DFCC Golf Committee Minutes –
Meeting Wednesday, February 24, 2011
In attendance. B. Dyer (Chair), R. Manspeaker, B. McAlpine, A.Zamiara, A. Wilkes, T. Skogen, J. Dammeyer, T.Shephard (Regrets. J. Abelsen and K. Davis)
Business arising from last meeting
Long term plan – bunkers. The General Manager advised that the bunker sand project has morphed into a project that takes a broader perspective of the bunker issues. R. Fream’s firm (the original architect) has been retained to re-design the bunkers at DFCC. This will entail a review of the size, shape and relevancy of the traps. In certain cases, in today’s environment, some bunkers have become redundant. Once the report is completed and accepted, the bunkers can be tackled on a hole by hole basis which will include reshaping as well as re-sanding. For budgetary and other reasons, this will occur over the course of a few years, starting this summer. An outside contractor will be retained working under the direction of Fream’s company. The committee expressed satisfaction on the approach taken - instead of simply replacing the sand in the bunkers, as originally contemplated;
Other capital expenditures. We were advised by management that certain other Capex items were identified (14 hole and pathways near the 1st tee) which would be completed as and when funds were available. (Discussions ensued about the ongoing problem from slow play at the 14th and a suggestion was made that carts should be permitted onto the grass. This would be considered again by management). We were also advised that some work would be carried out at the washrooms near the snack shop. Patio tile work would also be done and the committee expressed the view that this shouldn’t occur while the Fallies was being played;
Re-shaping the greens. We were advised that many of the greens had various elements of re-shaping over this winter and that this would be an ongoing exercise for some of the greens, in particular 14 and 15;
Report from Tom Shephard.
(Tom’s report was split between the above items and the following)
 A transformer problem caused the well pump to stop pumping water into the lake. This is currently being addressed and fortunately, with the cooler temperatures, evaporation is reduced. This could take a few days to fix;
 To compound problems, Tom’s computer had crashed;
 Fairy rings had just been sprayed;
 With the lack of well water, the fertilizer program is currently suspended;
 The fire ant problems will be dealt with by a schedule visit in March by the servicing agency;
 Tom addressed a comment whereby some of the cups on the greens appeared to be slightly raised. Tom said he would deal with this (and mentioned that the work was done early in the morning while it was still dark)
Report from Jennifer Dammeyer
 We were advised that Jennifer was pleased with the performance of her staff – both inside and outside, in coping well – at this, the busiest time of year. (The committee endorsed Jennifer’s comments). The part time marshals were working 5 days a week and cart barn people 6 days a week. The staff were handling the tournaments well;
 There had been an unusually large number of shotguns – which cause bottleneck issues;
 The cart barn people, under Mark, were performing maintenance on the carts per checklists and this appeared to be working well;
 There was a problem with the handicap computer which is being addressed;
 The playoff’s at DFCC for the ClubCorp golf event at Barton Creek is tentatively scheduled for March 18/19th and April 1/2nd at DFCC. The actual event will be played at Barton Creek in early Sept. So, interested club members should be getting their teams formed right away;
Any other business
 The Chair mentioned he had received an email from a member saying that too many events were being squeezed into a tight time frame at the end of the golf season, resulting in apathy in terms of people signing up. (We were advised by the women members of the committee that they didn’t see this as a problem and had no desire to make substantive changes to their golfing schedule). However, with the declining number of men participating in events, it was recommended that this subject be addressed in an appropriate forum.
 We discussed the ‘Terms of reference’ for the Golf Committee. The current Mandate is drawn up on a functional basis – i.e. maintenance of the course, facility improvements, golf activities, access to the course etc. It was suggested that another phrase be added – that in addition to the above, we could deal with any matter that would affect the overall ‘golf experience’ at DFCC. In addition, it was suggested that we increase the term of office of the members from 2 years to 3 years. The Chair will prepare a draft along these lines and distribute this to the committee members. The Chair also added that, while there may be, occasionally, some areas of overlap with other committees, this didn’t appear to be a problem requiring remedy.
Next meeting – Wednesday, March 30th at 2 pm in the PDR