APRIL 2023 NEWS

Published by Woodbridge Golf & Country Club

950 E Woodbridge Rd, Woodbridge, CA 95258 Digital version available at www.woodbridgegcc.net

Officers

President Cody Diede | VP Mark Berry | Treasurer Nolan Person | Secretary Danny Miladinovich | Past President Nick Salvetti

Directors

Stan Demski, Dan Grauman, Greg Kozlowski, Chris Phelps, Laura Reeves, Josh Sturman

Club Contacts

Thomas Schunn, General Manager 263-0113 | tsschunn@woodbridgegcc.com

Questions about this publication should be directed to Kristine Roberson, 263-0115 or kroberson@woodbridgegcc.com

Membership & Marketing Director Kristine Roberson 263-0115 | kroberson@woodbridgegcc.com

Office Manager Evelyn Chinchiolo 263-0116 | elchinchiolo@woodbridgegcc.com

Human Resources Manager Mindy Adolf 263-0114 | madolf@woodbridgegcc.com

Administration Office 334-5454 x 100

Events Manager Jessica Johnstone 263-0121 | jjohnstone@woodbridgegcc.com

Food & Beverage Supervisor Kelley Mori 263-0133 | kmori@woodbridgegcc.com

Cafe 263-0133 | Private Events 263-0121

Head Golf Professional John Hughes, PGA 368-2685 | jhughes@woodbridgegcc.com

Class A Golf Course Super. Kurtis Wolford 368-9040 | kwolford@woodbridgegcc.com

Player Development Professional Ryan Williams 369-2371 | rawilliams@woodbridgegcc.com

Golf Shop/Tee Times 369-2371

Fitness Center 370-6330

Tennis Professional Mauricio Achondo, USPTA 327-5659 | machondo@woodbridgegcc.com

Tennis Professional Haley Marais, USPTA 275-5158 | hmarais@woodbridgegcc.com

Tennis/ Court Reservations 370-6330

BY TOM SCHUNN GENERAL MANAGER

Let’s eat!

FROM THE GM’S DESK

Some of Woodbridge’s premier family-oriented holiday events are coming up at the Club in the next few weeks. The Easter Egg Hunt is a huge tradition happening on Apr 2, the Sunday before the Easter. The buffet showcases food for the young egg hunters, but also for the adults. The Easter Brunch on Apr 9 is the most highly-attended event for the Club. Before you know it, Mother’s Day Brunch is on the top of families’ agendas in May. It is a special, memorable day to recognize all those moms. We are also hosting a Spring Fling Wine event. These sip and shop gatherings are extremely popular with the membership. We markup wine only slightly over cost to fulfill your wine lifestyle needs. Because of how popular all these events are, reservations are absolutely required. In the month of April, we are restarting the Wednesday Night Dinners. It will be a laidback, value priced buffet featuring family friendly comfort fare. Look for more details and give it a try. Reservations are greatly appreciated for dinner nights, and they are absolutely required for parties of six or more at all dining times. We want to accommodate as many members as possible during daily dining and events. It is no easy task to provide high-quality food and service. This is in part due to the ups and downs in volume, but also because of the staffing challenges. We are in recruiting mode for a new Food & Beverage Manager and Executive Chef. There has been double digit turnover in these roles over the last decade. Some of the longtime front of the house staff are transitioning away or to part time due to pursuing other careers, finishing college, or relocating.

Let’s improve!

Everyone knows that it has been an historic start to 2023. It has influenced Club operations dramatically. It more so has impacted the state population with water, wind & storm’s and snow. The storms caused lengthy closures of the golf course. Golf course superintendant’s Kurtis Wolford’s team did a remarkable job cleaning up the mess. The weather has delayed some of our other planned improvements. And these delays have been hard to swallow after experiencing delays last year, not related to weather, but other dynamics such as supply chain and permitting. The resurfacing of the north parking lot with the new solar system has been pushed out repeatedly due to weather. It should absolutely be completed in April, we also have an improvement with the addition of another irrigation well. The project will not impact members experiences in any way. As you probably know, we are also in the midst of a comprehensive sprinkler replacement project. This hugely beneficial project for improved golf course maintenance is being done in phases in part, this is so as to not impact members access to the golf course. Additionally, we are wanting to dive in at the tennis operation

to resurface and re-stripe. At this point, we are looking at an option of phasing that work. This to lessen the impact to daily enjoyment for the tennis players. If you use the fitness complex, you will notice we are doing some re-organizing and additions of equipment. We are looking at adding some more instructors for the fitness classes as well. We promise to keep the membership well-informed on all these improvements.

Let’s play!

I am taking this opportunity to promote the various golf activities at your Club and encourage you to sign up to expand how you engage with your fellow members. The ladies have two golf groups that play weekly. The 18-Hole Ladies play on Tuesday mornings and have a great number of fun, competitive events. The 49ers play on Thursday mornings. This women’s golf group is very social and has a great number of fun, casual events. There is a senior men’s group. This golf group hosts other clubs for social golf during the tournament season. They also visit other area clubs to engage and experience some of the other facilities. It is a great opportunity to check out other golf courses in the area. And there is also a men’s golf club group. They have a great number of competitive events. There is also during the golf season, starting in March the men’s Twilight League on Wednesday nights. There is always room for more on the various teams. You hopefully know about all the junior golf opportunities. These are mostly focused on instruction. The Club does host some competitive junior events as well. If you have an interest in participating in any of these golf groups, please, by all means check in with the Golf Shop and they can guide you on how to move forward.

Let’s invite!

It is extremely beneficial to host guests at your Club. There is obviously the financial benefit and that we charge guest fees for accessing the various amenities. We cannot diminish the benefit of introducing families to the Club from a membership development perspective. There are limits not on how many guests you bring, but on how many times an individual can come as a guest. It is six times in any of the operating areas and the notion is that if an individual is coming to the Club in higher frequency, they should be considering membership. There is also the opportunity to visit other private clubs in and out of the area through the reciprocity amenity. Some members use this benefit regularly, while others rarely use it. There is a formalized program through the Private Club Network, where members who are traveling, can access other private golf and country clubs. We are also looking at other formalized software-based programs where the reach is expanded. For the time being, the best way to access other private clubs across the area and country is to either contact Head Golf Professional, John Hughes, or me, and we will in turn contact the club you are wishing to play or dine. It is a really cool member benefit. Of course, our preference would be for you to remain here for all your leisurely fun.

See you around the Club, and help us celebrate spring time!

BY KRISTINE ROBERSON MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

COMMITTEE ROUND UPS & Spring Events

Our seven committees have already been busy this year. Here are the recent highlights from each committee.

Golf & Greens Committee

In addition to discussing updates on tournament programming and course conditions, the committee discussed scheduling additional golf staff to increase member service at the bag drop and driving range. Training will be ongoing, weather permitting.

Membership Committee

The committee discussed goals for Membership this year, including transitioning all member files to digital and ways to improve Club communications to membership. The committee also discussed looking into creating an out-of-area membership category.

House & Social Committee

You have most likely already seen one key initiative coming from this committee. All members were recently sent a survey to determine exactly where the Food & Beverage Department can make improvements. This survey will be ongoing and is already providing excellent feedback on areas to improve. Thank you!

Sports Committee

Usage of all racket sports — including pickleball — is up! Tennis Pro Haley is looking at ways to bring even more exciting programming to our Club members. Stay tuned for that! The committee is also actively discussing fitness equipment usage and placement, as well as fitness class utilization. For swim, the priority is hiring a swim season coordinator who can coach swim team and water polo this season.

Centennial Committee

Exciting plans for next year’s celebration are coming from this committee! Club members can look forward to five big celebrations throughout 2024 — our centennial year — as well as event rebranding to include the year-long celebration.

Spring Activities

We have a plethora of events scheduled this spring:

• Apr 26 — Administrative Professionals Lunch (see page 8): This is a lunch buffet perfect to invite your favorite office staff to;

• May 6 — Spring Wine Fling (see page 11): Our popular mega wine tasting event is back this Spring; and

• May 14 — Mother’s Day Brunch (see page 4): This is a Club tradition — and WILL sell out. Have a wonderful April!

MARCH’S

New Members

Kendra Altnow

Sponsor: J Mettler

Category: Twilight

Patrick Dobson

Sponsor: E Sprague

Category: Sports

Chad Bartlett

Sponsor: B Shepard

Category: Young Pro

Paul Bickford

Sponsor: M Navone

Category: Single Golfer

Derek Faul

Sponsor: J Faul

Category: Young Pro

Chad Thompson

Sponsor: S Detar

Category: Young Pro

Mark Pepper

Sponsor: K Jones

Category: Proprietary

MEMBERSHIP AS OF 3/31/23

Proprietary Golf 407

Senior 32

Select Golf 90

Sports 221

Dining 64

Total Members 814

BY RYAN WILLIAMS PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL

ANATOMY OF A GREAT HOLE April’s Tip of the Month

So much of getting around the course in as few shots as possible has to do with how a player’s mind works toward the challenges presented. High, soaring, beautiful shots can be wasted if a player has chosen an ineffective way to play a hole. I would contend that many player’s perceived inability to pull off a given shot has less to do with a lack of talent than simply asking themselves to do too much. We’ve all had the experience of walking off of the green after a poorly-played hole, realizing how simply the disaster could have been avoided. Don’t worry. That’s a sign of growth as a player. It’s also a sign you probably just played a great hole.

There are many great holes of the 27 we boast here at Woodbridge. Each 9 has its own flavor and overarching architectural themes. The Lake is a great example of “target golf,” asking the player to place the ball around penalty areas and doglegs. The River has the most interesting land movements and makes great use of the Mokelumne River. The Vineyard, perhaps the most straightforward on property, also contains what I believe to be the best hole of the 27 in the 7th hole.

Why make so bold a claim? To answer simply, the #7 Vineyard is our best example of what has made great holes great since the game has been played. Let’s discuss its features:

1. The hole is bordered by the river on the right

2. Shots hit aggressively up the left side of the fairway will have to contend with trees to be on the green in two shots

3. To have the ideal angle to the green, a player must be bold off the tee (play to the right center of fairway) or risk a less-than-ideal angle for his or 2nd shot

4. The green, with a low collection area of short grass before the green, sits at a diagonal from right to left, also encourages an approach from the right side of the fairway

5. The internal contours of the green itself move toward the right side of the green. Approaches from the right have a sideboard to move the ball back to the middle while approaches from the left will have a harder time holding a green that slopes away

In other words, a golfer trying to make an easy bogey on the 7th hole has a very high probability of doing so. The potential for disaster awaits the ambitious golfer who wants to make birdie. He or she would have to take on a hard shot off the tee or pass the buck to the 2nd shot and deal with the trees. The choice is yours and that is what makes it great!

Other holes that employ similar strategies are among the most famous in the world. 13 at Augusta, 10 at Pebble Beach, 4 at Pacific Dunes (almost every hole is an exercise in this strategy), 17 at the Old Course at St Andrews, 17 at Cypress Point, just to name a few.

Understanding the designer’s intent can help maximize your scoring ability. If you’re able to hit it on the ideal line off the tee, then it’s go time! On the other hand, if you bail to the safe side of a hole, it’s time to go into defense mode! Ask yourself how a hole is meant to be played, decide how your shot pattern can best attack it, and keep big numbers off your card!

BY JOHN HUGHES, PGA HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL

SPRING EVENTS & Golf Rules

Upcoming Golf Events

Apr 15: Stag Breakfast & Golf (blind draw foursomes)

During May: Sign-ups for Men’s Club Championship Matches

May 18, 20 & 25: Women’s 18 Hole Group – Handicap Tournament

May 20 & 21: Woodbridge

Ryder Cup

May 31: Men’s Twilight League (start)

June 22-24: Tokay Invitational

Fitting Days at Woodbridge

Sun, Apr 2: Callaway

Sat, Apr 15: Ping

Sun, Apr 16: TaylorMade

Sun, Apr 30: XXIO

Sat, May 13: Callaway

Fri, May 19: Mizuno

Sat, May 20: Titleist

Sat, Jul 1: Callaway

Sun, Jul 9: XXIO

Sat, Sep 9: TaylorMade

Fri, Sep 15: XXIO

Golf Handicaps

Woodbridge intends to have fair and equitable handicaps for all members. To that end, the Club’s Handicap Committee is monitoring both rounds and score posting. Please remember you must post all your scores. Guidelines for posting:

• To post a 9-hole score you must play a minimum of 7 holes.

• To post an 18-hole score, you

must play a minimum of 14 holes.

• For holes not played, record net-par.

• The maximum score on any hole is net-double bogey.

• You may post either at the Golf Shop, online at www.ghin.com, or on the GHIN Mobile app. If you need any assistance, just stop in to see the Golf Shop Staff, we’re happy to help.

Pace of Play

• Two hours or less for 9 holes.

• Four hours or less for 18 holes.

• The number of players in a group does not affect the time requirements.

• Always invite faster groups to play through when there is space ahead.

Golf Rules

In four-ball stroke play, player B's ball lies just off the putting green. His partner A's ball lies near the hole in a position to serve as a backstop for B's ball. B requests A to leave his ball in that position. Partner A complies and B makes his stroke with A's ball in position. What is the ruling?

• A gets a two-stroke penalty.

• B gets a two-stroke penalty.

• Both partners get a two-stroke penalty.

• The side is disqualified.

BY KURTIS WOLFORD GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT

DRYING OUT FROM THE WINTER STORMS

Mother Nature is still not giving us much of a break. Weather data provided from our onsite weather station shows from Oct 1, 2021-Mar 20, 2022, we had a total of 11.96” of rain. Oct 1, 2022Mar 20, 2023, we had 35.47”. Wow! We have had a really wet and cold winter. With the days getting longer and warmer, our soil temperatures are trending up, so all the dormant trees and turf are starting to wake up. The course is looking green again.

Our Spring maintenance closure was a challenge this year. Losing a full day due to wet conditions limited us on what we wanted to accomplish. We aerified the greens, tees, and collars. We changed our protocol this year and verticut the greens two consecutive days in an effort to incorporate more sand into the turf canopy. This greatly benefited and increased hole closure. I was very surprised by the positive affect it had and will add it into future aerifications.

We started to overseed the rough areas around the course— specifically greens surrounds and high-traffic areas — with more Rye grass and Blue grass to increase the rough density. Once we get caught up on mowing, we will start aerifying the rough, and focusing on areas that always get the most compaction from cart traffic. We will be trying to get in our regular mowing of rough and fairways after we get the major part of aerification completed.

We began whipping the greens back into shape a few weeks ago, as weather permitted. We will start the process of rolling and mowing once we get the sand worked down enough. We are spraying greens with fungicide because of all the leaf wetness pressure combined with temperatures. These conditions with new fresh growth are perfect conditions for some fungi. It is also time to get our insecticide out. White grubs are starting to wake up and do damage.

Spring is usually a time where we are doing as much mowing as possibly can to keep things cut down. With all the moisture we have had, everything is going to explode with growth. Our mowers are mowing seven days a week.

We need your help. With the greens being soft PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE repair your ball marks. Pick yours and one other as you are on the greens. This will be a tremendous help. Our section staff spends time (5-10 minutes) on greens every morning repairing ball marks.

BY KRISTINE ROBERSON MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

MAYBE THEY SHOULD GO THERE...

The trials and tribulations of trying new things

Remember when you first moved in to your home? The excitement of decorating and placing furniture just so, and of course, the plans for the Christmas Tree...

And then move-in day comes along, and your perfect plans of furniture placement go less than perfect. Nevertheless, after a few tries at placement options, you came up with the perfect layout — one that fits your family perfectly today.

Such is the case with the fitness center.

Some of you newer to the Club may not remember, but construction on our fitness center completed in April 2020 — just in the nick of time to shut it down for covid restrictions. The center’s entire first year of operation was ... empty. When we were finally able to fully open the center, things went smoothly.

Until they didn’t. It seems some of our family is outgrowing our original layout, specifically with the weight equipment.

We attempted to fix the congestion at the weights by moving the weights into the under-utilized spin room, only to hear from our members that this was not the right solution. So, we are moving the weights back into the main room.

No big deal. We are simply rearranging the living room to find the best placement of furniture for our family today. You can rest assured that we are listening to our members who most use the fitness center and are hearing you.

Thank you for your patience.

We want to acheive three main objectives with the placement of equipment at the fitness center:

1. The flow of members and workouts makes sense

2. The congestion is minimized

3. All square footage is maximized.

This means we are also looking at the usage of the spin room, and looking at possible solutions.Can we use part of that room for another exercise modality? Can we incorporate virtual classes to encourage members to use the room and its equipment at any time, not just for the occassional spin class?

Our plan is to continue to evaluate the center usage and the equipment, and try new things. Afterall, the only failure is not trying any solution at all.

What are your ideas? We would love to hear them!

What’s New in Tennis

It’s no secret we’ve been needing repairs to the tennis courts for quite a while now. In its last meeting, the Board of Directors

discussed enacting an ongoing maintenance plan for the tennis courts. The plan will stagger repair work on the courts, repairing a one to three courts each year. This is a great plan, because it reduces the large financial bill to the Club, and also puts the courts on a maintenance schedule much like the golf courses have. The court we are looking to repair first is Court 1, as it is in the most need of repairs. Next year, we will repair two to three other courts, followed by repairing the remainder o f courts in 2025.

With the average court life at five to seven years, we should be able to take a couple of years off of repair projects for the courts before revisiting the maintenance round again.

We’re already in talks with a company to perform repairs on Court 1 as soon as the weather is warm enough to start!

Upcoming Tennis Events

Mark your calendars!

Apr 29: Easter Round Robin noon-3

May 13: Mother’s Day Round Robin 9am-noon

June 3: Summer Kickoff Round Robin 9am-noon

June 16: Beer, Balls & Barbecue 9am-noon

Reid is 7 he will be 8 April 6th. He goes to Joe Serna charter school. He loves learning Spanish, basketball, tennis and being crazy! His favorite foods are his great Nonna’s spaghetti sauce with meatballs, hamburgers and salads. Reid despises cheese! When he grows up he wants to be CEO of my hospital (sutter) ��

BY KATHIE HOLTZAPPLE & BETH HANDEL 18-HOLE

Rainy Day Play GET YOUR RAFFLE TICKET

Can you believe it? The first quarter is almost over and what have we done? Certainly, we have not played a lot of golf. The saying, “we plan and God laughs,” has come to mind numerous times these past months.

Our first Tuesday play day was Match Play and seemed to be enjoyed by all. We had 11 matches and with the exception of a few of us most winners worked hard for their wins.

Our Mar 14 play day was moved to Mar 17 due to the course being closed for aerification. Probably a good thing it got moved as rain would have meant we couldn’t play. Also, by waiting until Friday, we were able to play the River course for the first time in about three months. What a delight to see and play the course. It was in great shape, thanks to Kurtis and his staff, as well as having had time to recover from the many major storms.

Once again, rain and wind changed our plans for Mar 21. It was going to be a full day – Blind Draw, Medallion Play from the combo tees plus our General Meeting. But, due to the weather, we improvised. A short meeting conducted by Beth Handel was held at 9am with about 22 members attending. Following the meeting, a number of us who love

our day out on Tuesday stayed and played non golf games. There were two tables of bridge players – one for the pros and one for the pros to help the beginners. Thanks to Beth and Rita for their patience and pointers. There was also a rousing game of Sequel being played by the pros and beginners. We have one more play day scheduled for this month so hopefully the weather will cooperate.

We also have 8 of our ladies playing our first Team Play match at Del Paso on the 30th. Again pray for cooperation from the weather. Also 4 of us will be playing in our first Open day tournament at The Golf Course at Boulder Ridge in San Jose. Both events should be fun.

Please take time to buy a raffle ticket and encourage others to do so. The prize is well worth the price of a ticket.

Looking forward to seeing all of you on the course.

Kathie Holtzapple and Beth Handel

LADIES CO-CAPTAINS

BY ARLEEN MATAGA FORE-TEE NINERS CAPTAIN

49er Update Lucky St Patty’s Winners!

Hey 49ers. Last month was the St. Patty's Day party, with a beautiful golf day, too. I don't remember ever playing on a Friday for the Fore Tee Niners play day, and I've been around since the last century. Our winners for the fun tournament were:

1: Jackie Katzakian

2: Donna Aaron

3: Mary Jane Beckham

Congratulations, ladies. Also, thanks to all the ladies involved in the planning of the fun day. Also, we had our first Guest Day, low putts. Remember you can invite someone for the last Thursday of each month until October.

April has fun, match-play style games for Apr 6, 13 and 20. Please sign up on the bulletin board. If you can't play on any of the days it's OK. You can just mark it on the sign up sheet for the days you can play or not play. We will adjust the players. Match play is a different type of play. You play against only one person instead of the whole field. And you play each hole as a win or loss using your handicap. If you blow up on a hole, it does not matter because you would only lose that hole. You can still win. When it's stroke play, if you blow up, usually you lose the game.

CHARITY BRIDGE

April Play

6: River; Fun Match Play #1; Merlot tees; 8:30am check in with snack; 8:50am shotgun

13: Lake; Fun Match Play #2; Merlot tees; 8:30am check in; 8:50am shotgun

20: Vineyard; Fun Match Play #3; Merlot tees; 8:30am check in; choose your lunch; 8:50am shotgun (18 Holers will be playing)

27: River; GUEST DAY; check in and snack

8:30am; 9am shotgun; Low Putts

The bulletin board has things we are invited to play in. Rancho Murieta Invitational, Lincoln Hills Open with sign ups also for Brookside Home & Home, Rossmore Open, Valley Hi Invitational, and Oakdale Home & Home. The Opens are put on by the WNHGA directors and invite all the clubs, and winners get only balls (least amount charged). No mulligans, strictly play by the rules. Usually no decorations and no raffle or special prizes. Home & Home are put on by that club and invite one or two clubs with simple decorations and prizes (medium amount charged). Invitationals are all out decorations, prizes, raffles, special plays, mulligans etc. (be prepared to pay more, even after you get there).

See you on the course. Arleen

Group 1 — Liza Kanemura and Mary Slate 4060

Group 2 — Linda Van Loben Sels and Nancy Rutherford 3020

Group 3 — Sharon Daegling and Jackie Burrows 2690

Please remember to post your make-up scores to remain in competition!