Newsletter

March, 2008

A Warm Welcome to all!

Was Mother Nature teasing us the end of February? After the cold winter, it has been great to see some warmer temperatures. It's already getting active around the course and we can't wait to start playing. We're not trying to mimic the Democratic Party, but we are looking for CHANGE this year.

The business of golf is at an interesting point. There are many courses struggling financially, and last year is the second consecutive year that more courses closed than opened. In my opinion, time and money are big hurdles. If you want a lot of bang for your buck, purchase a family or couple membership. It gives you unlimited golf for a very small price. Take a day and bring your family out to the golf course. That would be quality time, without the interruption of cell phones, the internet, or television. Ask yourself how often you spend 5 hours or so with your family? Why can't we turn this around? There are many people who live in Pine Island just for that purpose, to have a healthy family lifestyle. Put it all together; family time, outdoors, exercise – some may call it priceless!

We're looking to make improvement to the course as well. We all know there is an endless list of things we would like to accomplish, but there are only so many dollars to do it. We want to keep the course "player friendly", as in keep the rough manageable (2" to 2½" long), and widen some fairways. That will be done. We want to work on bunkers and improving the health of the greens, but much of that will depend on finances. It would cost us over $24,000 just to purchase a new aerator. To put it simply, the more we can support our course, the better we can make it.

The good news though is that we are putting plans into place to get things moving. Mark your calendar for April 19^th. We are going to have a cleanup day in the morning, then a catered lunch, with a silent auction, live auction, and some fun games in the afternoon. The Board is has been putting in a lot of time to find ways to keep golf affordable, and keep improving PIGC. Please keep in mind that we are a co-op, which means we will ask for your help.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you at the course very soon!