From the Pro Shop

by Eddie Moran

Wow, was July a hot one. But it didn’t seem to cool everyone’s enthusiasm for golf, and we had great turnouts for our Red, White, and Blue on July 4 and our Member – Member a couple of weeks later. It has been a tough job, but Bill and Mike and the maintenance crew have kept the course in great shape considering the extreme heat and lack of rain. Even though the days are getting a little shorter, we are still in the summer, and will continue our summer schedule, with the first starting time at 7:30 weekdays and 7:00 weekends. We will mow the range on Thursday mornings…….if we get enough rain the get the grass to grow on the range again.

We will continue our weekly events as listed below:

Tuesdays at 5:30 PM – Senior Men’s League
Wednesday and Friday mornings at 8:30 – Senior Men’s Pack
Wednesday at 5:30 PM – Ladies
Thursday morning – 18-hole ladies at 8:30, 9-holers at 9:30
Thursday evenings at 5:30 – Men’s League
Friday evenings at 5:30 – Couples
Saturday Morning Packs – Men at 9:00, Women at 9:30
Sunday – Mixed Pack at 12:30

So we hope to see you out here a lot in August.

GREAT SHOTS

In June it seemed like all the great rounds were by the women, but the guys got back on the board for July. Chris Davis got a great shot in the July 4 Red, White, and Blue, holing out his tee shot from the red tees on the 143 yard 7th hole. Dave Dwyer didn’t quite get an ace on the hole, but wanted to make sure that John Mastroianni saw - in print - that he got a birdie 3 from the white tees on #7.

Mike Duncan picked a great time for his personal best, with a 70 in the match play tournament against Brownie May. ( Of course, Brownie thought it was a terrible time for Mike’s personal best. ) Sam and Judy Leslie both shot their personal bests, with identical 95’s. Coty Hudson broke 80 for the first time, in the Blue Ridge Junior Tour final round at London Downs , where she finished second to another young Ivy Hill lady, Victoria David-John. Hamp Brown also turned in his personal best with a 73, and Henry Wyatt shot a 76.

Congratulations to all of you on these accomplishments.

UPCOMING EVENTS

OCTOBER GOLF TRIP TO WINSTON - SALEM

We will go Friday, October 29 – Sunday October 31. We will stay at a just built Hampton Inn at Bermuda Run. The cost will be $210 per person for two nights lodging, breakfast, two days golf with cart, prizes both days, and tips at the courses. We will have a shotgun start at Salem Glen at 9:00 Saturday, and at Bryan park at 9:30 Sunday. We will also likely get tee times at Greensboro National on the way down on Friday.

Please sign up by September 1 if you plan to go.

JUNIOR CAMP AUGUST 9 – 11

We will host our last junior camp of the summer on Monday, August 9 through Wednesday, August 11. The cost is $75 for the general public, and $50 for Ivy members’ children and grandchildren. On Monday, we go from 9 – 11, 9 to 12:30 Tuesday, with a swim party and pizza, and 9 – 12:30 Wednesday, with a cookout at the end. To sign up, or for more details, check by the golf shop. ( We only had about 4 slots left as of press time. )

MEN’S HALL OF FAME AUGUST 14 – 15

The Men’s Hall of Fame will be held at Winton on Saturday, August 14 and at Falling River on Sunday, August 15. Each area Club will field a 10 man team, with up to 1 pro and at least two seniors on each team. The entry fee is $70 per person, and we will select the team based on handicap index. If you have a relatively low handicap and would like to represent Ivy Hill at this event, let us know in the golf shop.

WOMEN’S CVIGT AUGUST 13 – 15

The women will hold their Central Virginia Invitational Golf Tournament on Friday, August 13 through Sunday, August 15. They will play at Falling River Friday, Hat Creek Saturday, and finish up here at Ivy Hill on Sunday. We hope many of you ladies will play in this, as these are a lot of fun. We have forms in the shop if you want to sign up.

SENIOR MATCH WITH FALLING RIVER AUGUST 19 AND 24

The senior men will play at Falling River on Thursday, August 19, and then back here at Ivy on Tuesday, August 24. The fee of $23 at each facility covers cart, lunch, and morning refreshments.

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP AUGUST 28 – 29

We will hold our Club Championship Tournament here on Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29. This is a two day gross score event, flighted after Saturday. The entry fee of $25 plus cart fee will include refreshments both days and lunch after play on Sunday. We will have tee times on both front and back from 7:50 until 10:00 Saturday, and an 8:30 shotgun start Sunday.
We will have divisions for men, women, senior men ( 55 – 69 ), and super senior men ( 70 and over ).

Please sign up by Wednesday, August 25.

SENIOR MATCH WITH WINTON SEPTEMBER 1 AND 8

We have the home and away with Winton, here on Wednesday, September 1, and traveling to Winton Wednesday September 8. The entry fee of $25 at each course includes breakfast and lunch.

Also, so you can mark your calendar in advance, we will aerify the greens on Wednesday September 8. And we are planning a member event on Labor Day afternoon, Monday September 6. Details will be in the September Newsletter, and in the golf shop by mid-August.

OUTSIDE EVENTS IMPACTING PLAY

We have a couple of outside events in August that may impact some play. On Saturday morning, August 14 we have a Moose tournament that will likely tie up some tee times but probably not cancel the Saturday morning packs. On Saturday morning, August 21 we will have an outside event, this one sponsored by the Harley Owner’s Group, that again will likely impact some tee times but not shut the course down. And as always with outside events, if you want to play here give us a call, as we never know too far in advance exactly how many tee times will be impacted until closer to tournament time.

Around the Green

by Bill Turley

Our golf course is under extreme stress at this time. The 90 degree temperatures are causing our grasses to do things we do not like. The grass in the rough has gone dormant and will stay that way until we get a significant rain. We can’t irrigate the rough as our sprinklers won’t throw water that far. We are keeping our fairway grass somewhat green and healthy by irrigating every three days. We will continue to do this as long as we have water in our pond. We also applied a slow release fertilizer on all fairways and this is helping with the color too.

Our greens suffer the most during dry spells. We have to keep water on them to keep the grass alive. The temperature on # 9 green today topped out at 110 degrees after we had applied four rounds of cool off water. The ideal temperature on the putting surface should not exceed 85-90 degrees. All the water we have to apply causes black algae to form and discolor the grass. It is a vicious cycle and we need the weather to give us a break!!!!!!

Our tees are sand based and the temperature on them can get 120 degrees easily. We have gradually been converting our tees to Bermuda grass and this cultivar can stand these temperatures. Holes 10 and 12 are still ryegrass and have shown significant burning already. We hope to have all tees converted in the upcoming years.

Several of our summer interns will return to class this month. Garrett Hegler will return to Tech where he is a member of the Corp of Cadets. He has been a big help this year. Jacoby Lipscomb will return to Liberty where he is studying Biology. Ben Lively has applied to enter a program sponsored by VCU through CVCC. Ben would make a great golf course superintendent and we are encouraging him to look in that direction.

Please encourage the rains to come and the temperatures to moderate!!!!!!

Golf Committee Notes

by John Heslep

Below are the results of the 2010 Member-Member Tournament contested July 17th & 18th.

Don't forget to sign up for the 2010 Club Championship on August 28 - 29!

PLEASE KEEP THIS AS A REMINDER OF UPCOMING CLUB EVENTS

2010 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Ladies League

No news at this time.

August 2010

2010 MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

We are continuing the membership program that was so successful in 2009. The program targeting new members is very appealing. With a three year membership commitment, any new adult, couple, or family resident member can join with no initiation fee, and have their dues reduced by 50% the first year, 25% the second year, and pay their full membership on year three. ( This program does not apply to new non-resident members or student members, or Ivy Hill members as of March 1, 2008. ) After three years, we hope they will see that membership at our low prices is a great deal and remain a member. We need your help in selling this program! We hope you will encourage your friends of all ages to consider an Ivy Membership. Membership at Ivy is always a bargain, but now it is an exceptional bargain.

FREEZE ON MEMBERSHIP FEES

We are keeping the membership fees the same as in 2008 for all classifications of members!

ADVANCE PAYMENT FOR MEMBERS

This membership drive also has what may be a very nice benefit for existing members. With a three year advance payment, existing members may also take advantage of a 50% dues reduction for year 1, and a 25% reduction for year 2. In addition this advance payment becomes “inflation proof”, in that any potential dues increases that might occur over the next two years would not apply with the advance payment. The advance payment may be used in any membership category, including non-resident and student.

NEW MEMBERS HAVE APRIL 1 ANNIVERSARY DATE

All new members or members who drop out and then rejoin will have an April 1 anniversary date, which will be prorated if they join in the spring or summer.

ADD POPLAR FOREST MEMBERSHIP Several people took advantage of this option last year, and we are offering it again in 2010. You can add the full Poplar Forest membership to your Ivy membership for an additional $100. We hope all of you continue to enjoy your membership at Ivy Hill, and that you will encourage your friends to also consider making Ivy their home course.