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.

Day 2 at the PGA

In what was the hottest day of the year in Minneapolis, we enjoyed another day of exciting golf at the Hazeltine Golf Club at Chaska, Minnesota.

We got off to another early start and were at the club before 8:00am. A lot less people than yesterday morning as Tiger doesn't tee off until 1:45. We went to the range first to watch some of the players warm up and got to see a lot of legends hitting balls. Phil, Ernie and a host of other major winners were all interesting to watch. On the way to the course we watched Angel Cabrera on the putting green trying to hit chips from the 6 inch rough. His hands were amazing as most of them got close to the hole.

We went from there to find a good spot in the grandstand beside the signature 16th green. We had to wait about a half hour before the first group came through, but the great seats and view were worth it. The feature groups came in succession with players such as Anthony Kim, Jimenez, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter and the group with this years major champions all going by. That group included Cabrera, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink. The best shot was Darren Clarke hitting one 5 feet past the hole and spinning back to just lip out the eagle.

We walked around a little more after that and left to come home about 1:00. We wanted to watch Tiger on TV and are going to the Twins game tonight.

We are switching to the Sofitel Hotel for tomorrow night where a few of the players are apparently staying. Word is Mike Weir and Anthony Kim among others are there. I might have to lock Angie in the room as she is threatening to stalk the players in the lobby.

Another report will follow tomorrow.

Day 1 at the PGA

After a long drive Wednesday evening, we arrived in Minneapolis about 10:15 and were asleep by 10:20.

We got up early today and were at the parking lot at 7:45. Packed already and buses leaving every 90 seconds to the course. 5 mile drive to the course and suprisingly there was no wait at the Will Call for the passes. My CPGA card worked great and we got 2 passes with access to the Wanamaker tent and a special PGA area.

To the golf. We went to the first green and watched a few groups go through on the 490 yard par 4. No birdies and lots of bogeys. After that we walked to the back 9 and saw Tiger make birdie on the par 5 15th hole. We watched the marquee groups go through and saw Jim Furyk, Carmelo Villegas, Sergio Garcia, Mike Weir, and other great golfers. We also ran into Richard Dyck and his son Travis at that spot.

From there we walked over to the 6th green and found some seats in the grandstand. There we watched the same groups go through and got to see a few more birdies. It was really interesting to watch the crowd slowly build until Tiger's group came through. By then the crowds were 10 people deep along the ropes.

We went for lunch and by 2:30, it was time to go back to the Hotel. We have to rest and fuel up for another big day tomorrow.

On Site Reporter

My family and I will be traveling to the PGA Championship in Minneapolis this week and plan on attending from Thursday to Saturday. I will try and report tournament updates from my perspective every evening when we arrive back at the room.

Stay tuned.

Congratulations in Order

There are a few congratulations in order for some of our Carman Golfers both at home and on the road.

First of all, Bill North played a great last 2 rounds at the Manitoba Seniors Golf Championships and managed to sneak in for a tie for third place and a spot on the provincial team. This is becoming old hat for Bill as he is becoming a regular on the team.

Locally, Matt Dodds shot a fine 77 in rainy conditions to win the Carman Junior Open on July 31st.

We held our Club Championships in late July with Wayne Giesbrecht winning the Men's, Lionel Walz winning the Senior Men's and Karen Funke winning the Ladies division. All the scores and results can been seen at the tournament section of our website.

Finally, congratulations to Kevin Minty for scoring a Hole-In-One on the 8th hole a couple of weeks ago. It was getting pretty late in the evening and the hole was the last place he ended up looking for the ball. Low and behold, that's where it was.

Congratulations to Matt Dodds

Matt Dodds, a junior at our course recently finished in a tie for 11th at the Manitoba Junior Championships held at Rossmere last week. He is out here practising a lot aof mornings and we are glad to see that it is paying off.

The Manitoba Amateur is being played this week and we have Kevin Giesbrecht and Josh McFadden playing in it. You can keep an eye on their scores by going to the Golf Manitoba website.

July in full swing

The weather has been cooperating a little better this month and the course has been pretty busy. Other than the rainy days, the golf weather has been passable. We actually dodged a bullet last Tuesday when the course only received about a half an inch of rain when areas just east of us got well over an inch. And by just east I mean the other side of town.

Upcoming events include The Carman and Area Foundation tournament this Thursday at 12:00 noon. This an event that has raised a lot of money for the area in the past and will no doubt continue to do so. Contact the Pro Shop for more information.

The Club Championships will be held next weekend, the 25th and 26th of July. Tee times will be between 8:00 and 10:00 both mornings. Players may play in their own groups Saturday, but will be put in groups according to score and division for Sunday.

The Junior Open will be held Friday July 31st with tee times between 10:00 and 12:00. Entry fee is $20 and that includes a light meal after play.

The Emergency Services Tournament (RCMP)will be held on Thursday, August 13th at 12:00 noon. This is another tournament that has been around for many years and has raised quite a bit of money for the community.

I have played a few other courses lately and none have been in as good shape as ours is from tee to green. Rob and his staff have done a tremendous job this season and we are reaping the results this summer.

We're Closed again

This is getting to be a royal pain in the butt. A big storm rolled through this morning and dumped an inch and a quarter in half an hour.

We will be closed all day Thursday and hopefully be ready to go Friday morning. Rob and his crew have spent a lot of time fixing the bunkers and paths from the last rain only to get this happen again. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we won't get any more rain today and we can get out and enjoy our course very soon.

Don't forget to sign up for the Club Championships on the weekend of July 25th and 26th. Call the Pro Shop for more details.

We're open again

After a weekend where we received over 4 inches of rain, we are open again Monday morning. It was a tough weekend as we were scheduled to host the Manitoba Ladies city and District Championships. There is no word yet on if they are able to reschedule.

Carts are restricted to paths only today. I hope that the weather forecasters are right for a change and we have that nice sunny weather for the rest of the week.

Wet Golf Course

We recieved about 3-4 inches of rain between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon and are currently closed. Hammer has been pumping all day to try and be ready for tomorrow morning. (Sunday) We won't know if we will be able to open until Sunday morning as we need a lot of drying to happen and NO MORE RAIN.

Stay tuned.

Bruce North wins Men's Open

Bruce North fired a 2 under 69 to win the Carman Men's Open for what seems like the 30th time. The splendid splinter was able to squeak out a 1 stroke victory over former winner Josh McFadden and the young hotshot Jamie Wilkie. The always resplendent and dapper Mike Berney from Transcona finished 4th all alone with an even par 71. Another former champion and grizzled veteran Wayne Giesbrecht came 5th with a 73. One more stroke back was the Subway King, Darren Skelton with a 74.

Former Carman Golf Club employee and future mayor, Wayne Orchard led the members flight with a sizzling net 65 to win by one shot over a couple of young guns. Corby Sylvester and Aaron Nakonechney each shot net 66 to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. Three players shot net 67 including curling great Lionel Walz, the old cobber himself Bob McFadden, and the sweet swinging senior Walter Last.

The 226 golfers were treated to great weather and excellent course conditions all weekend long. Course superintendent and SEMHL Hall of Famer Rob Hamm and his staff have done a great job this year getting the course in superb shape. In a season when the winter ice storms have caused problems to golf courses all over the province, we managed to come through in exceptional shape.

Match Play Draw Ready

The match play championship draw is now available downstairs on the wall near the ladies locker room. The draw was done by pulling the players names out of a hat.

Please try and play the matches by the deadlines so that it can be finished by the end of August.

Last Chance for Match Play

We have extended the deadline to sign up for the Match Play Championship to Wednesday, June 10th. At that point we will make up the brackets for those that have signed up. If you are interested in playing, please sign up by this Wednesday.

Heat Wave Cripples Golf Course

With temperatures forecast to hit 22 degrees today, heat stroke and drought conditions are becoming a major concern at Carman Golf Club. This spike in temperatures may produce difficult playing conditions for our golfers. If any players do attempt to play today, we ask that they take special precautions. Please keep fluid levels up and keep your skin protected from the blazing sun.

With temperatures expected to drop back into the low teens for the next day or two, the heat advisory should be dropped as we return to normal conditions.

Junior Golf Postponed Again

A rain and lightning storm has caused junior golf to be postponed again. We will be making up the lost dates. There will be lessons on June 8th, June 18th and June 22nd. The windup will now be held on June 29th. We are unable to use June 15th as we have a big tournament here at the club. Let's keep our fingers crossed for some good weather this month.

Carman Golf Club loses Icon

Lawrence Aubin passed away this morning after a tough battle with cancer. Lawrence was a longtime member and a great contributor to Carman Golf Club. I don't think I met anyone who enjoyed life and golf anymore than Lawrence. He will be greatly missed by the whole community and especially those who were close to him.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Marilyn and the family.

Sylvester Aces 6th Hole

Congratulations to Darryl Sylvester who scored a Hole in One last week on the 6th hole with a 6 iron. Apparently it was a well hit shot and it landed smoothly in the cup. Having played with Darryl in this weeks Men's Night, it was a good thing that he used his 6 iron, as he must be able to hit it straighter than with his putter.

Darryl is seen above in the picture trying to find his way home after Wednesday night with a few of his friends.

Aerating Finished

Thankfully the weather forecast was wrong (who knew?) and Rob and his crew were able to finish the aerating last night. The forecast was for more rain, but it didn't come to pass. It turned out to be great aerating conditions and all 18 holes were finished before the sun went down.
The course should be back to normal in no time.

Aerating Progressing Slowly

The annual spring aeration began yesterday and progress has been going very slowly. In a good year, when the weather is warm and dry, the program usually can be finished by early tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately with the cool temperatures yesterday and the cool showers today, the crew are having trouble getting work done.

The big issue with the showers is that the sand that has to be worked into the aeration holes is too wet and it clumps up. Once the sand is dry it can be worked into the holes much easier.

We are waiting to see what happens with the weather this afternoon to determine our next course of action.

Men's Night Cancelled for tonight

Men's Night golf has been cancelled for tonight due to obvious reasons. The course is very wet and it will be cold.

We do have a beautiful 52 inch High Definition TV and invite all the golfers to come down for a dinner special and a couple adult beverages. Come on down and watch the Penguin/Capitals game. Should be a good one.

Men's Night

The weather isn't great at 10:00 this morning. We will make a call later this afternoon and post it here.

Match Play Event

We will be running a match play championship this year at the club. It will be open to any adult member and we will have both men's and ladies divisions with gross and handicapped brackets depending on the interest.

We have not run a match play event for a few years, so we are gauging the interest by running one this year. You can sign up in the Pro Shop and we will be taking entries until May 30th. We will make up the brackets by lot and go from there. There will be 2 weeks alloted for each match to be played.

If you are interested in match play, this is your chance to experience it.

Season Underway

We just finished a cool, but decent weekend at the course and we were very busy. We had 215 golfers on Sunday, which is excellent for early May. The 4X4's start tomorrow and look to have a nice forecast to start the year. All the other leagues have fun events planned for this week with the serious stuff starting next week. All the schedules are online now if you click on the league button on our website.

Rob has asked me to remind all members and green fee players that the 90 degree rule is always in effect when you are on Carman Golf course. Please take care to follow this rule in order to keep our fairways in the good shape they usually are. Also please keep the carts on the paths around all tees and greens. The 11th green is especially a bad spot for this. Please park your carts on the LEFT side of the green on the path. The fuel you save by parking on the right side should be pretty insignificant.

We're Open

Gary McKinnon opened the 2009 golf season with the first shot of the year at 10:52 this morning. By all accounts the shot was well hit and down the middle. On a second note, Gary's season should be all downhill from there.

Tomorrow!!!!

At 11:00 Monday morning another golf season will officially be underway. Rob and his staff have been working hard to get the course ready and it all looks good for tomorrow.

Reminders that the Tuesday and Wednesday night leagues have their respective registrations this week. The ladies will be from 5:30 to 7:30 on Tuesday and the men will be from 5:00 to 7:00 on Wednesday. These leagues are a lot of fun, so come down if you are interested. If there are any single players looking to play, you can come down and we will try to put teams together.

Also a reminder to pay your golf dues by May 1st to avoid having to pay the increase.

See you on the course!!

Opening

Well the official word just came in from Greenskeeper Hammer. We will be opening Monday morning at 11:00. The forecast isn't spectacular, but they've been known to change once in a while.

You can phone or go online for tee times.

The Pro Shop will be open from 9:00 til 5:00 everyday until the course opens and then regular hours.

April 16th and getting closer

Things are looking a little better as I post this picture as opposed to the last one. Most of the snow is off the course, but it is still pretty wet.

The Boyne is very high and Rob's crew has had to put some sand bags between the 17th green and the 18th tee. The water was flowing into the pond on 18 and they waited for it to fill up before they closed the dike.

We don't have an opening day yet, but thing are looking better each day. Stay tuned and I will post any update that I get. Rob had been very worried about the greens with all the ice we had in November, but they seem to have come through better than expected. Our fingers are still crossed, but things are looking better each day.

I hope to have the cart compound ready fro Sunday or Monday. I am waiting for a little water that is left on the floor to dry up so I can make the stalls.

Still Snow

It's been a couple weeks since my last post and the view out my office window isn't much better than it was in that picture. On the positive side, I can't see any water flooding in front of the 9th green. On the down side. I can't see the 9th green.

Things are progressing however, and the season is getting closer even though we may not be able to tell. The Masters is on this weekend and that should get all our hearts pumping a little bit faster and get us that much closer to playing ourselves.

I am in the Pro Shop weekdays now and can take membership applications any time. You can come down yourselves, phone me at 745-2366, fax me at 745-6877 or email them to me at carmanproshop@mts.net to get them in on time. Remember the deadline for renewing is May 1st before the rates go up.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict Kenny Perry to win the Masters this weekend. Remember that you heard it here first.

Season Edging Closer

Here is a picture I took out from my office window this morning. The positive is that the snow is melting, but it appears to be leaving quite a bit of water behind. It is nice to see the grass popping through and we'll keep our fingers crossed that the ice from the fall will not have left too much damage behind.

With the golf season approaching, I thoought that I would mention a few of the important sign up dates for our members. The first of these dates is April 21st which is the Day Ladies Meeting and sign up. That will be at 7:00 that evening. Wayne Johnston has asked me to mention that the 4 X 4's will have their sign up on Friday April 24th with league play starting on May 5th.

Our evening leagues will have their sign ups on April 28th for the Ladies and April 29th for the Men. There will be a fun event the following week with regular league play commencing on May 12th for the Ladies and May 13th for the Men.

Junior Golf will begin on Monday, May 4th with 5 weeks of lessons and a windup in June. Sign up will be available anytime up to May 4th. Non members must buy a junior membership to be involved in the Junior Golf Program. Cost will be $20 plus membership fees.

Let's hope for a nice melt and warm April weather so we can get the golf season off to a good start.

I will be in the Pro Shop Starting April 2nd until the 15th from 9:00-3:00 excluding Sunday's and Holidays. After the 14th we will be open everyday from 9:00 to 4:00 until the course opens.

Spring is around the Corner

It's March 4th as I write this and the weather seems to be smartening up. Let's all hope that we get a decent spring and golf gets started at an appropriate time.

I have changed the email address for contacting the Pro Shop and the new one is carmanproshop@mts.net .

Keep checking back for more news and sign up dates as the season gets closer.

Winter Update

As I write this we are in the midst of the coldest weather of the winter. It was -37 degrees when I got up this morning and I am very jealous of those who may be away south this winter.

As some of you probably know, the clubhouse was broken into on the night of December 30th and many things were stolen. The telephone wires were cut and the culprits had time to take whatever they wanted. Two computers were stolen from the Pro Shop as well as another from the office. All the sensitive information that may have been kept on them were password protected so there should be no problems there. Everything should be back to normal before the golf season starts, so there will be no interruptions in service.

We are about halfway through the winter and the days are starting to get longer, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel and spring will be here before you know it.