TPC Jasna Polana 2015 Summer Member Newsletter

TPC JASNA POLANA SUMMER NEWSLETTER

Chad Fleming General Manager

Tim Connolly Director of Golf Course Maintenance Operations

Marcie Bono Executive Assistant

Christopher Moffat Assistant Superintendent

Peter Angerame Director of Sales & Marketing Kira Provenzano Sales & Marketing Assistant Brian Parcel Head Golf Professional Steven DePiano Assistant Golf Professional Jason Field Assistant Golf Professional Rita Keegan Golf Shop Coordinator

Mike Williams Assistant Superintendent Jason Miller Director of Hospitality Fay Wernik Director of Catering Michelle Caponi Lodging Operations Manager Cathy Newman Accounting Director Janice Cai Accounting Assistant

RECEPTION DESK Mon - Fri: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm GOLF SHOP Now - September: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm FIRST STARTING TIME Now - September: weekends: 7:30 am weekdays: 8:00 am PRACTICE FACILITY Tues- Fri: 7:30 am - sundown Sat/Sun: 7:00 am - sundown

OAK ROOM Tues- Sun: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm *Food served until 9:00 pm

DINING ROOM Breakfast Tues - Sun: 7:30 am - 10:30 am Lunch Tues - Fri & Sun: 11:00 am - 2:30 pm Dinner Thurs- Sat: 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Dinner served in the Oak Room on Tues, Wed & Sun

CLUBHOUSE

609.688.0500

ADMIN

609.688.2001

CLUBHOUSE FAX

609.924.0547

MARKETING

609.688.2003

GOLF SHOP

609.688.2000

MEMBERSHIP

609.688.2012

Dear Members, Enjoy the Summer Newsletter as you will find articles from Golf Course Maintenance, Golf Operations and Food & Beverage Operations highlighting important news and events.

The goal of the TPC Jasna Polana staff is to provide “Professional and Personable” service during every encounter with our members and guests which was validated in feedback from the member survey. The results of the Member Survey administered in June have been distributed and department heads are working on action plans. The overall results were very positive and any necessary enhancements will be made as soon as this fall. These additions and/or changes will be communicated to the membership -- thank you again for your support and feedback.

The year’s half-way mark has just passed however there is much to come in the second half of the season so please note the upcoming dates. 

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The golf course will be closed on Tuesday, September 1st for aeration. Note that the clubhouse (Food & Beverage outlets) will be open with normal business hours which are 7:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. The Practice Facility will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The golf course and clubhouse will be open on Monday, September 7 th (Labor Day). The golf course and clubhouse will be closed on Tuesday, September 8th.

TPC Jasna Polana’s National Charity Event, “Birdies for the Brave,” will be held on Monday, October 19 th. We will have a Medal of Honor recipient in attendance for our VIP dinner and golf event. Please contact Kira Provenzano or Steven DePiano for more information.

Members of TPC Jasna Polana should be very proud of the Club as we support several charities throughout the year and so far in 2015 have raised the following:   

Annual golf event contributing to The First Tee of Greater Trenton raised net proceeds of $49,488.

Member Cook-off benefitting the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (T.A.S.K.) raised net proceeds of $5,000.

The Golf Staff conducted a golf marathon on Monday, August 10th with proceeds benefitting The First Tee of Greater Trenton. Currently, net proceeds have hit the $2,500 mark – donations are still being collected; please consider supporting the Golf Staff. Donations can be made for the number of birdies made, holes played, as a specific dollar amount or for any achievement (high or low) that you wish to acknowledge.  Our Annual Birdies for the Brave event will be held in October with a goal of raising $93,000. Click here for more information on Sponsorship and Registration.

Safety continues to be a priority at TPC Jasna Polana and we seek the help of members and their guests in sustaining a safe environment. Please be mindful of the 15 MPH Speed Limit throughout the length of the driveway but particularly approaching hole #2 and the bag drop area. To assist with safety efforts, the golf course maintenance team has trimmed trees and brush left of hole #2 as carts cross over the bridge for better viewing of oncoming traffic.

The golf course maintenance team also wears orange reflective vests when working along the entrance and driveway to be more visible to drivers. Our employee safety committee continues to target areas and implement plans in which there is a need for safety adjustments.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Members for their support of the Club as well as the TPC Jasna Polana staff for their passion in providing a quality product and exceptional service to our Members and Guests.

Sincerely, Chad J. Fleming, PGA General Manager/Director of Golf

With our Birdies for the Brave event coming up in October, what better time to highlight one of our own Members!

Any time to honor a veteran is a good time, and what better way to honor your veteran or family member of a veteran than with a momento that can be passed down through generations. All thanks to a Member, Mr. Scott Durham.

In March 2014, Mr. Durham started a service where he sends engraved military multitools, all paid for by donations, to honor all active military personnel, veterans, fallen heroes and their families. The military multi-tool is a memento Mr. Durham hopes to show not only his appreciation for our military personnel, but for all those who care about them as well.

“It's just my little way of saying "thank you" to those who selflessly served our communiWalter Schlitz, 101, WWII Veteran ty and were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for me, my family and millions of Ameri(Pacific Theater) receiving his cans,” Durham said. “I did not serve, but I always had a deep appreciation and respect for engraved tool from Mr. Scott Durham the military and what they stand for. These guys and gals sign up and put their lives on the line for us everyday, willing to die for me, you and our families. It is just out of the love and respect for these veterans.”

Last year, he found a Leatherman-type knife with wooden handles that opens into pliers and has many other tools and blades inside. He took that multi-tool to Paul’s Trophies in Barrington and asked them if they could make some silver plates, cut out the wood and place them in the knife, with a military theme involved. From there, they engrave any information individuals would like on the knife--usually a name, last rank, branch, dates of service, and medals or commendations of a military loved-one.

“I try to get people to ‘think outside the box.’ For example, when they tell me that their father served but is now deceased, I ask them if I can make one in their father’s name and it can become something they can pass down to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so their story of patriotism, valor and courage can be kept alive,” Durham said.

In 2014 Mr. Durham had made just fewer than 1,050 multi-tools and hopes to do 1,500 in 2015, saying he won’t stop until he’s made 25,000! “I’ve made them from ages 18, all the way up to a 103-year-old. One of my greatest rewards is to get to hand them to a 95-year-old who served in WWII, or a 65-year-old man who served in Vietnam, and thank them for their service. Many wellup with tears and tell me it’s the nicest gift they’ve ever received. It makes me proud to be an American,” Durham said.

Since creating the military multi-tool, Mr. Durham has become a dear friend of Judith Tapper, the president of the Department of New Jersey American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., whom he has made a connection with and made several knives for. We were honored to have Judith Tapper as our main speaker for our 2014 Birdies for the Brave reception!

Through the American Gold Star Moms of Colorado and his military multi-tool brochure, Mr. Durham recently got a call from Paul Bristol, the founder and director of Base Camp 40, Warrior’s in the Wild, bc40hunts.com. Bristol was also a good friend of the “American Sniper,” Chris Kyle. Bristol and Kyle would take Medal of Honor recipients on elk and mountain lion hunts in western Colorado. He asked Mr. Durham if he would make knives in Kyle’s name for Kyle’s family members, for Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper, and for some others.

“To get this call from a man who is a great man and friend to Chris Kyle, it was such a humbling and gratifying experience, and an honor for me to make these knives,” Durham said. “Paul and I met in Colorado three weeks ago and I gave him 12 knives in Chris’ name and honor. You can imagine how emotional that was for both of us.” Recently, he has been asked to make knives for all of the 79 living Medal of Honor Recipients, all of whom will receive them in Boston, on September 17th.

Mr. Durham does not charge for these engraved military multi-tools, but does accept donations. Any donations can be made out to The Ad King, his tool vendor, or Paul’s Trophies, who does his engraving. Those who wish to place an order for a multi-tool are asked to send the individual’s full name, last rank, branch and dates of service, and any special instructions such as medals, commendations, Vietnam Vet, etc. Also, be sure to include delivery information.

For more information, please click here.

The Summer (S)Low-Down on Green Speed The course remains in very good condition as we enter the latter half of the summer. Overall, greens, tees, fairways and roughs are healthy with acceptable rooting following a very rainy and humid June and July.

During July and August, turfgrass is put to the test. Fungal diseases, high temperatures and humidity, insect feeding, ill-timed storms, and machine/foot traffic wear are all stress factors that can push a plant over the edge which may lead to damaged greens, tees, fairways and roughs. Greens in particular are prone to these stresses since we are maintaining a living plant at a height of 0.100”. Throughout the year, we strive to hit a perfect balance between “Playability” and “Plant Health”. When the weather is not conducive to growing roots, it’s impossible to sustain a fast and firm golf course without damaging or killing turfgrass plants. Greens are slower in the summertime because our focus shifts toward plant survival. We will mow and roll greens less frequently to avoid damaging leaf tissue. We also “vent” the greens at least twice a month to reduce surface compaction and allow oxygen to reach the roots.

Weather

Playability

Plant Health

Green speeds are still in excess of 10 feet everyday at the Club and our goal is to provide you a smooth and true putting surface everyday, regardless of speed. As the days gradually grow shorter and the night-time temperatures drop into the low-60’s, we will be able to put the foot on the pedal again and increase green speed for your enjoyment.

Course Care – “Fore Everyone’s Benefit” Please keep these four items in mind during your round:  Please respect the playing surface close to the green. Return your golf cart to the cart path within 30 yards of the green.

There’s no reason why carts need to be any closer to the putting surfaces.  After hitting your shot from a bunker, rake all disturbed sand smoothly as a courtesy to the players behind you.



Divots – either replace it if it’s intact or fill it with divot sand. The important thing is to do something - an ignored divot will take twice as long to heal.  Ball-marks – seek them out and repair them. Please see the above illustration for the healthiest way to fix your ball-mark.

Outside The Ropes

One of our goals heading into 2015 was to place greater emphasis on the periphery areas of the golf course. Many of the fine fescue areas help frame the hole visually and we want to ensure that they complement the attention to detail we strive for “inside the ropes”. The fine fescue areas were fertilized and mowed two times in the spring before we allowed the seed heads to grow up. They turned a golden color in June and have been virtually weed-free for the entire summer. Now that the seed-heads are dropping, we have begun the process of mowing them at a height of 5” to clean them up before the fall. On the northern side of the property, we seeded 2 acres of out-of-play areas last fall with a native wildflower mix to provide habitat and promote pollinating insects in the Princeton area. The initiative has been a success and has really enhanced the beauty of the golf course. More to come in 2016!

We are quickly closing in on aerification! Greens, tees and fairways will be aerified, topdressed and amended during the week of August 31, weather permitting. This is a vital process that ensures excellent surfaces for autumn golf at TPC Jasna Polana. We begin the process by applying kiln-dried topdressing sand to the greens.

August Aerification

After the topdressing has been applied, we core-aerify the green with a machine that collects the cores and helps drag the dry sand into the aerification holes. The machine deposits the cores on the edge of the green and the team picks them up. After brushing and blowing in the sand, the greens are fertilized and amended with nutrients to prepare them for a great September and October. Aerification holes will take about 15-21 days to fully heal.

Core-Aerifying

The topdressing sand helps smooth out and firm up the putting surface. The sand in the aerification holes allows water and nutrients to easily reach the roots where they are needed. As the greens recover, the presence of sand on the surface becomes less noticeable with each passing day. Once greens have recovered sufficiently, we can begin improving ball roll by dropping the height of cut and rolling greens more frequently. Thank you so much in advance for your patience and understanding as we strive to consistently provide you with healthy turfgrass and finely conditioned surfaces.

For a more detailed look into the world of golf course maintenance, follow the TPC Jasna Polana Agronomy Department on Twitter @JasnaPolanaAGR

Dear Jasna Polana Members, I hope this note finds you all well as the summer is quickly flying by. It has been great to see everyone out at TPC Jasna Polana enjoying the execellent course conditions and working on their games. I hope you all have had the opportunity to experience some of our new amenities this year such as the bottled water on golf cars, new Titleist NXT Tour practice balls, Sun Mountain Speed Carts and a new fleet of golf cars.

The beginning of this year has been action packed with several new tournaments and some deserving champions, noted below. Please join me in congratulating your fellow Members!

Opening Day Par 3 Challenge

Stroke Play Championship

Spring Member-Guest

Mr. Robert Pollaro

Championship Flight: Mr. Rajan Desai

Member-Member

First Flight: Mr. Roger Cranmer

Gross Champions: Mr. Robert Pollaro & Mr. Jack Mathews

Second Flight: Mr. Jim Huang

Gross Champions: Mr. Deven Sharma, Mr. Manny Sharma, Mr. Hetal Patel and Mr. David Schuster

Net Champions: Mr. Carl DeFazio & Mr. Jeff Duncan

Ladies’ Gross Champion: Ms. Julia McLaughlin Ladies’ Net Champion: Mrs. Jackie Cranmer

Low Ladies’ Team: Mrs. Dianne McCarthy & Mrs. Susan Rappaport Men’s Member-Guest Overall Champions: Mr. Gene Barry & Dr. Don Newsome

Net Champions: Mr. Carl DeFazio, Mr. Andrew Co, Mr. Cosmo Sancio and Mr. Don Yarson Flag Day Mr. Roger Cranmer Family Fun Day-Skills Challenge Overall Champions: Mr. Jason Zhang & daughter, Ms. Kayla Zhang

Flight Winners: Dr. Anthony Marino & Mr. David Coville, Mr. Johnathan Lennox & Mr. John Davidson, Mr. Jim Huang & Mr. Wei Zheng, Mr. Patrick Ryan & Mr. John Hansbury, Mr. Frank Shannon & Mr. Xavier Shannon and Mr. Rajan Desai & Mr. Billy Parenti Ladies’ Member-Guest Gross Champions: Dr. Louise Conley, Mrs. Cathy Riepenhoff, Mrs. Linda Kozick and Mrs. Donna Cortina Net Champions: Mrs. Susan Fruscione, Mrs. Nancy Messina, Mrs. Gail Kaplan and Mrs. Vicky Duffy 2nd Place Gross Champions: Mrs. Andrea Danch, Mrs. Dorie Scully, Mrs. Chris Wilder and Mrs. Cathy Shillaber 2nd Place Net Champions: Mrs. Mildred Simms, Mrs. Diane Koye, Mrs. Helena Sullivan and Mrs. Debra Sensbach

Click here to view 2015 Tournament Photos

Through the member survey and discussion among our members, posting scores following your round has been a hot topic. The ultimate goal is to monitor this activity to provide a level playing field for competition rounds.

President’s Cup Tournament Fall Member-Guest

Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4

Thursday, September 24

There will be two teams with the General Manager and Head Golf Professional being the captains of their respective team. Saturday’s matches will consist of a 9-hole team scramble and 9-hole alternate shot. Sunday’s matches will consist of an 18-hole team match play format.

Sign up here.

Each Member may bring one or three guests to this one-day Member-Guest. Format is two best balls of the foursome using 80% handicap. Flights will be created based on team total handicap.

Sign up here.

Superintendent’s Revenge Day: Irish Open Ladies’ Nine Hole Member-Guest

Saturday, October 24

Wednesday, October 7

As the year comes to a close and the superintendent has heard all the complaints it is his turn to retaliate. Come out and play the golf course in a scramble format with some added twists and surprises!

Sign up here.

Each Member may bring one or three guests to this 9 -hole Member-Guest. Format is a captains choice scramble. Sign up here.

For more event details or to sign up, please log onto ForeTees and click the event sign up tab or call the Golf Shop at 609.688.2000

Over the winter we reintroduced the ForeTees reservation system to our members. This system is very user friendly and allows members to view tee sheets, book starting reservations and sign up for events from home. To make this process even easier and to encourage online booking, we have launched a mobile app! Now members can use smart phones to see what’s happening at the club, access the tee sheets, book starting reservations and have a complete staff contact list that syncs with your email account.

Please follow these steps to become a ForeTees App user: 1. Download the “clubcentral – foretees” app from the app store a. Login information to be obtained through following steps b. On a computer, you will need to login to the TPC Jasna Polana website c. Go to book a starting reservation – this will take you to the ForeTees page d. On the home page – click the “settings tab” e. Scroll down to select option for “generate password” Username and Login information will be displayed to enter on the mobile app.

Happy browsing! Its very user friendly, however, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or in need of assistance in getting it working. I encourage all of you to download this app and become a user!

I look forward to a great last few months of the 2015 season. Should you have any questions or need assistance please feel free to stop by the Golf Shop, contact me by phone at 609.688.2008 or email me here.

Fairways & Greens, Brian Parcel Head Golf Professional

Dear Members, As we are midway through the golf season, it is a great time to reflect on the many changes this season.

As you know we have gone through the summer without an Executive Chef. I would like to take a moment to highlight two individuals, Sous Chefs Rick Brabson and Seth Wheeler. Their combined efforts are a big part of why we have had such a successful season thus far.

This year’s Men’s Member-Guest Invitational had a new format which gave the culinary team a time to shine during a newly introduced Friday evening Gala where spouses were invited. Some of the highlights of the evening were the Raw Bar, Lobster Boil, Suckling Pig and my favorite the Jamon Iberico de Bellota.

Rick Brabson, Sous Chef

Seth Wheeler, Sous Chef

Rick’s Mango-Chipotle BBQ Sauce ( gifted to all the Dad’s during Father’s Day at the Club )

Ingredients: - 4 cups diced mango - ½ onion, diced - 2 tbsp chipotle pepper - 4 oz brandy - 14 oz ketchup - ¼ cup red wine vinegar - ¼ cup soy sauce - ¼ cup molasses - 1 tbsp chili powder - 1 tsp garlic powder - ½ tsp ground cumin - ½ tsp ground coriander - 2 tbsp light brown sugar - 1 tbsp molasses Method In a small rondeau, heat 1 tbsp oil on medium high heat. Add onions and sweat until translucent. Add mango and sauté for 2 minute. Deglaze with brandy. Reduce by half then add the remaining ingredients. Simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Purée and let cool.

Seth’s Grilled Octopus Tapas ( served at our July Sangria & Tapas Ladies’ Luncheon )

Ingredients: - 3 pounds cleaned octopus - 1 cup dry white wine - 1/4 cup whole peppercorns - 1 wine cork - 2 cloves garlic, peeled - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil - 2 lemons, plus additional lemon wedges for serving Method In a large pot, place the octopus along with the wine, peppercorns, 1 lemon cut in half, cork and garlic. Cover with water by 1 inch and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook octopus until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, (anywhere from 45-90 minutes). Drain and allow octopus to come to room temperature. Fire up your grill then cut tentacles into 1 inch pieces. Lightly coat in olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill until lightly charred. Remove and toss in olive oil and lemon juice. Serve on a slice of roasted fingerling potatoes.

Junior Camp Clinic III Tuesday-Friday, August 18-21 For details CLICK HERE

Advanced Junior Golf School II Tuesday-Friday, August 25-28 For details CLICK HERE

Burger Night Every Tuesday in September!

For details CLICK HERE

Ladies’ Luncheon Farewell to Summer BBQ Wednesday, September 9 For details CLICK HERE

Whiskey & Wings Thursday, September 17 For details CLICK HERE

Fall Festival Sunday, October 4 For details CLICK HERE

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