In regards to the MGA and WGA guest passes, please let me clarify when and how they can be used. These passes may be used Monday-Friday, with some holidays being excluded (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day). The member must accompany their guest(s). These passes cannot be used on weekends from October 1 through May 31. Exceptions MAY be made to the weekend policy during the months of June-September. In addition, if a wife is a WGA member, she cannot “transfer” any unused guest passes to her husband and vice versa.

There are some wonderful membership programs currently being offered to join La Paloma Country Club in all membership categories. As I have mentioned before, I cannot think of a better time to join our club. Initiation rates are at all-time lows, while service continues to improve, repairs and maintenance issues are being addressed, and capital dollars are flowing to the club at an unprecedented rate. La Paloma Country Club is currently comprised of 650 dues paying members. I quite often hear from members who are facing unforeseen issues or have a situation that doesn’t quite fit into the mode or intention of one of our current programs. These folks usually have ideas on how a tweak to their program would better suit their needs. We all live in a world quite different than a few years ago and we realize that the programs we offer need to constantly be evaluated. Please do not hesitate to come to Susan or myself with your thoughts regarding membership programs, but please realize that we cannot tailor a program to ideally fit everyone. I can assure you we will analyze any thoughts you may have and try to make the best decision regarding such ideas.

The retail discount for members in our golf shop for soft goods (apparel and gloves) is twenty percent off of the marked price. This discount does not apply to sale items. This member discount has historically been ten percent, with a couple of trial periods over the last year when it was changed to twenty percent. The decision has been made to keep the member discount at twenty percent at all times. We will continue to offer clubs at cost plus ten percent and will MATCH any competitors advertised price. Golf shoes and golf balls will be continue to be discounted ten percent. Please keep this in mind as you support our club.

We are expecting to take possession of a new beverage cart in the very near future, which will be used for special occasions and busy days to supplement the halfway house. The cart will not be out every day as we begin a new program to better serve our members and guests, while controlling costs at the same time. How will we do this? We have purchased 12-pack coolers that can be found at the halfway house. You may buy your favorite beverages in bulk, either before you play or at the turn. All like products will be sold at 6 for the price of 5. Due to this option, you can rest assured that you have a cold beverage with you at all times and will no longer  need to “hope” the beverage cart makes it to you when you most desperately need it. This will certainly offer more consistent service to our players, while saving on labor, wear and tear on the golf car, and reducing pace of play on busy days by fifteen plus minutes for your round. When utilizing a cooler, please let the staff at the halfway house know your cart number, so we can collect these coolers when you have completed play.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above issues, please feel free to contact me directly.

On another note and as I write this, my wife is excitedly preparing for hip replacement surgery. We cannot thank the membership and staff enough for their kind and supportive words, offers of assistance, and genuine care. After recently receiving yet another kind gesture, Lori simply stated to me that “we are so lucky to have met such wonderful people!” I can only follow that up by saying, “Amen!”

Have a great November enjoying each other’s friendship and all that La Paloma Country Club has to offer.

We are featuring the Golf Course Maintenance (GCM) Department in this month’s newsletter, specifically the management team. In total, the department has 32 associates, which includes the Landscape Department. This department falls under Golf Course Maintenance and will be featured separately in a future newsletter.

The GCM department is responsible for identifying and using best practices to ensure the highest quality and most consistent playing surfaces that Tucson's climate allows over the entire year. Here are some interesting facts regarding this most essential department.

• La Paloma Country Club uses an average of 585 acre-feet of water, or nearly 19 million gallons of water annually. Although this seems high, our turfgrasses will use approximately 67 inches worth of precipitation per year. Assuming an average of 12 inches of rain per year, there is a 55 inch difference that has to be made up by our irrigation system.  Each sprinkler supplies around one inch of precipitation per hour of run time.  This means each head will run on average 55 hours per year or around nine minutes each day.  Selecting how long each of our 3000+ heads will run per night, or if at all, is one our most difficult challenges. 
• We use an average of 60,000-75,000 pounds of seed each year for overseed. 
• We use an average of 60-75 tons of fertilizer each year with 40% coming from fully composted organic sources.   Our use of organic fertilizer has doubled since 2005.  We hope to achieve at least a 50% organic vs. synthetic ratio within two years.
• We are certified members of the Audubon Society, and have a certified environmental action plan through the E-par group, which is a European environmental firm. 
• Ecofriendly practices include our participation in the Audubon program, our E-par plan, our relatively high percentage of organic compound usage, and our adherence to an integrated pest management program which includes scouting and selecting the best procedure for targeting a pest, weed, or disease once our threshold of tolerance has been reached. 

Our biggest challenge would be weather.  Each and every turfgrass we grow is not native to Arizona, and special consideration to irrigation, fertility, mowing, and pest management has to occur multiple times per day in order to achieve consistent conditions.  Our number one priority is to provide a course that is both aesthetically pleasing and consistent, while keeping current weather patterns and needs of the player in mind.

Especially this year, we all owe the associates of this department a huge thank you for the efforts put into the Ridge greens renovation project. This project was bid out at $230,000 which was ultimately done in house for only $72,000. This would typically be a capital expenditure, but this was done by our Golf Course Maintenance crew within their operational budget. This accomplishment is the single most incredible accommplishment I have witnessed in my career.  Sacrifices were made in many areas, but essentially, the managers mentioned in the next article worked 90 plus hours a week during the summer to ensure the success of this critical project. Please say thank you to these fine associates the next time you see them and recognize how incredibly difficult a task they are faced with each day in order for our members and guests to enjoy our wonderful golf courses.

With summer projects completed, and overseed nearly finished, the fall season is here.  We are very pleased with the results of each, and we should be set up very well for the remainder of the year.  Our focus will shift towards detail work; landscaping, mistletoe removal, and a general clean-up that will enhance your playing experience. 

For this year’s overseed we have tried a few new things.  First, there has been a slight reduction in areas that were seeded.  This was done while thinking of both aesthetics and playability.  All areas that would be considered to have a high amount of play were seeded, all tees, fairways and approaches are considered high play areas.  Any areas we considered to have a relatively low amount of play were left dormant, these would include some areas in the rough that under normal play wouldn’t be likely to have a shot played from that location.  In any areas left dormant, pre-emergent herbicide has been applied to help keep these areas looking clean.  We will be aggressively maintaining that clean look throughout the season. 

Secondly, and most important, we will not be overseeding either the Ridge or Hill greens.  This decision was based on many different factors, the most important being playability.  There are number of prominent clubs in Scottsdale, Southern California, and the Gulf coast that have been very successful not overseeding greens.  By doing this, we feel we will be able to provide more consistent conditions regardless of what time of year it is.  In addition, we believe this decision will enable us to fully showcase both smooth and speed appropriate greens without the disruption and harm from the overseed process or the transition back to bermudagrass.