The clock has been pushed forward an hour, the weather is starting to turn warmer, and people have been spotted dusting off their golf clubs.
What does all this mean?
It’s time to play some GOLF in Missouri! No matter what part of the state you may live in or visit, we have some wonderful golf courses right in our own back yard. And with recent economic challenges, now is the perfect time to take advantage of some great deals.
Packages you may find include a round of golf with a cart, range balls, and either breakfast or lunch. The normal rate for a round of golf with a cart and range balls is usually in the $40 to $50 range, but some packages are extending that offer to as many as four people for the low price of $50. The best way to find deals is to check out the Web site of a course you’re interested in or to look through your local newspaper.
Don’t let these great deals pass you by because they may not be around for long. It’s time for you and your buddies to hit the links for the day or weekend. Some of the best golfing times are in the spring, so let’s all get out there, and I look forward to seeing you on the first tee.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Dalhousie Offers Unique Experience
Within the hills of southeast Missouri, a truly unique lifestyle experience awaits. Set on a beautiful, 1,000-acre tract of land in the enchanting town of Cape Girardeau, the remarkable community of Dalhousie offers a unique combination of European roots, Southern grace, expert planning and world-class golf.
Boasting a name whose history goes back almost as far as the game of golf, it is fitting this Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course is one the best courses in Missouri. Rated the 48th best Residential Golf Course in the Country by Golfweek magazine, the par 72 course has already hosted many high profile championships, including the 2009 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Championships, which touted the top 80 junior golfers from throughout the world. It has also hosted five Missouri Golf Association Championships and is the host for the 2010 Missouri Senior Amateur Championship and the 2012 Missouri Amateur. The character of the 7,242-yard, core golf layout varies from the undulating terrain to the old-growth forest to spectacular water holes, while gnarly-edged bunkers, imaginative green complexes immaculate Zoysia fairways and large, rectangular bent grass tee boxes add dimension and challenge. A true masterpiece designed to stand the test of time, The Dalhousie Golf Club is undoubtedly one of the best courses in the Midwest.
Dalhousie is a private club that offers a unique National Golf Membership program, presenting an intriguing option for those living outside the Cape Girardeau area. Members of Dalhousie also have access to five on-site member cottages, as well as the “Dalhousie at Waters edge” which provides additional overnight accommodations, welcoming amenities, indoor and outdoor event pavilions and private access to 10 acres of well-stocked fishing ponds.
Dalhousie Golf Club is just one the many wonderful golf courses we have in Missouri. To see more about this wonderful and gorgeous place visit the Web site at www.DalhousieGolfClub.com. Or, if you might be interested in taking a tour in person, contact them at 573-332-0818. I promise you one thing, once you play the course and take advantage of the cottages, you will be planning your next trip real soon.
Until I see you on the first tee!
Boasting a name whose history goes back almost as far as the game of golf, it is fitting this Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course is one the best courses in Missouri. Rated the 48th best Residential Golf Course in the Country by Golfweek magazine, the par 72 course has already hosted many high profile championships, including the 2009 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Championships, which touted the top 80 junior golfers from throughout the world. It has also hosted five Missouri Golf Association Championships and is the host for the 2010 Missouri Senior Amateur Championship and the 2012 Missouri Amateur. The character of the 7,242-yard, core golf layout varies from the undulating terrain to the old-growth forest to spectacular water holes, while gnarly-edged bunkers, imaginative green complexes immaculate Zoysia fairways and large, rectangular bent grass tee boxes add dimension and challenge. A true masterpiece designed to stand the test of time, The Dalhousie Golf Club is undoubtedly one of the best courses in the Midwest.
Dalhousie is a private club that offers a unique National Golf Membership program, presenting an intriguing option for those living outside the Cape Girardeau area. Members of Dalhousie also have access to five on-site member cottages, as well as the “Dalhousie at Waters edge” which provides additional overnight accommodations, welcoming amenities, indoor and outdoor event pavilions and private access to 10 acres of well-stocked fishing ponds.
Dalhousie Golf Club is just one the many wonderful golf courses we have in Missouri. To see more about this wonderful and gorgeous place visit the Web site at www.DalhousieGolfClub.com. Or, if you might be interested in taking a tour in person, contact them at 573-332-0818. I promise you one thing, once you play the course and take advantage of the cottages, you will be planning your next trip real soon.
Until I see you on the first tee!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Win 2 Tickets to the 2010 US Open!!!
2010 MISSOURI JUNIOR GOLF FOUNDATION
FUNDRAISER
REGISTER TO WIN
Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package for Two
U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links
June 14-20, 2010
Buy your raffle ticket now!
Tickets are $25 per chance to win.
You must be 21 or over to purchase a raffle ticket
Rules governing the Raffle: You must be 21 years of age to purchase a raffle ticket and participate in the raffle. Raffle tickets must be purchased prior to 8:00 a.m. (Central Standard Time) on April 30, 2010. Multiple tickets may be purchased, however each purchase is a separate transaction, as the transaction identification number will serve as the raffle ticket number. The Staff of the Missouri Golf Association and the MGA Board of Directors are not eligible to participate in the raffle. The drawing for the winner will be conducted at 12:00 Noon on April 30, 2010. The winner will be contacted and announced on the MGA website.
No refunds, exchanges, rain checks or replacements will be made.
The Missouri Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation is conducting a raffle for grounds only weekly ticket package for two for the 2010 U.S. Open Championship to be held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California on June 14 – 20, 2010. The cost of a raffle ticket is $25 with the total package valued at $850. The proceeds of the raffle will benefit the Missouri Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation. The events conducted for the junior players in Missouri are expanding and your support is essential to the continued growth of these programs.
To purchase your raffle ticket click on BUY NOW button above. Each transaction has a unique and distinct transaction identification number that will be used as the raffle ticket number. This number is located on your credit card transaction receipt that you will receive in your email. Keep a copy for your records. You can purchase more than one raffle ticket but they are separate transactions.
If you would rather contact the MGA to process your credit card transaction please feel free to do so.
The drawing will be conducted at the MGA office on April 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM and the winner will be contacted and announced that day.
If you have questions contact the Missouri Golf Association at 573-636-8994. Thank you for your support of Junior Golf in Missouri.
Package Includes:
Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package provides access to the grounds of Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Each Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package includes:
• One ticket for each day of the Championship–three (3) Practice rounds, four (4) Championship rounds, and one (1) 18-hole
Playoff, if regulation play ends in a tie
• A voucher for one complimentary official U.S. Open Program
FUNDRAISER
REGISTER TO WIN
Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package for Two
U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links
June 14-20, 2010
Buy your raffle ticket now!
Tickets are $25 per chance to win.
You must be 21 or over to purchase a raffle ticket
Rules governing the Raffle: You must be 21 years of age to purchase a raffle ticket and participate in the raffle. Raffle tickets must be purchased prior to 8:00 a.m. (Central Standard Time) on April 30, 2010. Multiple tickets may be purchased, however each purchase is a separate transaction, as the transaction identification number will serve as the raffle ticket number. The Staff of the Missouri Golf Association and the MGA Board of Directors are not eligible to participate in the raffle. The drawing for the winner will be conducted at 12:00 Noon on April 30, 2010. The winner will be contacted and announced on the MGA website.
No refunds, exchanges, rain checks or replacements will be made.
The Missouri Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation is conducting a raffle for grounds only weekly ticket package for two for the 2010 U.S. Open Championship to be held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California on June 14 – 20, 2010. The cost of a raffle ticket is $25 with the total package valued at $850. The proceeds of the raffle will benefit the Missouri Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation. The events conducted for the junior players in Missouri are expanding and your support is essential to the continued growth of these programs.
To purchase your raffle ticket click on BUY NOW button above. Each transaction has a unique and distinct transaction identification number that will be used as the raffle ticket number. This number is located on your credit card transaction receipt that you will receive in your email. Keep a copy for your records. You can purchase more than one raffle ticket but they are separate transactions.
If you would rather contact the MGA to process your credit card transaction please feel free to do so.
The drawing will be conducted at the MGA office on April 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM and the winner will be contacted and announced that day.
If you have questions contact the Missouri Golf Association at 573-636-8994. Thank you for your support of Junior Golf in Missouri.
Package Includes:
Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package provides access to the grounds of Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Each Grounds Only Weekly Ticket Package includes:
• One ticket for each day of the Championship–three (3) Practice rounds, four (4) Championship rounds, and one (1) 18-hole
Playoff, if regulation play ends in a tie
• A voucher for one complimentary official U.S. Open Program
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Times Are Tough in Golf As Well
Country Clubs: Stuck in the Rough
Golf courses across the nation are in crisis as memberships and money dwindle
By Dean Foust
From the day it opened its gates in 1998, Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club was one of the "it" clubs in the Phoenix area. Boasting a Spanish Colonial clubhouse and a pair of Jack Nicklaus-designed courses with majestic mountain views, the club exuded an air of wealth and success. And because Superstition Mountain was the host course for a popular Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournament, its members got to hobnob with such stars as Annika Sorenstam—a perk that made writing a $100,000-plus initiation check a little easier.
But as the economic downturn suddenly made a club membership seem more extravagance than necessity, Superstition's luck took a turn for the worse. With membership slipping and the developer behind the club and the adjoining residential development suffering his own financial problems, Superstition's lenders foreclosed and now plan to sell the property at auction this December. What happens then is anyone's guess, given that Superstition Mountain has only about half the 780 members originally envisioned. "It's just not feasible that the members take it over at this point," says Keith Bierman, the court-appointed receiver for the club.
For generations of golfing executives, joining a private club not only provided a venue to entertain clients but also served as a validation of their success. Now the economic downturn has created an existential crisis for many of the nation's 4,400 country clubs. To be sure, elite clubs such as Augusta National, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club outside New York City, and Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles remain impervious to the current downdraft, as do many of the most established, old-money clubs across the country. Hammered hardest are the thousands of middle- and lower-tier courses, as well as many, like Superstition, that sprouted throughout the Sun Belt during the past decade. Already, dozens are in foreclosure. And according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), as many as 15% of the rest say they're suffering serious financial problems. Among the troubled are such venerable clubs as the Country Club of Lansing, Mich., and the former IBM Heritage Country Club outside Binghamton, N.Y., both of which are in foreclosure.
The pain isn't over, either. The number of golfers belonging to clubs now is down to 2.1 million—900,000 below the peak in the early 1990s. Experts such as consultant Jim Koppenhaver, whose Buffalo Grove (Ill.) firm, Pellucid, monitors the industry, believes at least 400—and worst case, 1,000—private clubs will have to close, convert to public play, or be absorbed into healthier clubs before the carnage is over. "The whole country club model is at risk," says Koppenhaver. But "for a lot of golfers, the value proposition of belonging to a club is hard to pencil out."
While it would be easy to ascribe the clubs' woes to the economic crisis, experts say the seeds were planted in the early 1990s, when Congress enacted tax reforms that eliminated or reduced the ability of club members—and, more practically, their corporate employers—to deduct club dues as a business expense. That raised the effective cost of joining clubs and gave rise to a new breed of upscale public courses some executives view as suitable, and cheaper, places to entertain clients. Societal changes had an effect as well. While earlier generations of men viewed their clubs as weekend sanctuaries from work, if not from the wife and kids, many executives in their 40s and 50s are opting to spend their weekends not on the course but on sports fields coaching their kids' teams.
SUDDEN SHORTFALLS
The clubs themselves share the blame for their plight. Some took on huge loans to fund extensive renovations to courses and clubhouses, racking up debts they are currently struggling to repay. And while 500 of the clubs surveyed by the NGF say they've been running at a deficit, experts believe 2010 could claim even more victims. Most clubs give members a certain window each fall to suspend or shift to a cheaper plan in the coming year, and experts say many are doing just that. "There are clubs that are finding out right now that they're not going to make it next year," says David Shaw, a Greenvale (N.Y.) consultant to clubs.
To plug these shortfalls, troubled clubs are resorting to a variety of measures. At the roughly 500 clubs that told the National Golf Foundation they were suffering serious financial problems, heavy membership losses were a key culprit. As a result, 90% reported they had tried recruiting new members with discounted initiation fees—and some, such as Inwood Country Club, a 108-year-old establishment on Long Island, N.Y., have waived their initiation charges for golf members. Others are merging with neighboring clubs to cut labor costs, which account for about half the expenses at an average club. That allows the clubs to share the cost of a bookkeeper, food-service director, and other staff. In Cleveland, two clubs facing declining memberships—Sand Ridge and Mayfield—merged three years ago, a move that enabled them to slash overhead enough to keep both courses. But with their combined membership down from more than 700 to 550 in the years since, the renamed Mayfield Sand Ridge Club is entertaining approaches from other clubs looking to merge their way in, too. "We're doing fine, but we're still looking for anything that would help our club," says Jon Outcalt, Mayfield's president.
TEED OFF
Despite their best intentions, some of the clubs' efforts to stay afloat have current members grumbling. The offenses include opening the banquet rooms to outsiders and renting the courses for corporate outings and charity events. Not surprisingly, a number of the disputes involve money—and lawyers. At some clubs, members have sued when the clubs dragged their feet on refunding their initiation fees until replacement members are found, a process that can take years at struggling clubs. In Lexington, Ky., seven members of the University Club of Kentucky filed suit in 2003 after club officials slashed the initiation fee from $12,500 to as little as $6,000. That, said members, violated the club's vows that the value of their memberships wouldn't decline. While the club and litigants reached a private settlement, Randolph Addison, a Dallas attorney who specializes in private-club matters, says the courts usually uphold the right of private clubs to alter their fees.
In the end, some industry insiders believe the long-term solution is to reinvent the country club, moving beyond golf to a broader array of services that meet the changing needs of younger members. In San Clemente, Calif., the once-bankrupt Bella Collina Towne & Golf Club has sold 120 new memberships in the past six months by adding pilates, karate lessons, and even a vegetable garden (for the restaurant) that members' kids help plant.
On the golf course, Bella Collina now offers a free junior golf program and permits members to take lessons from the club's instructors at no charge. That last move created turnover among the teaching pros, who viewed the cash from paid lessons as a perk of the job. But club officials say the gesture has helped get more mothers and children out on the course with their fathers. "The country club has to evolve and become like piazzas in Italy, the town square where families—and not just the men who are golfing—meet on weekends," says John G. Fornaro, one of the investors who bought Bella Collina last year. That's good advice, but it may be coming late to clubs where the wolf is already at the door.
Golf courses across the nation are in crisis as memberships and money dwindle
By Dean Foust
From the day it opened its gates in 1998, Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club was one of the "it" clubs in the Phoenix area. Boasting a Spanish Colonial clubhouse and a pair of Jack Nicklaus-designed courses with majestic mountain views, the club exuded an air of wealth and success. And because Superstition Mountain was the host course for a popular Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournament, its members got to hobnob with such stars as Annika Sorenstam—a perk that made writing a $100,000-plus initiation check a little easier.
But as the economic downturn suddenly made a club membership seem more extravagance than necessity, Superstition's luck took a turn for the worse. With membership slipping and the developer behind the club and the adjoining residential development suffering his own financial problems, Superstition's lenders foreclosed and now plan to sell the property at auction this December. What happens then is anyone's guess, given that Superstition Mountain has only about half the 780 members originally envisioned. "It's just not feasible that the members take it over at this point," says Keith Bierman, the court-appointed receiver for the club.
For generations of golfing executives, joining a private club not only provided a venue to entertain clients but also served as a validation of their success. Now the economic downturn has created an existential crisis for many of the nation's 4,400 country clubs. To be sure, elite clubs such as Augusta National, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club outside New York City, and Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles remain impervious to the current downdraft, as do many of the most established, old-money clubs across the country. Hammered hardest are the thousands of middle- and lower-tier courses, as well as many, like Superstition, that sprouted throughout the Sun Belt during the past decade. Already, dozens are in foreclosure. And according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), as many as 15% of the rest say they're suffering serious financial problems. Among the troubled are such venerable clubs as the Country Club of Lansing, Mich., and the former IBM Heritage Country Club outside Binghamton, N.Y., both of which are in foreclosure.
The pain isn't over, either. The number of golfers belonging to clubs now is down to 2.1 million—900,000 below the peak in the early 1990s. Experts such as consultant Jim Koppenhaver, whose Buffalo Grove (Ill.) firm, Pellucid, monitors the industry, believes at least 400—and worst case, 1,000—private clubs will have to close, convert to public play, or be absorbed into healthier clubs before the carnage is over. "The whole country club model is at risk," says Koppenhaver. But "for a lot of golfers, the value proposition of belonging to a club is hard to pencil out."
While it would be easy to ascribe the clubs' woes to the economic crisis, experts say the seeds were planted in the early 1990s, when Congress enacted tax reforms that eliminated or reduced the ability of club members—and, more practically, their corporate employers—to deduct club dues as a business expense. That raised the effective cost of joining clubs and gave rise to a new breed of upscale public courses some executives view as suitable, and cheaper, places to entertain clients. Societal changes had an effect as well. While earlier generations of men viewed their clubs as weekend sanctuaries from work, if not from the wife and kids, many executives in their 40s and 50s are opting to spend their weekends not on the course but on sports fields coaching their kids' teams.
SUDDEN SHORTFALLS
The clubs themselves share the blame for their plight. Some took on huge loans to fund extensive renovations to courses and clubhouses, racking up debts they are currently struggling to repay. And while 500 of the clubs surveyed by the NGF say they've been running at a deficit, experts believe 2010 could claim even more victims. Most clubs give members a certain window each fall to suspend or shift to a cheaper plan in the coming year, and experts say many are doing just that. "There are clubs that are finding out right now that they're not going to make it next year," says David Shaw, a Greenvale (N.Y.) consultant to clubs.
To plug these shortfalls, troubled clubs are resorting to a variety of measures. At the roughly 500 clubs that told the National Golf Foundation they were suffering serious financial problems, heavy membership losses were a key culprit. As a result, 90% reported they had tried recruiting new members with discounted initiation fees—and some, such as Inwood Country Club, a 108-year-old establishment on Long Island, N.Y., have waived their initiation charges for golf members. Others are merging with neighboring clubs to cut labor costs, which account for about half the expenses at an average club. That allows the clubs to share the cost of a bookkeeper, food-service director, and other staff. In Cleveland, two clubs facing declining memberships—Sand Ridge and Mayfield—merged three years ago, a move that enabled them to slash overhead enough to keep both courses. But with their combined membership down from more than 700 to 550 in the years since, the renamed Mayfield Sand Ridge Club is entertaining approaches from other clubs looking to merge their way in, too. "We're doing fine, but we're still looking for anything that would help our club," says Jon Outcalt, Mayfield's president.
TEED OFF
Despite their best intentions, some of the clubs' efforts to stay afloat have current members grumbling. The offenses include opening the banquet rooms to outsiders and renting the courses for corporate outings and charity events. Not surprisingly, a number of the disputes involve money—and lawyers. At some clubs, members have sued when the clubs dragged their feet on refunding their initiation fees until replacement members are found, a process that can take years at struggling clubs. In Lexington, Ky., seven members of the University Club of Kentucky filed suit in 2003 after club officials slashed the initiation fee from $12,500 to as little as $6,000. That, said members, violated the club's vows that the value of their memberships wouldn't decline. While the club and litigants reached a private settlement, Randolph Addison, a Dallas attorney who specializes in private-club matters, says the courts usually uphold the right of private clubs to alter their fees.
In the end, some industry insiders believe the long-term solution is to reinvent the country club, moving beyond golf to a broader array of services that meet the changing needs of younger members. In San Clemente, Calif., the once-bankrupt Bella Collina Towne & Golf Club has sold 120 new memberships in the past six months by adding pilates, karate lessons, and even a vegetable garden (for the restaurant) that members' kids help plant.
On the golf course, Bella Collina now offers a free junior golf program and permits members to take lessons from the club's instructors at no charge. That last move created turnover among the teaching pros, who viewed the cash from paid lessons as a perk of the job. But club officials say the gesture has helped get more mothers and children out on the course with their fathers. "The country club has to evolve and become like piazzas in Italy, the town square where families—and not just the men who are golfing—meet on weekends," says John G. Fornaro, one of the investors who bought Bella Collina last year. That's good advice, but it may be coming late to clubs where the wolf is already at the door.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Time to Shine!
The 2009 Hieronymus Cup Matches are here, below you will see the schedule of events and team members for the event being held at Jefferson City Country Club.
Schedule:
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Practice Round
Saturday, October 10th
AM- Four Ball Matches
PM- Alternate Shot Matches
Sunday, October 11th
Single Matches
| East Team - Jim Holtgrieve Team Captain | West Team - Ron Brewer Team Captain |
| Senior Point Members | Senior Point Members |
| Don Bliss | Steve Groom |
| Scott Thomas | Gerald Siemons |
| David Lucks | Rich Gleghorn |
| Bob Meeh | Andy Smith |
| Robert Trittler | Ron Eilers |
| Karl Elbrecht | Don Kuehn |
| Scott Edwards | Tom McHenry |
| Darrel Huisinga | Robert Martin |
| Ben Cantrell (Captains Pick) | B J Curry (Captains Pick) |
| Jim Holtgrieve | |
| Randy Bickel (Assistant Captain) | Jack Garvin (Assistant Captain) |
| Champion Point Members | Champion Point Members |
| Skip Berkmeyer | Brian Haskell |
| Darren Lundgren | Brad Nurski |
| Jeff Johnson | Scott Hovis |
| Tom Barry | Aaron Murphy |
| Ted Moloney | Dean Merrill |
| Bobby Godwin | Tyler Stalker |
| David Johnson | Harry Roberts |
| Brevin Giebler | Mark Korell |
| Paul Neeman (Captains Pick) | Wayne Fredrick (Captains Pick) |
| Buddy Allen (Captains Pick) | Travis Mitchell (Captains Pick) |
| | Antonio Serrano (Assistant Captain) |
In years passed 14 members were chosen to represent their region (2008 and prior). This year (2009) we have extended the number of members to 20 players per team. 20 players represent the East side of
The East Team won the matches in 2008 at Dalhouise Golf Club by the score of 15.5 to 12.5. The East leads 8 to 7 in the lifetime standings of these matches. It should be a fun weekend full of some great golf!!
Until I see you on the first tee!!
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