From the Pro Shop

by Eddie Moran, Professional

It’s getting a little bit cooler, and the days are getting shorter. However, we are keeping the schedule close to where it is for one more month. The first tee time will be at 7:00 on weekends and move back to 7:30 on weekdays.

We will continue the men’s packs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:30, and have the men’s and women’s packs at 8:30 on Saturdays. The men’s group on Saturdays will continue to be points vs. quota, with a $2 entry fee. We will also have an optional skins pot at $5 per person. You may pick your own foursome or we can pair you. Just let us know by 8:10 if you are going to play and if you have a foursome preference. The women’s group is also $2 to play, with optional $2 skins.

We will have the senior men’s group at 5:30 on Tuesdays through September 18, with the year end tournament on Saturday morning, September 20 at 8:30. After that the seniors will play at 2:00 on Tuesdays. The Thursday evening men’s group at 5:30 will go through September 25, with the year end outing on Saturday morning, October 11.

The Friday night couples will continue through October, but will move to 5:00 on September 26, staying there through the end of October. The cost of $22.50 per person includes 9-holes cart fees, dinner, and prizes.

GREENS AERIFICATION SEPTEMBER 9

We will aerify the greens on Tuesday, September 9, weather permitting. The course will be closed at least for the better part of the day, possibly opening up later in the day if everything goes well. We should be back on the regular schedule on Wednesday.

COUPLES NIGHT GOLF SEPTEMBER 12

This one you don’t want to miss. We will tee it up at 5:30 just like always, with 9 holes captain’s choice. We come in and eat dinner just like always. THEN it gets a little different. We will give you all lighted golf balls, lighted necklaces, and send you back out for 9 more holes, where only the tees and pins have lights on them. We highly recommend that you bring along a flashlight for navigation, but you cannot use it when hitting shots.

The cost of $35 per person includes 18 holes of golf, dinner, prizes, and all the stuff for golf at night. This is limited to 30 couples, so sign up early if you want to play in this. This is something you don’t want to miss. Just make sure you keep your sense of humor, because night golf is not the same as playing during the daylight.

IVY CUP SEPTEMBER 27 AND 28

We’re looking forward to this one. We will have two person teams, with a best ball format Saturday. Divisions will be men’s, senior men’s ( both players 55 or older.), and women’s. We will flight within the divisions after Saturday’s round, and play a two person captain’s choice Sunday. Tee times are available Saturday and Sunday will be an 8:30 shotgun start.

The entry fee of $80 per person ( $100 if not an Ivy member ) will include golf both days, lunch and refreshments both days, breakfast Sunday, and some very nice prizes for all the flights. Please sign up by Wednesday, September 24, and get your Saturday tee time.

HAT CREEK SENIORS MATCH SEPTEMBER 18 AND 24

We have a men’s senior match with Hat Creek scheduled for Thursday, September 18 at 9:00 at Hat Creek and at 9:00 Wednesday, September 24 here at Ivy Hill. The cost of $22 at each course includes golf and lunch, with breakfast at Ivy Hill. They will have about 20 seniors, so we will play on a first come – first served basis.

BOURTETOURT SENIORS MATCH OCTOBER 2 AND 7

We have our last senior match of the year with Bourtetourt Country Club on Thursday, October 2 at 9:00 AM at Bourtetourt and Tuesday, October 7 here at Ivy. The cost of $24 per person at each location includes golf and lunch with donuts and coffee at Bourtetourt and golf, breakfast, and lunch at Ivy. They usually get up to 30 players, so most of you that sign up should play in the match in this one.

Please sign up by September 29 so we can give them an accurate count for food.

WINTON INTERCLUB MATCH OCTOBER 18 AND 19

This one isn’t just for the senior men, but for everybody in the club age 16 and up. We will play them in a match play format with men’s and women’s division. Each day will follow with a nice

dinner, and we will have refreshments on the course. We can field a team on 40 men and 12 women. If we have more than that sign up, those that sign up first will have priority. We play at Ivy Hill on Saturday at 1:30 and at Winton Sunday at 1:30 also. Please sign up early so we can set the roster. The entry fee of $30 each day includes the cart, refreshments, and dinner. This is the first year in a while we have had a full interclub match, and I know all of you that play will have a great time. Plus I personally hope you will play in this so we can have a good competition with my previous club.

PERSONAL BESTS AND GREAT SHOTS

Some of you have probably noticed the board in the snack bar congratulating the great shots and personal bests. We plan to keep that up on a going basis, so let us know of any great eagles and personal best scores you have. Below are some that we know about from last month:

Bette Piccolo broke the magic 100 mark for the first time with a 99, and Barbara Ragland broke

90 for the first time with an 89. Other personal bests include Marty Giudice with a 72, Valerie Pascadlo with an 83, Sharon May with an 84, and Gayle Guthrie’s 90. And Gary Marple beat his age again with a 71.

There were also some great shots, including Linda Mason’s eagle 2 on #10, Eadie Moran’s hole in one on #15, and Roger Walker with an eagle 2 on #12, to go along with an eagle 3 on #6 in the same round in a senior match against Hanging Rock.

Congratulations to all of you on these golfing accomplishments.

Around the Green

by Bill Turley, Course Superintendent

We received three inches of rain last week and it came at a very critical time. A large portion of our grass has resumed growing and we have only noticed a few weak areas remaining. Mother Nature has seen fit to restore Ivy one more time!!!

September is a busy month in our department. We will aerify greens this month. We also plan to interseed a new variety of bentgrass during this process. Our greens are Pencross variety and this was a great strain twenty years ago. We hope to update with a modern cultivar with traits that will better serve our needs. We are looking for more color, heat tolerance and disease resistance on our putting surfaces. We will also be planting new grass on some of our tee boxes that are showing signs of damage from heat and heavy play. We always replant # 1, 2, 3, 10, 12, and 18. We will be overseeding many of our fairways this month with ryegrass. This will give us some green color in late fall and early spring before our Bermuda grass becomes dominant.

Fall is a great time to see Ivy at her best. We hope everyone will come out in the crisp mornings or evenings to see what Mother Nature has to offer. Take a few minutes to smell the cool fall air and take in all the beautiful scenery!!!!!

The Autumn Leaves are Falling

by Marcia Marple

Can you believe we are almost through the 2008 season? We have had a wonderful summer but there are still many events and activities to come. I hope all of you will make a special effort to participate.

The Mountain-River Matches have captured our interest in a big way. Ivy Ladies have really gotten involved with this format and, consequently, we are winning. According to Berenice Fedder, the organizer and inventor of the Mountain-River Matches, we have a substantial lead. To answer the question many of you have had about scoring at these matches, I called Berenice and got the official word. There are several flights at each match. The number of flights depends upon the number participating that day. At the Ivy Match there were 75 players—27 from Ivy—and 7 flights. In each flight points are awarded for gross and net starting with 5 points for the winners of the flight, 4 for second highest scores, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, and 1 for fifth. Ties also get the same number of points. If there are 3 people with the same lowest gross score, each one gets 5 points. Therefore, almost everyone in each flight gets points. Berenice said it is rare that someone doesn’t get any points. This is why it is so important that we have many players and why Ivy is leading. It is difficult to announce the points awarded on the day of the match, but hopefully a new email system will be in place next year to announce that as soon as possible. Any questions???

Speaking of the Mountain-River Matches, there are 3 left. Tuesday, September 9 there will be a match at Winton. Wednesday, October 1, there will be a match at Colonial Hills. The closing match and luncheon will be Thursday, October 16 at Boonsboro. Please pay special attention to the dates and changes we have made to our League calendar for the rest of the year.

You will notice that the Ivy Cup has been reinstituted on the club calendar. This is a 2-person team format and should be a lot of fun. It would be great if our Ladies League had a good showing. The first day is best ball format and the second is 2-person captain’s choice. Cost is $80 for members, $100 for non-members. Ask a partner now.

Also, we are extending play an extra week this year. October 15 & 16 will be regular play. Those who do not play the Mountain-River Matches can play at Ivy on the 16th.

A final word about our League Championship: Play! It will not be painful and even if you do not win your flight, you will be a winner for participating. On Saturday the whole League will play and we will have lunch afterwards. Everyone is invited to play.

Golf Committee Notes

by John Heslep

Sixty-five players participated in the 2008 Club Championship Tournament August 16 & 17. Following are the results of the competition:

Don't forget to sign up for the 2008 IVY CUP Tournament September 27 & 28.

                                  September 2008