FMGC Birdie s Bite Message from the Director of Golf I would like to welcome back all of our Shareholders, New Shareholders, Members and Guests to the Fort McMurray Golf Club for the 2015 Golf Season. We are very excited to have our management team back for the 2015 golf season. Jeff in the Turf Care Department; Colleen, Brittany and Tonya in Food and Beverage; as well as Jason and Brent in the Pro Shop. We all look forward to having a wonderful summer and providing you a great place to play, eat and enjoy. As you may have noticed, the course has come through the winter quite well. Jeff and his staff are now hoping for some sunshine and rain to assist in course conditioning. We have been starting on the back nine this year to allow people who play 9 holes a better experience and it will also allow our front nine greens a chance to have less traffic. We will also be keeping track to see if it helps speed of play. As you know in 2016, we will have three nines to enjoy and in the upcoming months we will explain how the nines will operate from a golfers perspective. As part of our expansion to 27 holes we have a need for additional parking stalls as well as range stalls. In the next month we will hopefully have the parking lot finished with new lines and a new north phase of additional paved stalls. To add to our range we needed to cut down some trees and ultimately move the first tee boxes. This work we hope to have done with minimal disruption and ready for use and play in 2016. I have enclosed the list of Club Events throughout the summer. Our first event, the May Bonnie & Clyde is only a couple weeks away and I hope to see you there. We are again pleased to be hosting the Syncrude Boreal Open June 23 rd June 28th. The event will see 156 of some of the best golfers from around the world. Last year we had Nick Taylor who went on to win on the PGA Tour this year and Cory Connors who played in the Masters this year in the field. There are opportunities still available for volunteers, caddies as well as billets. If you are interested please sign up at www.syncrudeborealopen.com. Keep It in the Fairway, Blair McDowell General Manager IN THIS ISSUE: Page 1 Message from the Director of Golf Page 2 Whats New 2015 Season Sepcials Page 3 Message from the Pro shop Club Tournaments Page 4 Message from Food & Beverage Turf Care News Page 5 Turf Care News Cont d 1
2015 Season Specials Early Week Special! Play Monday to Wednesday between 10 am and 2 pm and with your green fee you will get power cart use and a $10 dollar gift certificate to the lounge. ($30 savings on early week golf) Shareholder Appreciation Night Friday August 28th! Last year s country themed appreciation night was a hit! This year we will be throwing a Hawaiian Luau, with a pig roast and all it s fixings! Please mark the date on your calendar and come down in your best Hawaiian attire!!! www.facebook.com/fortmcmurraygolfclub @fortmcmurraygc 2
The Fort McMurray Golf Club is the best hidden gem in town! Message from the Pro Shop Our Pro shop team would like to welcome everyone back for the 2015 season, after a mild winter here in Fort McMurray the golf course has gotten off to an early start with spring like conditions we are off and rolling. I am very excited to announce some changes when it comes to our pro shop team. We have added one new Assistant Golf Professional Steph Abrecht who comes to us from Ottawa which is an exciting addition. Also returning to the professional staff is Associate Professional Brent Mackay, Brent is returning for his fifth season hear at the club, as well as Jeff McDowall and Aaron Buchner also returning to be part of our professional team. We are all very excited for the upcoming season and look forward to continuing to grow the Fort McMurray Golf Club. In the Pro shop we have many exciting new lines for both men s and ladies, we have done our best to give a wide arrange of all golf equipment/clothing that is on the market, remember if you don t see something you need we can always order it. Our goal is to make our prices very competitive. Golf equipment is priced in comparison with golf town and our goal is to make shopping locally more affordable. We are all excited that spring is finally here, and with another exciting year ahead I wish everybody good golfing. Jason Vaughan Head Professional 2015 Club Tournaments Bonnie & Clyde Friday May 22 Memorial (Second Round at FMGC) Sat. May 23 & Sun. May 24 Bonnie & Clyde Friday July 3 Tridon Men s Open Sat. July 4 & Sun. July 5 Ladies Open Sun. July 12 Junior Open Sun. July 12 Bonnie & Clyde Fri. July 31 Seniors Open (2nd ROUND at FMGC) Sat. Aug. 8 & Sun. Aug. 9 Club Championship Sat. Aug. 22 & Sun. Aug. 23 Bonnie & Clyde Ladies Windup Men s Night Closing FMGC/CBS Closing Scramble Ironman Fri. Sept. 4 Sat. Sept. 12 Sat. Sept. 19 Sun. Sept. 20 Sat. Sept. 26 3
Syncrude Borel Open Shareholder Pro Am! Don t miss out on your chance to play in this excikng Pro Am Event on Monday, June 22 nd Be one of the first 90 Shareholders to sign up in the Pro Shop for your chance to play side by side with a Tour Player - $200 entry fee gets you play, a cart, lunch and prizes! Message from Food & Beverage All of us in the Food, Beverage & Tournament Department wish you a heartfelt welcome back for another great season of golf. We hope you enjoyed a wonderful winter, and we are very happy to be back serving you this spring! Tonya Kelly continues to lead her team as our Chef and in the Lounge I m excited that Brittany Reibling has returned again this year as the Restaurant Manager as well as welcoming Shannen Rice and her years of experience to our team. You ll recognize a few familiar faces in the Lounge and Kitchen and they are excited to have you come in and enjoy some delicious food and drinks while enjoying the great atmosphere and best patio in town. Our menu is in continuation to last year s success along with a few new additions. We will also continue having our delectable specials for our popular Ladies and Men s League Nights. The Log Cabin and Beverage Carts are already in full operation and most of the girls from last year have returned this season to ensure your on course food and beverages are timely and served with smiles and flair. Don t forget to mark your calendars for our Bonnie & Clyde as well as the rest of our Club Tournaments. The full listing can be found here and on our website and we hope you join us for a great day of golf followed by a wonderful meal. Once again, welcome back and we look forward to serving you soon! Colleen Stewart Food, Beverage & Tournament Director Turf Care News On behalf of the Turf Care department I would like to welcome all shareholders, members and guest s to the Fort McMurray Golf Club and wish you all the best for the 2015 golf season as well thank you all for your patience during the last two years of construction on the first phase of expansion. Things should be a little quieter on the course so I will assume we should see lower scores on your cards. I am pleased to welcome veteran employees Stacey Elser and Jason Petrock to their new Assistant Superintendent roles. Between them they have over 12 years of experience at the Fort McMurray Golf Club. They are taking over for Sr, Assistant Superintendent Ashley Davidovich. After 14 years with FMGC she has moved on to pursue her Turf Management Career in the City of Edmonton. We wish her all the best. 4
Turf Care News Continued... From what we are seeing so far this year, it seems many golfers have forgot how to repair their ball marks or others marks. Just in case you have forgot how it works I have included instruction below: Repairing Ball Marks: Step 1: Use a prolonged ball mark repair tool knife, key or tee. Never lift up the center. If anyone needs a lesson please don t hesitate and ask. You may think you are doing it right but rest assured most golfers don t repair ball marks properly. You may be one of them. And back for yet another consecutive year let me introduce you to Mr. Frost. Here is an article from the USGA to help explain. We hate these delays as much as you guys but please be patient, it s in the golf course s best interest. Frost Delays. (Posted: 12/27/2012 by USGA Green Section) Frost is essentially frozen dew. Ice crystals visible on the outside of the plant can also form on the inside of grass blades. The grass plant, normally resilient to footsteps or cart traffic, becomes brittle and fragile when ice crystals form. Under the pressure of traffic, ice crystals puncture living plant tissues and rupture plant cells. Damage will not appear right away, but it will show up in footsteps and tire tracks the following days as the plant is unable to repair itself and begins to die. Frost damage can occur on any turf grass mowed at any height, but it is amplified when the plant is mowed low, as on a putting green Keep in mind that a foursome typically takes several hundred footsteps on each green, so even allowing just a few groups to play when frost is present can be very damaging to the greens, as well as to the rest of the golf course. It is not completely understood when frost will cause damage, so the decision to keep traffic off the course must be made conservatively to protect the condition of the course. For this reason, golf facilities are wise to delay starting times in the morning until frost has completely melted It s great to be back for another year at the Fort McMurray Golf Club, it s hard to believe this is my 12 th year which makes it Jasper s 10 th. I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of such a special profession and I couldn t think of a better place to hang my hat and call home, I want to thank the membership at the Fort McMurray Golf Club for their continued support. I look forward to seeing all of you this year on and off the course and remember golf is supposed to be fun, so enjoy it, I truly believe it s the greatest game every played. This caption never gets old because I think there is some truth to it, so I will leave you with this again: What They Think I Do as a Golf Course Superintendent. This year I think I will try more of what my friends think. See you on the course. Cheers!! Jeff Hacior Superintendant Step 2: Insert the repair tool at the edges of the mark; not the middle of the depression. Step 3: Bring the edges together with a gentle twisting or pulling motion. Try not to tear grass Step 4: Smooth the surface with a club or your foot. Repeat steps until the surface is one you would to putt on. Fort McMurray Golf Club #1 Real MArtin Drive, Fort McMurray, AB www.fortmcmurraygolfclub.com 780.743.5577 5