Hello everyone!
It’s been a long time since we’ve published a newsletter and now is the best time to get something out for you all to read. We’re already over winter and the team is looking ahead to the warmer spring weather. There is a laundry list of upgrades that have been made to the clubhouse, website, and our maintenance fleet to help provide unbeatable conditions for the upcoming season. We are also going to be home to a new PGA Professional for this season.
Our New Head of Instruction
We are excited to introduce our new Director of Instruction, Mike Slayton. Mike is a native of Vermont and a “Class A” PGA professional. He comes to Cedar Knoll after teaching golf at several Vermont golf courses, most recently Country Club of Vermont. Mike is a very accomplished player, winning several prestigious individual and team events in the VTPGA. He has a passion for teaching the game and most importantly, keeping it fun.
We will be adding Mike's list of programs and events in the coming weeks for all to see under the Instruction page on our website. He is currently working very hard to have everything detailed and ready to go for the 2021 season!
Welcome to The Knoll, Mike!
Newsletter/Website Upgrades
The 2021 season is seeing some major changes to the clubhouse and maintenance fleet; however, the website and newsletter hasn’t been forgotten. There are some important changes coming to the newsletter and website for usability and reduction of email clutter.
If you are reading this post you’re probably already subscribed to receive these newsletters which is awesome. It’s a great way for me to put a proverbial pen to paper and let everyone know what’s going on at the club. The only downside to how the newsletter operated last year was that it was too overwhelming for us to maintain weekly. This year the schedule will change to a more manageable system and allow us to not get burned out. I plan to release one of my longer form newsletters every two weeks with any tournament results being posted as they happen, no commentary will be provided, just results.
The next important function that we will be providing this year is a forum located right on the website. My hope with creating this forum is to provide a place for leagues and playing group's to coordinate their schedules and post results without having to send out a new email every week. If people would like to receive emails about new postings in particular sub-forums you absolutely can but by default you don’t receive notifications or emails. This will hopefully cut back on the amount of emails you receive and allow members to access the information when they feel like it. The forum is pretty easy to use but I can post a tutorial if it proves too hard to understand!
Clubhouse Upgrades
If you follow our Facebook page you have undoubtedly seen many of the upgrades that have been made inside. After 26 years of wallpaper Tom and Tim decided that we needed a fresh coat of paint for 2021. In cooperation with Mr. Roberge and the wonderful Jane Bissonette they got to work stripping wallpaper, mudding holes, and painstakingly painting every surface. Our wainscoting is now a deep grey to compliment the near white walls. To provide a pop of color the wall behind the bar was painted red with black subway tiles for a backsplash.
Our square tables are also a thing of the past now. Jane put her woodworking skills to work and took all four corners off of every table in the clubhouse. Our “new fleet” of round tables promises to make the space more functional and free-flowing.
In continuation of removing table edges, our banquet hall also received some new assets. The team felt that our rectangular tables really restricted comfort during banquets and events so the rectangular tables have been sold and replaced with some substantially sized round tables. The metal chairs of butt discomfort have also been told to hit the road and have been replaced with white, cushioned chairs. Here’s hoping that with vaccines on the way we can open up some more banquets and events this season, we’re very excited to use this new event setup!
One of the biggest changes that will improve your experience with us is our brand new Point of Sale system! This new system eliminates the handwritten tabs that have been used for many years behind the bar providing quicker checkout times. In addition to this functionality we can now provide online food ordering for both the turn and 18th tee. We’re hoping to reduce phone volume with this change by allowing seamless ordering and payment for food and bev ahead of time. We are toying with charge accounts too; however, the system is not a guarantee for this year.
Maintenance/Outside Upgrades
Our fleet of maintenance has been by our side for years. Earlier this morning I listened to an amusing conversation between Tom and Ruthie about how long we’ve had our orange roller. The first person to guess how many years our orange greens roller has been in service will get a beverage of their choice opening day courtesy of me (Hint: it’s definitely older than me). Our machines have been meticulously maintained and have lived a life of service many years over what they were originally designed to operate but it is time to put a few of the mowers to bed.
The maintenance fleet has added a new rough mower and fairway mower. With new technology these machines are guaranteed to provide a closer cut than ever before and keep the grass uniform all season long. Mr. Roberge is chomping at the bit to get the new rough mower out and mercilessly slaying grass and we can’t wait either.
One of the biggest changes we have made is adding an additional roller to our lineup. The old roller is still in great condition and we look forward to using it for many years to come but adding a new one will double our efficiency. The speed change will take rolling all 27 from nearly 6 hours to 3, making rolling a quicker process will allow us to do it more often and maintain more consistent speeds throughout the season.
As some of you may be aware our previous cart fleet is no longer with us. The team spent a significant amount of time shopping around and eventually settled on renewing with Yamaha and their fuel injected carts. We are excited to be providing a fleet with bag covers and our logo printed on the side. Fuel injected carts differ from our old carbureted carts as they no longer require a choke and take right off when you put your foot down.
We hope everyone is as excited for the season as the team is, hopefully you all find the upgrades we are making beneficial.
There will be more information about the forum posted on the forum itself which you can access by signing up for an account at the link https://www.cedarknollgolf.com/forum.
If you haven’t renewed your membership yet make sure you do so before the Early Bird deadline of March 1st.
As we get closer to the season I’ll release some information from the kitchen about our new menu so keep posted!
As aforementioned, Mike's lesson programs will be released very soon, there will be a newsletter containing a summary of programs released when the schedule is finalized. Some after-school junior programs will be running through the local Rec departments.
Thanks everyone,
Jordan Ayer