TOM TOM JULY
2022
STAFF
THE SAHALEE TEAM
MARCUS KING GENERAL MANAGER MARCUS@SAHALEE.COM BRYAN NICHOLSON DIRECTOR OF GOLF BRYAN@SAHALEE.COM CHARLIE SCHAUWECKER AGRONOMY DIRECTOR CHARLIE.SAHALEE@GMAIL.COM JUSTIN KEENER CLUBHOUSE OPERATIONS DIRECTOR JUSTINK@SAHALEE.COM ADRIAN SIBUG CULINARY DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE CHEF ADRIAN@SAHALEE.COM SIEMON SLAGTER FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING DIRECTOR SIEMON@SAHALEE.COM BRITTIANY LATHRUP MEMBERSHIP & COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR BRITTIANY@SAHALEE.COM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS SCOTT HEYDON-PRESIDENT MIKE DENTON- VICE PRESIDENT STEVE MOGER-TREASURER JOHN TINKHAM-SECRETARY JAY KIRSCHENMAN-SOCIAL LIAISON BILL BONNELL-MEMBERSHIP LIAISON NORMAN CHEUK-CHAMPIONSHIP LIAISON MARYLE TRACY-GREEN LIAISON TYLER DION-CHAMPIONSHIP AND GM SEARCH CHAIR
COMMITTEE CHAIRS GOLF-BRIAN SELBY GREEN-MICHELLE HOOD FINANCE-DAWN NAYE HOUSE-BILL PHILLIPS MEMBERSHIP-HOWARD LEE RULES AND HANDICAP-JEANNE LINK JUNIOR GOLF-BEAU CLINE CHAMPIONSHIP-TYLER DION SOCIAL-LIZ PHIPPS MEN'S DIVISION-GEORGE GLAUSER WOMEN'S DIVISION-DEBBIE ACTON
LAURIE COLEMAN ACCOUNTING ADMINISTRATOR LAURIE@SAHALEE.COM JACOB LIPPOLD PGA HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL JACOB@SAHALEE.COM JUSTIN STURDY PGA ASSISTANT PRO JUSTIN.STURDY@SAHALEE.COM LAURA KRAFT ASSISTANT PRO LAURA@SAHALEE.COM ADAM POOL ASSISTANT PRO ADAM@SAHALEE.COM KYLE MCPHERSON ASSISTANT PRO KYLE@SAHALEE.COM RYAN BENZEL PGA DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION RYAN.BENZEL@SAHALEE.COM DEVIN BRIGHAM CADDIE MASTER/OUTSIDE SERVICES MANAGER DEVIN@SAHALEE.COM KYLE DICKEY ASSISTANT CADDIE MASTER/OUTSIDE SERVICES MANAGER KYLED@SAHALEE.COM ALEXA MENDOZA FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANAGER ALEXA@SAHALEE.COM JIM PIKE PGA GOLF PROFESSIONAL EMERITUS PIKEPGA@SAHALEE.COM
Warm Welcomes
Cheers TO NEW MEMBERS!
Regular Golf Andrew Nelson Bill Shihara Robert Joga and Elizabeth Bice
Social
Seongkong Park and Mindy Kim
HOURS OF OPERATION Driving Range Monday: 10am-8pm Tuesday: 7am-7pm Wednesday: 7am-8pm Thursday: 7am-8pm Friday: 7am-8pm Saturday: 6:30am-8pm Sunday: 6:30am-8pm
Restaurant
Golfer's Grill
Breakfast Saturday-Sunday 7am-11am
Monday-Tuesday: 10am-5pm
Pro Shop Monday: 10am-8pm Tuesday: 7am-8pm Wednesday: 7am-8pm Thursday: 7am-8pm Friday: 7am-8pm Saturday: 6:30am-8pm Sunday: 6:30am-8pm
Dinner Thursday, Friday, Sunday 5pm-8:30pm
Lunch Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm
Honor Bar Service Starter House Daily
Finally!
A Letter from our President
Summer showed us what warm, long days are all about. June kicked off a return to the busy social and golf calendar of pre-pandemic years. The month peaked with the amazing all-club putting championship: a hot, sun-soaked evening with 70 participants working their way around three greens, each with 9 treacherous holes. The golf staff did an amazing job at laying out tricky putts, while the greens were firm and lightning fast. Congratulations to our 2022 Putting Champions: Michelle Hood and Steve Brozinick. We had four new member families join this month: three Regular Golf and one Social. Please welcome our new members when you meet them on the course or at the clubhouse. Past Business Marcus’s August retirement is a big loss for Sahalee, but I’m grateful he provided us some lead time to conduct a proper search. A Search Committee has now been formed comprised of four board members, two “members at large” and some of Marcus’ leadership team. Thanks to Brett Vandenberg, Dawn Naye, Jay Kirschenman, and Norman Cheuk for their willingness to serve. I’ve asked Tyler Dion to lead this committee. He previously participated or led the search teams for our GM and Director of Golf roles, and recruiting is his profession. The committee will meet this week, with a goal of identifying 2-4 ideal candidates for the Board of Directors to interview and select. Also, this month, the Board approved the highly anticipated Sahalee video, which was launched earlier this week to membership. As noted in that announcement, the video will serve Sahalee in several ways – most notably as we look to raise Sahalee’s awareness with new potential members. It is a great reminder of just how lucky we are to enjoy this magnificent High Heavenly Ground called Sahalee. I applaud the many people who participated and helped make this video a reality. Unfortunately, Director Paul Cooke informed me that he was resigning from the Board. Paul was in his second year of service to the Sahalee Board and decided to resign for personal reasons. Paul was always thoughtful in his contributions and deliberations as a board member. Thank you, Paul, for volunteering to better Sahalee....you will be missed. According to the club’s bylaws, the remaining eight directors were required to identify a replacement for the vacant Director position. In keeping with tradition, we limited our potential candidate pool to those who the membership had previously voted to serve on the Board. I am pleased to announce the Directors have selected Tyler Dion to serve as Director through the end of 2023. I have personally gotten to know him quite well over the last year. He is a wonderful person who selflessly serves Sahalee in any way he can. Please join me in welcoming and thanking Tyler! New Business The GM search remains our top priority. Additionally in July, the management team, Finance Committee, and Board will prepare our mid-year forecast. This is a relatively new process for Sahalee where we reflect on actual results for the first half of the year and adjust our plan for the balance of the year. I will share those results next month. The Finance Committee is finalizing a “Reserve Policy” for Sahalee – ensuring the club has adequate financial reserves for unexpected events in the future. Additionally, they continue to work on two endeavors mentioned in my June Tom Tom article: certificate refundability and funding long-term capital needs. These are complex questions that deserve the Committee and Board’s careful considerations. I continue to be very confident in Sahalee’s future. There are a lot of great things happening for our long-term success. The weather is in our favor, the golf course is firming up, and the days are longer. I hope this means we see each other more at the club. Warmly, Scott Heydon Club President
JULY
AUGUST
7-8 WOMEN'S INVITATIONAL 11 AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY (PRIVATE) 15 TWILIGHT GOLF 18 KPMG EVENT (PRIVATE) 21-22 SWD MEMBER-MEMBER 28-30 MEN'S INVITATIONAL 8 12-13 19-21 22 23
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
JPW EVENT (PRIVATE) SMD MEMBER-MEMBER CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS (MENS/LADIES/JUNIOR) COSTCO (PRIVATE) BUNKER RENOVATION BEGINS
2022 Golf Calendar
2-3 SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 9 SWD FALL FIELD DAY 26 EVANS CUP EVENT (PRIVATE) 27 SWD GUEST DAY 1 SMD STABLEFORD 9 SOCIAL GOLF: FALL FLING EVENT 10 WA GOLF ASSOCIATION PLAY DAY (PRIVATE) 15 SMD MEN'S AWARDS NIGHT 29 SMD FOUR BALL SCRAMBLE
Fitting Days July 13th- 1pm-5pm
August 19th- 12pm-4pm September 10th 11am-3pm August 26th 1pm-5pm
August 5th-1pm-5pm
August 3rd- 1pm-5pm September 7th-12pm-4pm
A Letter from our Director of Golf With the cool and wetter spring that we experienced, I’ve been reminded by all the “natives” that summer officially kicks off in Seattle on July 5. I think we are all going to be grateful for a little more sunshine, and some drier conditions that the next few months should present us. Throughout the past couple of weeks, we’ve started to see this weather transformation, and the golf course is beginning to play in more of its summer conditioning with firmer and faster speeds. This “La Nina” pattern has impacted golf in the Pacific Northwest, with rounds of golf down collectively 25% YTD in the Puget Sound area. At Sahalee, we are faring a little better than the statistical trends, but our golf activity also declined by 23% in May, and 15% during the month of June. Year to Date, we are off approximately 7% to our five-year play averages. On the positive side, I’ve heard from more than one member that access to the club and course has been exceptional to start this in-season play period! What a month ahead of us, as we will be hosting both our Men’s and Women’s Invitationals! Our ladies will be finding “Fairways in the Forest” Thursday and Friday, July 7 & 8. Please take note that the golf course and practice amenities will be reserved for our Women’s Invitational until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, and again until 12:30 p.m. on Friday, July 8. Later in the month, our Men’s Invitational will once again be an epic tournament with 108 teams competing in 18 flights of competition. Our defending Champions, Chris Cahoon and John Vernon will attempt to reclaim their title! Practice rounds will commence on Wednesday, July 27, and our competitive dates will be Thursday – Saturday July 28 – 30. Please stay tuned to further announcements regarding course/practice amenities reservations, as well as some reciprocal golf opportunities for our members not participating. Additionally, and not to be forgotten, we will welcome the SWD Member-Member on Thursday, July 21 and Friday, July 22! So much excitement and new Champions we look forward to crowning. Speaking of Champions, I would like to take a moment to congratulate some from this past month. Our Men’s & Women’s Putting Championship was a great success, featuring green speeds over 12, and several challenging holes. At the conclusion of play, 3 teams tied for the medalist honors, and a sudden death playoff was required to determine our overall team champions. With a 27 hole qualifying score of two under par, Tyler Dion/Scott Erbe, Matt Adamson/Steve Brozinick, and Greg/Alexa Wood faced off in a sudden-death putt-off for the overall title. Staring down a 20-foot putt with a captive audience looking on, Greg Wood calmly sank the putt to apply the pressure on the other teams. After narrow misses from team Dion/Erbe and Adamson/Brozinick, the Wood’s claimed the overall team title! Our Women’s Individual competition was closely contested between Michelle Hood and Becky Brady. Using 18 two-putts and 2 aces in her round of 60, Hood edged Brady by 3 strokes. Two ladies shared third place, including our Team Champion, Alexa Wood and Kim Santiago with a score of 67. The Men’s Individual competition featured 50 contestants vying for the individual crown. Leading the pack were three players who navigated their way through the course with exceptional precision. Using 21 two-putt “pars” and 2 aces throughout his round, the Men’s Individual title was captured by Steve Brozinick! Coming up a one stroke shy was Tyler Dion and Nick Schaefer who shared individual runner-up honors with a score of 57. Also in June we hosted our Parent-Child event, which featured a total of 54 Sahalee families teeing it up here at the High Heavenly Ground! The golf professional staff truly enjoyed seeing participation from members and family guests that spanned multiple generations, reminding us that golf is timeless and is one of the greatest games in all of sport. Many high fives and fist bumps were exchanged, and so many teams were smiling coming off the course at the end of the day regardless of their team score. A big congratulations to our Parent-Child winners: Joe & Cameron Yriondo (Parent/Adult); Todd & Andrew Junker (Parent/14-17 Division); Mick Remington & Mobius Williams (Parent/11-13 Division); Matt & Oliver Hoesley (Parent/10 & under Division). We look forward to hosting this Championship next season! I would like to take a moment to share some exciting details on our burgeoning caddie program. The tradition of caddies at Sahalee extends deep into the history of the Club, and we’ve enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Evans Scholar Program throughout Western Washington. Some of you may have noticed the red bibs circulating on the course as we’ve conducted training and some of our hosted guest groups. Through our golf services manager/Caddiemaster, Devin Brigham, we will manage our caddie program internally.
A Letter from our Director of Golf Below are the details to the Sahalee Caddie Program: We will offer both walking and forecaddie services for members and guests. Caddie reservations must be made a minimum of 24 hours in advance through the Golf Shop or via email at: caddiecentral@sahalee.com. Here you can drop our Caddiemaster an email request for caddie services. Simply request the date and time and type of caddie (Walking Caddie or Forecaddie) you would like for your round. All requests will be filled on a first come first serve basis and be based upon our caddie availability. The responsibilities of the caddie include greeting each golfer in a courteous and professional manner, spotting tee shots, providing accurate yardages, replacing divots, raking bunkers and repairing ball marks, cleaning golf clubs and the golf ball on the green, assistance with reading putts, and tending the flagstick. A Single Forecaddie services up to four players that are riding in golf carts. The Forecaddie fee is $30/player and recommended gratuity is $10 per player. Double Bag Carry Caddies are available to those players desiring to walk but want to share a caddie. These caddies provide the same services as Forecaddies but also walk and carry bags for two players simultaneously. The Double Bag Carry Caddie fee is $70 per player and recommended gratuity is $20 per player. Single Carry Caddies are available for those players wanting to walk the course with their own personal caddie. The Single Carry Caddie fee is $80 per player and recommended gratuity is $20. Any Caddie reservation not cancelled within a 12-hour window of their tee time will incur a charge of $50. We are very excited to enhance the Sahalee experience and hope you take advantage of this new program! I’ll leave off this month with a couple of thoughts for your game: Earlier this year, Titleist released new Vokey Spin Mill 9 wedges. I had a conversation with a member that recently came to get fit, and I asked him about the last time he had replaced his wedges. His answer was about 5 years ago. When was the last time you checked the grooves on your wedges? The short game accounts for 60-70% of all the shots you play in a round of golf, and arguably your wedges are far more important than a driver! Spin Decay from older, worn-out grooves is very real, and can have an adverse effect on your game. The ball will come out higher than you expect and will not react appropriately when it lands on the green. From all the research that has been conducted, I recommend a replacement of your wedges for every 75 – 100 rounds of golf that you play. I would strongly suggest that if you are outside the boundary of this timeframe – please come find us in the golf shop and we can help to make sure you are properly fit for the wedges you need to maximize your game! Interesting factoid to pass along from the world of golf statistics: If you average less than 225 yards with a driver from the tee, the USGA recommends you play a course between 5900 and 6100 yards. From the statistical data conducted by the USGA in 2021, players that have a median driver distance of 220 – 230 almost 50% of rounds (48%) were played at 6300 yards or longer. If you have a chance – play it forward, and you will most certainly enjoy the game much more! I’ll leave off this month by saying thanks to everyone for coming into the shop to check-in with the golf professional staff. It is extremely helpful for us as our relatively new team is still working to get know all our members and record accurate information into our daily play sheets. Here is to a great summer of golf – and I’ll look forward to seeing you on the tee! Fairways and Greens, Bryan
Lessons and Tips with Ryan Make Percentage Putting Drill The following video is a putting practice drill to help improve your “make percentage”. A PGA Tour player on average makes and misses a put 50% of the time at a distance of 7’ 10”. At 6 feet, this make percentage increases to 65% and at 4 feet it is 85%. This drill is designed to help you practice to achieve these percentages when completing this drill. Set 5 tee locations around the hole and start at 4 feet. Go around twice for a total of 10 putts with the goal to make 8 from 4 feet. Once complete, move the tees back to 6 feet and the goal is to make 7 of 10. Finally, move back to 8 feet with the golf to make 6 of 10. Be sure to use your putting routine and give each putt the same thought and concentration so as to make this practice QUALITY time spent working to improve your confidence and “make percentage”. Putting Drill Video Ryan Benzel Director of Instruction
DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION
LESSON RATES Single Lesson: $100 Series of 3: $285 Series of 5: $450 Playing Lesson: $225 Junior Lesson: $75 Available Tuesday - Saturday 206-683-0025 cell ryan.benzel@sahalee.com 2016 Western WA Chapter PGA Teacher of the Year 2021 GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional
Subscribe and follow Ryan on his YouTube Channel !
Aces, Eagles and Incredible Rounds
Twilight Golf Thank you to everyone that joined us for our Twilight Social Golf event last month! We had a great turnout and hope that everyone had a great time! Congrats to our winners Michael & Patty Denton, Doug & Carol Kennedy, and Lyman & Helen Howard. We are looking forward to seeing everyone for our July Social Twilight event on Friday, July 15th!
6/7/2022 Seiji Yamamoto Shot Age - 75 6/16/2022 Kevin Densmore Eagle on 4 South from 165yds with a 5 hybrid 6/22/2022 Jason Gudmundson HIO on 9 South, 151 yards with an 8 iron 7/1/2022 Peter Hill Eagle on 5 East First eagle at Sahalee! 7/3/2022 Matt Adamson HIO on 4 North, 128 yards with a PW
Sahalee Women's Division It has been a very busy month of golf for the Women's Division. Despite the less than perfect June weather we had a lot of golf going on all month. The highlight of June was our Spring Field Day where we had wonderful participation and one of the few perfect days of weather in June. Our regular Tuesday and Friday competitions are going strong and lots of fun each week. Be sure to sign up in the computer room in the women's locker room for the competitions. It is easy and everyone is grouped into flights depending on their handicap. Not only do you win prize money per competition but points for each time you participate which goes toward Champions Cup at the end of the year. Even if you don't put your score down, be sure to put your name on the list so you get credit for those points. SWGA City Championship was held at Rainier Country Club and we had several participants and winners in their flights. Congratulations to all who participated and to the winners below:
1st Flight Jeanne Link 2nd Flight Soon Kim 12th Flight Shane McTaggart 13th Flight Dana McIntosh
Upcoming events for the Women's Division: July 6-8th - Women's Invitational July 21st-22nd Member-Member - If you don't have a partner contact the golf shop or Debbie Acton (acton.debbie@gmail.com) and they will help put you together with someone. Patio party with appetizers, putting contest and more! Registration is open, you can sign up on golf genius. August 4th and 18th - Wine and Dine- sign up on Fore Tees at or around 5pm time slot. Look for Dana McIntosh. August 19-21 Club Championship - Registration opens July 20, this is a combined event with the Men's Division. More details to follow. See you at the club, Debbie Acton
Sign up here! Don't miss out on this exciting SWD Member-Member!
Team News
Our June 2nd match at Sand Point CC was indeed a challenge, with 12” fescue added to the brow of several new bunkers as well as to several areas off the fairways. However, our team dominated and took 11 out of 12 points. Eleonore Dailly (2nd year team player) had the low score of 79, with one “eagle” and four birdies. Michelle Hood was not far behind with an 80. Dawn Naye celebrated a good round as well, starting off with an “eagle” on her first hole. “My Oh My”! The weather was not so kind for our match against Rainier, at Meridian Valley, June 9th.The heavens opened several times, hence the rain hats, but we prevailed once again and won our match. Sahalee is holding on to 1st place in Scratch, Handicap and Sub brackets. Hats off to Sharon Dobie, Patty Denton (1st time), Eleanor Devlin and Karen Ganey (1st time) for filling in for all our regular players who were not able to play. “What do you need to do before every swing?” ……TRUST Cheers, Rose Crowe, Team Captain
Scoring Clinic Series Sign up here for the Scoring Clinic!
Lululemon launch Party! Contact Jacob for more info!
Junior Golf News
Practice with a Pro Thursday Evenings 5pm-6:30pm
Junior Development Clinic Wednesdays June-August 5pm-6pm
Member Inspired Events and Meetups Nine & Wine Join the group on designated Thursday evenings for non-competitive, fun and quirky games of golf! Different games each week. Those that choose to can pay $3 into the pot and winners will share the money. Various other prizes and raffles are planned throughout the season. If you wish to play and not keep score, that's okay! We play just for a fun opportunity to play nine and drink wine! August 4th and 18th September 1st and 15th 4pm Social Fun 5pm Golf
Book Club Do you like to read? Members are starting a new book club on Thursday afternoons over lunch. The club will meet once a month. If you are interested in joining this member-driven club; please contact Susan Webber at webbers7@comcast.net
Mahjong Have you ever wanted to learn to play Mahjong? Please join us and learn one of the worlds oldest games. It’s never too late to learn something new. We start with lunch at 11:00 on Wednesdays followed by Mahjong. Contact Patricia Domine at 425-241-8506 or p_domine@hotmail.com to RSVP or for more information.
Summer Fun at Sahalee!