Club + Resort Business October 2020

October 2020

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Marking a Memorable Year at Wanakah CC INSIDE: Designing Kitchens for New Purposes How to Still Make Room for Dessert Utility Vehicles Become Even More Essential

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October 2020

OCTOBER CLUB INDEX Club and resort properties featured in this issue

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore. ..........................................40 Biltmore Forest Country Club, Asheville, N.C. ...............................33 Bishops Bay Country Club, Middleton, Wis. ........................................24 Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Palos Park, Ill. ....................................54 Eagle Creek Golf & Country Club, Naples, Fla. ....................................21 Edgewood Country Club, River Vale, N.J. .........................................30 Glen Echo Country Club, Normandy, Mo. ..............................................43 Hammock Dunes Club, Palm Coast, Fla. ............................................47 Indian Hills Country Club, Tuscaloosa, Ala. .........................................33 Kings Creek Country Club, Rehobeth Beach, Del. ...........................22 Oakley Country Club, Watertown, Mass. ............................................26 Oakwood County Club, Kansas City, Mo. ......................................37 Paragould Country Club, Paragould, Ark. .............................................37 Sailfish Point, Hutchinson Island, Fla. ........................................................24 Sawgrass Country Club, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. .............................47 Vicmead Hunt Club/Bidermann Golf Course, Wilmington, Del. .....................................................................................................................31 Wanakah Country Club, Hamburg, N.Y. .................................................14 Westminster National Golf Course, Westminster, Md. ...................37 Wycliffe Golf & Country Club, Wellington, Fla. ...................................47 www.clubandresortbusiness.com

EDITOR’S MEMO

Ongoing Developments THE END OF SEPTEMBER brought the news (see pg. 8) that the equity members of the 94-year-old Forest Lake Country Club had voted to reject an outright sale to Toll Brothers, and would instead revisit undertaking a proposed clubhouse renovation and consider other measures in the face of what one of the club’s Board members described as a “difficult financial reality in a very challenging economic environment.”

The first day of October then brought word that the 125-year-old Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. was contemplating selling 48 acres adjacent to the 5th hole of its Donald Ross-designed golf course for $13 million, to a developer that would build 280 apartments on the parcel.

Pretty much a day doesn’t go by that we don’t come across new stories about clubs and golf courses deciding to reject the sale or development of all or part of their properties (or being denied the ability to do so), and about others looking into the possibility of completing such a deal. And the drumbeat for these decisions only promises to get louder as some clubs continue to search for new ways to generate working capital that can help them make it through the pandemic (or bail out from it), at the same time buyers are hungrily searching for available land they can quickly develop to meet the current demand for housing in an era of historically low interest rates.

Salem Country Club, as one of the country’s oldest country clubs, with a golf course that has hosted six major championships, is certainly not in desperate straits. Its current President was pretty low-key when contacted about the offer the club has received, saying “We get inquiries from people all the time.”

If Salem CC did decide to go through with the sale, it would be pretty safe to assume it would be done in a way that wouldn’t jeopardize or cheapen its tradi-

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

The drumbeat for decisions about whether a club should look into selling all or part of its property to developers only promises to get louder as buyers search hungrily for available land. tions or the integrity of its Ross course.

But the fact that an offer was made to such a storied property is noteworthy, and an indication of the extent to which this activity is now occurring, and promises to continue.

The Forest Lake situation is also noteworthy, because it captures a real dilemma that many clubs are now facing.

We’re not having any trouble finding examples of many other clubs with strong histories and traditions that are turning the negatives of this year into inspiring stories—two more in this issue include Lancaster (Pa.) CC (pg. 8) and Wanakah CC (pg. 14). But in some cases, gains have been made, at least in part, because other clubs in a market have fallen by the wayside or abandoned a private model.

I don’t know if it swayed the Forest Lake vote or not, but it was interest-

ing that a young non-equity member, writing with the support of a member group known as the “Save FLCC Sweet 13,” was moved to write an impassioned open letter and have it published in a local business publication, laying out all the reasons the sale to Toll Brothers shouldn’t be made (he didn’t include the fact that Toll Brothers itself abandoned its own club operations).

“Before you vote on selling this club, please think about the following,” the Forest Lake member wrote. “This was never an investment for you. This was not a stock market pick, a business endeavor, or a life insurance policy. You paid to be allowed to enjoy a club and when you were done, you were going to leave it better for the next generation to enjoy it the same.

“If you are unhappy with the facilities, the course, the members, the Board or whatever your issue is at this moment, this too shall pass,” the letter continued.

“These are small issues compared to the bigger issue of whether or not this club remains intact after 94 years of success.”

As long as there are members, young and old, around with that perspective, I’m confident that the inspirational stories will always outnumber the grim ones.

Joe Barks • Editor jbarks@wtwhmedia.com

October 202O

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INSIDE

October 2020 • Vol. 16 • No. 10

THIS

ISSUE

14

Marking a Memorable Year at Wanakah CC

The Hamburg, N.Y. club will look back at 2020 with more fondness than frustration as it nears its 125th anniversary, having seen a surge in recognition for its golf course as well as in membership, after a $2.5 million clubhouse renovation and pool upgrade. (Cover Photo Courtesy Wanakah CC) ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Design + Recreation 20 FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Upgraded cook and prep spaces are helping to meet new foodservice demands.

Design Snapshot 26 TAKING THE LONG VIEW

A revitalized clubhouse and dining venues have boosted member usage at Oakley CC.

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Editor’s Memo

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The Rob Report

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C+RB News Roundup

ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS

PLAYING THE LONG GAME

LANCASTER CC BREAKS GROUND FOR NEW FACILITIES Plus other industry, supplier and people news.

40

Pro Talk

STAYING BUSY AT BANDON DUNES No two days are ever alike for Director of Golf Steven Borror.

43

Super In the Spotlight

TAKING THE RIGHT ROAD

Joe Wachter’s career went full circle to lead him to be entrusted with the historic golf course at Glen Echo CC.

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Food + Beverage 30 THERE’S STILL ROOM

FOR DESSERT

Club chefs find inventive ways to provide special sweet treats.

4 Club Index 6

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+ Grounds 36 Course ESSENTIAL IN NATURE Utility vehicles keep finding new ways to show their worth.

49 Product Showcase

Today’s Manager

PUTTING A NEW PREMIUM ON INSURANCE

The shifting sands of liability, risk management and property/casualty coverage have become even trickier to navigate.

54

Idea Exchange

SPARKLING SUCCESS

Cog Hill G&CC provides a cool new experience with “Seltzerland.”

53 Ad Index www.clubandresortbusiness.com

THE ROB REPORT

Playing the Long Game IT WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 2000 and 2005. I was bombing the ball—routinely reaching 300 yards off the tee, and once I had a wedge for my second shot into a par-5, after clearing a hill and taking advantage of a “speed slot” on the other side. I had reached my peak power.

Stepping back a little further in time—1996, to be exact—Tiger Woods turned professional and changed the game forever. His incredible length off the tee made other professionals look meek, and set off a scramble to “Tiger Proof” golf courses.

As we now know, Tiger-proofing had the opposite effect. Instead of making courses too long for Woods to overwhelm, it made them almost unplayable for shorter hitters. Tiger still dominated, and a new breed of golfers followed in his footsteps.

The distance debate didn’t really start with Woods, of course. Every generation has had a young buck come up and disrupt the field by driving it past everyone else. Right before Tiger, we had John Daly. Daly wasn’t just power, either. His short game was smooth enough to earn him a pair of major championships.

Presently, everyone is talking about Bryson DeChambeau. He used the time when the pro Tour was shut down by the pandemic to gain 40 pounds of muscle and invaluable mph on his driver and ball speed, so he could attack and overpower golf courses. Bringing the feared Winged Foot Golf Club to its knees for a U.S. Open title is all the proof one needs to see the fruits of his labor (and the payoff from gallons of protein shakes).

Golf’s governing bodies—the USGA and R&A—are taking this seriously and have set their sights on how it could affect not only professional tournaments, www.clubandresortbusiness.com

While on the surface it doesn’t seem like Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Champ and their peers bombing drives that approach 400 yards would hurt the game for the masses, there is evidence to the contrary. but also golf courses and equipment.

In February, the organizations issued a joint Distance Insights Report with an ominous tone: “There is a 100-year trend of hitting-distance increases in golf, as well as a corresponding increase in the length of golf courses, across the game globally,” the report said. “The USGA and the R&A believe this continuing cycle is detrimental to the game’s long-term future.”

Increased distance can have a number of trickle-down effects, including classic, shorter courses becoming obsolete; increased use of water, chemicals and other resources to maintain a course; and golfers needing more time to play rounds. All of these results are indeed detrimental to the game.

I live less than 15 minutes away from Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, which has hosted two U.S. Opens (1940 and 1946) and a PGA Championship (1973). Sam Snead once said, “I’d much rather face a rattlesnake than a

downhill 2-footer at Canterbury.”

The first time I played Canterbury, I missed such a putt on the first hole and was ruined (mentally) for the remainder of my round. While the course held its own when it hosted the 2009 Senior PGA Championship, eventually it also became too short for the young guns.

The golf industry has been trying various “grow the game” initiatives for years, but it took a global pandemic to see numbers really start to improve.

While on the surface, it doesn’t seem like DeChambeau, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Champ and their peers bombing drives that approach 400 yards would hurt the game for the masses, there is evidence to the contrary.

Are your members and guests now coming to you, asking for a club fitting that adds 10 yards off the tee? Are they now outhitting your golf course, and maybe even forcing you to make renovations—lengthening tees, repositioning fairway bunkers, etc.—to try to counter their gains in distance?

Drop me a line and let me know how the “DeChambeau Effect” is impacting your operation, and how you think it could affect golf in the long run.

Rob Thomas • Senior Editor

rthomas@wtwhmedia.com

October 2020

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INDUSTRY ROUNDUP LANCASTER (PA.) CC BREAKS GROUND FOR NEW FACILITIES LANCASTER (PA.) COUNTRY CLUB held a groundbreaking ceremony for a major $20 million expansion

project, “A Defining Moment,” that will create a new activities pavilion with resort-style pool, a reimagined clubhouse, golf plaza, and enhanced racquets facilities at the 120-year-old private club.

The new activities pavilion, scheduled to open in the summer of 2021, will boast numerous amenities including a family bistro, outdoor terrace, golf simulators, a children’s lounge, as well as a cafe, kids splash pool, resort-style zero-entry pool, and competition pool on the lower level.

A new paddle hut and the reimagined clubhouse will follow the pavilion, slated to open in the fall and winter of 2021, respectively.

The golf plaza will complete the expansion project.

The project name was selected because “it packages up the immense scope of the project and presents it as the pivotal time in Lancaster Country Club’s history that it truly is: a time of growth and possibility that enables the club to offer more lifestyle resources to members for centuries to come,” the club said in its announcement.

EQUITY MEMBERS VOTE ‘NO’ ON SALE OF FOREST LAKE CC EQUITY MEMBERS OF FOREST Lake Country Club

(FLCC) in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. have rejected the proposed sale of the club to Toll Brothers, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. Creighton Forester, Board President, said on September 29 that the 94-year-old club’s equity membership voted against “the outright sale” of the 104-acre property to the homebuilder.

Forester declined to reveal the proposed purchase price and how many votes were cast for and against the sale, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. A majority of the equity members would have had to approve. A nonequity member of the club had penned an open letter urging the equity members to vote no on the sale.

Before the vote it was reported that a proposal was also before the membership to renovate the Forest Lake clubhouse as part of a plan to modernize the club and attract new and younger members. Forester declined to say how much the renovation plan would cost, Crain’s Detroit Business reported, but said the project would be paid for through membership dues, which wouldn’t be raised as part of the plan.

In 2009, FLCC considered a merger with the Detroit Athletic Club, but that deal was never finalized. Six years later, another merger with Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield, Mich. was also considered but never finalized.

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE PLANS TO BUILD NEW GOLF COURSES NEW GOLF COURSES, AN inn, cottages, and more

PROPOSED FLORIDA COMMUNITY PICKS SURF PARK OVER GOLF COURSE A PROPOSED 200-ACRE COMMUNITY in Fort Pierce, Fla.—complete with

800 homes along with retail, entertainment, and office space—is eschewing the uber-Floridian amenity of the golf course in favor of something radically different: a massive wave pool specifically engineered for surfing, The Architect’s Newspaper reported.

The $595 million mixed-use development, Willow Lakes Resort Village and Community, is slated to feature the largest such surf park in the U.S., with the pool/lagoon itself designed and engineered by Spanish company Wavegarden, The Architect’s Newspaper reported. Surf parks like the one planned for Willow Lakes can create up to 1,000 waves of varying shapes and sizes per hour and accommodate up to 100 surfers at any given time.

The Fort Pierce County Commission unanimously approved an initial set of dramatic zoning changes that will enable the Willow Lakes development, with a Surfworks Resort as its crowd-drawing centerpiece, to move forward, The Architect’s Newspaper reported. A range of local officials and stakeholders have also eagerly endorsed the project, acknowledging the potential economic boon of having an inland surfing destination.

The project will be built out in multiple phases, with the Wavegarden surf park and accompanying facilities including eateries debuting as part of the $40 million first phase, The Architect’s Newspaper reported. A 150-room hotel could also potentially be included in the first phase.

could be going in at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, Calif., station KSBY of San Luis Obispo, Calif. reported.

A new project encompassing 1,200 acres is in the works, KSBY reported, with The Larkin Group of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., which specializes in golf projects, announcing it’s working with the base to build several public golf courses, a driving range, a two-story inn, and lodge facilities.

The facility, which would be built on the base’s now-abandoned Marshallia Ranch Golf Course that closed nearly three years ago, would be open to military personnel, retirees, and the general public, KSBY reported.

The Marshallia Ranch Club House (pictured below), built in 1997, was awarded the Air Force Citation Award for Facility Design. The property also includes the adobe Ranch House, originally built in 1837, that remains the oldest structure on Vandenberg Air Force Base and has been a landmark for more than a century. The house has survived two fires and now serves as a guest house.

EAGLEMONT GC LISTED FOR $6.5M EAGLEMONT GOLF COURSE IN Mount Vernon, Wash., which closed permanently in April, is for sale for $6.5 million, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. The property is 215.76 acres and includes an 18-hole golf course and the Eaglemont clubhouse, which was completed in 2011.

The 20,000-sq. ft. clubhouse houses a pro shop, banquet hall, conference rooms, fitness center, restaurant and administrative offices, the Herald reported.

Before it closed permanently on April 4, Eaglemont GC was a popular venue for community events, the Herald reported. The course opened in 1993.

A closing notice from the owner posted to Eaglemont’s website stated that “We were prepared to close Eaglemont Golf Course months ago and tried to find new investors… the COVID-19 pandemic is the final impact.”

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

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INDUSTRY ROUNDUP WHAT IS AN EXECUTIVE GOLF COURSE? HERE ARE SOME DEEMED THE BEST IN THE U.S.

FOR THOSE WHO DON’T have the option (or desire) to spend the amount of time needed for a round of golf on a traditional layout, The Last Word on Sports (LWOS) published its choices for the country’s best executive courses—a playing option growing in popularity.

An executive golf course is the same as a regular course, only a bit shorter, LWOS reported.

Instead of a par-72 that stretches out to 7,000 yards, an executive golf course might be a par-65 and be only 5,400 yards long. Golfers still get to play a mix of par 3s, par 4s, and par 5s, but the amount of each type of hole will be different from a normal course.

While some confuse “executive” with Par-3 courses, there’s a simple difference—a Par-3 golf course is all par 3s, LWOS reported. For the avid golfer, an executive course better simulates the experience of playing on a classic, full-length course.

For its list of “best executive golf courses,” LWOS spotlighted: St. Mark Executive Course in San Marcos, Calif.; Winding Hills Golf Club in Montgomery, N.Y.; Sugar Mountain (N.C.) Golf Club; Oasis Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif.; Canyon Mesa Country Club in Sedona, Ariz.; Maple Leaf Golf & Country Club in Port Charlotte, Fla.; Audubon Park Golf Course in New Orleans, La.; the Mountain Course at Incline Village (Nev.); Portland (Conn.) Golf Course West; the Challenge Course at Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond, Ore.; and the Huron Shores Golf Course in Port Sanilac, Mich.

Oasis Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif. was one of 11 properties named to The Last Word on Sports’ list of Best Executive Golf Courses.

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NEW EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE CLUBS CONTINUE TO EMERGE SCOTT SARTIANO, A HOSPITALITY

magnate and the founder of some of the world’s hottest nightclubs, is slated to open his first-ever private members’ club, “Zero Bond,” Business Insider reported.

Located at 0 Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo (North of Houston Street) neighborhood, Zero Bond will be a “work and social club” for individuals in the art, entertainment, media, fashion and literary industries.

Membership fees for Zero Bond will be $3,000 annually, with a $500 initiation fee, Business Insider reported. Those who apply are required to have a reference by a current member. The club has a roster of high-profile celebrities, athletes, and designers on board as founding members, including Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, Liev Schreiber, Tom Brady, Zac Posen, and Caroline Wozniacki.

The 20,000-sq. ft., high-ceilinged space spans two floors with several lounge areas, two restaurants, five private rooms, and a bar, Business Insider reported. Design aficionados will love the club’s contemporary aesthetic, designed by William Sofield and Studio Sofield, which designed store interiors for Gucci. The building, built in 1874, retains much of its original structure, including red-brick archways and large windows.

Zero Bond will be the latest entry in a new breed of private clubs that have come on the scene and stand to be “rare winners,” Business Insider reported, as people seek safe, hygienic and private places to work amid office closures and city-wide shutdowns. Other recent examples include the Chateua Marmont in Los Angeles and the continued expansion of Soho House properties, which now number more than 27 clubs worldwide.

‘GLAMPING’ PLAN FOR PRINCEVILLE RESORT RAISES DEVELOPMENT CONCERNS A PROPOSAL BY THE Miami investment firm redeveloping the former Princeville

resort and adjoining Makai Golf Club on Kauai, Hawaii has stirred new controversy by proposing a 50-unit luxury camping resort that would be built, to open in 2022, on three holes of one of the property’s two golf courses, The Garden Island reported.

The proposal, which has still not been announced publicly, was disclosed by media coverage in late August, The Garden Island reported. It has drawn vicious attacks from Princeville residents who, among other things, accuse Starwood Capital Group, the investment firm, with threatening local homeowners.

The new resort would offer glamping—short for “glamorous camping”—in luxury tents in a complex that would also have a restaurant, spa and commercial building, The Garden Island reported. Nightly rates would be in the $500-and-up range.

The resort would be built on just over 50 acres currently included in three of the nine holes of the Woods Course, a layout mostly used by budget-conscious local golfers, The Garden Island reported.

The golf properties together occupy about 290 acres that would remain open space under terms of a three-paragraph document—technically called a dedication letter—until 2026, The Garden Island reported. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

SUPPLIER NEWS GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE GROUP INTRODUCES NATIONAL GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB PROGRAM GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE GROUP’S Alternative Markets

Division has announced its newest national program, offered in conjunction with VGM Insurance Services. The program focuses on coverages for golf and country clubs across the United States.

The program, based out of Waterloo, Iowa, was awarded to Great American effective June 1, 2020.

VGM Insurance Services has been creating comprehensive insurance and risk-management programs for a variety of niche industries for more than 30 years.

Great American’s Alternative Markets Division offers agents and clients a variety of risksharing and traditional program insurance options that support both specialty niche programs as well as generalist businesses. The division’s captive capabilities include Agency, Association and Group captives.

“We are really excited to be teaming up with such an experienced group of specialists” said Rich Suter, Divisional President, Great American Alternative Markets. “VGM’s subjectmatter expertise with golf courses and country clubs is going to offer us a tremendous competitive advantage.”

Added Mike Kloos, President of VGM Insurance Services: “VGM has decades of experience supplying golf and country clubs with the products and services needed to run their business. We are looking forward to a long-term successful relationship with Great American to enhance the specialized risk-management services and expertise we offer to our golf industry clients across the U.S.”

SHADEMAKER LAUNCHES REDESIGNED WEBSITE FOR LUXURY COMMERCIAL SHADE SHADEMAKER, A LINE OF umbrellas for restaurants, resorts, country clubs and high-end

residential designers, announced the launch of its redesigned website at www.shademakerusa.com. The website includes visual enhancements to deliver a more engaging userfriendly experience and allow visitors to easily find the information they need.

The website was designed to provide a platform for each of the brand’s six designer collections and include valuable information for existing and prospective customers.

Also featured are commercial installation images, interactive specifications, operational videos, available fabric options, and accessories.

The visitor can also access support elements and services including media clips, trade show dates and locations, a portfolio of professional images, and maintenance and warranty information, as well as a national and international locator. Download links are also available for e-mailing or printing specification and product information materials.

TORO NAMED WORLDWIDE SUPPLIER TO THE RYDER CUP THROUGH 2029 TORO HAS BEEN NAMED the official Turf Maintenance Equipment & Irrigation provider

for the Ryder Cup through 2029. The agreement will begin in earnest with the 43rd Ryder Cup, which will be played Sept. 21-26, 2021, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis. Beyond Whistling Straits, the agreement covers four additional Ryder Cups this decade: 2023/Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, Rome, Italy; 2025/Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y.; 2027/Adare Manor, County Limerick, Ireland; and 2029/Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minn.

“To be selected as the official equipment and irrigation partner for Ryder Cup events is a tremendous honor,” said Rick Olson, Toro Chairman and CEO. “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to support golf’s pre-eminent biennial team event, which promotes winning on behalf of team and country.” www.clubandresortbusiness.com

Excellence in

Club

Management

®

Awards Entries are now being

accepted for the 2020 Excellence in Club Management® & Rising Star Awards, co-sponsored by the McMahon Group, Club + Resort Business and the National Club Association.

The awards program honors private club general managers, managers and chief operating officers who have exhibited outstanding skills in their clubs.

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING ENTRIES IS OCTOBER 23, 2020 For more information and to submit nominations, go to www.clubmanageraward.com

October 2020

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SUPPLIER NEWS ALTO-SHAAM WINS EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE AWARD AT FEDA GOLD AWARDS ALTO-SHAAM HAS WON THE Extraordinary Service Award at the inaugural FEDA (Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association) Gold Awards. The award is in recognition of the customer experience Alto-Shaam provides, demonstrating the company’s dedication to operators, dealers and distributors at every touch point.

Alto-Shaam has built robust educational programming to support and serve its valued customers and partners. These include free “A Taste of Alto-Shaam” demonstrations, on-site consultations, custom employee training and support, and hands-on learning events for customers.

“We are truly honored and humbled to be the first manufacturer recognized for extraordinary service through FEDA’s new Gold Awards,” said Steve Maahs, Alto-Shaam President and Chief Operating Officer. “People are our priority, and we strive to exceed expectations in every interaction. For us, this means always living our values of highest quality, family, innovation, value, education and service.”

PEOPLE NEWS CLUB PEOPLE The Santaluz Club in San Diego, Calif. has named Scott Julien, CCM, CCE as General Manager/Chief Operating Officer. Julien was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Sterling Grove Golf and Country Club, a new semi-private club currently under development in Surprise, Ariz., named Ryan Stemsrud as Ryan Stemsrud General Manager. Most recently, Stemsrud was General Manager of Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, N.J. Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. named Paul Notine as General Manager and Chad LeMasters as Executive Chef. Notine was most recently General Manager of River Hills Country Club in Clover, S.C. LeMasters was also most recently at River Hills, where he served as Executive Chef.

Paul Notine 12

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Coral Creek Club in Placida, Fla. hired Abby Parsons as Assistant Golf Professional. Abby Parsons Parsons joins the club from her current position at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., where she is one of the instructors in the Kohler Golf Academy. Parsons’ father, Tom Parsons, was the Pro/Club Manager at Pinehurst and before that at the National Golf Club in Pinehurst, and is now General Manager/Head Golf Professional at Crow River GC in Hutchinson, Minn.

Coral Creek also announced that David Leadbetter has been named the club’s Director of Instruction.

Don Stansell

Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz. named Don Stansell as Executive Chef.

Most recently, Stansell served as the Executive Chef at Two Brothers Tap House and Brewery in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pursell Farms in Sylacauga, Ala. named Joe Truex as Executive Chef. Prior to doing F&B consulting work, Truex was Executive Chef at The Landings Club on Skidaway Island in the Savannah, Ga. area.

Joe Truex Cheeca Lodge & Spa in Islamorada, Fla. appointed Alex Beaumont and Patrick Cleary as new Executive Chefs. Beaumont most recently served as Complex Executive Chef at Casa Marina & Reach Resort Waldorf Astoria in Key West, Fla. Cleary most recently served as Executive Chef at the Hilton Denver City Center in Denver, Colo.

The Springs in Rancho Mirage, Calif. has named Scott Frisch as Head Golf Professional and Michael Bailin as Courts Manager. Frisch was most recently Director of Golf at Phoenix (Ariz.) Country Club. Bailin was a member of the Mission Hills Country Club Board of Governors.

Scott Frisch www.clubandresortbusiness.com

"T to e e m

G G F

PEOPLE NEWS

SUPPLIER PEOPLE

Don Hinshaw

The Sterno Group announced the retirement of CEO Don Hinshaw, effective December 31. Craig Carnes, Group President, Foodservice Products Group, will become CEO of The Sterno Group effective January 1, 2021.

Eloma USA appointed Matt Auck as Director, Sales and Culinary. Most recently, Auck was responsible for developing and managing sales of combi and speed ovens, along with other major equipment, for another manufacturer.

IN MEMORIAM

Rory James Doherty, 31, of White Plains, N.Y, died on August 22 at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., from complications that resulted from infections. Doherty was General Manager/Chief Operating Officer of Glen Ridge (N.J.) Country Club, a position he held since March 2019. He joined Glen Ridge as its Director of Food and Beverage in December 2015. Prior to joining Glen Ridge, Doherty served as Assistant General Manager of Bonnie Briar Country Club in Larchmont, N.Y., and as Manager at Hackensack Golf Club in Oradell, N.J.

Bob Ralston

Rory James Doherty

Former PGA Tour player and longtime club professional Bob Ralston died September 6 at the age of 70 after a six-month battle with liver cancer. Ralston most recently served as the PGA Head Professional at Stuttgart (Ark.) Country Club. A former Head Golf Professional at several clubs in Arkansas, including Maumelle Country Club and Belvedere Country Club in Hot Springs, Ralston played on the PGA Tour from 1980-82. He is also enshrined in the Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2004 along with his brother, Steve Ralston, the PGA Head Professional at Burns Park in North Little Rock, Ark.

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"This suite provides the tools our team needs to enhance the member experience, and our members are responding."

GREG GILG General Manager Field Club of Omaha www.clubandresortbusiness.com

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October 2020 l Club + Resort Business l 13

Âť WANAKAH CC

MARKING A MEMORABLE YEAR AT

WANAKAH CC The Hamburg, N.Y. club will look back at 2020 with more fondness than frustration as it nears its 125th anniversary, having seen a surge in recognition for its golf course as well as in membership, after a $2.5 million clubhouse renovation and pool upgrade.

By Joe Barks, Editor 14

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WHEN THE GOLF WORLD FINALLY GOT TO ENJOY its first major tournament this year—the delayed PGA Championship that was rescheduled for the first week of August at San Francisco’s 95-year-old TPC Harding Park course—a global spotlight was shined on the often-underappreciated course design talents of William Watson (more often referred to as Willie, although the educated Scotsman never used what was viewed as a working-class nickname himself).

That attention gave other clubs across the U.S. a chance to also bask in and benefit from the new attention paid to Watson designs, including Wanakah Country Club in Hamburg, N.Y., just south of Buffalo.

Watson also designed Wanakah’s course in 1925, www.clubandresortbusiness.com

and the favorable reviews of Harding Park for how it showed during the PGA broadcast and put a premium on making even the most skilled players think through every shot and angle generated new interest for what he had also created in the same year on the property 2,600 miles away, along the shores of Lake Erie.

But the PGA spotlight only added to momentum and recognition for the Wanakah course that had already been generated first by a $1.2 million renovation— the first major course project since Watson’s original layout—that was carried out from 2016-18 to greatly improve drainage while also opening up sweeping views of not only the downtown Buffalo skyline, but also clear across the lake to Canada.

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» Wanakah CC

The view in all directions is bright for the Wanakah CC staff. Left to Right: Mike Karnath, CCM, General Manager/COO; Marc Rosa, PGA, Head Golf Professional; Mike Van Wie, Facilities Manager; Jeff Kolbas, Executive Chef; Jim Giangrosso, Business Manager; Caroline DiazCanton, Tennis Professional; Richard Gladhill, Golf Course Superintendent; Kevin Hoffman, Events Director; Jacqueline Weber, Administrative Assistant; Tyler Winkowski, Assistant Manager. Not pictured: Lindsey Ardus, Pool Director.

AT A GLANCE:

Wanakah Country Club Location: Hamburg, N.Y. Founded: 1899 Members: 390 Golf Course Design: Willie Watson, 1925 (Chris Wilczynski, 2018) Annual Golf Rounds: 14,000 Main Clubhouse Size: 23,280 sq. ft.

General Manager/Chief Operating Officer: Mike Karnath, CCM Head Golf Professional: Marc Rosa, PGA Golf Course Superintendent: Richard Gladhill Executive Chef: Jeff Kolbas Events Director: Kevin Hoffman Assistant Manager: Tyler Winkowski Business Manager: Jim Giangrosso Facilities Manager: Mike Van Wie Tennis Professional: Caroline Diaz-Canton Pool Director: Lindsey Ardus Administrative Assistant: Jacqueline Weber

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And the connection to Watson and championship golf wasn’t the only thing prompting both existing and prospective new members to look at 121-year-old Wanakah in a bright new light this year. Earlier in 2020, the club also unveiled the results of a $2.5 million clubhouse renovation and pool upgrade that included the creation of a popular new Grille Room (see photo, pg. 18). The old grill room was used to create a new indoor golf simulator space that also became an immedate “huge hit,” according to General Manager/Chief Operating Officer Mike Karnath, CCM. The golf course renovation spurred an initial surge in adding new members for Wanakah as it was completed between 2016-2018, and the combination of an incentive initiative that ran through 2019, plus the appeal of the clubhouse and pool improvements that began to be made at the end of last year, brought another influx. “From September [2019] to September [2020], we added close to 60 new members,” says Karnath. “We’re now officially at our golf cap [290] for the first time in 20-plus years, and have started a wait list.”

(Wanakah’s membership gains have also been given a boost by shifts in the Buffalo-area private-club market, most recently the announcement that the 61-year-old Brierwood Country Club, also in Hamburg, plans to abandon its membership model and open to the public in 2021. Westwood Country Club in Amherst, N.Y., closed in 2014 and has since been at the center of discussions about what its private owners should do with the property.)

The numbers at Wanakah haven’t just piled up on the membership rolls, though. As the club finally began to wind down for the year [its proximity to the lake, and its narrow, uphill driveway pose accessibility challenges once the Buffalo area’s infamous winters start to set in, making for a short season], Karnath ticked off these additional figures: golf rounds up 33%; member dining up 72%, despite a near total loss of banquet business; and beverage sales, primarily traced to a major uptick in the sale of bottles from a new wine room (see photo, opposite page) up 40%.

“With people not traveling, they’re really spending more on wine,” Karwww.clubandresortbusiness.com

The new wine room created as part of Wanakah’s clubhouse renovation has spurred a 40% increase in beverage sales for the year, with 10 to 15 bottles a night being sold regularly in the high-end, $70 to $200 range.

nath says. “We now regularly sell 10 to 15 bottles a night in the high-end, $70 to $200 range.”

All of the additional golf rounds have brought accompanying demand for lessons, swing analyses, clubfittings and new equipment, says Head Golf Professional Marc Rosa, PGA. “We offered free assessments and a lot of people took advantage of them,” Rosa says. “Many had never had lessons before, but after they did, they decided to upgrade their equipment. And so far we’ve been able to manage all of this increased play and activity with the same staff.”

INSPIRING MATCHES Inside the new Grille Room (and out on the equally popular patio), the culinary team led by Executive Chef Jeff Kolbas, and the

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» WANAKAH CC

The Wanakah culinary team led by Executive Chef Jeff Kolbas (in white) has drawn inspiration from his motivational kitchen signs and the new menu possibilities that have grown out of members’ positive response to the club’s new Grille Room (left) and expanded wine program.

front-of-house staff under Events Director Kevin Hoffman and Assistant Manager Tyler Winkowski, have also found a variety of new ways to match members’ newfound enthusiasm for using the club. Kolbas (who inspires the kitchen staff with a Notre Dame-themed “Cook Like a Champion Today” sign, and keeps things loose by posting a photo of the actor on the “Christopher Walken” cooler) says the addition of the wine room and its expanded higherend list has prompted a parallel upscaling of the club’s menu.

“I’m matching up a lot of the bottles with pairings like 30-day dry-aged cowboy ribeye and duck a l’orange,” Kolbas says.

“We’re also promoting and selling a lot more seafood, including fresh lobsters and sometimes 100 oysters a night.”

At the same time, longtime club classics like Wanakah meatloaf and an open-faced tenderloin sandwich continue to be strong sellers, both in the club and through a takeout/curbside pickup program that was developed while the club’s operation was restricted at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, and still remains in demand.

The food-and-beverage and events teams have also enhanced connections with the membership through virtual 18

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programming, not only for cooking and wine seminars, but also kids’ activities and trivia contests. A “Keto Upgrade” YouTube video series (https://www.youtube.com/ ketoupgrade), developed by Sous Chef Alycia Distefano, has drawn loyal viewership for her demos on everything from how to make cheese danish, or homemade sauce from the garden, or even a peanut butter cup ice cream pie, all while following the guidelines of that popular dietary discipline.

Kevin Hoffman, who has been at Wanakah for 35 years, doesn’t mince words in describing how dramatic the transformation of the club has been, especially in the last half-decade. “This was your classic oldmoney, cigars-and-scotch country club,” he says. “It was not really a place for families, or even women, who at one time couldn’t be in the grill after 5 p.m.

“But now we have a ‘Women of Wanakah’ group that has a full list of social and athletic activities of their own, and we also have a constant schedule of junior activities, when you used to only see a handful of kids here maybe for a couple of months,” Hoffman says. “It’s become a younger club and truly a family-focused club, and that’s given us a much more viable future.”

TAKING THE LONG VIEW The future is now seen as viable enough, in fact, that the club’s leadership plans to revisit its operating traditions—and maybe also look for new ways to overcome the challenges posed by winter weather and the driveway—as the new energy that’s pulsed throughout the property this year propels Wanakah towards its 125th anniversary in 2024.

“After the summer and early fall, we’ve always sort of operated based on demand and how bad the winter turns out to be and how soon real spring comes about,” says Karnath, who took his position at Wanakah in 2014. “We’ve tried to always stay open with at least a limited schedule before typically closing for a week or two in February or March.

“But I think there is reason now to look at whether we should close at all, or at least for just a shorter time,” Karnath says.

“With all we’ve done to improve the club and what members have here, we want to try to do all we can to let them enjoy its full value for as much of the 12 months of the year as they can.

“And besides,” he adds, “maybe this will be a good thing to come out of global warming, if it makes the winters here a www.clubandresortbusiness.com

The sun is certainly not setting on Wanakah CC’s future as it approaches its 125th anniversary in 2024, now that it has increased membership to reach its golf cap for the first time in 20-plus years.

little easier to deal with. That seems to have been the trend for the last couple of years at least, anyway.”

But certainly, after all that the Wanakah staff has dealt with, and accomplished, in its 121st year, gearing up to take on whatever Old Man Winter might still want to bring in the years to come shouldn’t seem too daunting.

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

“It’s been a wild ride,” Karnath says about the hoops that he and his staff have had to jump through during the pandemic while also dealing with the completion of constrction and all of the increased member activity. “But when you have a club that’s been around since 1899, it actually makes it a bit easier to deal with the concerns that

[COVID-19] brought, after you realize [Wanakah] has made it through two World Wars and taken a lot of other hits over the years.

“And it also feels better to know that the investments we’ve made have put us in a position to build and grow,” he adds, ”because it’s clear you can’t cut your way to survival.” C+RB

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DESIGN + RENOVATION

FROM THE INSIDE OUT Upgraded cook and prep spaces are benefitting from extra room and more efficient layouts as they meet the increased demand for outdoor casual dining and takeout/delivery service.

By Pamela Brill, Contributing Editor 20

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Photo by James A. Sylvia, West Tenth Media, and courtesy Eagle Creek G&CC

SUMMING IT UP > Redesigning kitchen space can reinvigorate underperforming areas.

> Extra prep space reduces interference between banquet and a la carte production.

> Banquet space can be repurposed for storage until special-event business resumes.

CHAOS AND THE KITCHEN ARE two ingredients that don’t mix well together. Even under normal circumstances, food prep, plating and overall food-and-beverage operations must run like a well-oiled machine to meet club standards. Throw a global health pandemic into the equation, and that process is likely to be slowed down considerably.

After redesigning their kitchens prior to the arrival of COVID, some club facilities have figured out how to better streamline production, maximize their space and still turn out meals that earn rave reviews with members.

SMOOTH OPERATORS At Eagle Creek Golf & Country Club in Naples, Fla., outdated kitchen equipment and a cumbersome layout prevented the burgeoning club from keeping pace with its growing membership. “Our walk-in cooler and freezer were pushing 40 years old; they looked old and run down,” says General Manager Don Madalinski.

Cramped quarters did not allow for the best use of prep space or an efficient workflow. After approving a capital-improvement plan that included a streamlined kitchen with 40 percent more space, the club underwent a $2.2 million renovation and proudly unveiled its new space at the start of 2020. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

Reorganizing day-to-day operations has been the greatest benefit to Eagle Creek’s kitchen staff, especially with the addition of separate cook lines. “Hot and cold used to be all on one line,” explains Executive Chef Chuck Mahoney, CEC. “Now banquets can function without interrupting a la carte service.”

All prep tables are on rollers, allowing the kitchen to create separate stations and move them as needed. A separate pick-up window for salads, along with an expediting table, keeps ingredients in one convenient location. “We used to have all the condiments on ice in a separate area,” Mahoney notes.

Beverages have also earned their own designated space, with the liquor room housed right next to the beer cooler. Separate walk-ins for banquets, produce and dairy allow better organization and less clutter, as does a designated china room to house plates that can be pulled as needed. Five heat lamps were added, to allow plated food to maintain its temperature before leaving the kitchen.

Where previously servers needed to grab dishes right off the line, Eagle Creek’s kitchen is now equipped with 150-degree holding drawers. New baking ovens mean that desserts can be prepared inhouse—something that was not possible previously. “We couldn’t bake a cake without affecting other ovens, [but] now we can switch things around as needed,” says Mahoney.

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DESIGN + RENOVATION

CLEAN EATING KEEPING KITCHENS SANITIZED during the COVID pandemic has called for extra measures to ensure complete safety. At Kings Creek Country Club in Rehoboth Beach, Del., the culinary crew now sanitizes all worktops and cutting boards every hour; a pre-programmed timer alerts the team to this task.

Kings Creek also takes cleanliness a step further during food deliveries. All items are removed from their cardboard boxes before being placed into coolers and dry storage. “Some of our members have told us they have only dined at our club throughout the pandemic, because they feel safer here and trust our processes,” says General Manager Don Byerly.

At Eagle Creek Golf & Country Club in Naples, Fla., Mondays are dedicated to deep-cleaning the entire kitchen. On a regular basis, Executive Chef Chuck Mahoney uses a peroxidebased, eco-friendly cleaning solution.

“Because we are not currently using the banquet room, our staff has all of their meals there,” Mahoney adds.

Having room to social-distance in the kitchen is another advantage. Sailfish Point on Hutchinson Island, Fla., is able to space out its staff, thanks to the additional square footage that its recent renovation has afforded.

Executive Chef Chuck Mahoney, CEC, and Executive Sous Chef Patrick Bryan, CSC, now lead dedicated efforts to deep-clean Eagle Creek G&CC’s new kitchen.

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EAGLE CREEK GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB Naples, Fla.

“People are excited about this different environment. Menus change more often, and the kitchen can be more creative.

It brings up a whole new business model.”

—Don Madalinski, General Manager

Such flexibility has been especially useful since the onset of COVID, when kitchens were forced to pivot their production and focus largely on carry-out orders. For Easter dinners, Mahoney and his crew plated to-go boxes by dividing a portion off the banquet line and the remainder off the front line. “We were able to put out 90 to 100 meals per hour,” he says. With such a successful run, the club plans to maintain its delivery options year-round, via golf and utility carts.

“It brings up a whole new business model,” notes Madalinski. He points to recent F&B figures that show a trend toward more delivery and takeout, especially during the club’s off-season. Food sales were up 43 percent from the previous year, with August 2020’s numbers up 19 percent over 2019. “People are excited about this different environment,” Madalinski adds. “Menus change more often, and the kitchen can be more creative.”

Mahoney says that his core staff, three of whom have been employed at Eagle Creek for over fifteen years, are demonstrating a noticeable sense of pride over the new kitchen. And Director of Membership and Marketing Laura Pelletier sees this trickledown effect on the those they’re serving, too. “A lot of members don’t often see the kitchen, but they are feeling the value of their club now more than ever before,” she notes.

ROYAL TREATMENT Rebuilding food prep space to better serve a steady volume of diners was the goal of a kitchen expansion project at Kings Creek Country Club in Rehoboth Beach, Del. “The original kitchen was never designed to be a full-service scratch kitchen capable of handling hundreds of covers per night,” explains General Manager/ COO Don Byerly. The club’s F&B operation had skyrocketed in the last decade, from $450,000 ten years ago to current annual sales of $2 million. With the addition of 180 new members in the last three years and a wait list for its three membership categories, management did not need further convincing that a full-sized kitchen was in order.

To create a more flexible, space-efficient format, the design team quickly realized that simply tacking on extra square footage did not overcome its biggest hurdle: a single line without a pantry or prep/production area.

“The workflow was backwards; the dish area was in the back of the kitchen and servers had to carry dirty dishes through the expo area,” says Byerly. In addition, walk-in coolers were undersized and inconveniently located. “The new footprint cured all of these issues and gives us additional space to handle increased cover counts,” Byerly says.

Part of the now-3,000-sq. ft. kitchen www.clubandresortbusiness.com

KINGS CREEK COUNTRY CLUB Rehobeth Beach, Del.

“The new footprint has cured [backwards workflow] issues and gives us some additional space to handle increased cover counts in the future.”

—Don Byerly, General Manager/COO

provides increased prep worktop space, additional convection ovens, a combi oven, a stone hearth double-deck oven, additional flat tops for the pantry station, and a banquet prep area.

“Having this additional prep space and cooking equipment lets us prep or execute banquets or special events without interfering with the workflow of the a la carte team,” Byerly says. Opting for a large hood system that covers the front and back lines and is equipped with a utility distribu-

MASTER PLANNING

tion system also boosts productivity. The four-foot-high unit creates an opening that fosters communication with staff throughout the kitchen, while its easy-access panels allow utility lines to be adjusted as needed.

Repositioning the kitchen’s walk-in coolers and freezer has optimized the flow of food delivery and storage. A simple but underrated modification to the dish tank area—switching the “in” and “out” doors—prevents dirty dishes from coming into contact with clean, plated ones. Byerly

ARCHITECTURE

credits Executive Chef Phil Lambert, who was involved in the design process from the start, with this idea. “Your chef knows the menu better than you do, and what kind of space the back-of-house team needs to ensure a smooth workflow,” he notes.

Other special features in Kings Creek’s updated kitchen include a designated pastry area, which has enabled the club to handle an influx of specialty cake orders, and a 30-foot expo line that can handle a la carte and banquet services simultaneously.

INTERIOR DESIGN

PROCUREMENT

Oakley Country Club, Watertown, MA

STUDIO JBD & JEFFERSON GROUP ARCHITECTURE Peter Cafaro / 401.721.0977 / PCafaro@JBDandJGA .com

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

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DESIGN + RENOVATION SAILFISH POINT Hutchinson Island, Fla.

“This was our opportunity to get a fresh perspective and utilize all of our square footage. The main kitchen has a very open concept that encourages better workflow and communication.”

—Aaron Gibbs, Assistant General Manager

“Because we do not host a lot of banquets, this has proved to be very efficient, especially from a staffing standpoint,” says Byerly. The additional space on the expo line has also proved its worth during COVID, providing ample storage space for to-go containers used for takeout business. A door just off the expo line leads to the outdoor dining patios, which have been more regularly frequented during the pandemic.

Thanks to these vast enhancements in kitchen restructuring, the club reports faster ticket times, a more diverse menu and a 32 percent surge in revenue from 2018 to 2019. While Byerly had budgeted a 6 percent increase this year, that projection was upended by COVID’s impact in the spring. “However, even with the challenges we are facing with the pandemic, we beat our budget in member dining in June, July and August,” he notes.

FORWARD-FOCUSED At Sailfish Point on Hutchinson Island, Fla., renovating the kitchen to accommodate a surge in member dining last year also translated into an opportunity to improve efficiency. When a pub that was part of a 2015 clubhouse expansion surprisingly turned into a full-scale restaurant, management realized that a more structured design was required to run both dining establishments smoothly.

“We were sharing two cooking/production lines as a result of adding a restaurant to the rotation,” explains Assistant General Manager Aaron Gibbs. By adding a dedicated cooking production line for the pub and creating a more flexible design, the kitchen could take better advantage of its existing footprint. “This was our opportunity to get a fresh perspective and utilize all 24

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of our square footage,” Gibbs adds.

Transforming the former kitchen into an open-air format replaced a one-person cook station used for lunch buffets, enabling the main kitchen to supplement production.

“It is now more aesthetically pleasing and gives us the ability to produce all food for lunch,” says Gibbs. “The main kitchen has a very open concept that encourages better workflow and communication.”

The banquet production line that had been sharing space with the pub production line was reconfigured, resulting in separate lines, custom banquet cooking and plating areas, and room for a chef’s table.

Another restructured zone was the garde manger station which, Gibbs says, had occupied more real estate than necessary. By recrafting this space into a more sensible size, designers were able to create a production line for the pub and reserve room for a stonefired pizza oven. “We now have the ability to produce authentic pizza in less than 10 minutes,” Gibbs notes.

Freeing up so much space and reallocating it for better food prep made way for point-of-sale stations that have helped to

minimize ticket-entry times. “Our servers and managers are able to spend more time in the dining venues with our membership because of the efficiency the design produced,” says Gibbs.

When the pandemic took hold, Sailfish Point was able to pivot its operation and use its redesigned facility in a different fashion. The wide-open space reserved for banquets became the central station for the club’s to-go, delivery and grocery programs, housing large volumes of boxed meals. In addition to being a staging area, this space also served as a supply closet for members in search of produce, proteins, dairy items and baked goods, as well as non-perishable essentials of paper products.

FRESH FROM THE OVEN Outdoor dining just got a lot more satisfying at Bishops Bay Country Club, where piping-hot pizzas are helping to bolster F&B sales during the pandemic. In August, the Middleton, Wis. facility added an 800-sq. ft. screened-in pizza kitchen following a 35 percent revenue loss in outdoor events.

“We focus on families, and this added

Bishops Bay CC’s new 800-sq. ft. screened-in pizza kitchen seats 28 and features an open-concept design that lets members watch and interact with the staff as their pizzas are made in a 4,000-lb., custom-built oven. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

value has created an easy solution for family meal planning on a regular basis,” says General Manager/ Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Murray.

Sporting an open-concept design, the kitchen is laid out with seating for 28 that adheres to current governmental restrictions. Members are able to watch and interact with the pizza kitchen staff, adding an element of excitement to the dining experience. Up lighting highlights the rustic timber ceiling, while premium patio furniture ensures years of usage.

Taking center stage is the 4,000-lb. custom-bult pizza oven, which required a section of the wall to be taken out to accommodate its massive frame. “The unit has its own exhaust that is variable, to allow for a consistent oven temperature,” explains Executive Chef Gabor Bencze. “This exhaust also controls the amount of heat that affects the staff and members.” At the kitchen’s grand opening, the oven produced 120 pizzas in two hours, much to the delight of hungry diners.

Thanks to a strong start and consistent sales throughout the season, the club has seen a 12 percent increase in member dining with the addition of the pizza kitchen. Carryout business has also improved by 18 percent. “We anticipate a major increase in carryout as the cooler weather comes,” adds Murray. But to keep on-site activity robust as well, the club plans to install automated mechanical sides to the venue by early October, along with radiant heat for year-round usage. C+RB

BISHOPS BAY COUNTRY CLUB Middleton, Wis.

“We focus on families, and the added value [of our screened-in pizza kitchen] has created an easy solution for family meal planning on a regular basis. We anticipate a major increase in carryout as the cooler weather comes.”

—Jeffrey Murray, General Manager/Chief Operating Officer

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DESIGN SNAPSHOT

TAKING THE Revitalized dining venues and other clubhouse amenities have boosted facility-wide usage at Oakley CC, proving a boon to membership and management.

By Pamela Brill, Contributing Editor

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LONG VIEW

MUCH LIKE A KITCHEN IS to the home, the clubhouse is the heart of a private facility—the place where members come to socialize, break bread and take advantage of all their club has to offer. At Oakley Country Club in Watertown, Mass., an increasingly active membership prompted the need for more space in its central hub.

“The clubhouse was outdated and showing signs of wear since its last renovation in 1997,” says John Bartley, the club’s President, who served on the Building Committee during the renovation.

After the club commissioned Studio JBD/Jefferson Group Architecture to conduct a series of member focus groups, management was able to best assess how to meet their expectations. With a resounding high approval rate at over 90 percent, Oakley’s membership was ready to embark on the $8.8 million clubhouse renovation, which was completed in May 2019. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

W

Design Snapshot

OAKLEY COUNTRY CLUB Watertown, Mass.

Project: Updated clubhouse, including member, family and private dining facilities; pool complex and fitness center Architect: Jefferson Group Architecture (JGA), Pawtucket, R.I. Interior design: Studio JBD (JBD), Pawtucket, R.I. Booth Wall Sconces/Pendants: Hinkley Booth Seating and Table Tops: Old Dominion Furniture Co. Flush Mounts: Scott Lamp Bar Wall Sconces/Picture Lights: Visual Comfort Seating (dining room): GAR Carpeting (locker rooms): Couristan Paint (locker rooms): Benjamin Moore

ROOM TO DINE Making a grand entrance into the 40,413sq. ft. clubhouse is now possible, courtesy of a majestic staircase leading from the members’ entry up to the second floor (see photo, pg. 28). Bartley credits this enhancement for creating a ‘wow’ factor for members and their guests.

Once inside, they are greeted by a myriad of revamped dining spaces. In the member dining room, the space was enlarged to have 78 seats, along with a new bar and deck that fills previously underutilized space (see photo above). Muted tones, sleek wood and a mix of wall sconces and pen-

dant lighting create a contemporary vibe.

“The modern décor substantially changed the look and feel of the interior, transforming it into a higher-end restaurant,” says Bartley. “Having an adult-only dining area with varied seating was a game changer.”

Oakley’s adults aren’t the only ones benefitting from revitalized dining. The family dining room, which seats 76 guests, also experienced a major transformation, with comfortable booths running along the exterior walls. The installation of wine lockers helps to separate this space from the club’s library, providing what Bartley describes as “an interesting visual and promotion of our enhanced wine program, as well as a convenient storage space.”

A more intimate private dining room accommodates up to 20 members, while larger parties can take advantage of the pub and both main-level and upper-deck seating. Sweeping views of Boston’s skyline offer a picturesque backdrop, no matter the

occasion.

“The space is bright and open, and the new bar gives a feel of a nice restaurant without the pretentiousness,” Bartley says.

Prior to the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Oakley’s dining scene after the new venues were opened was a vibrant, well-populated place to be, helping to instill a greater sense of pride among the membership. In addition to the comprehensive dining renovations and the introduction of a new executive chef, overall F&B sales saw a notable boost. “Members exceeded their monthly minimums, many bringing

Oakley CC’s $8.8 million clubhouse renovation was approved by over 90 percent of the membership, and after its completion, “We have only received positive feedback from members, along with envious comments from our sister-club guests,” says club President John Bartley. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

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DESIGN SNAPSHOT

The renovated ballroom can host up to 222 guests and boasts pre-function space as well as a separate bridal room.

guests for the first time,” notes Bartley.

The pandemic also stymied the promise of a renovated ballroom that can host up to 222 guests and boasts pre-function space, as well as a separate bridal room that offers even greater potential for the club’s wedding business. Once Oakely is able to resume full operations, management expects the demand for catered bookings, weddings and other events to show the same payoffs as was seen prepandemic for a la carte dining.

FIT AND FUN Along with a resurgence in dining and event facilities, Oakley members are also experiencing improved leisure and fitness accommodations. Using a member corridor, visitors can go directly from an entirely renovated pool complex—complete with swimming pool, kiddie splash pad and expanded deck space—to revamped locker rooms. Both the men’s and women’s locker rooms received fresh coats of paint and new carpeting, along with additional

A majestic staircase leading from the members’ entry to the second floor creates an immediate “wow” factor.

space for locker boxes (312 for men and 77 for women). A more extensive renovation of the locker room wet areas is on tap for Phase 2 of the club’s improvement plan.

Over in the 1,292-sq.-ft. fitness center, new workout equipment added to the lower level has resulted in a surge in gym usage. “The space is a terrific visual selling point with prospective members during site visits,” notes Bartley. Additionally, strong member usage of a golf simulator prompted the club to make room for a second simulator on the lower level, and both simulators saw consistent bookings through the winter before they were also brought to a halt with the onset of COVID-19.

Undeterred by these temporary setbacks, though, Oakley’s members have embraced the renovation with open arms. “Members were simply blown away,” says Bartley of the initial and immediate response to the new look. “The new decks and dining spaces utilizing the spectacular views of Boston were also a complete success. We have only received positive feedback from members, along with envious comments from our sister-club guests.” C+RB

The family dining room includes comfortable booths along the exterior walls, and wine lockers separate the space from the club’s library.

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Is Your Club

A Top

Innovator?

More than ever, great ideas are needed on an everyday basis for club and resort properties, to stay relevant in today’s vastly changed operating environment and to provide new levels of value and satisfaction for members and guests.

In its December 2020 issue, Club + Resort Business will once again honor Top Innovators through its 2nd Annual Awards that will recognize leading-edge performance in club and resort operations and management, including:

• Board of Directors Relations

• Youth Programs

• Clubhouse Design

• Other Recreation Programs (Archery, Equestrian, Outdoor Activities, Shooting, etc.)

• Course and Grounds Maintenance • Food-and-Beverage Programs, including Development of Signature Beverages, Dishes and Venues

• Outdoor Dining and Patio Design • Pool Operations and Aquatic Programs

• Fitness Operations and Programs

• Pro Shop Retailing

• Golf Operations and Programs

• Social Media

• Kitchen Design and Operations

• Special Events

• Locker Room Operations

• Staff Motivation and Training

• Maintenance Facilities

• Technology

• Member Marketing and Communications

• Tennis Operations and Programs • Websites

To have us see why your club and management team should be viewed as a Top Innovator, go to www.clubandresortbusiness.com and complete the online form. Or send an e-mail to editor@clubandresortbusiness.com to have us contact you for details.

Then watch to see if your club makes the list of C+RBʼs Top Innovators this year!

FOOD + BEVERAGE

THERE’S STILL ROOM for

Dessert

While the pandemic is keeping Americans from enjoying many of the things they love, club members can still take comfort in special sweet treats, whether dining outside, inside or at home.

By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Contributing Editor

PRIOR TO THE COVID-TRIGGERED SHUTDOWN of the dining room at Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, N.J., 60 percent of members and guests ordered $6 to $8 desserts to conclude their meals, with many ordering multiple items to share with the table, according to Anthony Villanueva, the club’s Executive Chef.

Not long after outdoor dining resumed in mid-June, along with golf outings and outdoor weddings, Villaneuva reports, dessert sales regained their momentum and are once again hitting the sweet spot to create member excitement and profitability for the club.

Members and guests come to Edgewood CC “to try to temporarily escape our new reality,” Villaneuva notes, so every course from appetizer to dessert is equally important and receives full attention in the kitchen. In addition to serving desserts for dinner and special events, the chef likes to send out “unexpected sweet treats,” such as coconut sorbet shooters with rum-soaked pineapple, or a cool cabernet sorbet with fresh blackberries, in sample portions to guests at the pool.

Dessert selections at Edgewood CC may be fancy, such as the yuzu crème brulee that concluded a special Steak & Sushi Night.

Or they may be hearty and homey, such as bread pudding made with challah, or chocolate babka left over from a wed30

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ding or Bar Mitzvah, served with a side of Bailey’s ice cream.

Then there are the whimsical choices, like a basket of cronuts (fried doughnuts made with croissant dough) with caramel, white chocolate and raspberry dipping sauces.

One particularly clever creation is a dessert imposter— “burger” and “fries” (see photo, pg. 32), accompanied by a tiny vanilla malted shake shot. For the “burger bun,” Villanueva uses two sugar cookies sprinkled with sugar and sesame seeds. The “burger” itself is chocolate fudge. Slices of ripe strawberries mimic the tomato, and kiwi or honeydew melon imitate the lettuce.

White chocolate mousse serves as the mayonnaise. The “fries” are zeppole, with a caramel sauce as “gravy” and red raspberry sauce as “ketchup.”

COLORFUL IMAGINATION David Daddezio, Executive Chef at the Vicmead Hunt Club and Bidermann Golf Course in Wilmington, Del., also draws heavily from his imagination to produce desserts that are colorful and fun. For one tasting menu featuring cities around the world, he presented a “sushi and sashimi” dessert station (see photo, pg. 34) that included a coconut rice pudding and mango “sashimi,” and a “spider roll” made with apple pie filling, minced ginger, fried tortilla strips sprinkled with cinnamon www.clubandresortbusiness.com

SUMMING IT UP > Desserts, both traditional and unique, can be an especially effective way to position clubs as go-to (or to-go) dining options during the pandemic. > Dessert costs can be controlled while keeping offerings fresh by taking advantage of seasonal ingredients. > Offering mini- and easy-to-carry butlered “pickups” as wedding-dessert options can avoid having to serve plated cake and ensure a more festive and memorable event.

Photo Courtesy Edgewood CC www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

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Recipe

NEW YORK-STYLE CHEESECAKE INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/3 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted

The makings of Chef Anthony Villaneuva’s “burger and fries” dessert at Edgewood CC, which is served with a vanilla malted shake shot, include sugar cookies, fudge and white chocolate mousse “mayonnaise.” The “fries” are zeppole.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING: 2 lbs. cream cheese, softened 1 1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup sour cream 2 tsp. vanilla extract 5 large eggs

PROCEDURE:

1. M ake the crust: Mix graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon; add butter or margarine.

2. Press crust onto bottom and 2/3rds of the way up a 9” springform pan lined with parchment. Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan.

3. Freeze until filling is prepared.

4. Make the filling: Use an electric mixer to mix cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla.

5. Blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape down sides of bowl.

6. Whisk eggs in a bowl; add to cream cheese mixture. Blend just until eggs are incorporated.

7. Remove crust from freezer and pour in filling.

8. Preheat oven to 475º F. Place a large pan filled with 1/2” water in oven. Carefully place cheesecake into preheated water bath. Bake for 12 minutes, then turn oven to 350º F. and bake until top of cheesecake turns golden, 50 to 60 minutes.

9. Remove cake to a wire rack to cool.

sugar, cinnamon sugar-rolled fondant and a caramel drizzle.

For the past four years, Daddezio’s club has done a brisk business selling whole pies (key lime, apple, cherry and pecan) as well as lemon bars, cookies and brownies by the dozens and special seasonal requests. During this year’s dining-room shutdown, the desserts still sold well as accompaniments for to-go family dinners.

Daddezio recently put together a takeout, four-course wine dinner complete with chef instructions, including photos for each course of the meal and craft-cocktail and wine pairings. The dessert was a local peach and raspberry crisp with honey (produced on the property) whipped cream.

STILL HAVING THEIR CAKE… Fanny Hicks, Pastry Chef at Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, N.C., reports that she is also selling more brownies, seven-layer bars and cookies as part of to-go orders. Cookies can be purchased pre-baked by the dozen, or as a frozen, bake-at-home dough roll, so members can enjoy them fresh from the oven anytime. The most popular variety is a signature blueberry white-chocolate cookie.

SUBMITTED BY JOSHUA ELDER, EXECUTIVE CHEF, INDIAN HILLS COUNTRY CLUB, TUSCALOOSA, ALA.

Say Cheese(cake) WHEN THINKING ABOUT INDULGENT DESSERTS, nothing satisfies a sweet tooth quite like silk-creamy cheesecake.

That (along with key lime pie) is what members are craving at Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., according to Executive Chef Joshua Elder.

“Members are very vocal about keeping cheesecake on the menu at all times, and I fear there would be a riot if I tried to take it off,” Elder jokes.

And there are many ways to serve this perennial favorite. The Indian Hills recipe, created by Sous Chef Madison Jones, is

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New York-style (see recipe, above left). It is served plain or with a choice of three sauces, such as bananas foster, pecan praline and bourbon peach.

At Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, N.J., one of Executive Chef Anthony Villanueva’s signature desserts is an Oreo cookie-crusted, white-chocolate cheesecake. Before coming to Edgewood, Villanueva paired the cheesecake with a strawberry, agave and lime compote for a special Latin America-themed food and golf event held at the Four Seasons and St. Regis resort in Mexico.

Indian Hills CC Executive Chef Joshua Elder (right) and Sous Chef Madison Jones avoid “riots” with New York-style cheesecake (see recipe, above left).

Villaneuva has prepared 150 of the three-inch cakes for an awards dinner at the club. He has also made a strawberry trifle with the cheesecake. As a variation for a small pick-up dessert, Villanueva stuffs a big juicy strawberry with the white-chocolate cheesecake filling.

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

Whole cake orders have increased as well, Hicks reports. “Members are now using us as their personal bakery, and during one recent week we did seven whole cakes,” she says. “We’ve been promoting them to our members over e-mail, and the response has been enthusiastic.”

Edgewood’s Villanueva also takes special to-go orders for his signature chocolate almond Nutella rugalach (see recipe. pg. 34).

And pies are also guaranteed top sellers at some clubs. Joshua Elder, Executive Chef at Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., bakes a wide variety, from peanut butter with a chocolate crust and chocolate on top to pecan to chess.

“They’re great for us, too, because they’re easy to make and garnish to look pretty,” Elder notes.

If there is a fruit pie on the menu, members at Vicmead Hunt Club/Bidermann Golf Course will order it, Daddezio reports. “If a particular kind of pie isn’t on the menu and the member wants it, we’ll take a special order and have one ready in one hour,” he adds.

The pandemic hasn’t stopped Pastry Chef Fanny Hicks from providing Biltmore Forest CC members with everything from whole cakes to her signature peppermint ice cream pie and pie cups and other treats sold from a portable station. “Members are now using us as their personal bakery,” Hicks says.

Members at Biltmore Forest CC seem to gravitate to pies, because they are a familiar and “approachable” comfort-food dessert, Hicks notes. Her best seller, not only among pies, but among all desserts, is her signature peppermint ice cream pie, which “sells strongly” all year on the menu and does a gangbuster business when sold whole during the holidays.

“It’s very popular as a birthday cake sub-

verdin clocks

stitute,” says Hicks. “We probably average selling three whole pies a month—except between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when last year we sold about 40, on top of the many that we went through for diningroom service.”

DIVING IN Hicks also sells peppermint pie cups at the pool and as a to-go grocery item. The

The Country Club of Naples Naples. FL

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October 2020

l Club + Resort Business l 33

Recipe CHOCOLATE ALMOND NUTELLA RUGELACH

(with Apricot Walnut Filling variation)

YIELD: 24 pieces INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH:

2 1/4 cups flour 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter, unsalted, cut into 1/4” pieces 8 ozs. (1/2 lb.) cream cheese, cut into 1/2” pieces 2 tbsp. sour cream 2 tbsp. vanilla extract

PROCEDURE FOR THE DOUGH:

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl or food processor.

2. A dd butter, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla extract. Mix together one pulse at a time until dough begins to come together.

Do not overmix.

3. Lay dough onto a work area dusted with flour.

4. Roll dough into a log and cut into four even pieces.

5. Gently roll out each piece into flat dough sheets, about 8” x 10”.

6. Place the sheets onto plastic wrap or wax paper and freeze until ready to use.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHOCOLATE ALMOND FILLING: 1 cup sugar 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 cup Nutella 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup sliced blanched almonds

INGREDIENTS FOR THE EGG WASH: 2 large eggs 2 tbsp. milk

Executive Chef David Daddezio’s “sushi and sashimi’ dessert station at Vicmead Hunt Club/Bidermann GC included a coconut rice pudding and mango “sashimi.”

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1. Mix sugar and cinnamon together.

2. Remove pastry sheets from freezer one at a time.

3. S pread Nutella over dough and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

4. A t the very bottom of the dough sheet, sprinkle a layer of semisweet chocolate chips. Then sprinkle with blanched almonds.

5. Gently roll up the pastry and seam the ends nice and sealed.

6. Beat the eggs and milk together and using a pastry brush, brush the rolled rugelach. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar and coat with additional blanched almonds.

7. Freeze the log for about 30 minutes. Remove and cut into 1 1/2” to 2” pieces, and bake on a non-stick cookie pan or a tray lined with parchment paper.

8. Bake for 15 minutes at 350º F.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE APRICOT WALNUT FILLING VARIATION: 1 cup sugar 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 cup apricot preserves 1 cup chopped dried apricots 1 cup golden raisins 1 cup chopped walnuts

SUBMITTED BY ANTHONY VILLANUEVA, EXECUTIVE CHEF, EDGEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB, RIVER VALE, N.J.

cups are composed of a layer of crushed Oreo cookies, peppermint ice cream and a topping of chocolate ganache.

Pool guests at Biltmore Forest CC can also enjoy a frozen treat from a portable ice cream station. The station (see photo, pg. 33) was purchased for outdoor special events and is used at the pool when no events are scheduled.

At Indian Hills CC, golfers like Southern classics such as fruit-filled hand pies and banana pudding, Elder notes. During golf tourna-

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PROCEDURE FOR CHOCOLATE ALMOND FILLING:

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ments, the pudding is available in individual portions from a cooler at the course’s 19th Hole.

One key way that chefs control the costs of making desserts while keeping the offerings fresh is to take advantage of seasonal ingredients. During peach season, for example, Daddezio offers a trifle featuring the fruit. To take advantage of the summer bounty, Elder prepares a roasted peach with sweetened mascarpone, candied thyme, local-honey drizzle and an almond crumble.

Lemon curd is one of Daddezio’s other best friends in the kitchen. He fashions it into a mousse, pairs it with fresh berries and butter-fried pound cake in a summer trifle (see recipe with the online version of this article at www.clubandresortbusiness. com), bakes it into classic lemon bars, or tops it with bourbon peaches and Swiss meringue.

Although COVID-19 restrictions have curtailed indoor parties and other special events, Villanueva plans to be ready for them when they return, with an impressive dessert concept that can take the place of a massive (and expensive) wedding cake, Viennese table and plated desserts.

“Serving slices of the wedding cake or plated desserts require that guests return to their tables instead of continuing to dance and mingle,” he notes. “In most cases, that’s a party-ender.” www.clubandresortbusiness.com

Great Without Gluten So instead, he suggests offering six to eight varieties of mini, easy-to-carry, butlered “pickups,” such as chocolatecovered, pretzel crumb-crusted bacon or mini-gelato cones.

“We send out 15 servers with sparklers on their trays that stay lit for about 60 seconds, long enough for them to circle the dance floor,” Villaneuva notes. “Clients love the fact that the party does not stop and that guests can keep on dancing as they enjoy dessert.” C+RB

MORE ONLINE

For Chef Fanny Hicks’ recipe for Flourless Rosemary Mocha Cake (above left) and Chef David Daddezio’s recipe for Summer Trifle, see the online version of this article at www.clubandresortbusiness.com

IN A RECENT BENCHMARKING SURVEY of members, Vicmead Hunt Club and Bidermann Golf Course in Wilmington, Del., discovered that of the 20 percent of members who had allergies, 45 percent—two out of 10—were gluten-specific.

“When I put a gluten-free dessert item on the menu, I know it’s going to sell,” says David Daddezio, the club’s Executive Chef.

Some popular gluten-free favorites at the club are chocolate pot de crème; a pecan pie with gluten-free graham cracker crust, and a summer berry trifle layered with gluten-free “When I put a brown butter pound cake (see recipe with the online version of gluten-free dessert this article at www.clubandresortbusiness.com). item on the menu, “I can even make a gluten-free birthday cake, using sugared I know it’s going soy flakes and caramelized white chocolate that looks and to sell,” says David tastes great,” says Daddezio.

Daddezio, Executive Anthony Villanueva, Executive Chef of Edgewood Country Chef, Vicmead Hunt Club in River Vale, N.J., estimates that about 10 percent of guests who come to parties at his club avoid gluten. He caters Club/Bidermann GC. to their cravings with creations such as creamsicle shooters and a lemon curd and meringue “martini.”

One of the signature desserts at Biltmore Forest Country Club in Ashville, N.C., is pastry chef Fanny Hicks’ gluten-free bombe-like pecan ball, composed of a scoop of house-made butter pecan ice cream dipped in a thin chocolate shell, surrounded by vanilla ice cream, rolled in toasted pecans and served with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. Hicks also bakes a variety of gluten-free cakes, including an ultra-popular chocolate decadence and a rosemary mocha cake (see recipe online), both of which substitute almond meal for flour.

At Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a popular confection offered by Executive Chef Joshua Elder is a flourless chocolate torte.

FORE Supply is dedicated to keeping your staff and guests as safe as possible. Call or visit us online Celebrating to find out more about our sanitizing options as well as our other COVID-19 related supplies!

Years

Together we’re stronger.

www.ForeSupply.com www.clubandresortbusiness.com

(800) 543-5430 October 2020

l Club + Resort Business l 35

COURSE + GROUNDS

ESSENTIAL IN

NATURE

Golf course superintendents run their utility vehicles hard, and they couldn’t get the job done without them.

That’s proved to be especially true when meeting this year’s special challenges.

By Betsy Gilliland, Contributing Editor

Caption 36

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Photo Courtesy Westminster National GC

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

CALL THEM THE UNSUNG HEROES of the golf course maintenance fleet. Utility vehicles (UVs) might not get the same attention as mowers or other pieces of equipment—but whether they’re loaded up with heavy materials for a special project or simply used to move crew members from point A to point B, nothing happens in the world of golf course maintenance without them.

“They’re vital to our operations. They’re as vital as the mowers are. They save us money by getting us from place to place quickly and efficiently,” says Jeff Haskins, Golf Course Superintendent at Paragould (Ark.) Country Club. “If you’re short-handed with them, it’s hard to be efficient when people can’t be where they need to be.”

The seven remaining haulers are people movers for the Oakwood staff, and they also have beds to transport cutting equipment and mower rakes. Oakwood’s utility vehicles also have attachments such as topdressers and fertilizer spreaders for different projects.

“They play a big role anytime we have a big job that requires moving things,” says Racer. “It’s the only way we can get the job done.”

Westminster (Md.) National Golf Course, an 18-hole dailyfee golf course surrounded by farmland and rolling hills, has five utility vehicles. Two of the UVs are heavy-duty, and the other three are medium-duty.

“The utility vehicles get used every day,” says General Manager and Superintendent Ryan Kraushofer. “You always need to haul something around on the golf course. They get used hard.”

Sometimes, Kraushofer even uses his heavy-duty UVs to haul materials elsewhere—for a good cause, of course. He’s a member of the planning committee for National Golf Day, and each year about 150 golf course superintendents go to Washington, D.C., and perform a community service project as part of the event. Two years ago, he enlisted the aid of heavy-duty UVs to help move pallets of sod for the project.

Westminster’s heavy-duty utility vehicles have an automatic hydraulic lift, which comes in handy for big projects. They’re used to haul sand to fill bunkers or stone for drainage projects.

Westminster, which has a staff of 10 people in season, was closed for six weeks from mid-March until May 7 during the early days of the pandemic. During that time, Kraushofer had a smaller maintenance crew, which included himself and two staff members. With a skeleton crew, the grounds crew was unable to pursue larger projects.

“We concentrated on keeping everything mowed,” says Kraushofer.

TAKING INVENTORY Fortunately, that is not the case at Paragould CC. The maintenance staff at the property, which includes 13 or 14 people in-season and six full-time equivalent positions in the winter, has three heavy-duty utility vehicles that are used to haul materials and four light-duty utility vehicles for its 18-hole, private golf course.

“We pull walking greens mowers with them. After that, they’re basically people movers,” says Haskins.

Paragould’s light-duty UVs have a payload capacity of 500 lbs., and the heavy-duty ones have a payload capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 lbs..

The property stayed open throughout the pandemic, but Haskins says the UVs didn’t get any more of a workout than usual. That’s only because of the nature of what constitutes “normal” operations for the maintenance staff, though.

“We do all of our bunker renovations, irrigation and drainage installs, and tee box construction. We don’t hire outside contractors very often,” Haskins says. “We do more special projects in the winter, so the utility vehicles get used 12 months out of the year.”

At Oakwood Country Club, an 18-hole golf course in Kansas City, Mo., the maintenance staff has 10 utility vehicles—three heavy-duty utility vehicles and seven haulers.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the maintenance department reduced its staff.

Like Paragould CC, however, the Oakwood golf course remained open for the season. As a result, business for the golf course maintenance department carried on largely as usual.

Likening the heavy-duty utility vehicles to small trucks, Golf Course Superintendent Brent Racer says the Oakwood staff members use In addition to the versatility they show on an everyday basis, sometimes utility vehicles get special opportunities to be in the spotlight, such as when Ryan Kraushofer, them to haul materials such as bunker sand General Manager and Superintendent of Westminster (Md.) National Golf Course, or sod. They also use the heavy-duty UVs for had heavy-duty UVs move pallets of sod for a special community-service project in tree-trimming work, which they perform in the Washington, D.C. (see photo, opposite page), as part of National Golf Day events. winter.

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COURSE + GROUNDS

Because of the heavy workloads they give their utility vehicles, superintendents generally prefer gas- or diesel-powered UVs to reduce stress on electrical components when pulling heavy loads. Some have outfitted their vehicles with solar panels to help maintain batteries. High-flow hydraulics are also often specified.

TAKING OWNERSHIP To keep a golf course in top-notch condition, maintenance equipment replacement decisions are driven by budget, needs, and priorities. For Paragould CC, Haskins says, ownership of its utility vehicles makes the most sense for its operations.

“Our club’s business model is that we own all the equipment here, and we run it until the economics of the situation dictate that we do something different,” he explains. “We try to repair what we have. The bottom line dictates that we own our equipment.”

Ditto for Oakwood, which also owns its utility vehicles.

“If you can get a few more years out of them without making payments, it puts you ahead. We can allocate dollars to something else,” says Racer.

Westminster owns all of its equipment, including the utility vehicles, as well. Kraushofer buys equipment online or finds used utility vehicles from other golf courses on turfnet.com. The property sells the UVs later.

Kraushofer looks for durability and reliability when he purchases utility vehicles. “They need to be able to take abuse and haul the weights that we need to haul around the golf course,” he says.

Because Westminster has hilly terrain, the maintenance staff needs UVs that can climb hills and get good traction. “We need golf carts that can do the same, and we try to demo the golf carts and utility vehicles when we can before we buy them,” says Kraushofer.

TAKING CARE Proper maintenance helps golf course properties hang on to their utility vehicles as long as possible. “Since we own them, preventive maintenance is stressed,” notes Haskins.

Paragould’s grounds crew changes the oil and filters after about 75 to 100 hours of use, and the staff only uses factory parts on the UVs.

“

[Utility vehicles] play a big role anytime we have a big job that requires moving things.

”

It’s the only way we can get the job done.

— Brent Racer, Golf Course Superintendent, Oakwood CC

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Any decision to replace utility vehicles is based on economics, says Haskins. When the cost of repairs becomes too high to keep them in good working condition, it’s time to replace them.

At Oakwood CC, the golf course maintenance staff follows a winter maintenance program to keep the utility vehicles running properly, taking advantage of the downtime to change the oil and filters. Repairs are also made as needed throughout the year.

The relationship with the manufacturers and distributors is important in the upkeep of the vehicles as well. “I don’t have a mechanic, so I need advice from my supplier,” says Racer. “I can call them, or they will swing by and help me out.”

To care for the utility vehicles at Westminster, the staff also does routine maintenance such as oil changes and fuel filter changes during the winter. “We go over them once a year,” says Kraushofer. “If there is an issue or a breakdown during the year, we take care of it then.”

TAKING OPPORTUNITIES Another advantage of owning the utility vehicles is that it gives the property the opportunity to enhance the machines as needed.

“We modify them to suit our needs, but we don’t make it into something they weren’t meant to be,” Haskins says. “We try not to modify any of the vehicles any more than necessary to fit our operation.”

The Paragould grounds crew has built racks on UVs and added solar panels to a pair of them. The solar panels help to maintain the batteries on the UVs and other equipment such as the backhoe, which might sit for a week or more without being used.

The club’s irrigation controllers were solar-powered until last year, and the property had 15 excess solar panels. As a result, the grounds crew put them to use by adding some of the panels to the two UVs. Paragould doesn’t have the manufacturer customize its UVs. “Anything we do to them, we do it ourselves,” www.clubandresortbusiness.com

Utility vehicles need good traction to negotiate the hilly terrain at Westminster National GC. “They need to be able to take abuse and haul the weights that we need to haul around the golf course,” says General Manager and Superintendent Ryan Kraushofer. “We rely on them every day for everything from the smallest to the biggest jobs.”

says Haskins. For example, the club’s staff placed highmounted work lights on their UVs to help them see when they work early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Paragould has utility vehicles from all of the major manufacturers, and Haskins says he doesn’t look for particular features when making a purchase. “They come equipped from the factory just fine,” he says. “High-flow hydraulics on the heavy-duty vehicles are the only thing we specify that we need.”

The maintenance staff has hydraulic implements such as a topdresser, debris vac, and core harvester. However, the Paragould grounds crew has a dedicated sprayer.

All of the UVs at Paragould CC are gas-powered as well.

The Paragould golf course is relatively flat with some elevation changes, Haskins notes, so trying to navigate the terrain at the property is not a concern.

“For something that gets the amount of hard use that these utility vehicles get, the technology with gasoline or diesel engines is more powerful at that level,” he explains. “For us, when a piece of equipment has to pull a tractor or carry a heavy load, that really stresses the electrical components.”

Haskins drives his own UV around the golf course, and he keeps it supplied with a small set of hand tools for emergency equipment use, a small set of irrigation tools, his volt meter for electrical diagnoses, a pipe wrench, a soil probe, and a marking paint gun. “We return everything to the maintenance center between uses,” he says.

Racer and his two assistants have dedicated utility vehicles, and the one that the superintendent uses is electric.

He keeps routine supplies such as shovels, hoses, valve keys, and moisture meters in his UV. The rest of the UVs in the Oakwood fleet run on gasoline.

“A gas utility vehicle has more power and doesn’t wear out as easily,” says Racer.

At Westminster, where staff members use whatever utility vehicle is available, all of the UVs are gasoline-powered. www.clubandresortbusiness.com

“

We do all of our bunker renovations, irrigation and drainage

installs, and tee box construction. We don’t hire outside contractors very often. We do more special projects in the winter,

”

so our utility vehicles get used 12 months out of the year.

— Jeff Haskins, Golf Course Superintendent, Paragould CC

“Electric utility vehicles won’t handle our hills,” says Kraushofer, who makes sure he always has hoses and moisture meters with him when he goes out on the golf course.

Successful superintendents are skilled at getting the most out of their staffs and the equipment they need. And savvy use of their UVs helps them maintain their properties in the best possible condition.

“We rely on them every day to do [everything from] the smallest job to the biggest job,” Kraushofer says. “There is always a need for a utility vehicle on the golf course.” C+RB

SUMMING IT UP > Whether they are moving grounds crew members from one

place to another or hauling heavy materials, utility vehicles are key to all aspects of golf course maintenance operations.

> Durability and reliability are essential features of golf course

utility vehicles, but golf course maintenance operations can tailor UVs for use at their properties by adding amenities to them.

> A good preventive maintenance program, along with strong relationships with manufacturers and distributors, help golf course maintenance departments keep their utility vehicles running in top condition.

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ProTalk

STAYING BUSY AT BANDON DUNES With five courses at the Bandon, Ore. golf destination—including Sheep Ranch, which opened this year—Director of Golf Steven Borror says no two days are ever alike.

This pure golf resort engulfs guests in the sport from sunrise to sunset.

By Rob Thomas, Senior Editor

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REMINISCENT OF SCOTLAND’S ANCIENT LINKS courses, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. has been a must-visit golf destination since opening its first course in 1999. Designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, the Bandon Dunes course was the beginning of property owner Mike Keiser’s grand vision. Pacific Dunes (2001), Bandon Trails (2005), Old Macdonald (2010), Bandon Preserve (2012, a 13-hole, par-3 course), and Sheep Ranch (2020) would follow.

Steven Borror, PGA, Director of Golf at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, is in his second run at the property (see box, opposite page) and oversees all golf operations. In this “ProTalk” conversation, Borror describes how Bandon Dunes has steadily enhanced its appeal through its years of growth, and how he and his staff have met the challenges that 2020 has posed.

CLUB + RESORT BUSINESS: What is a “typical” day like as Director of Golf

at Bandon Dunes?

STEVEN BORROR: It is difficult to say there is a “typical” day in the life of

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P R O TA L K P R O F I L E

STEVEN BORROR, PGA urrent Position (Since 2017): Director of Golf, C Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore. Years in Golf Industry: 25 Previous Experience: • Head Golf Professional, SpurWing Country Club, Meridian, Idaho • Head Golf Professional, Indian Summer Country Club, Olympia, Wash.

• Head Golf Professional, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, North Plains, Ore. • Head Golf Professional at Bandon Dunes (2005 to 2008) Education: University of Idaho Honors and Awards: • PGA Merchandiser of the Year - Private (2009) • PGA Oregon Chapter Merchandiser of the Year - Resort (2007) • PGA Rocky Mountain Section Assistant of the Year (2000) • PGA Professional Golf Management Titleist Scholarship (1999)

staff, caddies and visitors, and we established a safety website, www. bandonsafepractices.golf, where all of the safety measures we’ve implemented can be found.

C+RB How do you provide the best golfing experience possible for your guests?

BORROR: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort offers a unique golfing experience regardless of the season. For us, it is all about the golf. With five 18hole championship golf courses, a 13-hole Par 3 course, a vast practice center and the Punchbowl, our 100,000-sq. ft. putting green, guests are provided golf adventures from sunrise to sunset. Our genuine, service-oriented team is always present to offer assistance and assist with guest needs.

Sheep Ranch (pictured) opened in June 2020 and joins Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, and Bandon Preserve at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

a golf professional at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. We often refer to our days as Bill Murray’s character in “Groundhog Day,” yet there never actually seem to be two days just alike.

The demands of our time and of taking care of our guests are constantly changing, which keeps us on our toes and having fun in our jobs.

C+RB: How have you been keeping guests and staff safe

during the pandemic?

BORROR: We established a COVID-19 Task Force that

worked with the Oregon Governor’s Office, the Centers for Disease Control and the Coos County Health Commission to gather relevant information, assess our operations and develop safety plans to protect the guests, staff, caddies and Bandon community as a whole.

Weekly meetings ensured proper communication and assessment of safety practices. Personal protective equipment and safety information was made available to all guests,

C+RB: Bandon Dunes has become a “bucket list” destination. Do you

do anything to entice guests to return from a marketing perspective?

BORROR: Our best marketing has always come from those who visit

here. Once experienced, it becomes innate to plan a return and share the experience with others—introducing them to the complexities and thrill of links golf along the southern Oregon coast. Our Communications Department does an incredible job of using print and social media to capture the essence of Bandon Dunes and share the experience.

C+RB: Any advice you’d offer for a young assistant professional look-

ing to one day take the reins?

Borror: We often joke among the staff that working at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort may be the easiest job a golf professional will ever have.

Understand, we work our tails off to make the obvious seem effortless.

However, the work culture starts at the top—from the vision of Mike Keiser and his family, to the wisdom and support of KemperSports, to General Manager Don Crowe, all professionals are encouraged to think outside the box and look for opportunities to enhance the guest experience.

Happiness in any job comes in many forms, but who you surround yourself with, what you are able to offer, and your ability to impact a business and the guest experience—these are the things that every

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COURSE PROFILE

BANDON DUNES GOLF RESORT Bandon, Ore.

Bandon Dunes (pictured) was designed by David McLay Kidd and opened in 1999, introducing links golf to the southern Oregon coast.

assistant professional should hope to find in any job. I believe we do a great job of bringing in a professional team, conveying the expectations, and letting them grow within the framework.

Website: www.bandondunesgolf.com Courses (Year Opened): • Bandon Dunes (1999) • Pacific Dunes (2001) • Bandon Trails (2005) • Old Macdonald (2010) • Bandon Preserve (2012) • Sheep Ranch (2020) Designers: • David McLay Kidd • Tom Doak • Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw • Jim Urbina Number of Holes: 103

effort and communication within all departments. Regular staff meetings and personal relationships allow us to operate in the best interests of our guests.

visiting guests. Occasionally, guests visiting from other countries provide us with opportunities to go outside the normal framework of communication. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort also hires an international workforce with multiple languages available. However, when push comes to shove, technology and translator apps can bridge the gap.

C+RB: You have guests from all over the world visiting the resort. How do you and your

C+RB: How can golf professionals “grow

staff navigate the language barrier and/or various customs that traveling golfers may have?

BORROR: Fortunately, English is a predominant language that provides access for most

the game” to make sure the industry continues to get stronger?

BORROR: Passion is always the key. Golf professionals, as with any other career path, have to find something they are passionate about and exhaust their education and experience to become experts in that area. As long as we can continue to convey our passion for the game, provide opportunities to experience the thrills of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, and introduce new adults and kids to the beauties of the game, golf will continue to grow.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort provides a unique setting, distant from the hustle and bustle of daily life, that’s remote to distractions and offers the ability to electronically disconnect and provide uninhibited family and friend time. C+RB

C+RB: How do you best work with other departments within the resort—from General

Manager and Superintendent to F&B and Guest Services?

BORROR: For the resort to operate efficiently and effectively, it requires a coordinated

“EACH COURSE AT BANDON DUNES GOLF RESORT has a similarity of feel, but distinctly different playability,” says Director of Golf Steven Borror. Here’s how he likes to describe each course to guests: Bandon Dunes – It is the “classical symphony” of the resort. David McClay Kidd did a wonderful job of providing soft, rolling terrain offering multiple shot types into the green complexes.

Pacific Dunes – This is Rock & Roll turned up to 10 on the volume meter! Large blowout bunkers engulfed in tall fescue grasses require a little more ball flight to reach landing zones and green complexes.

Bandon Trails – Maybe the best journey of the courses. Coore & Crenshaw provide players a beautiful contrast of yin-yang dualism as they travel the routing.

Old Macdonald – If we were able to play golf on Mars, Old Macdonald may be the closest thing to compare it to. Open, vast and complex—[Tom] Doak and [Jim] Urbina provide a simplistically complex adventure.

Bandon Preserve – Maybe the best “pound-for-pound” course ever created. This exhilarating Par 3 course provides everything wrapped in a bow. Go wayward, though, and Bandon Preserve will test every shot and club in the bag, including the putter.

Sheep Ranch – Sheep Ranch provides a stunning visual cornucopia for guests, providing them with a true Oregon Coastline perspective. The most challenging characteristic of Sheep Ranch is not getting distracted from your golf.

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“Pro Talk” features conversations with golf professionals at club and resort properties who are notable for unique achievements, programs and/or being in the news.

Know a successful golf pro you’d like to have interviewed? Send your suggestions to rthomas@wtwhmedia.com

ProTalk

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

SUPER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

TAKING THE RIGHT ROAD Stuck in a rut as a bus company supervisor, Joe Wachter parlayed a chance meeting into a career change that then went full circle, to entrust him with care of the historic golf course at Glen Echo CC.

By Jeff Bollig, Contributing Editor

ONE DAY, JOE WACHTER WAS a location manager with a school bus company, supervising 150 people.

The next, he was restarting his life as a 32-year-old assistant golf course superintendent at Sunset Country Club in St. Louis.Mo. Some 30 years later, he is the highly respected Golf Course Superintendent at historic Glen Echo Country Club in the St. Louis suburb of Normandy, where his road to success has been paved by hard work and a refreshing perspective on life.

“At the bus company, I realized that at some point I was going to have to get out,” Wachter says. “I was in a rut and there were changes coming that I did not see as advantageous for me. But it was not as if I was actively looking. You might say I was open to a change.”

His “opening” came at a golf fundraiser that was held at Glen Echo in 1990 for the Mississippi Valley Golf Course Superintendents Association, an affiliated chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

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superintendent in the St. Louis area. Also in attendance was Lee Redman, the Superintendent at Sunset CC. “Lee mentioned that he was losing his assistant and that piqued my interest,” Wachter says. “I did not say anything because I had no turf background. But the course was only two miles from my house, and it had a great reputation—in large part because of Lee. “So I called my brother and got his opinion. He said to call Lee and mention his name, which might help in getting an interview. I got the interview a few days later, [and] walked out with a job” Sunset CC offered Wachter an excellent opportunity to learn the business. There was a good-sized staff and ongoing green- and bunker-replacement projects.

With two-plus years under his belt, Wachter got his first head superintendent position at New Melle Lakes Golf Club in 1993, where the resources were not near as plentiful.

He went from a staff of 18 employees to six, but the job afforded him a chance to see “how the other half lived.” www.clubandresortbusiness.com

SUPER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Super in the Spotlight

In 1996 he moved to Eagle Springs Golf Club in St. Louis, and in 2002 he crossed the Mississippi River to run Spencer T. Olin Golf Course in Alton, Ill. In 2008, Glen Echo had an opening and he was selected. His career had come full circle from when he sat on the club’s patio nearly 18 years prior and first met Lee Redman, to now being the Superintendent for the course that hosted the 1904 Olympics.

“It’s funny when you look back,” Wachter says. “Lee had a back injury and did not play [in the 1990 event]. He was not going to come that day, but decided to join the group for dinner. If he had decided not to come out, I’m not sure where I would be.”

C+RB How have you compensated for not having a turf degree in your work?

WACHTER It’s been a combination of onthe-job experience and taking classes at Meramec Community College and courses offered by the GCSAA and its local chapter.

But most of all, I take the perspective that I’m not afraid of smart people. I’ve asked a lot of questions and reached out to people like my brother, Tim Hiers, Oscar Miles, Gordon Witteveen, David Stone, Ted Horton and Bob Randquist. They’re some of the best in the business— why wouldn’t I ask for their advice or opinions?

C+RB You’re also active on social media.

Is that a learning platform as well?

WACHTER Social media can be a cesspool, but if you use it right, it can be a very pow-

JOE WACHTER Current Position: Golf Course Superintendent, Glen Echo Country Club, Normandy, Mo. Years at Glen Echo CC: 12 Years in Golf Course Maintenance Business: 30 Previous Experience: • G olf Course Superintendent, Spencer T. Olin Golf Course, Alton, Ill., 2002-2008; • G olf Course Superintendent, Eagle Springs Golf Course, St. Louis, Mo., 1996-2002; • G olf Course Superintendent, New Melle Lakes Country Club, St. Charles, Mo., 1993-96; • A ssistant Golf Course Superintendent, Sunset Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. 1990-93; Education & Training: B.S. Business, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 1980 Honors and Awards: • President, Missouri Valley Turfgrass Association; • GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Award; • Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary; • Golf Course Industry Best Use of Social Media Award

erful tool. It’s a good way to contact many people and get quick feedback and also to communicate with your club and members.

I started to read blogs by superintendents Chris Tritabaugh and Sean McCue, and saw how they used them to communicate to their club members. Then I started my blog (http://geccgcm.blogspot.com), because it’s a good way to explain what you are doing.

C+RB How were you first exposed to golf?

WACHTER We moved to St. Clair, Mo., from

Course + Grounds Operations Profile Staff Size: 12 (7 full-time/5 seasonal) Other Managers: First Assistant Superintendent, Skip Fierro (39 years at Glen Echo); Second Assistant Superintendent Tom Lewis (20-plus years at Glen Echo).

Water Source and Usage: Irrigation ponds (supplemented by city water).

Aerating and Overseeding Schedules: Greens: Dryject/deep-tine in March and October; needle-tine in May and July Fairways: Core in June Tees: Core in June.

(No overseeding) Upcoming Capital Projects: Renovate shared 4th and 12th tee complex in fall 2020.

Currently working on shortcourse area that will open in late 2020 or early 2021.

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the Cape Girardeau area when I was about 10 years old and my parents joined Sullivan Country Club, a little 9-hole facility where they also had a swimming pool. I had an uncle who was an avid single-handicap golfer. I still have his old JC Higgins blade putter, but do not use it nearly as well as he did.

C+RB Do you feel your “other” career has helped in your superintendent career?

WACHTER I learned business and management skills at the bus company. While we grow grass, we are also in the people business.

I also learned a lot from my father. He was a high-school football coach, and got into the pizza business on the side. It grew so much that he got out of coaching. He believed in hard work and always trying to improve. He was never content with being “good enough.”

I began working for him in seventh grade, at 75 cents an hour. I put in a ton of hours, but learned so much about running a business. It really comes down to being willing to work hard.

When I went to college at Southeast Missouri State, I needed a job, so I started driving a school bus. They liked my work and dedication, so they offered me a manwww.clubandresortbusiness.com

agement position with the company in St. Louis after I graduated.

C+RB You had a stint as Glen Echo’s General Manager. How did that come about?

WACHTER Our GM had to take a leave of absence, so I threw my hat in the ring because I felt I had the skills from my other jobs and of course from turf management.

I was appointed to the position, but walked into a bit of a firestorm as we had some turnover in the food-and-beverage area.

So instead of being in a director’s or strategic position, I was working in the business and much more of a manager. And I really did not get to spend any time on the golf course (we did not replace me as the superintendent). We had great assistants and they did a good job, but a full-time superintendent was really needed.

So after two years, I was encouraged to go back to the golf course, and gladly accepted.

C+RB What did you learn from the

experience?

WACHTER I learned a lot. One of the reasons I took the job is because being a superintendent can be physically taxing.

When I went back to being a superintendent, I found myself working smarter and doing so in a way that was not so demanding physically.

In addition, my wife and I had become accustomed to a certain schedule when I was a superintendent. When I became GM, my hours changed significantly, and that was tough on us. We had lived one way for so long, and now our schedule was turned upside down. I was going in about 10 a.m., but staying until 8 or 9 at night. Plus, on the weekends I would be there for events.

So going back to being a superintendent was a bit of a wakeup call for me. I think I became an even better superintendent, but I also got my life back. I’m not too proud to admit it. It was better for me and better for my family. I could pay attention to the little things, such as taking better care of my yard. The little things in life are important.

I don’t look back at my time as a failure.

It didn’t work out, but in life you must make the best of difficult situations.

Golf Course Profile C+RB Glen Echo hosted the 1904 Olympic Games golf competition. What does that history mean to you and the membership?

WACHTER It’s an honor to work at a facility that has been around since 1901. It’s on the National Historic Register. The club has always prided itself on providing a highquality golf course. I am not sure members join because of the history, but I think once they join and spend a little time here, they gain a greater appreciation for it. They embrace it and take great pride in it.

As a superintendent, you want members who are proud of their golf course. That can make the job more difficult, but it can also mean they appreciate more what you and your staff do.

Interestingly, one of two brothers who designed the course, Robert Foulis, stayed on to be the first superintendent/pro until 1913. He and his brother Jim, the other designer, came over from Scotland. They learned their trade from Old Tom Morris. So we have a direct connection to the forefathers of the game.

C+RB What are the agronomic challenges?

WACHTER In St. Louis, we are in the

transition zone, which means you can grow almost every grass good, but you cannot grow any grass great. We must scout for disease and baby the turf a bit. And our greens are not exceptionally fast during the heat of the summer. They are sand-capped greens with no internal drainage system.

I think that is where communication is important. You must tell the membership what you are doing and why. When things cool down in September and October, I’ll increase the greens to what I call “rocket speed,” to give the members a chance to see what the pros play on.

C+RB Has the course changed over time?

WACHTER Interestingly, the bulk of the

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Glen Echo Country Club

Website: www.gecc.org Ownership: Private, member-owned Golf Course Type: Parkland Golf Course Designers: Jim and Robert Foulis (brothers) Year Opened: 1901 No. of Holes: 18 Par: 71 Yardage: 6,461 Golf Season: Open year-round, weather permitting, but generally mid-April through October.

Annual Rounds: 16,000 Grasses: Tees, Fairways: Zoysia Roughs: Mixture Greens: Bentgrass/Poa annua Water Features: Four lakes. Three feed into one large irrigation pond.

All lakes come into play.

Bunkers: 36

changes came in the first 30 years of the course. In the late 1920s, they moved the original clubhouse across the street and that meant some work had to be done in building a new first and eighteenth hole.

But after that, the biggest change came in 1935-37, when A.W. Tillinghast recommended the removal of most if not all fairways bunkers that crossed and lined the fairways. It was part of a movement around the country to make courses more playable and easier to maintain, and it is interesting to note that we are still talking about that today. C+RB

MORE ONLINE For an extended conversation with Joe Wachter, see the online version of this article at www.clubandresortbusiness.com

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TODAY’S MANAGER

PUTTING A NEW PREMIUM

ON INSURANCE The shifting sands of liability, risk management, and property/casualty coverage have become even trickier to navigate because of the pandemic and the changes it will bring going forward.

By Tad Wilkes, Contributing Editor

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Playing the role of hospitable host to members and their guests has always required that club and resort operators remain vigilant about risk management and pay keen attention to the provisions of their properties’ insurance coverages. Over the course of several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, managers have encountered new wrinkles that make this need for diligence more critical than ever.

CONCERNS OLD AND NEW C. W. Cook, MCM, CCM, General Manager/Chief Operating Officer of Sawgrass County Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., is no stranger to risk management, from both sides of the proposition. In 2009, Cook was General Manager of another club when a six-year-old guest drowned in the prop-

erty’s pool, an experience that has shaped him ever since.

“I really struggled with it,” says Cook, who a few years later decided to leave his club career behind. He took a position with a Raleigh, N.C.-based insurance company, The Redwoods Group, which specializes in insurance for YMCAs, Jewish community centers, and camps across the country. As one of eight risk-management consultants for the company, Cook says he flew 300 times in two years to visit clients, learning much about the overall scope of risk management.

But the constant travel took too much time away from Cook’s ability to be with his family, and his former club persuaded him to return in 2013. In 2018, he took his current position at Sawgrass CC. Today, like other club managers, he faces new concerns.

“At my previous club, we had more than 1,000 kids under the age of 12,” Cook says. “That had one set of risk factors.

Now, at Sawgrass, I have an average age of 64, [so] the majority here would be considered at-risk.

“It’s a different lens we look through,” he says. “We have to make sure that everything we do, we do to the best of our ability. All it takes in a gated community like Sawgrass is one or two [coronavirus] cases to lead to an outbreak.”

Becase of the pandemic, “We’ve definitely created a different look at our insurance model, now six months into it,” Cook says.

“There are things that weren’t on my radar before like they are today.”

A CHANGED GAME While industry leaders are weary already of the term “new normal,” they can’t deny that safety protocols of varying degrees— depending on locality and a particular club’s own policies—have changed the game.

“Obviously, COVID is the 800-pound gorilla, so a lot of our operation is now focused on screening people and having policies in place to do the maximum possible,” says Jesse Thorpe, CCM, Chief Operating Officer of Hammock Dunes Club in Palm Coast, Fla. “And that means adjustments to all of our amenities, services and access points—for

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example, wearing a mask indoors except when eating or drinking, and requiring masks when working out in the gym.”

At Wycliffe Golf & Country Club in Wellington, Fla., General Manager/Chief Operating Officer Rob Martin has made sure the club’s staff has completed ServSafe training and other education in COVID-19 foodservice training.

“We also made our own custom program,” Martin says. “We are fortunate to have a lot of exterior dining space, such as a big terrace, and we had just put in Phantom screens to keep out bugs. It’s actually nice out there with the fans on. People have dined out there all summer, and we’ve had good revenue.”

Martin’s team also uses elecrostatic fog to disinfect the facility every night, through a third-party company that is licensed and insured.

“It builds trust with members,” Martin says, “because they know we’re doing everything we can to keep the facility clean.

It also builds trust with the employees, who know we’re serious about sanitation for them—especially after we had members with COVID cases.” Using the third-party company helps to limit the club’s overall liability, Martin adds.

CYBER RISKS One risk that has definitely become more top-of-mind for clubs because of how they have had to operate this year is cybersecurity.

SUMMING IT UP

> Business-interruption coverage requires a direct physical loss, so many clubs are finding that their claims related to the disruption caused by the pandemic do not qualify. > C lubs should consider additional coverage for event cancellations, which can be purchased as relatively small policies that can be obtained on either a one-off or blanket basis. > E mployees working remotely has heightened the focus on clubs’ cybersecurity.

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TODAY’S MANAGER

“I’ve never in 25-plus years as a club manager had to deal with remote employees,” Cook says. “Now, six months into this, I’ve had many remote employees, and all of them are dialing into our network. When I look at it through a risk-management lens, I have more concerns about network security and membership privacy liability. Issues like VPNs and bandwidth—I never imagined I’d be sitting down from an IT perspective with multiple people at home dialing in, to try to operate the club.”

In an age of flexible work schedules, cybersecurity is always critical, pandemic or not.

Wycliffe G&CC already had IT security set up for management personnel to be able to work remotely when not on site, and in March, Martin says, the club adopted a “more robust” remote-work policy with parameters for monitoring and tracking activity, to further limit some of the risk.

“We have a secure platform and we’ve also been able to nestle most of the executive team into the ‘essential’ category, so most were able to come on site,” he notes.

RUDE INTERRUPTIONS Kyle Phillips, a Vice President with VGM Insurance & Financial Solutions, says the two biggest areas in which VGM, as an insurer, gets questions from clubs related to the pandemic are business interruption and liability related to communicable disease.

“Both of those typically are excluded

Creating a customized program for foodservice safety training, contracting with a licensed and insured third party for nightly disinfection with electrostatic fog, and adopting a more robust remote-work policy to tighten cybersecurity are among the measures taken to reduce liability and exposures at Wycliffe G&CC, reports General Manager/COO Rob Martin.

from policies, so clubs find that coverage they thought they had doesn’t apply in this instance,” Phillips says. “Business interruption coverage requires a direct physical loss of some sort. Thus far, most business interruption claims have not been covered.”

Going forward, Phillips advises that clubs should consider additional coverage for event cancellations. “Those are relatively small policies a club can purchase on a oneoff basis for a large event, or by insuring all your weddings for the summer,” he says.

As for general liability coverage and how it applies to communicable diseases, Phillips notes that the general rule—though there are exceptions—is that virus and communicable diseases are excluded from general liability policies.

“The insurance market in general, not

The focus on risk management and ensuring member and staff safety will heighten as progress is made in reopening facilities such as the Oceanview Ballroom at the Hammock Dunes Club in Florida, where restaurants returned to 100% capacity at the end of September.

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necessarily just related to pandemic, is hardening,” he explains. “Clubs and resorts are seeing increases in some lines of business, such as property and umbrella coverage.

Clubs should understand that certain things they might have been able to purchase in the past may not be available in the future, such as adding communicable disease coverage to a general liability policy.”

CONTINUED VIGILANCE Whether a certain issue is covered or not, smart operators are taking steps to limit risk as much as possible. That focus only promises to be heightened as progress is made with reopenings, such as in Florida, where the governor returned the state’s restaurant industry to 100% capacity during the last week of September.

“I had to make phone calls to reestablish furnishings and seating, because we’d been working at 50% up until that point,” Thorpe says. “We’ve had to be quick on our feet to make adjustments.”

“My concern is more based on what we’re seeing in Europe, such as in England where the Prime Minister just shut all restaurants and bars down, because they’re getting a second wave,” Thorpe adds.

“As people return to Florida [for the winter], we’re going to be monitoring it very closely to see if we have a second wave,” Thorpe says. “We have to remain very flexible, with a prime tenet being to do everything allowable and the maximum to protect our members, their families, and our staff.” C+RB

www.clubandresortbusiness.com

PRODUCT SHOWCASE �������� ��������

F��� + B������� On-the-Go Sweets

Packing a Punch

Product: Protein Punch Bulk Features: ▶ Bold flavor and a variety of textures ▶ Includes edamame beans, papaya, wasabi peas, lemon pepper chickpeas, cheese wicks and peanuts ▶ Good source of fiber ▶ Good source of protein ▶ Low or no sodium ▶ Available in: 25-lb. bulk and 12- / 7-oz. SUR bags

Truly Good Foods

www.trulygoodfoods.com

Prime Meat

Product: Chairman’s Reserve® Meats Features: ▶ Beef and pork ▶ Sales and marketing support ▶ No other competitor offers this robust of a portfolio ▶ No other brand delivers this level of consistency, quality and consumer confidence—a two-tier advantage ▶ A dual-protein mix that delivers an unparalleled eating experience with two tiers: Premium and Prime ▶ Provide the discernible quality to meet the specific demands of your business

Tyson

www.choosechairmans.com

Product: Retail Ready Manifesto® Packs Features: ▶ Packs fold open for an instant display ▶ Ideal for halfway house, beverage cart, bakery/deli and more ▶ All of Sweet Street’s Manifesto Individually Wrapped Cookies and Bars are now available in this self-display carton ▶ Provide one-of-a-kind, wholesome decadence with convenience ▶ Rooted in better-for-you ingredients and comforting flavors ▶ Individually wrapped, safe and tamper-proof

Sweet Street

www.sweetstreet.com

California Drinkin'

Product: Cali-Squeeze Beer Features: ▶ Hefeweizen infused with real fresh fruit is now available nationwide ▶ Juicy, crushable, and a real beer — not a hard seltzer ▶ Flavors include: Blood Orange, Mango and Tropical P.O.G. (passion fruit, orange, guava) ▶ Available in 12-oz. and 16-oz. cans ▶ Most so-called “fruit beers” (and hard seltzers) are made with extracts and phony flavorings, but Cali-Squeeze breaks the mold by layering real fruit puree on a soft Hefeweizen base

SLO Brewing Co.

slobrew.com • calisqueezebeer.com

Agua Fresca

Product: Infused Beverages Features: ▶ Inspired by traditional agua fresca, this line features eight varieties made with real fruit juice, real cane sugar and natural flavors ▶ Non-carbonated and caffeine-free ▶ S&D Infused Beverages are available in eight on-trend flavors, including Black Cherry Citrus, Blackberry Lemonade, Cucumber Lime, Ginger Pear, Mango Lemonade, Orange Passionfruit (reduced-sugar), Papaya Pineapple, and Strawberry Watermelon ▶ Perfect for signature mocktails and cocktails ▶ Shelf life between six and nine months ▶ Available in half-gallon concentrates and come in six bottles per case

S&D Coffee & Tea

www.sdcoffeetea.com www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

T���������

M����� S������� + A��������� Join the Club

Manage the Load

Product: Textron Fleet Management Features: ▶ HD hole graphics providing more accurate and detailed course information ▶ High-end speakers and seamless phone pairing ▶ On-course food-and-beverage ordering ▶ Tournament leader boards and formatting with automatic updates when integrated with Golf Genius Software™ and Vision Perfect Software™ ▶ 4G LTE for smooth connectivity from the clubhouse to the course ▶ Multi-media on-screen advertising for an additional revenue stream ▶ Accurate vehicle fault history and alerting ▶ Facility protection and monitoring with speed enforcement, geofencing and vehicle tracking

E-Z-GO

www.ezgo.txtsv.com

Repair and Inspect

Product: Applenti—Repair and Inspect Mobile Apps Features: ▶ Configured, and can be customized, to comply with CV-19 Government and OSHA recommendations ▶ Easy-to-use apps also allow clubs to report, monitor and analyze all maintenance issues and projects ▶ Manage facility/course Inspections ▶ Improve productivity ▶ Improve interaction between departments ▶ Reduce operating costs ▶ Help clubs and resorts to “go green” ▶ Request a demo at www.applenti.com

Applenti

www.applenti.com

Product: ClubProcure Features: ▶ Program offers clubs 150 ways to save time and money ▶ More than 3,000 clubs nationwide leverage ClubProcure’s strategic relationships with well-known, national companies to gain tremendous buying power ▶ Pick and choose which offerings work best for your needs ▶ This year marks the 25th anniversary of ClubProcure servicing the club industry

ClubProcure

www.clubprocure.com

M����� Flexing Turf Muscle

Product: Greensmaster® eTriFlex™ Series Features: ▶ The new all-electric riding greens mower, Toro® Greensmaster® eTriFlex™, carries no hydraulic fluid and utilizes all-electric components for traction, steering, lift and cutting units ▶ These new “EnergySmart™” models deliver an operationally friendly design with noise reductions, operational cost savings, and other meaningful improvements to complement the ever-important enhancements in cutting performance ▶ The two new all-electric Greensmaster eTriFlex models, built upon the trusted Toro TriFlex® platform, include the Greensmaster eTriFlex 3360, powered by a Kawasaki® engine/generator, and the Greensmaster eTriFlex 3370, powered by a lithium-ion Samsung® battery set ▶ The lower noise levels of the eTriFlex facilitate earlier mowing starts/tee times without disturbing nearby residents, to help the course be in conformance with local noise regulations ▶ The new engine/generator model, according to end-users familiar with the new product, is much quieter than traditional engine-powered models, while the lithium-ion powered model is virtually silent during operation ▶ The individual reel and wheel speed controls substantially improve both the aesthetics and playability of the green by greatly reducing the effect known as “Triplex-Ring” ▶ This smart feature standardizes each individual reel’s clip rate to avoid turfgrass thinning on the inside reel during perimeter cutting, and reduces wheel turf scrubbing to greatly improve the appearance of the cleanup cut, which ultimately leads to an increase in operational productivity ▶ The engine-powered eTriFlex with battery-assist technology is up to 20 percent more fuel-efficient, resulting in lower emissions and fuel savings ▶ Finally, operators have more control and access to advanced diagnostic information than ever before, thanks to the onboard Info-Center

Toro

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T

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Amenities Clocks

Soap on Demand

Product: Automatic Dispensers Features: ▶ C omes in both wall-mount or floor-stand styles ▶ E asy-to-fill reservoir means no messing with cartridges ▶ P airs great with the new Club Classic Gold Anti-Bacterial Hand Soap ▶A lso perfect for dispensing Club Classic Hand Sanitizer gallon refills

Fore Supply Co.

800-543-5430 • www.foresupply.com

Timely Remembrance

Pure Protection

Product: Verdin Golf Course Clock Features: ▶M any two- and four-faced models ▶ Clocks are custom-made and UL-approved ▶ Superior Moonglow backlit dials are shatterproof ▶ Custom headers, colors, and dials with logo ▶ Optional installation and maintenance

by Verdin technicians

Product: Pure Hard-Surface Disinfectant Features: ▶ E PA approved to kill human coronavirus (EPA Reg. No. 72977-5-73912) ▶ S tarts killing germs in 30 seconds ▶ P rovides residual protection for 24 hours ▶ P owerful broad spectrum protection as a disinfectant, fungicide and virucide ▶ Available in gallons and 32-oz. ready-to-use spray bottle

The Verdin Company

800-543-0488 • www.verdin.com

Tri-C Club Supply – Duffy’s 800-274-8742 www.duffystric.com

Tents + Umbrellas Bamboo Shade

Product: Levante Solid Bamboo Commercial Umbrellas Features: ▶ Can withstand up to 58 mph in wind-tunnel testing ▶ Currently used at more than 150 of the best clubs in America ▶ Premium shade at a moderate price ▶ Hub and Runner: Laminated bamboo hub and runner with stainless-steel brackets and bolts ▶ Cleat double-pulley system: The rope locks into the cleat when the canopy is raised. The double-pulley system makes the canopy easy to raise ▶ Metal fittings: All metal fittings including screw bolts made from 304 stainless steel ▶ Rib ends: Made using stainless-steel rib ends with an insert nut and stainlesssteel bolt to attach the end of the canopy for extra strength and clean lines ▶ Can be customized with club logo

Private Protection

Product: Tent with Curtains Features: ▶ 10’ x 10’ tents set up quickly, no tools required ▶ Durable aluminum frame and ribs, nylon joints ▶ Telescoping legs for adjustable height ▶ The canopy is made of solution-dyed acrylic fabric ▶ Optional side-panel curtains zip close for privacy and can be accessorized with banding and tie-backs in a contrasting fabric

FiberBuilt

866.667.8668 • sales@fiberbuiltumbrellas.com www.fiberbuiltumbrellas.com

Bambrella

www.bambrella.com www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

l Club + Resort Business l 51

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

T����� + C����� Ballroom Blitz

O������ F��������

Product: Ballroom Stacking Wood Chair Features: ▶ Stacks 10 chairs high ▶ Unmatched 20-year warranty ▶ Custom-made in the USA ▶ Available with or without arms ▶ Fits 10 chairs around a 60” round table ▶ Ideal for banquets, events, card rooms, and member dining

Eustis Chair

www.eustischair.com

Portable Power

Product: Vindi Series Features: ▶ High-strength aluminum tube frame ▶ Lightweight welded frame construction ▶ Eco-friendly powder-coat frame finish ▶ Webbed deck seat with ergonomic front seat curve ▶ Aluminum lattice back rest ▶ Slim multi-surface glides ▶ Stacks 12 ▶ Complimentary handtruck on qualified orders placed before December 31

Gasser Chair

www.gasserchair.com

Stackable Seating

Product: Alison Nesting Chair Features: ▶ Nests eight high for time-saving convenience ▶ Upholstered inner and outer backs create seamless contours ▶ High-strength, low-maintenance smooth extruded aluminum alloy frame ▶ COMFORTweb® seat lets guests rest in the lap of luxury ▶ 12-year structural frame warranty

Slinging in the Sun

Product: Texacraft Vision Sling Features: ▶ Contemporary design ▶ Dining chairs and chaise lounges nest for storage ▶ Ergonomically formed two-piece sling bucket ▶ Nylon foot glides protect furniture and floor surface

Texacraft

800-327-1541 • www.texacraft.com

Stacking the Deck

Product: Lennox Stacking Dining Chairs Features: ▶ Comfortable wrought-iron outdoor furniture made in the USA ▶ Stacks four-high for easy storage ▶ Can be used with or without a cushion ▶ Five-step powder-coating finishing process and outdoor foam and fabrics provide durability ▶ Modern design perfect for poolside dining spaces

OW Lee

800-776-9533 • Sales@owlee.com

MTS Seating

734-847-387 www.mtsseating.com

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

K������ E�������� Ice Ice Baby

Product: Sphere Undercounter Ice Machine Features: ▶ First machine to make spherical ice in North America ▶ The demand for unique cocktail design at a reasonable cost is high ▶ Makes clean, clear 1.8-inch diameter ice balls for amazing cocktail presentations with minimal dilution ▶ Eliminates the mess of ice molds or the high price of third-party ice vendors ▶ Sphere ice looks beautiful, is more sanitary and is more profitable than any other option in the market today ▶ Fits neatly under a bar, taking up less than 25 inches wide of all-important undercounter space ▶ Makes up to 50 lbs. (500 spheres) of ice production per 24 hours ▶ Built-In storage bin with 36-lb. capacity ▶ Durable stainless-steel exterior with easy-to-remove-and-clean air filter

Hoshizaki America

www.hoshizakiamerica.com

Keeping It Cool

Product: KoldCube3 Hybrid Insulated Cold Cabinet Features: ▶ Transport and hold cold food safely indoors or out, with or without a cord ▶ Use indoors with standard 120-volt electric, then unplug and use outdoor cooling system ▶ Cutting-edge battery and solar power hold up to four to six hours outdoors without a cord ▶ Provides cpaacity up to (22) 12 x 20 steam-table pans ▶ Heavy-duty 8” all-terrain swivel casters, front two with brakes ▶ Smooth interior coved corners prevent food particle/grease buildup ▶ Constructed with sun-reflective coating to shield the unit from sun rays

Cres Cor

www.crescor.com

T�������

Biodegradable To-Go

Product: Vio Cups and Containers Features: ▶ Industry’s first nationally available (except in California) biodegradable* EPS foam cup ▶ Better from the beginning, with all the superior performance features of foam ▶ Vio’s ability to biodegrade in a landfill or get recycled where facilities exist offers a better end-of-life solution ▶ Cups: 8-oz. to 32-oz. ▶ Food containers available in 8-oz., 12-oz., and 16-oz. ▶ Meet your hot and cold needs ▶ Vio cups have been shown to biodegrade 84.3% after 1,154 days, under conditions that simulate a wetter, biologically active landfill

WinCup

ADVERTISER INDEX CLUB ESSENTIAL www.clubessential.com/touchless

13 2

CLUBPROCURE 800-363-5480 / www.clubprocure.com EUSTIS CHAIR 978-827-3103 / www.eustischair.com

25

‘FORE' SUPPLY CO. 800-543-5430 / www.foresupply.com

35 3

FORETEES sales@foretees.com / www.foretees.com GSI EXECUTIVE SEARCH 972-341-8143 / gsiexecutivesearch.com

19

HOSHIZAKI AMERICA 800-438-6087 / www.hoshizakiamerica.com

56

STITCH www.stitchgolf.com

55

STUDIO JBD & JEFFERSON GROUP ARCHITECTURE 401-721-0977 / Pcafaro@JBDandJGA.com

23

TRI-C CLUB SUPPLY – DUFFY’S 800-274-8742 / www.duffystric.com

17

VERDIN 800-543-0488 / www.verdin.com

33

www.wincup.com www.clubandresortbusiness.com

October 2020

l Club + Resort Business l 53

IDEAEXCHANGE SPARKLING SUCCESS

By Betsy Gilliland, Contributing Editor

FESTIVALS AND OTHER LARGE GATHERINGS, including the Chicago Bacon and Beer Classic at Soldier Field, have taken a hit this year, thanks to COVID-19 restrictions. When that event was cancelled, however, its organizers came up with an innovative solution to fill the void— “Seltzerland,” a series of contactless, hardseltzer tasting events held at golf courses in large metropolitan areas across the country.

To hold the inaugural Seltzerland on August 29, the organizers found a willing accomplice in Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Ill., near Chicago.

“We were excited to try it [but] it was nerve-wracking to do something new,” says Troy Newport, PGA, Cog Hill’s General Manager. “You never know how it will work out.”

The production company behind the Seltzerland event paid Cog Hill, a public daily-fee property with four courses, for the use of its facility in an amount that equated to the cart and greens fees the property would collect on a standard Saturday. Seltzerland was held using two of Cog Hill’s courses (although the organizers asked for the use of nine holes, the event ended up taking up only six.)

About 25 vendors set up at Seltzerland with three or four stations on each hole,

“

Seltzer is super-hot right now, [and the event] exposed the golf course and facility to people in a different demographic.

so attendees could maintain social distancing. Each hard-seltzer brand served 2-ounce samples of a variety of flavors. People had two to two-and-a-half hours, or about 20 minutes per hole, to visit all of the booths.

Cog Hill also served food at its halfway house.

The production company lined up the vendors, but Cog Hill approved their booths beforehand. One vendor served seltzers from a sailboat; another set up an Airstream-like trailer (see photos below).

Tickets were only sold online for the event, and groups of 15 people were allowed to enter every 10 minutes at a scheduled check-in time from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. “It was like golf, in that there was almost a tee time,” says Newport.

Cog Hill posted signage to direct attendees from one hole to the next, protecting the golf courses by trying to keep them on cart paths. A security person monitored each hole, and Newport asked some of his key staff to also be on duty.

A full array of COVID-related safety measures were enforced, including text

About 25 vendors set up stations for the “Seltzerland” event, including one that served from a sailboat and another from an Airstream-like trailer.

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”

— Troy Newport, PGA, General Manager, Cog Hill G&CC

notifications to check in; one-way routings from booth to booth; single-use disposable cups, plates, and utensils for sampling; and sanitation stations at every booth. Attendees also had to stay in their groups throughout the event, and they underwent contactless temperature checks before entering the premises. And all festival-goers were required to wear a mask when they were not consuming seltzers or food.

Despite Newport’s initial concerns, it all worked out quite nicely, with 500-plus general admission and 150 VIP tickets sold. Cog Hill even found a way to still incorporate golf into the day, holding a 27-hole shotgun event on the courses that weren’t in use.

“Some people have the same tee time all season long,” Newport notes. “[So] the golfers [in the shotgun] got to play a unique routing they wouldn’t ordinarily play, and they got to play 27 holes.”

The Seltzerland event attracted a younger, more female clientele that included a lot of non-golfers, Newport notes. “Seltzer is super-hot right now, [and the event] exposed the golf course and facility to people in a different demographic,” he says. Cog Hill also did some “windshield marketing” during the event, placing fliers with a QR code on cars.

“We had an absolutely perfect weather day, [so for the Seltzerland attendees] it was like taking a walk on a nine-hole golf course on a nice day,” Newport says. “There was no competition to speak of with other activities. It gave people a chance to hang out with friends and be outside.

“It was as safe as something could be that’s outside right now. Both the golfers and the seltzer folks had a good day.” www.clubandresortbusiness.com

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