Willows Men's Club 2021 - Welcome Back To Golf!

Sunday 14-March 2021

 

Hi Golfers,

 

Sunshine this week, The Players Championship this weekend, the vaccine is going in arms, and we can see light at the end of the winter, the hit and splat golf season, and the pandemic tunnels we've been fumbling through this year.  I always say that winter golf in western Washington is like tip toeing on oatmeal and lately, it's been more like chocolate pudding. The good news is - it's March and it's time to post scores and establish 2021 handicaps!  

 

We have some new bunkers to play out of and they're nice!  There are many more in various states of completion and some new tee boxes as well.  Eagle's #7 will no longer be the 36th best tee box at Willows.  The trees have been thinned out to allow sun and the newly uncovered teeing ground has grass coming in nicely.  The 9th, 12th, and 13th tee boxes will also be new on Eagles this season and the back side of 14 green is completely cleared out, as are many areas around both courses. Kathy has moved to Arizona, but Andrew is now in her place, as the new head of food and beverage. Introduce yourself and welcome him, the next time you're on the patio. If you haven't been to the course in a while, you'll probably get a kick out of the new circle targets on the driving range. If you hit one square, it makes quite a sound.

 

Willows Run owner decided the men's club President should be an elected position, to better represent the membership, so an election was held and Brent Taylor has now been formally elected for a 2 year term - congratulations Brent!  Our friend and former board member, Bill Feeley also ran for the position, writing an excellent nominee statement and earning 23% of the vote.  We were impressed that 65% of the ballots sent out were submitted - very strong for the first election.  Nearly 25% of the membership wanted to see a change and the assumption is made, there are some concerns about our direction to be considered.  To that end, we will be sending out a survey to learn what we can about changes people might like to see this season, and going forward.  As always, please don't hesitate to send us questions, requests, ideas, or any volunteer with a heartbeat that wants to write the newsletter (yes Victor, we have a newsletter). 

 

The men's club e-mail is:   willowsmensclub@hotmail.com

 

Our club pages have many updates and are located here:  https://wmc.golfgenius.com/pages/6079807310782279608

 

We will change the annual kick off dinner meeting to a Welcome Back Zoom Meeting on March 25th - a separate e-mail will follow with the zoom link. 

 

The Welcome Back 4 Man Team event will be held on Saturday April 3rd on Coyote.  Sign-up details will also follow, via Golf Genius.   

 

The WMC 2021 Points Cup / Thursday League Night will kick-off April 8th (you guessed it - on a Thursday) 

 

Details on President's Cup Individual Match Play and 2 Man Team Match Play will be coming soon.  

 

Mark your calendars for these dates - in pencil for now:

 

  • Individual Match Play Qualifiers on April 17 and April 24
  • June Classic - June 19
  • July Two Man Partner Event - July 24  (most likely modified Chapman, as everyone seemed to enjoy it)
  • August 2-Day Club Championship - Aug 22 & 23

 

Also, keep an eye out for the sign-up page on Golf Genius, for The Suncadia 5th of July road trip - 36 holes on Rope Rider and Prospector.  We have 40 slots reserved and expect a full field.  We will send 20 players out on Prospector and 20 out on Rope Rider, beginning at 8AM and reverse the crews at 1:30, so we can get as many guys back to Swiftwater Winery to have a beer and relax after a long day. We were able to get a discounted fee of $164, including tax, cart, and range balls vs. retail rate of $229, as Rick is a member and they've reserved 10 groups with no contract or prepayment required.   This should be a great event!

 

Also of note - Dean Davison has asked me to invite anyone from WMC to participate in the annual Chambers Bay Solstice.  This is a charity event, benefiting The First Tee of Seattle, which several of our members enthusiastically support.  The event takes place on June 27th and is a dawn to dusk golf marathon over a grueling track for any single round of 18 holes, let alone as many holes as you can play - possibly 54 or more - yikes!  Event details and registration are here. Give a look and take a crew for all day golf at my favorite track in the state - sun up to sun down!  Bring Advil. 

 

Our friend and board member, Mike Zehr took a spill and tore his rotator cuff (on a golf course, of course) and will be out most of the season - hopefully no longer than late summer, rehab / PT depending.  We wish him a speedy recovery and suggest he change out his spikes more frequently!    

 

And that's what we know to be true and relevant.  Hope you and your family have been safe and productive during this very difficult pandemic. Our thanks again to Willows for serving the public and establishing best practices for the enjoyment of their customers - they've made a great effort and our membership has also behaved with patience and grace under stressful circumstances. Be well and we look forward to seeing you out there soon!

 

Thanks,  WMC