At the end of June, I took a small vacation/work to South Dakota to play some golf and do some fishing and then off to do some consult work in the Carolinas. On the flight down to the south I read up on some of the notes I had from previous visits and the one thing that jumped out at me was a survey that I used on all my visits taken by Golf Digest and then by the National Golf Foundation. The survey that was taken asked core golfers, golfers that played 24 rounds a year, and avid golfers, who played 25 or more rounds a year; these two groups of golfers are considered to be the group who makes golf go. They were asked to identify from a prepared list the drivers of their satisfaction with a round of golf. The number one answer was “well maintained greens and bunkers” (6.58 on a 7 point scale); number two was “well maintained fairways and tees” (6.28); number three was “people you play with” (6.14); number four was “playing well” (5.80); and number five was “pro shop communications” (4.73). The message here is clear and obvious that course conditions are paramount for a successful golf operation, and I will take that a step farther and say that course conditions are a large part of the success of a community such as SunBird Golf Resort. That being said, I would like to thank all of the SunBird Golf Resort community for their generosity for the green up donations to the golf course; 75 percent of all donations to green up the entrance and the views from the Clubhouse for the winter months are from the non- golfing community. This proves that residents of SunBird are proud of their community. We have raised close to $10,000 again this year. Well done, SunBird.
I also would like to thank the Roadrunners for their very generous donation of $600 that will add to their last year’s donation of $1000 to complete our purchase of top quality bunker rakes!
Greetings from the Pro Shop. Congratulations to the winners of the Fourth of July Scramble Tournament and thank you to all the players and helpers. These tournaments could not be a success without the support of the players and volunteers that it takes to put on the events. The golf course has a new tee sheet and POS system that we will be integrating into use over the summer and will no longer be affiliated with Golfnow. Along with the new software we will be having a new website. The web address will remain the same but the look and features will be different. It will have an online shop to buy gift cards and also be able to make tee times online. In the Pro Shop we have many sales going on so we can move some older merchandise and make room for the new items coming in for the next season. Our next tournament will be the Labor Day Scramble on Monday, September 7. As always, the tournament is open for all players to come out and have some fun. If you have some out of town guests coming in maybe you could sign up a team and enjoy the day.