I hope that everyone is having a great summer. We are in the middle of another busy year at Champlain Country Club with the course conditions continuing to impress both members and guests. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated staff that makes the course what it is. Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Meeting, and I want to congratulate Keri Lawson on being re-elected to a three-year term and welcome Kevin Hurlbut as our newest board member.
As many of you may have heard, a member recently passed away while participating in our Spring Member-Member Tournament. We want to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Bill Noel. It was certainly a tough day at the club, but also very moving to see so many people responding so quickly and professionally to assist Mr. Noel in his final moments. In the event of an emergency on the course, please remember to call 9-1-1 first and then the Pro Shop, which allows the Pro Shop to assist first responders in reaching the right hole.
Deck Renovation Project
Thanks to everyone that participated in last weekend’s Calcutta fundraiser. Karen Renaudette and Mike Swim were instrumental in bringing it together and making it a huge success. I would also like to thank Leonard Parent for his great job emceeing the event, as well as the sales effort that Tim Bowen put in to make sure that it was a sell-out. We will be continuing to fundraise for the deck project, but we are already grateful for the substantial amount raised so far. The club would also like to thank Marc Stanislas for donating the new outdoor television that is on the deck. Thank you all for your support!
Everyone is welcome to attend our monthly board meetings that occur the second Monday of every month. We also encourage participation in all of our committees. Please feel free to reach out with any comments or concerns by emailing golf@champlaincountryclub.com.
Please enjoy the rest of the summer!!
Chris Caster, President on behalf of the CCC Board of Directors
Greens News (Chris Saylor, Golf Superintendent)
It’s been a challenging spring and early summer with the drought and sometimes hot conditions. We’ve watered the course the best we can to help keep tees, fairways and greens alive, healthy, lush, and playable. We tapped into the #7 pond for water in June, which is not the most comforting sign going into summer. Pray for some rain.
This spring, we reconstructed the middle tee on #11; we hauled in some quality topsoil and shaped it out nicely. This past week and weekend, the crew and I sodded the rough around the tee (sod from left side of #15) and sodded the tee top with bent grass from our own tee nursery on #4; by not buying sod, it has saved the club a significant amount of money. You may have noticed that the bent grass top is a little off-color due to the need for some lime and fertilizer, and it will green-up within a week or so. We still have some detail work to do, but we are excited to hopefully open it soon after the sod roots. Stay tuned.
As you may or may not have seen, Morgan has been out working on the bunkers. She has cleaned them up a little bit for us, but this is not part of the bunker renovation project. Bunker renovations will start after the Member-Guest Tournament at the end of July. Bunker renovations are more than adding sand. The renovations consist of removing old sand, stone, and drainage first. Next, we reshape the bunkers, sometimes doubling the size or even reconstructing the bunkers entirely, which will be a worthwhile but time-consuming task. This is followed up by resodding, adding new drainage and sand at the end. Not all bunkers will be done in one season; we will likely get a couple holes done each year. A golf course construction company could do the work to reconstruct the bunkers in a quicker manner, but that cost would be exorbitant. With everyone’s patience, we will get it done in-house and save a significant amount of money. I want to do the job right and do it well, which will take time. In the end, we will have beautiful bunkers.
Pro Shop News (Karen Renaudette, Pro Shop Manager)
- New warm-up mats have come in, and the old mats are for sale. Please see the Pro Shop if you are interested.
- New rental pull-carts are on their way as well!
- New course markings: #17 & #18 are out-of-bounds around the warm-up area and the maintenance building. The local rule in effect is a ball drop in the fairway, two club lengths, equal to where the ball entered out-of-bounds, which adds two strokes.
- We are still waiting on merchandise arrivals in the Pro Shop. Thanks for your patience in this year of product unavailability.
Tournaments (Mike Swim, Golf Pro)
- Men’s Member-Member (6/5-6/6) winners: Mitch and Nate Demar
- Ladies’ State Day (6/8): Big turn-out, and the ladies were happy with the course
- Ladies’ Member-Member (6/13) winners: Daniel Roberts & Roxanne Duval-Handy
Holes in One:
- Rick Wood #12 (6/2)
- Brian Susslin #7 (6/10)
- Andrea Brown #12 (6/17)
- Patty Geraghty #7 (6/27)
Upcoming events:
- 7/10: Polock Open / Connor Roberts
- 7/11: Ladies’ Morton Cambridge
- 7/13: Men’s State Day
- 7/16: SASA Tournament
- 7/18: Mixed Member-Member
- 7/24-7/25: Dan O’Connell Men’s Member-Guest
- We are looking for volunteers for the Men’s Member-Guest. Please see the Pro Shop for details.
Ladies on the Links (Keri Lawson, Ladies Association President)
Thank you to all the ladies who showed up for our first tournament held on June 13th. It was a great turnout with 22 lady players! Congratulations to Danielle Roberts and Roxanne Douville-Handy for their first-place gross win, and Lora McAllister and Carol-Ann Chevalier with their first-place net win.
Be sure to mark your calendars with the upcoming tournaments!
- Ladies’ Morton Cambridge: Sunday, 7/11 at 9:00am
- Ladies’ Member-Guest: Sunday 8/1 at 9:00am
Also, please join us for Women’s League on Thursday mornings at 9:00am or 5:30pm. The Pro Shop is requiring us to sign up 24-hours in advance. Let’s make sure to utilize all the blocked-off tee times and get out there and play. All are welcome!