Construction Photos

Terrific Kid

In an effort to promote golf and increase attendance in the junior golf clinics, Head Pro Mike Krick got involved with the “Terrific Kid” program. Each semester a few select children are chosen to be “Terrific Kids.” The children exemplify good attendance, great behavior, helpfulness and leadership in their classroom. They are recognized in a general assembly forum that consists of their peers, teachers and parents. Lee County Kiwanis Club sponsors the program and distributed bumper stickers. Mike gave a short speech, presented the honor students with a coupon for them and a parent to come to Trace and hit a bag of range balls. A PGA Golf Professional’s first responsibility is to promote their Club and the game of golf. Both were achieved at the J Glenn Edward assembly. Great Job Mike!

Ace Spotlight

2009 we will celebrate your hole in one on the “blog.” Before we recognize this year’s ace shooters, let’s review the ones that nailed one in 2008. Red Davis 1-15-08 Creek #10 – Terry Riddle 2-7-08 Lake #6 – Bill Inzerillo 3-9-08 Creek #10 – John Puklavetz 3-22-08 Lake #13 – Sheila Fox 4-22-08 Creek #7 – Bill Inzerillo 5-5-08 Creek #4 – Ralph Martin 5-21-08 Lake #15 – Bob Salasko 5-22-08 Creek #4 – Linda Decsi 6-4-08 Lake #8 – Joyce Gilliam 7-4-08 Creek #10 – Ted Breuer 7-20-08 Lake #15 – Jack Steer 8-22-08 Creek #7 – Bob Lake 9-20-08 Creek #16 – Ray Rahn 11-3-08 Lake #6 - Barry Markowitz 12-28-08 Creek #16. If we have missed anyone please let us know. First Ace of 2009 was by Donna Fancher on February 2, 2009. She nailed it on Lake #6 with a 3 hybrid. This was her first Hole in one. Nice shot! Dave Sandberg, possibly inspired by a chance to meet Paula Creamer, scored his first hole in one on Creek #7. The 6 iron never left the flag stick on February 10, 2009, so all that played in the group that day helped “Sandy” celebrate. Cheers!

Paula Creamer, Nancy Lopez, Dottie Pepper and Diane Conti

(click on the play button to watch the video)

Paula Creamer and Bridgestone Golf/Precept Golf presented an outstanding achievement award for unprecedented golf success with Precept golf balls to longtime member Diane Conti and a one-year's supply of Precept golf balls.

Conti has an amazing golf record. She started golf when she was 31 years old at the urging of her husband Ron who has been her only teacher. Over thirty plus years playing golf, Conti has scored 15 holes-in-one--all sanctioned by golf professionals and two or more witnesses. She has also won 2 club championships at Fox Bend Club in Illinois and 12 championships at CTCC. Conti is one of the most humble players and a true ambassador of the game. Remarkably, she has made these accomplishments with the aid of a prosthetic right leg she was fitted for when she was ten years old. Conti also met Nancy Lopez and Dottie Pepper at the PGA show in Orlando, Florida.

(Nancy Lopez and Diane Conti)

(Diane Conti and Dottie Pepper)

PGA Show Head Pro Recap

Mike’s Trip to the PGA Merchandise Show:

I thought the members would like an insight to my recent trip to Florida and the PGA Merchandise Show. The trip consisted of three goals, first and most important was to support Diane Conti’s wonderful achievement and recognition from Paula Creamer and Precept golf. Second, find an Assistant Golf Professional to join Brock and myself to better serve the membership. Lastly, to sit down with golf shop interior design companies to get their input on the best way to lay out your Pro Shop.

Day 1: This is the Demo Day; all the major golf companies are out in full force with the newest and greatest in equipment for 2009. Orange County Golf Club has an amazing driving range. It is a big full circle where the golfers hit into the middle. Each company set up with their tents and launch monitors to allow all the PGA members to test out what is new for 2009. My hot list and top five drivers based on performance and price are the following. Number one, Callaway’s Big Bertha Diablo, number two, Ping G-10, number three Cleveland’s ’09 Launcher, number four ( a little pricy) Callaway FT-9 and number five (also pricey) Ping Rapture. We will soon be scheduling all these companies to come to the Trace for Demo Days so you can try each of these products. Remember the members own the Pro Shop and I will be happy to match any price you find on new product somewhere else. It only makes sense to support you own shop. In addition, Masters champion Trevor Immelman, performed a clinic for Nike Golf. He demonstrated how to drive the ball straight and far and provided some great tips for improving your short game.

Day 2: The first day of the PGA show started with continuing education for me. My 8:00 class was a teaching class on how to improve your club head speed. The class provided ways outside of golf to teach you to swing the club faster and hit it longer. The speakers where from the Titleist Performance Institute and there specific goal is to combine fitness and golf. Great class very well attended. My 9:15 class was on Pro Shop renovation. This was taught by AGM (Association of Golf Shop Merchandisers) and provide many ideas and direction on how to create a lay out for the new Pro Shop. My 10:30 class was taught by Andrew Wood and was about how to bring more members to the club. Very interesting seminar, I learned how important our website is to prospective members. I was very proud to see that Sara O’Leary, our Marketing Director, is doing many of these programs now. During the show I took Sara to the booth of the speaker and soon new members will be knocking down the door to join your club. My last class was on Special Orders. This gave me some new ideas on how to efficiently order, track and turn over special orders in a quicker manner. This means better products and service to the members. I spent the remainder of the day visiting several PGM schools to drop off a job description and visited Pro Shop fixture and display companies. I interviewed three wonderful young men and hope to have someone working by the first week in March. The Pro Shop design and display companies where very helpful. I found three companies which gratefully will design the interior of the new Pro Shop at no cost. This is normally a charge of $3.00 to $4.00 per square foot. Since I have been home I have emailed them the blue prints and can’t wait to see their ideas.

Day 3: This day was all about Diane Conti. Close to 100 people gathered around the Precept booth to see Paula Creamer present her with an achievement award. Diane was recognized for all the holes in one she has made over the years. She plays with Precept golf balls. Several present and past Trace members made the trip to support Diane. This was a truly remarkable moment for Diane and Carolina Trace County Club. Diane, Sara O’Leary and I spent the rest of the day visiting different booths. We were very fortunate to see Nancy Lopez and get her autograph. The size of the PGA show is overwhelming, just ask those who visited. I hope this gives you an idea what happens at the PGA show. Please feel free to stop in and talk with me about the whole experience.

Clubhouse Groundbreaking!

About 80 local dignitaries, business leaders, and members gathered in the pouring rain under roof in the Marathon Bar for the groundbreaking of an approximately 30,000 square-foot grand clubhouse expected to be completed no later than December 1, 2009. CTCC President, Walt Hersman was the Master of Ceremonies. Additional speakers included, Sanford Mayor Cornelia Olive, Chairman of Lee County Commissioners, Richard Hayes, NC House Representative, Jimmy Love, Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce President, Bob Joyce, CTA President, Harry Undy and Fidelity Bank executives. Following their speeches, attendees met at the site of the clubhouse foundation to officially commemorate the groundbreaking. (Walt Hersman) (Richard Hayes) (Mayor Olive) (Bob Joyce) (Jimmy Love)