Season Winding Down

It's been a little while since my last post. As most people will have noticed, summer finally arrived in september and fall arrived just as abruptly here in October. Because of the warm september, recovery from the greens aeration was fast and the course was in spectacular condition all fall. The leaves have hardly started falling, so play has been very pleasant. The forecast from here on in is not very good, but since when have the weather forecasters been very accurate.

As happens every year, the curling rink will be cleaned on Thanksgiving Monday, so we ask that all the carts and clubs be out of there by Sunday, October 11th. If you have arranged for winter storage in our facility, those carts will be put into storage on Thanksgiving Monday. After that date they will be unaccesible for play.

The end of the 2009 season brings about the last season for me at Carman Golf Club. It's hard to believe that it has been 16 seasons, but as we all know, time seems to fly by. I appreciate all the support I have received from both members and green fee players and have made many friends that will last a lifetime. My family and I will miss Carman and the Carman Golf Club and hope that we will be back to visit quite often.

If there is any lasting memory that I will have of the club, it is the love and the reverance for the course that both new and longtime members have. Like any family, there may be a beef or complaint now and then, but when push comes to shove you will defend it and brag about it to the last breath.

It is a club that should be and is enjoyed by both members and the casual green fee player. There have been many the time when a 40 or 50 year year old golfer has come in and said the last time they played here was when their father brought them here as a youth. They will inevitably come back in after their round and say what a great time they had and what great memories it brought back. You truly have a treasure here and it should be treated that way so that golfers of this and the future generations are able to create their own set of memories.

A Sad Note

Longtime Carman Golf Club member Ken Norell passed away recently. Ken always enjoyed his time out here at the club, but was unable to play in recent years due to declining health. He still came out for visits and it was always nice to see him.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Donna and the rest of his family.

Labour Day Trio Open a success

Here`s a picture of Bruce North and his mother Dorothy dancing up a storm Saturday night at the clubhouse.

98 golfers teed up on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend in the Labour Day Trio Open. Golfers played 9 holes each at Miami and Roland on Saturday before coming back to carman for 18 holes on Sunday afternoon. The participants had great weather on both days with some players suffering from too much heat on Saturday afternoon. They obviously didn`t heed the warnings to keep their fluids up at all times.

There was a band that played both Saturday and Sunday night at the club and a good time was had by all. Special thanks have to go to Andre Jeanson who came up with the idea and did most of the work to make it a success.

Aeration on Hold

With the rain Tuesday morning, the aeration has taken a bit of a setback. We will be working around the Wing Commanders tournament tomorrow and with any luck we should be done by Wednesday evening.

Carman Golf Club Dominating

Once again, Carman Golf Club showed it's complete domination of golf in Manitoba by winning the Ladies "B" Interclub Championship Tuesday at Oakwood Golf Club.

Our team consisted of Pat Makins, Cindi Takvam, Gail Parker and Lorna George. They showed no mercy as they dominated the field with a 4 shot victory in both the gross and net divisions.

Congratulations to our Ladies for a job well done and representing our club with distinction.

Golf Course News

Congratulations to our Men's Interclub Team who won the rural portion of the Manitoba Championship. The team consisted of Wayne Giesbrecht, Kevin Giesbrecht, Bill North, and Bruce North. They played well at Granite Hills.

Congratulations as well to Garry Boak who recorded a Hole in One last week on the 8th hole.

Saturday at the PGA

It was moving day at the PGA as we moved from one hotel to another. It turns out our hotel is the official hotel of the PGA. We were able to check in at 7:30 and ran into Paul Azinger loading his stuff onto his courtesy Mercedes. All the players have a brand new Mercedes to drive this week.

We got to the course around 8:00 and after walking around for an hour or so, we went to the 14th hole and found a great spot in the grandstand. We sat there for the entire field (7 1/2 hours) and watched every player. It is a 312 yard par 4 that every player except for 2 tried to drive the green. The highlights were Rich Beem sinking a sand shot for the only eagle of the day and Tiger chipping in to take the lead. If you were watching on TV, you might have seen us before Tiger hit his first chip.

It was another great day at the course.

When we got back to our hotel, we ran into Chad Campbell in our hallway. He is a room or two down. Other sightings include Vijay sitting in his car in the parking lot when in went out to pick up supper.

Back to reality tomorrow and the Senior Open on Monday.