Happy Mothers Day Mom

In many ways I owe it all to her. My Mom grew up working the family farm in south eastern Colorado with her 3 siblings. Over 1000 acres between them and my grandfather, 7 days a week 365 days a year they worked hard and played hard. She became and art & pe teacher, a coach, a wife, a mother and an amazing home maker. No one I know worked as hard as she did. She never took a day off and she didn't blink an eye when challenge presented itself. She instilled in me the value of hard work and dedication. She pushed me to always be better in life and everything I chose to do. In 1996 I was a few years out of high school and a bit lost. It was March, I found myself out of work and spent the better part of the month watching every game of the NCAA tournament from the couch at my parents house. She was not thrilled to say the least. One morning she pickled up the Reno paper and went throughout the classified adds in attempt to get me off that couch. When she spotted a seasonal grounds maintenance position at Northgate Golf Club she insisted I call and apply. I did, I got the job and the rest is history. Without her love, support and constant pushing for me to be my best, I would not be where I am today, and I'm in a pretty good place.    
                                 
Thank you Mom for never giving up on me and for pushing me all those years. I couldn't have done it with out you!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful women in my life. Jill, Kristen, Mom, Grandma Karen, you all mean the world to me. Thank You!

Course Etiquette 101

As we enter prime golf season here at Claremont, I wanted to take the time to talk about course etiquette. My father always taught me to respect the course and leave it in better condition than I found it. Here are some ways we can improve member experience by doing so...

BUNKER MAINTENANCE

Unfortunately we see this way too often. The staff puts many hours of labor into these hazards (204 hours last week!) and the picture here shows the result of one of the first groups of the day.

Please remember these tips when playing from bunkers:

• Enter & Exit from low side
• Rake out area of play and all foot prints
• Be sure to PUSH the sand back to where you played from. DO NOT pull all the sand back to the edge of the bunker
• Leave rake inside bunker
• Please tap your shoes when finished

Please take a look at the attached video from the USGA on bunker etiquette:

BALL MARKS

Ball marks continue to be left un-repaired far to often. Each flag in the below picture is an un-repaired ball mark.

This picture was taken on a Saturday morning just a few weeks ago. Please see the USGA video on Ball Marks:

                                             SAND & SEED YOUR DIVOTS PLEASE

Sand and seed stations are located at tees on holes 1, 2, 6, 10, 13 & 16.

TRASH - Tees & Butts Drive me NUTS!

I've received numerous comments lately regarding trash left around the course. There are trash cans at every tee box. Please use them. I'm not sure when it became acceptable to leave tees and cigar / cigarette butts all about the course but its to be the new norm. These items are garbage and someone has to pick this stuff up.

I would prefer to have the greenkeeper staff work on making the course look and play the way we all expect it to. When basic golfer etiquette is not followed, it creates additional work load the staff and as we shift labor away from grooming and detail to clean up and repair. The regular readers of this BLOG are a good lot. You know and practice what is being preached in this post and others. Let's get the word out to all others. WE can do better.

Please leave the course better than you found it.

Thanks!