Raintree Country Club Member Newsletter February 2022
Thank you for reading the
Raintree Country Club monthly newsletter. Each month you will find information to keep you up to date with the latest news and events along with news from our various associations.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS General Manager’s Message ......................................................................... 4 Membership News .......................................................................................... 5 Events & Dining ............................................................................................... 6 Golf .................................................................................................................... 11 Tennis & Fitness ............................................................................................. 14 Calendar ........................................................................................................... 21
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@raintreecountryclubnc Board of Directors Jay Herring: President Laura Sullivan: Vice President Thom Goeken: Treasurer Larry Witham: Secretary Al Andrews Matt Arnold David Boyce Mike Fresina Bill Gray Zach Hall Stuart Hogge Charles Jones Charles Powell Kevin Thompson Stephen Winters Monthly Board Meeting Minutes are on Raintree's Website under the "Club Information" link.
CONTACT US Should you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our Staff.
Clubhouse
704.542.8150
Lakeside Grille 704.542.7239
Golf Shop
704.541.8880
Tennis Shop 704.542.8095
Course Maintenance 704.543.9467
Jim Troutman
General Manager jim.troutman@raintreecc.net
Danielle Landers
Director of Membership membership@raintreecc.net
Kris Cappuzzo
Director of Golf kris.cappuzzo@raintreecc.net
Marc Kantor
Director of Athletics marc.kantor@raintreecc.net
Caroline Ness
Clubhouse Manager caroline.ness@raintreecc.net Additional Club contacts can be found on the final page of the newsletter
February 2022 | 3
From
the
General Manager
Dear Members, Our Staff is hard at work preparing for the upcoming Golf, Tennis, and Pool season. We have lots of activities planned in every area of the Club and are anticipating record participation across the board! The Pavilion will be a great addition for hosting Member events that I am certain everyone will enjoy.
General Manager Jim Troutman jim.troutman@raintreecc.net
As you all know, staffing across the country continues to be a difficult area and we continue to monitor and schedule things accordingly. Our Managers are actively recruiting and interviewing every week for various positions across the Club with the continued mission of providing an exceptional service experience to our Members. The warm weather will be back before we know it, I hope you all have a great month and should you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask. Warmest Regards,
Jim Troutman, General Manager
February 2022 | 4
Special Event
The Buzz about Bees | February 20 2-3PM
$10 includes a welcome cocktail and a jar of local honey from Charlotte Local Honey I’m sure by now many of you have heard about the struggles of honeybees and other pollinators world-wide, but what’s REALLY going on with honeybees and other pollinators? Join naturalist and certified beekeeper Marvin Bouknight for a presentation and learn about the amazing world of honeybees and other pollinators, the basics of beekeeping, the issues facing pollinators, and what you can do to make your backyards pollinatorfriendly. Biographical Information - Marvin Bouknight Marvin Bouknight, a South Carolina native, has been a wildlife biologist, naturalist, writer, and wildlife photographer for over 30 years. With a wildlife biology degree from Clemson University, Marvin has served as a naturalist, biologist, environmental educator, and wildlife manager for a variety of private and public organizations throughout the Carolinas. An avid birder, hiker, photographer, and “shroomer”, he enjoys getting out in the woods and experiencing the beauty of nature, always learning, and sharing his experiences and adventures with others. In 2010, he authored his first book “South Carolina’s Lowcountry… Naturally”, a photo tour of the habitats of the S.C. Lowcountry. You can follow his photography and blogs on Facebook under “Nature Nook Wildlife Photography”. https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com/
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER February 2022 | 5
Pro Shop News Buyer’s Club Program $200.00 to Join • Must sign up by February 28th. • Not Available to register throughout the season after February 28th. • New Members can register within 30 days of joining the club. • Any current members will be auto renewed in January. • Please contact the Golf Shop to add or remove your account from the Buyer’s Club.
Buyer’s Club pricing is 10%-15% above wholesale cost and includes the following items: • Golf Balls, Gloves, Hats • Shirts,Outerwear,Pants,Shorts • Clubs • Accessories Items not Included: • Grips • Counter Items (Batteries, Repair Tools, Ball Markers, etc.)
Golf Shop Credit Expiring in March 2022
Please be sure to use any remaining Golf Shop Credit Balances by March 31, 2022. Once credits have expired, they cannot be reinstated. Golf Shop Credit can only be won if you have played in a golf event throughout the 2021 season and can only be used in for Golf Shop merchandise. To inquire about Golf Shop Credit balances, please contact the Golf Shop at 704-541-8880.
Club Event Save the Dates:
May 13th - 15th Stag Men’s Member Guest May 31st - June 2nd Aeration South Course June 7th - 9th Aeration North Course July 23rd - 24th Junior Club Championship July 28th - 29th Senior 4-Ball Championship August 20th - 21st Senior Club Championship Sept. 6th - 8th Aeration South Course Sept. 13th - 15th Aeration North Course Sept. 30th - October 2nd Men’s & Ladies Club Championship October 13th - 15th Men’s Fall Member Guest
Upcoming Demo Days:
• Mizuno: March 11 | 1:00PM - 5:00PM • Callaway: March 25 | 12:00PM - 4:00PM • PING: April 22 | 12:00PM - 4:00PM Please contact the Golf Shop to reserve a 30-minute fitting appointment. Each Demo Day will have multiple launch monitors, a company representative and a brand representative from the Golf Professional Staff. February 2022 | 10
RMGA The New RMGA Season Begins! Mark your calendars and begin to make your plans now! The 2022 RMGA schedule has been finalized and is included below for your information. The traditional Opening Scramble and Breakfast Meeting will open the season on March 19 followed by the Red Tee Tournament and then the year’s first “Major”; the Member-Member Match Play in April. Get your game in shape – the season will be here before you know it!
2022 RMGA Schedule
March 19th Opening Scramble 10:00 Shotgun North April 9th Red Tee Tournament 9:30 Shotgun South April 30th Member/Member Match Play 9:30 Shotgun South May 1st Member/Member Match Play 9:30 Shotgun North June 4th 3-Man 3-Club Scramble 9:00 Shotgun South June 25th The Derby 8:00 Tee Times South June 26th The Derby 9:00 Shotgun North July 16th Red, White & Blue 8:00 Tee Times South July 17th Red, White & Blue 8:00 Tee Times South August 6th The Draft 9:00 Shotgun South August 7th The Draft 9:00 Shotgun North September 3rd Intra-Association Event (Tentative) 9:00 Shotgun South September 24th 2-Man 3-in-1 (18 holes) 8:00 Tee Times South October 29th 4-Man Scramble (Tough Day) 9:00 Shotgun North November 12th Turkey Tournament 10:00 Shotgun South Gross & Net Individual and Team Match Play Events February 19th Deadline to sign up February 26th Matches begin April 3rd Deadline to Complete 1st Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play May 8th Deadline to Complete 2nd Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play June 12th Deadline to Complete 3rd Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play July 17th Deadline to Complete 4th Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play August 14th Deadline to Complete 5th Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play September 18th Deadline to Complete 6th Round Gross, Net & Team Match Play October 23rd Deadline for Finals of Gross, Net & Team Matches Deadline Match Play Note: All match play deadlines are final and will not change. If you have any issues regarding the completion of a match by the deadline date, your match will be decided by a coin flip. Coin flips and any other year-long Match Play decisions will be made by one or more of the following RMGA Committee Members: Peter Fowler; Olof Bengtsson; Antoine Le Saux
February 2022 | 11
RWGA Survey Says…
When RWGA members were asked to share their favorite games played during the season, the top three choices included Flag Day, My Favorite Nine and Criss Cross. During Flag Day each player is given a flag with a score on it (par plus handicap). At the point when the score on their flag is reached the flag is planted in the ground. When a player has completed 18 holes and still has her flag, she returns to #1 and plays until she plants her flag. At the end of the round during My Favorite Nine each player simply circles her best nine holes (net). Criss Cross involves each player choosing the best score from #1 or #10, #2 or #11 etc. at the end of her round. If you would like more information about the other fun yet challenging games played throughout the RWGA season, please feel free to contact Lisa Miller, Play Day Chairperson, at 401.439.7250. Please CLICK HERE if you would like to find out more about the RWGA or would like to join us for a playday before the season starts.
The Raintree Women’s Bowling League still has vacancies. We would love to have you join us! This is a full handicap league, with bowlers at all levels. We meet at Park 10 Lanes on Montford Avenue on Fridays at 1:00 with a 15-minute practice starting at 12:45. Our season runs through March 28. For more information feel free to contact Susan Fritsch at 704.996.7812 or Karen Covington at 704.641.7818. February 2022 | 12
RSMGA The weekly Raintree Senior Men’s Golf Association (RSMGA) season resumes on Wednesday, February 16 with flighted red tee competition on the North Course. The season will run through the end of December with no events during the two weeks in June and September when the golf courses are closed for aeration. The Interclub Omega season will begin in early April. Although the final schedule has yet to be finalized Raintree will play the following clubs: Rock Hill, River Run, River Hills, Rolling Hills and Piper Glen. Our record last season was 6-4, one win short of qualifying for the playoffs. The RSMGA is open to all male members who are over 50 years old. We play on Wednesday mornings with shotguns starts at either from 8:30 - 10:00AM depending on the time of year. If you are over 50 and interested in joining the RSMGA please contact Tim Burson at bursont@queens.edu Congratulations to the winners of the final events of the 2021 season: December 22 – Two Mulligans Pete Marco December 29 – Red Tees Net Flight 1 -- Art McCulloch Flight 2 – Bob Edwards
February 2022 | 13
The Niners Upcoming Events: Opening Luncheon: *Tuesday,March-1st -2022 at 11:00AM Are you interested in joining the Niners? Apply online HERE or R9HLadies@outlook.com
February 2022 | 14
Swim Team Ready Steady Go:
It’s Summer Swim Team Registration time! CLICK HERE to register your children. Swim Team will be limited 120 swimmers. Little Rays is back bigger and better as well! Little Rays is designed for the 4- and 5-year-olds that are not quite ready for the daily practices or multiple meets. Please contact Coach Marti for approval to register for Little Rays. We look forward to introducing GROUP SWIM LESSONS this summer for ages 3-9. More information to follow soon. swimteam@raintreecc.net or 980-333-1313
Pickleball Pickleball play continues whenever possible despite the crazy weather and we continue to enjoy our new real nets. What a difference they make! Janis is scheduling the Tuesday, Friday and Sunday times. They do vary slightly due to scheduling issues, but are currently Tues 6-8PM, Friday 5-7PM and Sunday 3-5PM. Since they are subject to change you should sign up with Sign Up Genius and verify the times for each week. Janis Beymer is the contact person for these days and can be reached at (Janis.behymer@gmail.com). Thursday mornings have moved to a 9:30AM start time and sign up is available though Sign Up Genius and is managed by Laura Brizes (laura. brizes@gmail.com) Lastly, we have a Saturday morning time from 9AM to 11AM. Roger Littell (8littrll@gmail.com) is managing this time and sends out a weekly email verifying times of play and scheduling play. In addition to general play, this time is intended to provide an opportunity for those looking to learn the game. We have paddles and balls available. Just wear "safe for tennis" shoes. Play has been somewhat irregular due to winter weather, so be sure to double check times and sign up for play. February 2022 | 15
Golf Instruction Which Training Aid Can Help You? I review 3 of my favorite practice devices Steve Bogdanoff, PGA
There is no such thing as “Muscle Memory”. This has been proven with many different scientific experiments. The brain sends signals to the muscles but there are two different types of memories the brain can store. Motor Learning is the key to changing your physical habits. An example of Motor Skills is riding a bike. Even if you haven’t ridden a bike in 10 years, it might only take you a few seconds to get it figured back out. But, if you were once fluent in Spanish, but you hadn’t practiced it in 10 years, chances are that you will have forgotten most of the language and can no longer hold a conversation. The golf swing is like riding a bike. Habits are very hard to “unlearn”. Give yourself some help just like when you first learned to ride a bike, use training wheels. I have reviewed a few of my favorite golf training aids that I believe will help shape your swing to playing better golf. Watch the videos below and good luck with your practice!
Centered Contact Clubface and Release Power and Connection
February 2022 | 16
Tennis News Summer Camps
Even though it’s cold outside, it’s not too early to start thinking about summer camp. Camp for children ages 6-12 will be offered from June 13th to August 19th . Camp hours are Monday-Friday from 9:00-4:00. Feel free to call the tennis shop if you have any questions. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Queen City and USTA
If you are interested in joining a Queen City or USTA team for the spring season, please call or email the tennis shop as soon as possible. Marc is forming the spring QC teams right now and USTA registration has started. USTA matches generally start mid-February and Queen City matches start the first week in March. We have weekday, Saturday (women) and Sunday (mixed doubles) Queen City. For USTA, we have teams that play in the daytime and at night.
Clinics
Our Monday/Wednesday (5:00-6:30) and Tuesday/Thursday (5:00-6:00) junior clinics will be offered during the winter, weather permitting. The adult clinics on Tuesday and Saturday will also be offered during the winter months. If you would like to be added or deleted from the distribution list for tennis emails, please call or email the tennis shop.
February 2022 | 17
Fitness News Gut Check Time
It’s been a month. How are the New Year Goals holding up? Have you seen success? Have you failed? This is the time when most if not all motivation has worn out, and it is “Gut Check Time.” Motivation is a powerful thing; it can make you go from doing nothing to doing something. However, it cannot make you go from doing nothing to do something everyday for a year. The only thing that can do that is discipline and routine. Let’s say you have had success with your goal so far. First of all, that’s great! Good work! Now it means to double down on what has worked and throw out what hasn’t. One of my goals was to tend to the dishwasher more. I noticed that if I treat putting in or taking out just 1 thing as success, then I have no issue with doing all the dishes. So, I will double down on this tactic. I also implemented a checklist. Every time I did the dishes and I would check it off on my to do list. I checked it off maybe ¼ of the time. I threw out that tactic all together because I was starting to feel failure with not checking it off when that wasn’t even my goal in the first place. Do the same with your goals that you have has success with. By making success easier you will have more in the future. Now lets say you failed. You failed for 2 reasons. Either you gave up or your tactics didn’t work. If you gave up, who cares! Try again tomorrow. Don’t be limited by 1 failure or even 100. Trying tomorrow is ALWAYS better than giving up for a lifetime. Success is rarely linear. If you failed because of failing tactics, then that means it is time to change it up! First of all, this is not truly a failure because you proved you have the motivation and discipline to stick to a plan; a failing plan, but still, if you develop a different, more effective plan then success is almost guaranteed with that being the case. One thing that many of us chose as a goal was weight loss. Assuming we stuck to the given diet we set for ourselves over 85% of the time, then we should have seen results. If you haven’t, that means the diet you are on is not for you. Find a different one. Dieting is not one-size-fits-all. Most things rarely are. If you did not see success, try something different and continue forward. Ask for assistance, do your research, and find a different plan of attack to achieve success. Happy February! Nate
February 2022 | 18
ADDITIONAL STAFF CONTACTS Luis DeJesus
Melissa Rodgers
Steve Bogdanoff
Sam Warner
Brad Fellrath
Matthew Bauwin
Tom Kennedy
Jennifer Sullivan
Brian Talley
Arielle Lobrano
Head Golf Professional luis.dejesus@raintreecc.net
Controller m.rodgers@raintreecc.net
Director of Instruction sbogdanoff@pga.com
Director of Food & Beverage sam.warner@raintreecc.net
Course Superintendent bfellrath@yahoo.com
Executive Chef chef@raintreecc.net
Facilities Manager tom.kennedy@raintreecc.net
Catering Director catering@raintreecc.net
Director of Communications brian.talley@raintreecc.net
F & B Manager arielle.lobrano@raintreecc.net
ASSOCIATION CONTACTS RMGA
RWGA
RSMGA R9H
Peter Fowler
704.516.0495
Barb Dickie
336.575.4668
Pete Marco
pmarcop49@gmail.com
Marguerite Davis
704.618.2128
CLUB HOURS
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Clubhouse & Fitness Center
Lakeside Grille
Golf Shop
Tennis Shop
Sunday
5AM - 6PM
11AM - 6PM
7:30AM - 5PM
12PM - 4PM
Monday
5AM - 6PM
Closed
7:30AM - 5PM
Closed
Tuesday
5AM - 6PM
11AM - 3PM (37th till 6PM)
7:30AM - 5PM
9AM - 4PM
Wednesday - Saturday
5AM - 9PM
11AM - 9PM
7:30AM - 5PM
9AM - 3PM
Driving Range 7:30AM - 5PM Daily (Closed Tuesdays 12PM-3PM)
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Halfway Houses Open Daily 9AM - 4PM Hours of Operation are posted in advance and are subject to change due to weather or some other unforeseen reason.
@raintreecountryclubnc February 2022 | 20
Sunday
Monday
Raintree Calendar of Events | February 2022
Golf Tennis Dining/Events
6 No Sunday Brunch
1
2 ACES Clinic
7 ACES Clinic
8 Cardio Tennis
Grille & 37th Close 3PM
14 ACES Clinic
15 Cardio Tennis
Super Bowl Party
Grille & 37th Close 3PM 21 ACES Clinic
22 Cardio Tennis
RSMGA 10:06 TT
Thursday 3
Friday 4
Winter SG 10:00 N
Grille & 37th Close 3PM
Saturday 5 Beginner Clinic Winter SG 10:00 S
11 10 Cardio Tennis Beginner Clinic Prime Rib Dinner RWGA 10:06TT
12 Beginner Clinic
18 17 Cardio Tennis Beginner Clinic Paint & Pies RWGA 10:06TT
19 Beginner Clinic
24 25 Cardio Tennis Beginner Clinic
26 Beginner Clinic
RWGA 10:06TT
Winter SG 10:00 N
Winter SG 10:00 N
Curbside Lasagna
16 ACES Clinic
Curbside Pot Roast
23 ACES Clinic RSMGA/ OMEGA 10:30
Buzz about Bees
27 No Sunday Brunch
9 ACES Clinic
RSMGA 10:06 TT
Winter SG 10:00 S
20 No Sunday Brunch
Wednesday
RSMGA 10:06 TT
Winter SG 10:00 N
13 No Sunday Brunch
Tuesday
Wine Tasting 5-7:30PM Curbside Pot Roast
28 ACES Clinic
Winter SG 10:00 S
All events & specials are subject to change or cancellation
February 2022 | 21
Winter SG 10:00 S
A Charlotte Tradition
February 2022