Director of Golf & Grounds
Hello Lost City Golf Club members. My name is Taylor Griffin and I am excited to be joining the team as the new Director of Golf Course and Grounds at your club. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone around the course, please don’t hesitate to ask any questions if you have some. I’ll be leaving Old Marsh Golf Club where I’ve spent the last 5 years as their Assistant Superintendent working for some great mentors. The membership should be very proud of the renovation that recently took place and the grow in that was a huge success! I can’t wait to jump in and pick right back up where you left off during the renovation and continuing to elevate the conditions and aesthetics of the golf course! Thank you for this opportunity and again I’m looking forward to meeting every single one of you over the next few months!
The Winter Season is in full swing. Our golf course and dining rooms are busy. The biggest thing I notice in my travels around the clubhouse and course each day is how much people care about the Lost City Golf Club and the game of golf. I recently played in a TGIF and also played a few holes with various club members. Their love for the game of golf and the Lost City Golf Club was quite obvious. I consider myself a fairly competitive person, my TGIF Team was just as competitive as me or more which was fun to be a part of. At the time of this writing, I have just come in from touring the course. There were several tournament matches being played, a few had to go into sudden death playoffs. Great to watch women and men enjoying the competition and comraderie. When I walk around our dining rooms and watch our club members interact with friends, family and staff it is quite powerful. Celebrations and difficult life experiences bring people together. Our Club acts as a venue for both. Part of being a member of the Lost City Golf Club is being there for your fellow members and staff during good times and bad. Watching and talking with individual staff members on a daily basis can be quite moving at times. I get to see first hand how
much our staff wants to do a good job for our members. I can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. We have a good group of dedicated people on our team. We are a small club by design. Less than 4hour rounds of golf and easy access to our golf courses is the norm and the goal. Our golf course renovation is being enjoyed by all. Our new Director of Golf Course Maintenance Taylor Griffin started Monday, January 31. Steve Yager elevated the Lost City Golf Club Course Maintenance Operation during his tenure, we are confident Taylor will be able to do the same. Being a club with a small membership roster and having less resources than our counterparts with larger membership rosters does present some challenges for our staff but we are up to the task. You could compare us to the Florida Marlins when they beat the Yankees in the 2003 World Series. The Yankees payroll was one of the highest in the league and the Marlins had one of the lowest. Our resource levels demand that all of us execute in a caring, passionate, thoughtful and creative manner. Our club has been on the rise and we strive to continue that improvement in the years ahead.
Inflationary pricing, supply chain issues, supply shortages, and labor shortages have been difficult to deal with. The restaurant industry and the golf course maintenance industry have suffered more than most industries with skyrocketing prices for products and small labor pools. Mihai, Mason and Steve have done their best to meet the expectations of you, our members. Mihai and Chef Nicholas have done their best to keep menu prices as low as possible but many items they have no control over. Friendly Reminders: • • • • • •
Drive on the cart paths as much as possible. Drive in our new rough as little as possible. Keep carts on paths around green complexes. If you see a cart traffic stake, stay away from that area. Throw cigarette and cigar butts in the garbage. Bathrooms are located on 3rd Tee South, 3rd Tee North 7th Tee East.
As always, thank you to all of our Board Members and Committee Members. All of these people give large amounts of time and care to our club and do not receive enough thanks. Enjoy the rest of the Winter Season in paradise!! Leo McMahon General Manager Lost City Golf Club.
Sunday February 20th, 2022 3:00 PM CLUBHOUSE PATIO Rain Date: Monday February 21st @ 2:00pm
Annual General Meeting Lost City Golf Club
WGA
The 2021-2022 golf season is in full swing. After we went to press for the January newsletter, a new event, called The Firecracker, was played on December 28th. Winners in Flight 1 were Gina Devine, Jane Speakman, Ruth Grathwohl, and Linda Curto. Flight 2 winners were Libby Coates, Maureen Sniff, and Marsha Becraft with help from Ann Snyder as the “Blind”. Each won $10. January 4th, 2022 was our Quota event. The winners were Pat Cmarik 41 pts, Debbie Kingsley 38 points, Stevie Davenport 36 points. Tied for 35 points each were Mary Lynn Liegel, Sharon Sands, and Jane Speakman. Partners Better Ball, our second Major Event this season, was played on two Tuesdays. Overall Champions were Marcy Albright and Pat Cmarik with 121 points Other winners: Flight 1: Low Net- Nelly Novac & Karen Vaughan – 131 2nd Net – Cindy Crawford & Mary Lou Neagle – 132 Flight 2: Low Net – Stevie Davenport & Diane Potter – 130 2nd Net -Lynda Forbes & Jane Pasquale – 132 Flight 3: Low Net- Ilene De Riso & Mary Lynn Liegel – 132 2nd Net – Judy Jokiel & Claire Rose. - 141 Upcoming WGA Events for February: Feb 1: Open play because -- IT’S CAN-AM WEEK! WOOHOO - It’s back! We missed it last year due to Covid19. It is one of the most enthusiastic events of the season. Pull out your red, white and blue attire, sign up and get ready to play. Feb 8 & 15 Eclectic Ringers – a 2-day event, your best score on either day counts for the total! Feb 22: WGA MEMBER GUEST – the theme is -- It’s a Garden Par-tee! (12:30 Shotgun) Please get your entry forms into the pro shop. Our ladies, Liz Bond & Mary Lynn Liegel, have put together a fantastic venue for this special occasion. It’s fun, great camaraderie, good food, fun pictures, and prizes. You don’t want to miss out on this one. This is a wonderful time of year for golfers at Lost City Golf Club. Please come out and join us and share in the fun. Pat Cmarik, Assistant Tournament Chairman.
LCGC Men’s Bridge Group
The Men’s Bridge Group at our Club is planning to get restarted with faceto-face play in the Men’s Card Room on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. We are currently looking for others who enjoy the game. Given the limited number of players, we will generally play Rubber or Chicago style. If you are interested in playing, please can contact Bill Thompson by email at wrt19@yahoo.com or by phone at (937) 266-3503 or Don Greenhalgh by email at dgreenhalgh13@gmail.com or by phone at (617) 939-7822.
Tell your friends about our Welcome Membership
Play has begun. 1st round matches will be completed by Feb 6. 2nd round and consolation matches begin at that time.
The next meeting of the Atlantis Literary Society is scheduled for February 16, 2022 at Lost City Golf Club. The meeting starts at 9:30am, with a continental breakfast available. Again, we will be meeting outside, under the rear awning. Cost is $10. Lost City members will have this amount charged to their house account. We will be discussing “Killing Crazy Horse” by Bill O’Reilly. For those interested, we will be reading “The Color of Water” by James McBride for the next meeting on March 16, 2022. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Martha Greenhalgh at mgreen144@aol.com or call at 617-947-2713. Happy Reading.
Come help improve OUR course by filling divots and raking bunkers. After. Please come in and have a drink on us. Contact Cassandra@lostcitygolf.com so we know who is coming
Mark your calendars for the 9-Hole Ladies Chinese New Year’s celebration on Tuesday, February 8th! Look for your invitation in the mail with information on the Golf Event & Luncheon. The Year of the Tiger will start with a roar! Our future party luncheons: Tuesday, March 8th - Member-Guest Golf Event & Luncheon Tuesday, April 7th - Farewell Luncheon
HOLERS
Congratulations to our winning January golfers: Jan. 4th: Sally Howard - Lowest Net Jan. 11th: Nanci Jackman - Fewest Putts Jan.18th: Linda Heilman, Nanci Jackman, Eileen Sullivan - One Best Ball of Foursome; Nanci Jackman - Chip In
All LCGC women members are welcome to join the 9-Hole Ladies! Our golfers play every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM, after a 9:30 AM clinic on most Tuesdays. Our non-playing Nifty Niners are invited to our luncheon parties and are welcome to join us for lunch after our Tuesday play. Nifty Niners can also serve on our board as well as on our party committees. Cassandra can help you sign up.
Come Play With Us!
Before the news of what awaits you on the social scene in February, as House Chair I would like to take a few moments to offer a dose of reality in response to some members’ questions and comments concerning food and beverage and social events. Trust me, Management and Staff are trying hard to navigate these difficult waters of Covid Times, sometimes doing a better job than at others, but always trying. Member expectations, however, need to be in line with what the Club is really living with and through. To begin, some of you seem to have the idea that we have all these new members paying dues so we must be really flush with dollars and, of course, the “Club” subsidizes food and beverage. Unfortunately, neither perception is true. When we began to actively solicit new members, it was because we REALLY needed them! The Club’s financial future was far from ensured. With their additional dues in the coffers, we were able to embark on our golf course renovation project by showing the banks involved that we could continue to be in decent shape. We were NOT left with money to burn. That being said, this year’s food and beverage budget which was done in August based its projection off of figures pre-Covid, figuring we were heading back towards normal times. That has not been the case.
The bulk of our new members seem to not attend evening events, Club dinners or TGIFs. We continue to be a “work in progress,” trying to brainstorm m events that will bring them out. Just as unfortunate, many of our regular past attendees are staying home more, limiting their social exposure during Covid. Food costs are up as anyone who goes to the supermarket knows; supply chain issues make purchasing even more challenging. Our Covid policies including the indoor mask mandate which the Board unanimously felt we had to do during the Omicron surge was unhappily but understandingly followed by most, but some members made their displeasure known by choosing to stay away from both dining and the pro shop and letting us know it. That surely did not help us. Staffing properly is not easy with last minute appearances as opposed to reservations, new staff is still learning and, again, Covid times are just different with more staff turnover.
On a positive note moving forward, Chef Nich arrived to find a staff that had never worked together or been organized in the professional culinary manner he was used to. He has painstakingly undertaken the task of improving systems and coaching staff, creating and teaching them systems with the end goal of improving the team’s performance. If you have noticed repetition on some menus that was for the express purpose of the staff perfecting a dish which could never happen if they made it once every two months. We aim to offer a quality product at a fair price and every menu does have choices available. As members, we can now be proud to offer our guests dining experiences that are creative and delicious as well as traditional standards consistently well executed. We also now have a printed “kid’s menu” geared to children’s appetites. And we are working on a “grab and go” for golfers making a lunchtime turn.
And now on to February, a short month but full of activity. There’s lots of golf events with food involved but we will leave their description to the Golf Committee. We begin with SUPER BOWL SUNDAY on February 13 where we will offer a “Tailgate” selection of salads and hot dishes in the Bar area beginning at 6:00pm for $25 per person. And we will follow it with a night for lovers on Monday, February 14 when we will celebrate VALENTINE’S DAY in style. Bring your honey and come enjoy a night of dining and dancing, indoors and out, in a romantic setting with an a la carte menu — eat as much or as little as you want. Our dress code does not require red but jackets are suggested for gentlemen. Reservations are a must to ensure great service. That busy week continues with TRIVIA and PUB NIGHT on Wednesday, February 16 — thinking caps optional. James Bond arrives on Saturday, February 19 when CASINO NIGHT, “Shaken, not Stirred,” comes to Lost City. We had so much fun the last time that we can’t wait to roll those dice again! The evening begins with cocktails at 6:30pm, Upscale Food Stations and Gaming Tables open at 7:00pm until 10:00pm. Collect enough tickets and you could even win a prize! Dress Code is Country Club Casual (tuxedos if you like) with an “entry fee” of $75 per person.
Make sure to vote for Board of Directors Vote online or by paper ballot Polls close 1 hour prior to the Annual Meeting
2022 Lost City Golf Club Ballot Select up to 3 nominees to fill 3 vacant positions on the Board of Directors. Each position carries a 3-year term. Names listed in alphabetical order.
Cindy Crawford – via Petition
Fred Gruel – via Nominating Committee
Roger Rose- via Petition
Karen Vaughan – via Nominating Committee
Place an X in the box of the candidates you wish to elect. Ballots with more than 3 nominees selected will be invalid. The Annual Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, February 20,2022 at 3PM. In order to be valid, your Ballot must be returned to the Club not later than 2 PM , February 20, 2022. Nick Monico was nominated to 1 year term by Nominating Committee. He is unopposed, thus ELECTED to the Board of Directors. Member Name: ______________________________________________________________ Member Number: ____________________________________________________________ Date: _______________________________________________________________________ Place your ballot in an envelope. You may return to Cassandra at the front desk. If it is outside of the normal work hours of 8am-4pm M-F, please deposit the envelope in the payment box outside the membership office.