RGGC Spring Tee Times Newsletter

Tee

ROLLING GREEN GOLF CLUB

Times spring 2015

From the President

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e can all agree it is good to welcome back spring and golfing weather. I want to encourage you to take a moment to read through the information in this newsletter as there is a lot of important information for you. Included in this issue are updates from the House, Green and Golf Committees and important information from the Long Range Planning Committee.

The Planning Committee update is a very good summary of what work is being accomplished; please be sure to familiarize yourself with the information.

Mark Litrenta will also be addressing a few changes that you should be aware of with our staff. In May we will be wishing a happy retirement to Jenny Morrison. Jenny has been a team member at Rolling Green for 26 years and we thank her for her years of service.

Recently we have had some significant damage to our golf cart building. Thankfully there were no injuries to anyone even though some members were nearby on the practice range at the time a large branch fell 30 feet and struck the roof. This highlights why we take a great deal of time to manage the trees on the property and to remove trees that may be problematic for one reason or another.

Enjoy the spring weather and I look forward to seeing you at the Club!

Mike Rothman

President

280 N. State Road, Springfield, PA 19064 d 610.544.4500 d www.Rggc.Org

General Manager’s Message

Dear Members,

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t is good to see everyone coming out and enjoying this time of year! Warmer temperatures that bring budding trees, flowering bulbs and green grass are always a welcome sight here at Rolling Green. Let me update you on some changes and new faces around the club.

Many members recognize Jenny Morrison as a familiar voice when calling the club’s office. After 26 years of service to Rolling Green Golf Club, Jenny will be retiring in May. She and her husband will be relocating to their vacation home in Cape May County, something they have been planning for some time. Please join us in wishing Jenny a happy retirement!

Let me introduce to you our new locker room attendant…

Antonio Campbell. Antonio has been on the culinary team as a kitchen steward for a year. Antonio will be our full-time locker room attendant, taking care of the facilities and making sure the locker rooms are cared for and ready for you. So you might be asking “Where’s Mike Flynn?” Mike has decided to enjoy more of the golf season so he will be working part time through the season.

Chef Scott has also made a few changes to the culinary team over the winter season. His goal remains to give you a great dining experience. I am happy to report that the team is working well together under Chef’s leadership. We know we need to make it right every time and we will always work to make that happen.

Graduation season is almost here, as well as many other family celebrations. Remember to call us and we would be delighted to help you plan your event. From small to large gatherings, we are here to make it a positively memorable time for you and your guests. Please give me a call to book a date and get the planning process started.

I’ll see you at the Club,

Mark B. Litrenta, CCM COO and General Manager

Inside This Issue Long Range Planning Committee...............................3

Mother’s Day Reminder.............................................9

Membership Committee............................................4

U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship News........... 10

Grounds Superintendent............................................5

House Committee Update....................................... 11

Green Committee......................................................6

House Committee Update....................................... 12

Golf Committee Update.............................................7

From the Culinary Team......................................... 12

Golf Update..............................................................8

Calendar.......................................................... 13-15

Women’s Golf at Rolling Green..................................9

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Long Range Planning committee Planning For Our Future

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n August 2013, you provided the Rolling Green Long Term Planning Committee (LTPC) a tremendous amount of feedback via our Membership Survey. In fact, over 65% of our Bondholders responded, which is above the national average for responses to a private club survey.

Our goal has been to use the information you provided to improve the member experience in all facets of our operations here at Rolling Green. Initially we focused on developing plans and tactics that help drive our performance in key areas such as course maintenance and our golf and house operations. These “strategic tenets” have become the basis for our annual plans in each of these areas.

Over the past ten months we have focused on what you told us you would like to see new and improved from a facilities standpoint. Specifically, you said you wanted improved dining options, updated social areas and an improved practice facility. Working with our consultant, Chambers USA, we have completed a full review of our Clubhouse facilities and have designed options that will address these areas.

These options are being finalized and we will present them to you at an upcoming RG Town Hall Informational Meeting in May. We highly encourage you to be a part of this meeting. We will ask you to provide input based upon what you see and that input, always critical to our efforts, will help shape our final design.

Understanding that everyone’s schedules vary, we will provide several times over the course of several days for you to attend. Our communication plan will also include detailed member brochures with plan layouts and artists renderings.

If you have any questions prior to the meeting, please reach out to me or anyone on the Long Term Planning Committee. Thank you.

Jim Avato

Long Term Planning Committee: Jim Avato, LTPC Chair, Planning Vice Chair

Jerry Conway

Mike Rothman, President

Karen Bogosian, Membership Committee, US Women’s AM Committee

Don Helwig, Treasurer

Mike DeFino, Planning Committee

Anthony Rosati, Planning Chair, Green Committee, Board

Tom Rafferty, Planning Committee

Will Nicolls, House Chair, Planning Committee, Board

Mark B. Litrenta, General Manager

Don Hays, Planning Committee

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Membership Committee

c o l m e e !

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C

ongratulations to all the new members we have welcomed to Rolling Green since our last newsletter. They are:

Jeff Swetland

Dave White

Tony Lisa

Rocco Imperatrice

Rob Hummel

Tim Thomas

Ryan O’Donnell

Mike Zirolli

Mike Spear

George Donnelly

Brian Garvey

Steve Caggiano

Matt Brannigan

Chris Stewart

Jerry Haftman

Richard Browne

Jim Fruchtey

Tom Millison

Please extend a warm Rolling Green welcome to these guys and feel free to reach out to set up a game. Their contact information is in the book or online under the Roster section.

I am happy to inform you about two successful promotions we had for membership. The first is the Open Houses that we had in September. The net result of those two days were three new Bond members!

The second promotion was our House to Bond promotion that ended March 31st, which was a great success. I am please to tell you that a total of 9 House members converted to Bond and took advantage of the $1,000 Golf Shop credit. I am sure we will see 9 sets of new clubs out there! Our Member Referral incentive is still in place so get those names to anyone on the Membership Committee. We have a few open Bonds so let’s do our best to find potential members. The timing couldn’t be better and the course is in great shape!

Jack Mullen Membership Chair

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Grounds Superintendent The following is an article that will appear in the Golf Course Architecture magazine.

Rolling Green Golf Club prepares for 2016 USGA Women’s Amateur Championship Forse Design has led a series of improvements to the William Flynn-designed course at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pennsylvania, as the club prepares to host the 2016 USGA Women’s Amateur Championship.

GCA caught up with architect Jim Nagle to discuss recent work at a club his firm has a long history with.

“We’ve had a ten-year relationship with Rolling Green Golf Club,” Nagle explained. “In the past we’ve rebuilt all their bunkers, introduced new tees, and worked on a lot of tree management issues. In July 2014 we received a phone call saying the club was looking into the possibility of reworking or expanding all of its greens.”

in new mix. Another crew came into rake things off, and another crew began to returf.

The club also needed to address some drainage problems it was encountering on the greens. After years of top dressing, ‘dams’ had built up across the front of many greens, which led to water ponding.

Nebraska-based firm Landscape Unlimited was the contractor and finished 20 greens at the club – 18 on the course, the short game green and built a new practice green – in just 22 days. The project was managed by Superintendent Charlie Carr. The project was implemented with former green chairman Anthony Rosati and completed by current green chairman Dave Staebler, with course improvement continuing this spring.

“Rolling Green is a golf club first, with a focus solely on the golf course,” Nagle said. “The size of their greens – or rather how much they had shrunk – and the speed at which they maintain their greens was really beginning to limit potential hole locations.”

With the USGA Women’s Amateur coming, the club management feared it wouldn’t be able to showcase the course at the best it could be and provide the interesting and challenging hole locations original to the course.

“After we finished our bunker project in 2007, golf historian Jim Finnegan said that Rolling Green was at its ‘historic best’,” said Nagle. “The club took hold of this, and nine years later, they want to make sure the course appears to its members and on television during the tournament ‘at its historic best’.”

Work began in September 2014, with the project focussing on one green at a time. In addition to the expansion of every green, some internal modifications were made to a number of greens that involved softening the greens to gain more cupping areas.

“It was a very intensive project, in that it was like an assembly line process,” explained Nagle. “One group was stripping the turf, while another group came in and began coring out the soils in the area of the green that would be expanded. Somebody would also be modifying the irrigation, and another group would come in and put

Charlie Carr Grounds Superintendent

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green Committee The golf course conditioning goals for 2015 are in order of importance: 1. Healthy Grass 2. Firm Playing Conditions 3. Challenging, But Not Unfair Green Speeds These goals are prioritized in that order because as the golf course navigates the months from April through December, Mother Nature will throw a variety of challenges at our maintenance team, and they need to know our expectations so they can react to them appropriately.

As the golf course comes out of winter, the main focus will be on establishing robust grass growth. We have limited expectation that conditions will begin to firm up prior to the middle or end of April. As we begin the season with soft conditions, one adjustment that will be made to golf course set-up will be to push the tee markers somewhat forward of their normal positions to compensate for the lack of roll in the fairways. As the fairways firm up, the tee markers will move back to their normal positions.

With the putting greens, every year the initial challenge is establishing good grass growth. This year we have the extra challenge of making sure the green expansions, done last fall, are successfully rooting and blending with the established putting surfaces. One of the maintenance precautions that will be followed, in order to make sure the grass on the greens establishes good growth, is mowing heights initially will be higher than those used to achieve the challenging green speeds desired. This is nothing new; it is done at the beginning of every golf season. To compensate for slower than desired green speeds as we begin the season, hole locations will be located in the more sloping areas of the greens to maintain the challenge of putting and chipping we expect and enjoy.

Toward the end of April, the grass will start growing like crazy. During the month or so that follows, one of the biggest challenges will be controlling the height of the rough. With robust spring grass growth will also come the ability to start lowering the putting green mowing heights. The challenge when the summer months are upon us will be maintaining the health of the fairway and putting green grasses during hot humid weather.

These challenges will be addressed in more detail in future communications.

The Green Committee wants to hear your feedback about your play on the course. Tell us: •

if there are areas on the course you see where the conditioning is below your expectations

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if there is a fairway(s) where your drive made a pitch-mark and you didn’t get any roll

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if the greens are too soft or too firm

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if particular hole locations are too easy or too hard

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if your ball isn’t rolling smoothly when you putt

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if the rough is too difficult to play from or if you think it is not challenging enough

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if there are bunkers where the sand is too firm and your club bounces when you try to play a shot

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if you had a ball plug in the diagonal face of a bunker instead of rolling down to the bunker floor

• •

if you had a ball hang up in an eyebrow above a bunker instead of rolling down into the bunker if anything else concerns you

Your feedback will help the maintenance team make the course better. With a good feedback process, the things that impact your enjoyment of your game and the course will be addressed more quickly and efficiently.

There are two way to provide your feedback. 1) By email to greencommittee@rggc.org or 2) by filling out a feedback form, available in the Golf Shop.

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golf Committee update

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ith spring finally arriving, we are looking forward to a great golf season this year at Rolling Green. The Golf Committee has been meeting and planning to make this the best season ever!

Here are a few things for you to note: • We will be offering discounted guest fees again this year. You will have the ability to buy up to 6 guest fees at $65 per round during the month of April (instead of the normal fee of $90). These rounds must be used by the end of the golf season. Any rounds that were purchased in previous years will be honored this year.

Going forward, any rounds that are carried over will result in a $65 credit against the normal $90 fee.

• All Golf Shop credit must be used by March 31, 2016. All current credit will be honored. Credit will run from April 1- March 31st to be in line with our fiscal year.

• The course will be aerified Tuesday and Wednesday, May12 and 13. All guest rounds will be $65 May 14-29 as the course recovers from aerification.

• We have a number of Mondays open for outings. If anyone is interested in having an outing on a Monday, please contact Mark Litrenta. Members are allowed to join groups together to form an outing.

Upcoming Events • The Opening Day Tournament is April 11th. It will be a 9 am ABCD blind draw breakfast cannon. Please sign up in the Golf Shop. Make note that this tournament will feature new pin positions gained from the green restoration project last fall. This event is sure to be exciting!

• GAP Team Matches are Sundays April 19, 26 and May 3. If you are interesting in participating, please contact Chris Thompson at cthompson@t3groupinc.com or 610574-9449, or the Golf Shop.

• Get psyched for Irish-Italian Day on Wednesday, May 6. Last year the Irish took the cup…. Who will it be this year?

• Be sure to save the date for our Member Guest on Friday and Saturday, June 19-20.

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Golf Update

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pril 1st begins the new golf calendar year and we are looking forward to it! Please post all scores starting then. There is a new way of posting scores here at the club. Please ask the Golf Shop for guidance when posting for the first time here at Rolling Green.

Golf Shop Merchandise

Clinics

New merchandise is arriving in the shop starting April 1st.

The golf shop will be offering Ladies Clinics throughout the year; these will be held on Wednesdays at 10:30 am. Dates are: May 20th, June 10th, July 8th, August 19th

Clubs from Titleist, Mizuno, Callaway and TaylorMade will be in stock and custom fitting will be available for these brands. No need to wait for a demo day.

Women’s Beginner Clinics - An exclusive clinic for ladies with less than 3 years playing experience which includes instruction in all areas of golf, tailored to the beginner. Clinics will be conducted on Saturdays at 10:00 am. Dates are: April 18th, May 1st, May 15th, May 29th

Shoes from Adidas, Footjoy, and Nike will be in stock. We have a large selection of these brands in stock so there is no need for special orders.

Quality golf clothing is available from Adidas, Ashworth, Peter Millar, Nike, Greg Norman, Donald Ross, EP Pro, Tail and Level Wear. Come on in and check out what we have, you will be pleased! We are also reintroducing the classic Rolling Green Logo which will be available through our exclusive Rolling Green trademark line.

Junior Clinics are also scheduled for all juniors golfers 14 years old and younger for any Rolling Green Member’s child or grandchild. They are conducted on Sundays at 2:30 pm and run approximately for an hour. Dates for these are: May 3rd, May 17th, May 31st, June 7th A special Junior Teaching and Coaching Program is planned to start at the end of June. The program is for intermediate to advanced junior golfers. This is designed for one private lesson and one supervised practice per week. Additional information will be available soon.

Important Demo Day Dates: Friday, April 17th – Callaway 1-6pm Thursday, May 21st – Mizuno 2-6pm Friday, May 22nd – TaylorMade 3-7pm Titleist and more – dates to come

Call the Golf Shop at 610-328-5535 for more information.

The Golf Shop staff and I are excited for spring weather, warm golfing days, and getting to know you better. So plan to come on out to Rolling Green and enjoy our beautiful course!

See you at the Shop!

Mike Rugg Head Professional

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Women’s Golf at Rolling Green Welcome Back 9 & 18-Hole Women!

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ur season starts out with the 18-hole golfers playing on Tuesday, April 7th with coffee at 8:30am and a 9:30am Cannon start. The 9-holers’ “Opening Day Scramble” will be played on Thursday, April 9th at 9:00am with a Continental Breakfast at 8:00am and ending with Lunch and our Spring Meeting.

Play continues every Tuesday (18-Holers) and Thursday (9-Holers) throughout the summer with some Sunday tournaments scheduled. Several golfers play in both groups and new members are always welcomed. Information is available from Ann DeLaura at DDelaura@sprynet.com for the 18-holers, or Sue Ulmer at fsulmer@hotmail.com for the 9-holers.

The 18-holers will play WGAP Matches against five clubs beginning in mid April to May. On Thursday, May 28th, all women golfers at Rolling Green are welcome to participate in the “Rally for the Cure.” Hopefully, we will have a good turnout since this is for a worthy cause. On Sunday, May 17th, the 9-holers will play in a Mixed Event starting at 3:30pm with dinner to follow. The “Husband and Wife” Tournament, a club event, will be played on Sunday, May 31st.

Golf clinics, opened to any club member, will be held May 20th and June 10th at 10:30am. Additional clinics will be scheduled for mid summer. Beginner clinics are being planned for Saturdays.

Whatever your level of golf play is, you are welcome to participate in our Ladies Golf events here are Rolling Green. We hope to see you at the club!

Remember Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10th.

Plan to celebrate with us on Sunday, May 10th for Mother’s Day. Watch the weekly email for information about our Mother’s Day Dining options.

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U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship News

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• The second is the U.S. Senior Amateur which will be staged in Egg Harbor Township, NJ at Hidden Creek Golf Club from September 26th through October 1st. This should be very analogous to the type of championship we will be hosting from field/format of the event (stroke play qualifier/match play to determine the champion) to the infrastructure required, as well as attendance (free admission).

Interestingly, for a governing body as old as the USGA, the Senior Amateur has only been conducted since 1955, but truly reflects that golf is ageless to those who want to play and compete.

s everyone has read in the recent Championship Times newsletter, the planning process for hosting this prestigious USGA event is in full swing and moving forward successfully.

We continue to be privileged to have a membership whose love of golf is reflected in the support to The 1926 Club and volunteering to assist in the championship.

It turns out, our area is hosting two other USGA championships this year that are worth attending. If you have not read about them or do not have them on your calendar, here are the details.

• The first is the U.S. Women’s Open, which will be staged in Lancaster, PA at Lancaster CC from July 9th through July 12th. The success of the current rising stars in the professional women’s tour are many who developed their games in college/university and are not that much older that those you will see next summer at Rolling Green in the Amateur Championship.

We are anticipating the launch of the Women’s Amateur website in the upcoming months and will continue to provide any updated and new information to our membership through Championship Times and Tee Times. As always, please contact anyone on the Championship Committee with any questions.

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House Committee update

Welcome to Spring 2015!

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don’t know about you, but I am tired of the cold weather, the dreary days, and so ready to celebrate a beautiful Spring!! It seems a long time coming, but it’s finally here and we’re hoping to see you around the club very soon.

New Look Menus As with the new season, Chef Scott has prepared some really exciting new menus for the season – Lunch, Dinner, and yes, a NEW Bar menu for those middle afternoon hours. (Click on the menu name to see it).

You will notice some of our traditional offerings have stayed and Chef has prepared some new selections I’m sure you will enjoy.

Menu’s also have a new look, easy to ready and quite attractive.

The Bar Menu should prove to be a favorite especially when you come off the course in the afternoon and not quite ready for dinner, but hungry enough for something simple and enjoyable.

Did someone say Wine?

Since I’ve been fortunate enough to be the House Chairman, we’ve always desired to present our members a wine list you can be proud of…..well, …..actually a wine list itself would be a great start.

I think we’re finally there!! Mark has been working hard to make sure we’re able to handle a real inventory of wines, a good assortment across the various grapes, and has been training our staff to deliver a wonderful wine experience. Look for our wine list very soon, as well as some tastings for you to let us know what you think.

Fire Up the Grill Coming in June, or as soon as the weather is warm enough for us to eat outside comfortably, we’re gonna “fire up the grill” on Thursdays (weather permitting).

We’re also going to be watching the weather on the weekends and where we can, we want to maximize the use of grill. There’s nothing better than the smell of the smoke coming off the grill when you’re coming up #9 or finishing your round for the day.

First Fridays We will continue with a Club Happy Hour on the first Friday of the month throughout the spring and into early summer. We may need to move some from the first Friday of the month depending on our events, member outings, or possibly a holiday. We’ll keep you informed.

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House Committee update Members Open House Event We’re also finalizing an Open House event to all Members sometime in May. Stay tuned for the final details.

We want everyone to come out and welcome our new members, catch up with old friends, and line up some new golf partners.

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n behalf of the House Committee, we want to welcome you to spring of 2015 and look forward to seeing you around the Club.

Best Regards,

Will Nicolls House Chairman

House Committee Members Jim Avato (Vice Chair), Mark Rabinowitz (Secretary), Larry DiBello, Larry Biester, Don Hays, Becky Avato, Cait Levy, Mike Direnzo, Anthony Foster, Mark Litrenta and Chef Scott Passaretti

From the Culinary Team

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hat a great time of year for all things culinary. This is a perfect time to use seasonal fish like Shad and Shad Roe and summer herbs, ramps, fiddleheads and fresh vegetables. I am looking forward to incorporating seasonal foods and presenting some tasty dishes for you to enjoy. We are also planning Grillin’ Thursdays this summer. Please contact me if I can ever help you with anything from the kitchen!

Here’s a seasonal recipe to try…

Baked Shad & Roe with Bacon Cream Ingredients:

Method: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees, dry Roe set with clean towel. Season Shad and Roe set with salt & pepper. Heat sauté pan over medium/high heat. Dredge fillet & roe sets in flour. Add butter to sauté pan and add fillet & roe sets. Brown on one side. Add bacon & shallots to sauté pan, render fat from bacon. Flip fillet & roe sets.

Deglaze sauté pan with Sherry wine, add heavy cream, and reduce by ¼. Place in oven for approximately 8 minutes; fish and roe should feel firm. To plate, place fish on plate with roe nape sauce over top, garnish with Sorrel.

8 oz Fresh Delaware Shad 1 Jumbo Set of Shad Roe 1 Shallot Minced 1 T Clarified Butter 2 Slices Applewood Smoked Bacon Julienned 1 oz Sherry Wine 4 oz Heavy Cream Salt & Pepper to taste Flour for dredging Sorrel for garnish

Buon Appetito!

Chef Scott

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April 2015 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

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In-Season Play Begins 8:15 SMGA Opening Day Sr. Club Champ Sign-up begins

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9:30 Cannon 18-HoleWomen Opening Day

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19

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26

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GAP Matches 10:00

GAP Matches 10:00

8:30 Cannon F9 9-Hole Women Opening Day

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9:00 Opening Day Breakfast Cannon ABCD Blind Draw

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8:00 18-Hole Women (Opening day rain date)

9:00 WGAP Team Matches 1 Team

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9:00 WGAP Team Matches

May 2015 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

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3

4

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10

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17

GAP Matches 10:00

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Saturday

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9:00 WGAP Team Match

7:00-12:00 Mitchell Cup

1:00 Cannon Irish/Italian Day

1:00 Men’s Member/Guest

4:00 Nine and Dine

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12 Aerification

13 Aerification

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20 8:30 Cannon Sr. Inter-Club

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2:30 Jr. Clinic

Mother’s Day Special Dining

3:30 Tee Times 9-HoleMixed Event 2:30 Jr. Clinic

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2:30 Jr. Clinic

Memorial Day BBQ

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12:30 Husband & Wife Championship 2:30 Jr. Clinic

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8:30 Cannon Rally For the Cure 9 &18-Hole Women F9

Sr. Championship Finals

June 2015 Sunday

Monday

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2:30 Jr Clinic

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2:30 Jr. Clinic 3:30 Tee Times 9-Hole Husband & Wife Championship

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Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

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12:30 Cannon 18-Hole Women Member/Guest

8:00 18-Hole Women (Member/Guest Rain date) Club Championship Sign-Up begins

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GAP Philly Am Championship

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10:00 Father Son Championship 11:30 Father Son Invitational

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Member/Guest Practice Rounds

Member/Guest Practice Rounds

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Golf Course Closed

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(Member/Guest Rain-Date)

8:00 9-Hole Women F9 Member/Guest

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4:00 Nine and Dine

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Member/Guest

Member/Guest

(Course & Range Closed)

(Course & Range Closed)

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