The Maple Ridge Messenger 3-1-09
3/1/2009 12:00:00 AMTHE MAPLE RIDGE MESSENGER
The Official Newsletter of Maple Ridge Golf Club, Columbus, Ga.
MARCH 1, 2009 EDITION
WEDDING ACCOMPLISHED … GOLF SEASON HERE! Tom Kubik, G.M.
Thanks to all of the members who offered words of encouragement as our family prepared for our daughter’s wedding last Saturday. It is official, Travis and Holly are married and Tom is broke! I want to thank Shawn and our staff who did such a great job hosting the rehearsal dinner and catering the reception, Gail Benefield for the beautiful and delicious cakes, Susan Wiggins and Edward from the Bradley Museum for a beautiful setting, and Mike Lemieux and Alicia from Ray Rents for making everything run so smoothly. I would highly recommend any and all of them if you have the need for their services in the future. We have really seen an increase in our catering business as a result of the fine food that Shawn and Bill are preparing and the excellent service afforded by our wait staff … keep us in mind for any events in your future.
Now it’s time to turn our attention to golf. We will shift to our six-day tee time reservation policy starting this Sunday, March 1 for Saturday, March 7… Monday, March 2 for Sunday, March 8 and follow the same routine throughout Summer and Fall. Please follow the calendar closely to take advantage of the many member activities and plan to make tee times with our reciprocal courses when we are hosting outings.
Don’t forget to Spring forward on Saturday night, March 7 to be on time on Sunday, March 8. Thank you so much for your continuing support!
MARCH INTO MAPLE RIDGE TOURNAMENTS! Mike Gill, Director of Golf
MAPLE RIDGE TOURNAMENTS START IN MARCH!
MGA’s 1st points event March 21st --Dogfight points – If you are a new member and have not participated in the MGA, now’s the time to start. The MGA has three 3-month sessions with the first session starting in March.
Member –Member: March 28 & 29, 2-person teams. Saturday -- 2-man best ball; Sunday -- 2-man Scramble. Team Party – Thursday night March 26; Saturday night Social.
THIS IS WHAT MAPLE RIDGE IS ALL ABOUT!
Junior Girls Classic -- The annual Maple Ridge Junior Girls Classic will be held on April 18th with 15 of the state’s top high school girls teams attending this year. John Drew again will be the organizer with Northside High being the host team. John moved in 2008 from the Columbus High Girls team to coach the Northside Boys team; however he still wants to head the girls tournament.
The Maple Ridge LGA will be selling $10 raffle tickets to help fund the tournament. The raffle tickets will be drawn for door prizes as well as the winning ticket receiving a YEAR’S FREE DUES. Please help out the tournament by seeking out an LGA member and purchasing a ticket.
Hole Sponsors are being solicited for $50 – If you wish to help out please call or email Mike Gill @ mgill@wcbradley.com or 706-569-0966. The LGA will be calling on volunteers to help out as they have in the past. Let the golf shop know if you are interested in volunteering.
IF YOU’VE NEVER BEEN INVOLVED IN THIS EVENT, MARK YOUR CALENDAR – IT’LL MAKE YOU PROUD TO BE A MAPLE RIDGE MEMBER…….
THE VIEW FROM THE GRILLE Shawn Robinson, Dir. of Food & Beverage
Hello, from the back of the house! We have had a busy month with a wedding for 250 at the W.C. Bradley Museum downtown and numerous parties and rehearsal dinners, not to mention the banquets for the Columbus High School golf team. I want everybody to give us a look before you go anywhere for your catered affairs. No one can beat our prices or our talents!
Come stick your head in the kitchen and tell me what you want. We will satisfy your taste buds one way or another. For example, we have a Wild Game Night coming up Thursday, March 5. Some of the game we are planning to have are gator, deer, wild boar, bear and who knows what else?
So don’t forget – here at Maple Ridge, we can do what the big caterers do for less!
“HIT THE PIN, TAP IT IN, WIN-WIN!” Rick Jacobson, Dir. of Sales & Marketing
You’ll hear about it on Rock 103 and Sunny 100. You’ll see it on “Rolling Impressions” mobile billboards and NBC-38 TV commercials. You’ll read about it in the Ledger-Enquirer and The Bayonet. You’ll find out about it at http://www.golfmapleridge.com/ and on Money Mailer coupons. It’s our 2009 membership drive “Hit the Pin, Tap it In, Win-Win!”
What does it mean? When new members join Maple Ridge, they pay an initiation fee and their first month’s dues. In addition to several new-member gifts, they’ll choose up to four “gimme’s” from among 1) A free month’s dues; 2) A free month’s cart fees; 3) Three lessons from Mike or Gene; 4) eight pre-paid guest rounds; 5) $100 Golf Shop credit; 6) $100 Food & Beverage Credit at the Grille. Each of these six “gimme’s” is worth $100 - $200.
Beating the punch to the start of the campaign are Jeff and Kyung Su Johnston and family, who took advantage of the finals days of winter discounts to join in February. Jeff is the owner-operator of Ranger Cab of Harris County. Based on our meetings to get him signed up and oriented to Maple Ridge, I can’t imagine him playing more than a hole or two without the cell phone ringing as he helps soldiers square away their rides to and from Ft. Benning! Son Peter turns 18 and daughter Naomi, 10, in the Johnstons’ first month as members here.
A quick note that talks are underway to firm up our hosting partners for the 2nd Annual Chattahoochee Valley Amateur August 15-16. Watch for plenty of details in coming weeks.
As you shiver through the remnants of the weekend snow and cold, here’s an amazing Maple Ridge member accomplishment: Nan Truesdell, 2009 president of the Ladies Golf Association, has eagled our par-5 #18 three rounds in a row! First, she holed out from 90 yards. Next she chipped in from the right-hand mounds fronting the green. She made her third more easily and conventionally, reaching the green in two and nailing a six-foot putt. We wonder how many members here have ever eagled #18, let alone three straight times?
LET’S TALK TURF Doug Smith, Certified Golf Course Superintendent
March is in like a lion … or a Siberian tiger considering the four to six inches of snow that just fell on the ground! “S’now” is time for a few basic irrigation maintenance procedures to help us prepare for the growing season that is on our doorstep already. The most important of our pre-season procedures is tuning up and testing our irrigation pump station that is capable of pumping 1100 gallons per minute. This procedure consists of breaking down and cleaning the main control valve, checking the wiring, testing the computer control panel, fine tuning the pressure regulators, and running the pumps.
After the pump station is up to snuff we begin testing the 600+ sprinklers throughout the golf course. During this test each station is run manually through our two way radios with a specially programmed keypad that allows us to enter a code that is sent to the irrigation satellite controllers and then relayed to a specific two- or three-head sprinkler station. With numerous codes available the operator is able to choose a particular station and run it for any length of time needed to make a visual confirmation that everything is working properly. And since we rarely live in a perfect world, a list is created to make a record of problems that need to be corrected so we can continue to make Maple Ridge the best it can be.