Annual Meeting Recap
Welcome to Copley Country Club's Annual Meeting.
We have had another busy year here at Copley Country Club. I’d like to go over some of the highlights of the season, starting with the course.
Work started last fall on major tree work. Trees were trimmed up and limbs taken down to make for better play. We thought the $5,000 investment would be the end of tree work for a while, but the wind storm in early spring brought down many trees and limbs and we had to spend another $8,000 to take care of the damage.
We added great looking new pins and red, white, and blue flags to indicate pin placement. Again this spring we had considerable skunk damage and had the misfortune to have a very dry stretch following the repair and seeding of those areas. Fortunately, the weather patterns changed as the season progressed and the rain came. In addition to saving us on water bills, it has left the course in the best condition I have ever seen it. To mitigate the same damage next year Brant fertilized the rough with an insecticide Acelepryn and sprayed all of the fairways with Imidacloprid insecticide which targets all grub species. Brant has been monitoring these areas and has found that it is working so we will continue with this plan for next year.
The Board conducted an assessment of the course to develop a plan for course improvements. This was spearheaded by Jeff Neagle, TJ Whyte and Dave Earley. Tees and bunkers were assessed. Jeff will present the findings of this report in a few minutes.
Our course has seen an uptick in play this year with 4508 paid greens fees through the end of August. This compares to 4396 from last year. When you consider the number of rainy days this summer this is great news. Memberships are also up with 204 voting members and 24 junior members. With Stowe Country Club moving to a 9 hole format next year we are expecting to see the number of memberships continue to rise.
We've had healthy participation in our leagues with 65 in the men’s league and 26 in the women’s. This year we initiated a tournament committee to help Brant plan and run the tournaments. Dave Earley, Tad Lamell, Jeff Neagle, Scott Rossi, Terry Francis, Cole Warner, and Tom Bjerke (I hope I got everyone) did a great job, even bringing the Paige Cup back. We hope the tournament participation continues to grow and the committee continues to lend their assistance next year. Between the women’s invitational and the men’s member guest tournaments we raised $1,000 for local flood victims.
Our junior golf program continues to thrive. It’s great to see the kids on the course. We had 45 young golfers participate this year. Our thanks goes out to Sheila Darrah, Tad Lamell, David McAllister, Leslie Rollins, Scott Rossi and Marie Spaulding who run this great program.
We held 18 events this year. Our hope is to increase this number to 25 events next year. To that end we will create a new section of our web site for events. Julie Parker is our events manager and has done a stellar job planning and executing beautiful events. We purchased chairs this year so we have seating for 100. Going forward, any event over 60 people will be held in the tent. The tent will not be up all season but go up on an as needed basis for specific events. We held trivia night on Tuesdays evening this year. We thought it would provide another opportunity to connect with the community and bring new non golfing people to the Veranda. It was good fun and we will evaluate whether to continue with trivia night next year.
All of our tournaments and events have been promoted through our marketing program through Foreup, the system we use for booking tee times. This program has enhanced our website and made it much easier to promote events through emails and social media. This in addition to advertising on WLVB and in the News and Citizen has increased visibility and increased business on the course and at the Veranda Bar and Grill.
Looking ahead on capital expenditures, we are looking to purchase a Buffalo Blower. It will be a big help with spring and fall clean up and reduce grass clippings. We also have to look toward getting a new greens mower. While Kent has gone an amazing job keeping our equipment in good running condition, bringing him on the grounds team has proven to be a smart move as it enables us to get longer life from all of our equipment, our current mower is from 2007 and is used every day. It has served us well. Industry lead times for equipment is 14 months so if we purchase one this winter, it will most likely not be available until 2025. The clubhouse needs painting work. This could cost us as much as $20,000. Over the winter we will look for bids and funding sources for this endeavor.
In closing, I need to shine a light those who work so hard to make Copley Country Club the great place it is. Brant Slayton our General Manager has done a stellar job. I can’t thank him enough for everything he does to keep this place running and looking great. His dedication to this club is immeasurable and it is my hope that everyone remembers to express to him their appreciation for his hard work.
Cindy Lamell is the glue that keeps the clubhouse running I don’t know what we would do without her. Julie and Jasmine are always there with efficient service and a smile. Dale, our chef has used his creativity to bring great food at reasonable prices to the Veranda with the help of Steve Sprague and Al McEdwards.
Our clubhouse staff, Jon, Skip, and Tom do a great job of greeting our guests and keeping play running smoothly. The grounds crew with Brooke, Jamie, Jim, Ty and Kent have made this course the beautiful venue that we all enjoy and can be proud of. I join the board in sincerely thanking all of these individuals for their hard work and commitment to making Copley Country Club so much more than just a beautiful and fun place to play golf.
And finally, I’d like to thank my fellow board members; TJ Whyte, Dave Mc Allister, Alyssa Barnes, Jeff Neagle, Dave Earley and a Susan Stephenson. This great group meet year around and work behind the scenes to ensure that our club operates smoothly and financially responsibly. It has been a pleasure to serve with them and I look forward to continuing to serve with them in the year ahead.
Karen Autorino, Chair
Copley Country Club
Other Updates Around The Course
Veranda Bar & Grill Closed for the Season
Course Closes Sunday, October 29th
2024 Memberships are available for purchase!
Holiday deals are coming soon, stay tuned and keep watching your email for amazing deals for 2024!