Greetings,

We are quickly approaching the start of another golf season and would like to bring you up to date on decisions that have been made for 2010.

GREEN

We have reached an agreement for a new three-year contract with our golf course Superintendent, Jeremy Stachowicz.  This will be the start of Jeremy's 11^th season with WCC and his performance over the years speaks for itself.  Jeremy and his staff have made Wahconah Country Club one of the finest golf courses in the area and we are very pleased to have him aboard for the next three years.

With the weather constantly changing and everyone itching to play golf, please check the website Green Page at http://www.wahconahcountryclub.com/greens.html for the latest course conditions and projected course opening date.  Thanks for your patience.

MEMBERSHIP

You may have noticed in the Berkshire Eagle, that WCC, along with several other clubs are offering discounts for new members to join their clubs.  There is a very competitive situation in the golf industry today and it is our intent to make the necessary decisions to keep our membership base at the level needed to give our members the fine golf course that you have become accustomed to, and at the same time keeping our dues at a very competitive price for the quality of product that we offer.  With the specials that we offered we have signed up 20 new members.

We very much appreciate the support from our present membership and will continue to offer the services to afford you an enjoyable experience at our club. 

PROFESSIONAL

The weather in the Berkshires is getting warmer, and the snow is starting to melt.  This must mean the beginning of the golf season is right around the corner.  I am extremely excited for this golf season to commence for several reasons:

1.      Golf Shop - Alison and I have been cleaning the golf shop in anticipation of the new product arriving around April 1^st.  Some featured clothing lines that will appear in the shop this year are Adidas, Nike, Ashworth, Cutter and Buck, Monterey Club, and Izod.  This will be in conjunction with equipment from Titleist, Cobra, Nike, Callaway, Odyssey, and Taylor Made.

2.      Staffing - All employees have been hired for the 2010 golf operation.  There is a nice mix of new employees to go along with the solid veterans from last season.  I will be emailing out a bio to introduce these new employees once the season starts and also to refresh everyone’s memory on the carryover staff members from 2009.  This group of employees promises to be the most personable group of golf operation personnel that the Wahconah membership has seen in some time.

3.      Demo Days - While I have not set-up the demo days for 2010, there will be “Try It Before You Buy It” days in May.  The participating companies will be Titleist, Cobra, Callaway, Nike, and Taylor Made.

4.      Weekend Fun Games - Like the last couple of seasons, I will be offering $5 fun games on non-tournament weekends.  While the schedule for these events is not yet complete, I will have it all finalized and posted by May 1^st.

5.      Adult and Junior Clinics - The summer will offer three weeklong Junior Clinics to those children between the ages of 6 and 15.  Adults will also be able to receive group instruction in the form of 6 one-day clinics focusing on different aspects of the game.  These dates and times will be established soon and be posted on the website and around the clubhouse by May 1^st.

I look forward to seeing everyone shortly after April 1^st and if you have any questions before this date, feel free to email me at Junderdown@pga.com.

HOUSE

Recently we sent out an e-mail announcing that we have hired Apogee Catering as our new Caterer.  We are very excited about Apogee joining us here at Wahconah and anticipate a higher level of consistent food quality and service than we had last year.  We have already had two events at the Club in the past two weeks and have gotten very good feedback. 

Our next two House events are an Easter Brunch on April 4^th followed by the Master’s/Spring Get Together on April 11^th.  There will be more to come this week on the Easter Brunch.  We hope you will make plans to bring your family to the Brunch to celebrate Easter and experience Apogee’s start at Wahconah.

This will be the 3^rd year for the Master’s get together to celebrate the coming Spring after a long Winter, see new and old friends and watch one of golf’s finest Major Tournaments.  Henry will have some special drinks at reduced prices and Apogee will provide many appetizers for munching on throughout the afternoon.  Circle your calendar for this Sunday afternoon and who knows, Tiger may be back to watch!!

You will notice that we have cleaned and painted the upstairs bathrooms.  We anticipate having the carpeting and drapes replaced in the Banquet area during the month of April.  We are also looking to upgrade the bar area and bathrooms next year, but this all depends on memberships and how we do financially this year.  Obviously we would like to do these things sooner, but need to be responsible to the membership in keeping the Dues within reason and making enough available for the golf course, our ^#1 asset.

The following are the clubhouse hours during the off-season:

Thursday                12 pm - close

Friday                     11 am - close

Saturday/Sunday     12 pm - 5 pm

ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE

It has been a busy year for us.  We have successfully implemented Quickbooks for maintaining our accounting system and our membership base.  We are inputting the information from the member questionnaire in order to have a good membership data base to be used in providing better services to the Wahconah members.  We are now in the process of writing up procedures for all major areas of operations as well as an employee handbook.  The business of Wahconah is moving forward with a better financial reporting system, membership database and operation manuals.  We are also working with various committees as we evaluate changes to our facilities and operations. 
 

DUES STRUCTURE

Our dues structure changed somewhat this year with an additional discount for payment prior to Feb 1^st and many of our members took advantage of this.  The Food and Beverage charge of $100 per each adult member was not included in the dues portion of the bill and we made note that this charge must be included with your payment.  As the deadline for memberships approaches (April 1^st) we would remind you that if you have not paid at this time and need an extension, please contact us and see what arrangements may be made.  If you paid your dues and forgot to include the Food and Beverage charge, that is also due on April 1^st. 

For those who have not paid their dues at this time, we would remind you that if you are planning on taking a Leave of Absence ($75) or resigning, you must also do that by April 1^st.  You can notify us by e-mail if that is more convenient.  Failure to notify us will result in losing any golfing privileges in the future, so please take the time to inform us of your plans.  If you have not paid your dues at this time and need more time to do so, please let us know and we will try and make arrangements to suit you.

LEAGUE INFORMATION

We have obtained League information for the 2010 golfing season.  The following is a brief description for each of the leagues.  You need to sign up for most of the leagues even if you played last year.  Full League information can be obtained on the WCC webpage at http://wahconahcountryclub.com/leagues.html 

 ·  TUESDAY NIGHT MEN’S LEAGUE

Ralph Nightingale and Bob Desrosiers will again run the Tuesday Night Men’s League, which is set to start May 4^th with playoffs beginning after Labor Day.  To sign up your team if you wish to play in the Tuesday League, please contact:

Bob Desrosiers (413) 442-5490

·  THURSDAY NIGHT MEN’S LEAGUE

Paul Lapierre and Don Robarge will run the Thursday Night Men’s League which will begin May 6th.

To sign up, please call or email:

Paul Lapierre (413) 684-2212   plapier1@berkshire.rr.com   or

Don Robarge (413) 499-4065   Donald_s_robarge@keane.com

·  WEDNESDAY NIGHT LADIES LEAGUE

The Wednesday Night Ladies league, will be starting on Wednesday April 28th (weather permitting) and ending Sept 1st.  If you are interested in playing or being a sub contact:

Patty Peltier   (413) 684-4755   ppelt9590@gmail.com. 

·  DILLY BOYS LEAGUE

The Dilly Boys (Men’s Day League) play every Tuesday and Thursday with a first tee time at 9:30 AM and will start the 1st Tuesday in May and continue until the end of September.  We have two in-house fun tournaments, plus a joint Filly-Dilly Tournament in August. 

We encourage all those who are available during the week to join us for a relaxing day of fun golf, and a drink or snack afterwards in the Clubhouse.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:

Bill Stevens, Dilly Czar (413) 329-2045   Stevensw1@verizon.net

·  LADIES WEDNESDAY MORNING 9 OR 18 HOLE LEAGUE

All ladies are welcome to join our Wednesday Morning "COOKIE" League.  The official season starts on Wednesday May 7th but feel free to practice up during April! 

If you have any questions, please contact:

Linda Billings (413-655-2980)   Linda325435@aol.com  or

Jane Brown     (413-743-1994)    JBrown6546@aol.com

TOURNAMENTS

Although it is over seven weeks away until the first tournament at Wahconah, it will be here before you know it.  Tournaments this year are pretty much the same as last year except for a couple of outside benefit tournaments and the Ladies 1-Day Member - Guest moving from June to July 7^th.

The first Tournament is a Berkshire County Allied event on Saturday, May 8^th so the course will be closed that day.  Per the rules of the Men’s Allied Association, you will be allowed to play one of the other participating Allied courses.  If you are interested in playing another course please see Jim Underdown by Sunday, April 25^th for specifics on courses and tee times available.

If you are going to play in the Allied event at WCC, please get your entry in to Jim by Saturday, April 24^th.  The event is the Allied 4-Ball which is a 2 player team event.  Entry Fee is $70 per team.  The Allied schedule for the additional tournaments throughout the summer is as follow:

June 20          Father-Son                                              Wyantenuck

June 28          Seniors                                                    Taconic

Aug 22          Individual & Team Championship             CC of Pittsfield

Aug 22          Individual Net                                          Egremont

Sept 12         Mixed Scotch                                          Stockbridge

The WCC complete tournament schedule can be found on our Web site.  In addition, we will have the monthly tournaments listed on the table tents in the Bar area. 

OTHER

Last year was our first year of the beverage cart on the golf course and we received many positive comments from you.  We will continue with this service and hope to add to the items that were offered last year.

A thank you is in order to all who responded to the questionnaire that was included with the dues invoice earlier.  The response was outstanding and is very helpful in knowing what direction you would like to see the club heading in the future.  We want to reassure you that we are continually trying to find more opportunities for our members to enjoy WCC.  Any comments, suggestions or objections that you may have are always welcomed.  You can contact us via e-mail or you are always welcome to address the Board of Directors personally, at our monthly meetings.  We meet on the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. and if you would like to address the Board that opportunity is afforded you at the beginning of each meeting.

Thank you very much and we wish you all great golfing in 2010.

John Enright

President