Waukewan Golf Club

News

 

Well folks, the conclusion of the 2024 golf season at Waukewan came in for a smooth landing during the second week of November. We were able to remain open for about two extra weeks due to mild temperatures and dry conditions that graced central New Hampshire. Ground temperatures remained a bit warm which prevented us from covering our greens due to continued growth of our turf. We at Waukewan want to thank you all for making 2024 another great year.

 
The region continues to be somewhat active as far as sales of golf courses in our area. A couple years ago now, Owl’s Nest purchased White Mountain and rebranded the club as Owl’s Nest Vinyard Course. To this date the Vinyard Course remains closed. During that same timeframe, Pheasant Ridge was purchased by local investors and was renamed The Ridge Country Club. This year Ridgewood was purchased by a local businessman and took on the name of Birch Hill Country Club. All indications are that Oak Hill has shuttered their doors for good, ending a long standing nine-hole course just a stone’s throw from us. With all these businesses changing hands, a common question was passed across our bow throughout the season which was “You’re not going anywhere, are you?” Our answer to that question is “No, we are staying right here.” We want to thank you all for asking that question and trusting our answer. Over the years, many rumors have been floated throughout the county that we were either selling or closing and gives us pause to have a good laugh in the clubhouse. With all that being said, we will continue to keep costs contained and make every effort to invest and provide value for our customers’ experiences at Waukewan. It remains to be seen at the Vinyard Course, but most courses have increased their prime weekend rates with cart as well as membership pricing upwards of thirty-five percent year over year. The end result is difficult to quantify where our new business is originating from, but we are experiencing a moderate increase in daily greens fees as well as a modest increase in annual memberships.
 
Staffing continues to remain stable, and we have actually experienced a bit of an uptick in applicants interested in seasonal labor at facilities like Waukewan. There have been quite a few mid-teens contacting us but our baseline for hires remains at 16 years of age due to federal child labor guidelines. We are hoping that these 14- and 15-year-olds do not lose interest and revisit us when they come of age. In addition, we have been successful in hiring labor that can remain on the job until we close the course in the fall, which takes some of the pressure off our full-time personnel to do more with less from Labor Day through the end of October.
 
This fall, we interviewed a candidate for our open Assistant Superintendent position. We have been searching for a strong candidate to add support for our Superintendent, Tom Noble. Our candidate had reached out to us after relocating to Gilford, NH and after discussions, offers, and counteroffers, we came to an agreement to have him join us beginning in March of 2025. He comes from a family farming background in Virginia, and over the past ten years, he has entered the golf industry while simultaneously offering time as a conservation specialist and farm planner. This move touches on our plan as stated last year to build upon the core of our grounds crew to enable us to further refine the golf course in season and look to perform upgrades to the course and equipment in the off season. As always, all Waukewan employees are the best in the business and are conscientious and caring when it comes to servicing our membership, their guests, and the public play that we receive.
 
In addition to expanding our grounds crew this fall, we also took delivery of a new Kubota excavator. We generally rented this type of equipment at the end of the year, but had monies left in the budget to make such a purchase. I have personally run the machine around the course performing some light work before exiting to Florida and am excited to have equipment like this at our disposal throughout the year moving forward. Like last year’s off season, we do have some plans to continue drainage work this winter/spring as much as the weather permits. We also signed an agreement with Toro to take delivery of a new aerator for our greens when available as our existing unit is becoming difficult to maintain as replacement parts are scarce. Again, we hope to continue to consider these types of purchases and improvements to provide you with better playing conditions and experiences year after year.
 
Every year our New England weather presents unique challenges for all our departments of the Club and this year was no exception. Can you believe the turnaround that we experienced in our weather year over year? The 2023 season was probably one of the wettest summers that we had experienced since taking over in 2014. The 2024 season was a 180 roundabout with dry conditions and long, long stretches without precipitation. Although dry is generally what we pray for at Waukewan, there were times that we were praying for some rain in order to relax for a day or two. Those days were few and far between. Again, the one thing that stood out to our members and the public at large was the season-long health and consistency of our greens. Tom has the education, experience, and local knowledge of our turf to keep them rolling no matter what mother nature brings year to year.
 
We are still firming up our Calendar of Events. Some tournament events have been booked, but some have not committed yet. To date, all known league dates and inside/outside tournament events have been posted to our website calendar. As we move through the winter months, and as more events are scheduled, we will post them on our website, so please remember to check our calendar on-line as additions and changes to scheduled events will be posted. We will also update our calendar and send that along with our springtime welcome letter to the members that have signed on by that mailing date.
 
We would like to again thank all our members who commit to join early. This is important to all of us at Waukewan as much of the course improvement, maintenance, and planning is done for the year to come in the off season. These early memberships provide us with the capability to follow through and complete many maintenance projects in the off season. As a reminder, if you do wish to join as a member for the 2025 season, please take note of the discounts available to you for early signup by January 17th and February 21st. After February 21st the discounts will no longer be available to you and pricing will revert to full list price for the remainder of the year. Full pricing for 2025 is substantially greater than our early season pricing. A couple of notes to be aware of before signing on for the 2025 season:
 

• Please take note of the mailing address at the top right of the membership form. To eliminate the errors that occur throughout mail forwarding, we are requesting that the form and payment be sent directly to our winter address.

• Like last year, twilight members playing before 1pm will be required to pay full rates less five dollars for the earlier tee time.

• Per Diem cart fees are remaining the same for the 2025 season, $17 for 9-holes/$23 for 18-holes.

 
If you choose to continue your membership over the coming years, we hope that you observe and enjoy the playing conditions and improvements that are being provided for you. As always, we are committed to making Waukewan Golf Club the best golfing experience possible! Have a Merry Christmas and a safe, Happy New Year to follow. Looking forward to seeing you all next year.

 
Yours Truly,
 
Tim and Jill and the entire Waukewan Staff