part of this fund is being used to subsidize the music for Bubbles by the Bay and we would therefore encourage those who have already attended to hold back on signing up for a second event until the last minute, so we can allow everyone to to have an opportunity to enjoy one of these evenings.We are also exploring other social events that the club can support.

#THE SLUSH

AY E B H T Y S B ESS! E L B C BUB SUC

The fat or grease skimmed from the top of the cauldron when boiling salted meat .

Ships officers would sell the fat to tallow makers, with the resulting proceeds kept as a slush fund for making small purchases for the ship's crew.

Order by emailing: myorder@ icycc.com

THE SUMMER SWING OF THINGS

by Mike Mayer, PGA UPCOMING MAJOR MEN'S TOURNAMENTS We were fortunate to be one of the few industries to remain open, regardless of what phase we are in.

You are encouraged to make a tee time, which can now be done online by logging into icycc.com and hovering over "golf" and selecting "tee time reservation". Play and golf memberships are increasing and we want to be sure you get the time slot you want.

July Events: (Note: This schedule is still subject to social distancing guidelines) 7/4 7/5 7/10 7/11-12 7/13-14 7/17 7/19 7/31 7/31

Flag Tournament Tee Times Mixed Scramble 1:30 Ryder Cup Pairing 5:00 Ryder Cup 10:00 Course Closed - Fairway Aeration Backward Par 3 3:00 Fighting Cancer 1:30 Ware Academy Event - Course Full Jr/Sr Pairing Party 5:00

Yamatrack Mobile App An added benefit of our new Yamaha cart lease is a GPS hole by hole map of our golf course that provides you with the distance to the front, middle and back of every green from your location on the course. This is a free ap in the app store. Download it on your phone and take advantage of this great technology.

The Men’s Member Member

This tournament is actually early this year, so please save the date of August 7-9 to play in the Member Member. You may want to line up your partner now, before someone else does.

Men's Member Guest

The July edition of Smoke Signals usually is filled with recaps of all of the great action from the Men’s Member Guest. Obviously, that hasn’t yet happened, and you will have to wait until the tentative dates of September 23-26 for our postponed event. We have entry forms for the Member Guest available in the Pro Shop. Pictured below are our 2019 champions, Mat Ficklin and Ross Sumner. Who will take the 2020 title?

We shall see!

Turf Talk

by Pete Stephens, CGCS

As Summer approaches the course and grounds crew continues to prepare all playing surfaces for the potential stresses that summer heat and the quality of the irrigation water has to offer. As you see from the picture on the right, the root growth pulled from the soil profile of the 17th green is great for this time of year and is incentive to continue with the current greens nutrient management program, using growing degree days to determine our nitrogen inputs.

We will continue to scout for Annual bluegrass weevil by using a soap drench scouting process for ABW. To reduce Black layer, sodium and bicarbonate build-up, we will adjust the outer sprinkler heads that overlap the greens edges, as needed, We will alter the arcs, change nozzles, and push trajectories down. The strategy has always been to closely limit all water hitting the greens and continue to monitor watering practices, being sure not to overwater.

In phase two, we brought back two full time and one part time seasonal staff members. Because of the events, for the remaining golf season, we will not be returning to full staff, but our current team is making great headway.

The spring temperatures continued to trend below normal, which kept soil temperatures low.

This created reasonably unfavorable growing conditions for the bermudagrass, which has in turn, continued to work in our favor to keep up with mowing and other management practices during covid conditions.

This past month the club made a capital purchase of a backhoe for course and grounds.

This will enable us to do more in-house projects in a timely manner. The staff has already put the

tractor to good use by removing tree stumps from club drive and a tree stump on hole #16.

We will continue to remove stumps as time allows.

Garden Buzz Covid has changed and challenged our lives in many adverse ways. However, there have been a few rays of unexpected sunshine. Mother Nature has been cleaning up the air as trains, planes and automobiles have virtually come to a standstill. Residents of Beijing and LA can actually see the sky and the tops of their buildings. Seed catalogs have run out of inventory as people with time on their hands now are becoming more self reliant planting gardens like the Victory Gardens of WW11.

Finding yeast has turned into a treasure hunt as bread baking has soared.

Cornell Ornithology Lab and National Audubon Society have been inundated with questions about the huge surge in the bird population. No, we are still down 1/3 of our song bird population but the noise pollution has ceased. People are home, traffic noise is down, congested sidewalks gone.

We can actually hear the lovely bird songs.

They have been there all along, we just weren’t listening.

- Beth Kendrick

RACQUET NEWS

by George Christoforatos

New & Exciting Programs In Motion!

New & Exciting Programs In Motion Ladies B Round Robin: Monday morning 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Ladies Friday Round Robin: Friday morning 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Drills and Drinks (Co-Ed): Wednesday evening 430- 6:00 p.m.

Thursday Night Socials (Co-Ed): Thursday 5:00 p.m. until Monday mornings are no longer the same here at Indian Creek Yacht and Country Club. Parking spaces are taken by our new and fun tennis group. - the Ladies B Level Round Robin! The ladies start playing at 9:00 a.m. and finish normally by 11:00 a.m. Sue Saunders came to me with the idea of starting a Ladies B Round Robin group on Monday mornings and we thank her for for helping this take off.

First week of this new group of ladies, we had eight ladies show up and they used two outdoor courts for play. The second week, OMG – we blew up to 18 ladies! We have reserved three of the four outdoor tennis courts for this group and the numbers continue to grow. We have added music and timed play depending on the numbers and what a great time these ladies are having.

Monday through Friday it is very common to see all four outdoor tennis courts in use by our members. Outdoor tennis courts are in big demand these days, we have four Hard True clay courts that are in great playing shape.

Programming has increased now to have Wednesday evening 430 p.m. until 6 p.m. – Drills and Drinks. Again, Sue Saunders bringing another great idea to the table.

Our First Wednesday we had 8 players, doing drills, playing matches, listening to some good music and drinking out at the Pavilion. Second week we know we will see our number increase. We have had a lot of inquiries since the first Drills and Drinks.

Yes, tennis is a sport, but there is no reason it can't be shared with friends and great fun too, join us!

THURSDAY SOCIALS WITH DJ GEORGE 5pm until!

Featuring DJ George and his funky sounds plus fun and food/drinks available for all.

Easy sign up – Go to ICYCC web site, click on Racquet Sports, drop down menu, click on Register for Racquet Events and pick an event.

Contact the Racquet Sport office at 804-435-2713, email tennis@icycc.com for more information.

Click To Play

Contact Us

Board of Directors BILL VOSE, CLUB PRESIDENT KEN BRANSFORD BRIAN CLARKE DAVID DEW BARBARA FENTRESS

Administrative

Food & Beverage

BRIAN DARLAK

CURT DEGRAW

GENERAL MANAGER, CCM 804.435.1340 EXT 107Â BDARLAK@ICYCC.COM

FOOD & BEVERAGE DIRECTOR 804.435.1340 EXT 109 CDEGRAW@ICYCC.COM

DEBBIE GILLISPIE DAN HOYT MIKE PETTY KATHY RHODES

MEGAN STEPHENS

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR 804.435.1340 EXT 104 MEGAN@ICYCC.COM

SHAWN VALDRIGHI

DINING ROOM MANAGER 804.435.1340 EXT 110 SVALDRIGHI@ICYCC.COM

AL ROSS RICK SAUNDERS GIL ZIMMERMAN

Golf

HOURS OF OPERATION

MIKE MAYER

PETER STEPHENS

HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL, PGA 804.435.1340 EXT 101 804.435.3130 GOLFSHOP@ICYCC.COM

GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT,CGCS 804.435.2470 (O) 804.436.4059 (C)

GOLF COURSE: 8-6 P.M. CURBSIDE CARRYOUT TUESDAY-SUNDAY 11:00-6:00 P.M. SKIPJACK, WILLOW OAKS TERRACE AND GRILL ROOM TUESDAY-SATURDAY 11:30-6:30 P.M. SUNDAYS - 11:30 P.M.- 5 P.M. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

CLUB WEBSITE: ICYCC.COM CLUB PHONE: 804.435.1340 TENNIS CENTER: 804.435.2713

Racquet GEORGE CHRISTOFORATOS

RACQUET SPORTS DIRECTOR 804.435.1340 EXT 102 TENNIS@ICYCC.COM