Here are the Minutes from the last Golf Committee meeting.
February 22, 2012

Members Present:

Betty Gray
Karen Davis
Jim Chapman

Guests:

Tim Skogen
Jennifer Dammeyer
Tom Shepherd
Ev Wilson

Meeting was called to order at 2pm.

Minutes from the previous meeting were approved as distributed.

The nomination of Diana Walton, to serve the remaining term of Annita Wilkes and a new three year term, was unanimously approved. (Diana has agreed to serve beginning at our March meeting).

Tom Shepherd's Report:
Tom recently returned from a 2-day Superintendent's Meeting at Morgan's Run. Discussions centered around the Disability Act which Desert Falls meets all of the golf course requirements. Also discussed was the status of all club's progress toward the completion of the Audubon certification. Desert Falls has been certified in 4 of the 7 areas. It was also decided at the meeting that all Superintendents have blogs for their members to follow.
Tom stated that Desert Falls aerates the greens once a year, shortly after Memorial Day. It is a deep aeration and only once a year is necessary.
A machine to roll the greens has been approved by Corporate and ordered. That machine will greatly help in smoothing out the greens and will certainly make them faster.
All fertilizer has been applied to the roughs and fairways and the greens will be fertilized on February 23rd and every two weeks thereafter.
The permit to remove the coots was filed on December 20, 2011. No word yet as it takes a minimum of 90 days before the permit is approved. Tom Shepherd will meet with Tom Sprott concerning the timing and procedures for a coot shoot.
Tom also thanked the MGA for sponsoring a breakfast for his workers to be held on March 19th.
Karen Davis mentioned that she had recently played at Heritage Palms and how wonderful the course looked. There were gates on all holes and much seed in the sand bottles. Tim was to check out what they are doing to maintain such a well maintained course.

Jennifer Dammeyer's Report:
Jennifer is exploring the possibility of placing shades on the marshal's carts designating that a marshal is in that cart. She also is thinking of providing each marshal with a green, yellow and red flag to notify groups whether or not they are keeping up the pace of play or going into areas not approved. She will pursue both of these issues and report back to the Committee.
Additional comments from Jennifer: New scorecards have been ordered with the new format. She has had several complaints from members concerning shotgun starts. Most or all have been member or member related events. She also stated that several employees have expressed a desire to remain in the desert over that summer instead of leaving. She will consider those requests.
The Cancer H.U.R.T.S. is scheduled for March 4. Jennifer encouraged all members to participate. There are currently 70 individuals taking part.

Tim Skogen's Report:
Tim reported that the preliminary work for this summer's work on the bunkers and other areas will begin in April. The bidding process will begin as soon as the desired changes are finalized. Tim asked that each member of the Golf Committee make recommendations at the March meeting as to where they would like to see changes made. That issue will be a huge part of our next meeting as the second phase will begin this summer.
Tim was to check with Mission Hills as to their experience in policing non-conforming members. Mission Hills has drafted the letters but has not sent any to members who do not abide by their rules. Tim will continue to discuss this with the other clubs in the valley and more discussion may be needed from the Golf Committee and the Board of Governors.
Pertaining to an Old Business item, the drinking fountains have been cleaned and will continue be done so in the future.

Meeting adjourned at 3:10pm.

Jim Chapman
Chairman

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 28th at 2pm.