Port Royal Golf & Racquet Club June '24 Around the Clubhouse

A R O U N D T H E C L U B H O U S E

New Members

NEWMEMBERS:

Michael and Shari May joined as non-resident sports members of the club. Their primary residence is right outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Mitchell and Amy Paul also joined the club as resident golf members. They live off the 16th green, 17th tee of Robber’s Row.

Jim & Lindsay Bonaventura joined the club at the beginning of May. They are Resident Sports Family members. They live in the Leamington community of Palmetto Dunes.

PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE

Written by Jim Walker

Just a reminder that Port Royal Golf & Racquet Club offers sanctioned group play to its golf and tennis members Sanctioned group play affords the benefit of pre-reserved times for its members, thereby avoiding the need to scramble to reserve times for groups that play together regularly Sanctioned groups can also develop a great sense of camaraderie and friendship among their members.

Golf:

Recently, the current Golf Sanction-Group Policies were posted on the PRPC website: https://hiltonheadgolf.net/ filelib/FileCabinet/Members Handbook/2024 Sanction Group P olicy pdf In broad terms, to be sanctioned, a golf group must have at least 12 members, regularly use between 3 and 5 tee time slots, and MUST be open to any member who wants to play in it. Tee times that will go unused must be released back to the pro shop at least 48 hours in advance to free them up for other members to use Sanctioned status can be revoked if fewer than three tee times are used on a regular basis, unused times are not released in advance, or if the group excludes any member in good standing.

There are currently several sanctioned golf groups, and you are encouraged to reach out to the main contact of any group in which you’d like to try playing There is never any obligation to continue with a group, and your participation can be as spotty as needed.

Men’s Groups and Main Contacts:

Member Tee (9:32 am Mon, Wed, and Sat) – Jim Stauffer: jastauffer1@gmail com

Early Birds (7:24 am Tues, Thurs, and Sat) – Landon Gates: jlandongates@gmail.com

Email Group (7:56 am Mon, Wed, Fri) – Bill Taylor: wrtdbc@aol com

Women’s Groups and Main Contacts:

Ladies Open Golf (8:44 am Mondays - 9 or 18 holes) – Liz Bailey: bbts321@gmail.com

Ladies 18 Hole (8:52 am Tuesdays) – Gay Halleman: vghalleman@gmail com

Ladies 9 Hole (8:44 am Thursdays) – Karen Simpson: kssimpson4@icloud com

PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE

Written by Jim Walker

Tennis:

Sanctioning for tennis groups is new as of 2024 and continues to be a work in progress Although originally envisioned as making multiple courts available for member groups to book as much as 6 weeks in advance, currently only one sanctioned court is being allocated on a first-come, first-served (no pun intended) basis

To reserve a “sanctioned-group court,” send an email to Dale Brown at dbrown@heritagegolfgroup.com. Note that to be considered a sanctioned group, ALL participants must be members of the club In addition, if you become aware that the reservation will not be used, it MUST be released back at least 2 days in advance Due to the limited court resources, a $42 penalty can be assessed to the organizer’s account if the court goes unused and is not released back to the pro shop

FUN

Written

Happy Summer!

Thursday, June 13, is our Nine and Dine event Play nine holes of golf and then join us for dinner in the Members Room Registration is in the pro shop, and your $25 (golf members) fee includes nine holes of golf, your cart, and dinner. Non-golf members pay $35. If you are a new member of the club, we will be happy to pair you up with another golfing couple, so please don’t hesitate to sign up. The event begins at 4 PM and is a shotgun start.

On Monday, June 24, we will hold a Mexican FIESTA on our porch This is our big summer event this year. Come enjoy music and dancing to the great Latin band Pachanga. Our fabulous menu includes a build-your-own taco and nacho bar featuring chicken, ground beef, and shrimp, and includes both corn and flour tortillas In addition, we will have enchiladas, Spanish rice, refried beans, and Mexican corn, and it won’t be a fiesta without churros! There is something on the menu for everyone It might be hot out on the porch, but cool off with $5 margaritas! Only $35 per person.

RSVP HERE

Mark your July calendars now for our mid-summer event PICNIC IN JULY. Join us for an oldfashioned summer picnic on Monday, July 15, featuring hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, and chicken with all the fixings We will have live music by Marc Anthony This event will be outdoors on the porch, and we will have lawn games to keep it fun. It might be hot, but the beer will be cold $25 per person

RSVP HERE

TRIVIA NIGHT

GOLFREPORT

Written by Bud Henry

As noted in last month’s report, the Bermuda grass is growing and most of our fairways are lush There are a few areas where we are still experiencing tight lies, but with more rain and sun those will hopefully be gone soon.

All greens have been aerated and sanded and hopefully will heal quickly, getting back to appropriate speed. The next round of aeration, which will include tees and fairways, will occur in mid-July. Some tee leveling has occurred, with more planned during the next aeration process Tree trimming and other improvements are planned subject of course to weather, time, and money constraints Big thanks to Ernie Marsico for organizing, communicating and executing the divot-filling parties that were performed during the aeration of our two courses!

The Ladies Golf Committee is up and running, already having a couple of monthly meetings Officers have been appointed and the Ladies Chair is attending the Men’s Committee Meeting to hear from and provide input to the Professional and Grounds keeping staff, eliminating the need for them to attend two meetings. Also, I will be attending the Ladies Committee meeting to assist and advise as necessary. The Ladies Committee has also created a Ladies Handicap Committee which I think is important for the club as noted in the next paragraph The USGA suggests (perhaps requires) each club to have a Handicap committee led by club members with a Professional staff member attending in an advisory role We have been without a Handicap Committee for some time, and the newly formed Ladies Handicap Committee is an important step to ensure we are compliant with the USGA and the GHIN system

As this committee forms its charter, action items, and learnings from our Pro Staff relative to reports and data that can be pulled from the GHIN system, we look to expand to the men ’ s membership as well More on this subject will be provided in future letters If you would like to learn more about what the USGA says about the handicap committee’s role, the below link should get you to their website:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/handicapping/world-handicap-system/topics/ handicap-committee-responsibilities html

Here is to hoping you see only Fairways and Greens!

LADIES GOLF COMMITTEE

Written by Linda Gorski

May was an incredibly busy month for all golfers at Port Royal Golf and Racquet Club including the ladies! I have much news to pass along!

As most of you know, the Ladies Golf Committee (LGC) was formed just three months ago to represent and give a voice to all lady golfers at Port Royal. To that end, LGC committee member Rhonda Heuple and our club pro Jay Rusch developed a survey that was emailed out on May 1 to all lady golfers at Port Royal The results were due back on May 15, and we were pleasantly surprised to receive 57 surveys back that’s more than half of the 96 lady golfers at Port Royal! If you ’ ve ever run a survey before, you know what a remarkable return that is!

Shortly, we will be sending out the compiled survey results to every lady golfer at Port Royal Below are some of the main points highlighted by responses:

Allow all lady golfers to walk in all sanctioned groups.

Establish better communication among all lady golfers and the sanctioned groups

Allow 9-holers to play the back 9 of each course instead of always playing the front 9

Sponsor more tournaments for lady golfers, including exchanges with other local clubs.

Implement a Handicap Subcommittee to oversee GHIN requirements and track handicaps

Once the survey results were in, we listened to you and have already started implementing some of the changes suggested in the survey

A whopping 98% of all respondents voted to move registration for the Monday Ladies Open Golf to TeamReach! We have already implemented this change As of May 24, all of you should have received an email from me giving you directions on how to get the TeamReach app If you did not get the email or cannot access the app, please email me, and I’ll point you in the right direction at lindagorski@cs.com. You can now register for the June Monday Ladies Open Golf events on TeamReach, and you can even see who else is playing that day with the click of a button!

Due to a demand for more transparency and compliance with GHIN handicap requirements, we now have a working Handicap Subcommittee of the LGC! Thanks to members Amy Giglio, Joan Hazel, Maureen Korzik, and Phyllis Wibby for volunteering to tackle this extremely important task

68% of the respondents pointed out that communication within the ladies’ golf community at Port Royal needs to be improved The leaders of all sanctioned groups have started working on this important issue. To that end, you should be and will be receiving frequent emails from me with important updates on ladies' golf at Port Royal, course conditions, events, and other items of interest

LADIES GOLF COMMITTEE

Written by Linda Gorski

Finally, by the time you read this newsletter, the May 31st Wonder Woman’s Day tournament will be in the books! Our next WWD is scheduled for August 16 Please mark your calendars now for this fun event that is open to all lady golfers at Port Royal. More details to follow!

If you have any questions about ladies' golf at Port Royal, please email me at lindagorski@cscom or text me at 713-557-1496.

18 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Gay Halleman

Another fun-filled Member/Guest event took place on May 6th! Thank you, Liz, Sophie, Carol and Cathy Following are pictures of the festivities

Left to right, Leanne, Linda, Mary, Cathy, Gay, Andi, Sophie, and Caren

Carol, Tricia, Donna, Marianne, Tamara and Anne

Polly, Heather, Pam and Liz

Kirby, Cheryl, Amy, Jane and Maureen

Rhonda, Karen, Diane, Debbie, Karen, Lisa, Amanda and Linda

Debbie, Lisa, Karen and Diane

18 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Gay Halleman

Pam and Heather

Kirby and Carroll

Maureen and Jane

Marianne and Tamara

Liz and Dawn

Kirby, Carroll, Linda and Amanda

18 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Gay Halleman

Carol and Anne

Leanne and Linda

Polly and Kat

Sophie and Andi

Caren and Gay

Lisa and Diane

18 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Gay Halleman

Karen and Debbie

Eileen and Jolanta

Linda and Amanda

Amy and Cheryl

9 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Karen Simpson

You play the course, not the players on the course.

On May 1 we had our first day of our low gross tournament. The 20 ladies play results will be shared on December 5 at our end-of-year award luncheon. We had to do a quick vote change for eligibility (Mother Nature made it impossible for us to meet the criteria that was in place )A huge thank you goes out to a fabulous group of ladies that worked well together

May 8. We had a fun, delicious couples night at the beach house. We even had party crashers, a lovely couple thought it was Farm dinner night and realized after walking in with their homemade biscuits that they had a week off We welcomed them to stay and have dinner with us. Can you guess who the couple was?

Everyone sang happy birthday to John and me and they even surprised us with a double chocolate layer cake

9 HOLE LADIES GOLF

Written by Karen Simpson

On May 9 it was a gorgeous morning and we had brought a friend day to play. I was able to get Terri Johnson to play with us She claims she had a great time and I hope she plays with us again soon May 17 was throw out 2 holes picked by the pro shop Holes 4 & 7 were picked after adjusted handicaps, we had 9 players with scores in their 20s and there was a tie for first place @23 by Julie Delaurence and Tess Hegedus Second place went to Jackie Darling with a 24 On May 23 we played a Red, White & Blue game in honor of Memorial Day. There was a tie for first place with a score of 61 Going back 2 holes for the tiebreaker was the team of ❤

Congratulations ladies!

Mary Ellen Pilkington

Rhonda Heuple

Cherie Bailey

Julie Delaurence

2nd place:

Doree Cook

Sue Walker

Nancy Sheahan

Karen Simpson

MEN'SGOLF

Written by John Strasburger

May 8th Super Men’s Day (SMD)

1st place Honors (pictured left to right)

Colby Suchy, Guy Suchy, Don Muehlberger, Carl Nelson, and Ed Weinlein

May’s SMD format was a basic scramble on the front 9 with 2 better balls (net) on the back 9. Players were held to a minimum of one drive and a maximum of 8 drives per 18 holes. It was great to have Don Muehlberger back in the field competing again It did not take Don long to get back into his winning ways this team powered and finessed their way to score an 18 under par (90)

By the way, Colby is a great caddy. Not only can he sniff out a birdie, but as a forecaddy, he is known to run ahead and move errant tee shots from the woods back into the fairway (I have already booked Colby to be my caddy for our next major).

SMD Closest to the Pin winner:

Chuck Wibby 6’ 0 “ , Robbers Row #8

MEN’SGOLF

Written by John Strasburger

Hole-In-One Club

Question, what do Bud Henry and Charlie Leadingham have in common with Frank Vetrano, Chuck Wibby and Marty Schuppert?

You guessed it They all have had a Hole-In-One this year Amazingly, we went 17 months without a Hole-in One and now we have had 5 through the first five months of 2024 Bud scored his ace during our May SMD on Robbers Row # 4 Charlie Leadingham’s Hole-In-One was with the Email group on Barony #6

Congrats to Bud for his first hole-in-one and to Charlie for his second ace

There is some good and bad getting a hole-in-one on Super Men’s Day It is good to have 40 of your golf buddies present to celebrate this achievement with you, however, the bad is celebrating with 40 thirsty golf buddies on your own bar tab

Victor Hovland & John McMullen Win the PGA Sweeps

Combining for an 11 under par third-round score at Valhalla and Port Royal Golf Clubs, PGA Tour

Professional Victor Hovland and Port Royal Member John McMullen ran away with the sweeps competition Payout: Hovland ($1 26M), McMullen ($30)

John

Interclub Celebration Cookout

A good time was had by all at the 2023/2024 Men’s Interclub celebration cookout Our team finished 4th out of a very competitive field of 11 Low-country teams

Interclub Captain Carl Nelson awarded the newly established Paul Heller MVP award to co-winners

Ed Harbauer and Jim Stauffer Ed and Jim were our leading average point scorers per match this past season

Victor

MEN’SGOLF

Written by John Strasburger

Interclub Captain, Carl Nelson, awarded the newly established Paul Heller MVP award to c m Stauffer Ed and Jim were our leading average point scorers per match t

John Garnett, Jack Schrader & Don Muehlberger –now there is a formidable threesome!

NEXT UP:

-Super Seniors: Mon/Wed, June 3rd & 5th

-Super Men’s Day: Wednesday June 12th

-US Open Sweeps: Saturday, June 15th

-Nightmare Nine: Friday, June 21st

RACQUET'S UP!

Written by Angelo Verde

The warmer temperatures are here, so I’ve included a few hydration tips for summer play that I researched with Google AI:

Before play: Drink 16-20 oz of water or an electrolyte-enhanced sports drink two hours before playing

During play: Drink 4-8 ounces of water or an electrolyte-enhanced carbohydrate fluid every time you change over If you are sweating heavily, drink 8-16 ounces

After play: Consider using a low-sugar sports drink to help you recover and provide lasting energy. Continue to drink fluids throughout the day. For play in 90-degree-plus weather, applying cold towels to your forehead and neck area is most helpful.

As a reminder, with the weather becoming warmer, court time will be at a premium during the early morning hours Most days, there is group play, clinics, and lessons all happening between 8 AM and 1 PM

Congratulations to the Port Royal Beach Bums 3 5 USTA tennis team on being selected to the USTA state championship tournament as a wild card entry! The matches were held at Hilton Head Plantation Spring Lake courts and Sea Pines Racquet Club in Harbour Town. The team is captained by Larry Fleming and consists of 7 PR Club members and 4 non-members. The rain caused issues with completing the tournament on time, and a compressed format of one 8-game pro set with no-ad scoring did not work in the Port Royal team's favor The team played hard, and all members said the experience was memorable

Also, congratulations to Port Royal’s 70 and older 3 5 USTA team that were undefeated in their regular season Division Club members Jamie Patterson and Jim Stauffer played on this team that went to the State Championships and placed in a four way tie for second place.

Court Maintenance

Outstanding items on the list include the rehab of tennis benches and roofs where necessary, and repair of the water fountain near court 5 that was hit by a maintenance vehicle. If you see an issue that needs to be addressed, please inform Dale Brown

Member/Member Tournament Update and Other Committee News:

New date: June 28-29

Tournament play: Scheduled for Saturday, June 28th, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Friday night social: For players, there will be a taco bar with margaritas at 6:00 PM

Cost: $35 per player, which includes a small player’s gift Hope to see you there!

The Wimbledon event previously scheduled for July 12 has been canceled due to the announcement of the new Member/Member date.

The Monday afternoon round robin has been dropped due to lack of participation, but Wednesday afternoon 3-5 PM will still be offered.

Please use the recycle container outside the pro shop near court #1.

Key Dates for 2024:

June 28-29: Member/Member Tournament (Pickleball and Tennis) - Taco bar courtside

Friday evening - play Saturday

October 18-19: Member/Guest Tournament

November 13: Closing Dinner – Beach House.

Dale’s Corner

The next time you play and think, “My forehand was awful” or “My backhand wasn’t working,” ask yourself: “Was your backhand bad, or were you not moving your feet to put yourself in a good hitting position?” Many times, not being in the right place is much more the root cause of our problems

DON’T LET YOUR FEET PROBLEM BECOME A SWING PROBLEM!

Don’t forget to sign yourself and visiting guests up for Dale’s weekly clinics and round-robin play. Check the site and the pro shop for dates and times.

Follow Dale on Instagram and Facebook @tenniswithdale

The warm temperatures have returned! Remember to dress appropriately for summer play. Lather on the sunscreen, bring plenty of hydration drinks, add a cool towel and rosin bag to your tennis bag, and stretch and warm up properly As always, we hope your racquet play is improving, your member experience is at a high level, and you are enjoying your time with friends and/or competitive play!

Above all, HAVE FUN!

MANONTHESTREET

Ernie Marsico

Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and grew up in a small town, Acmetonia, PA northeast of Pittsburgh.

In what year did you move to Hilton Head Island? I lived part-time on Hilton Head Island starting in 2001 and moved here full-time in 2012

What is your favorite car? I have owned a Mercedes Benz since 1984 - my favorite one was a SL500 black convertible

What is your most unusual talent? Doing a whale call in my swimming pool

Who is your favorite athlete and why? My favorite athlete is Gary Player. I was fortunate to play 18 holes of golf with him and had dinner afterward He is a great person and a real gentleman

What is your favorite spot in the United States? My favorite spot is Hilton Head Islandgreat beach and golf and the first time I visited the Island was in 1977

What is your favorite restaurant? Nunzio for Italian and Skull Creek Dockside for seafood.

What is the title of your autobiography? “The Yellow Road” - How I got into the banana importing business for forty-seven years.

What is your five minutes of perfect happiness? Sitting on the beach, beer in hand, with my wife Patty

HERITAGEEMPLOYEE’SOFTHEMONTH

January Employee of the Month - Assistant Golf Professional, Connor Cabral. Connor has been employed at Port Royal since September of 2022 and has been a tremendous asset His passion for golf along with a strong focus on member service is evident when working with him. We are thrilled to have him on our team

February Employee of the Month - Golf Course Maintenance

Operator, Kenny Grant Jr Kenny has been employed at Port Royal for approximately 7 years Kenny Jr always comes to work with a great attitude and is willing to help in any way he can He’s a great team player and an excellent operator!

March Employee of the Month - Sous Chef, Reggie Williams Reggie has been employed at Port Royal since September 2023 and made a huge impact in our kitchen. Reggie is always smiling and a great team player, not to mention, one heck of a chef!

April Employee of the Month – Food and Beverage Server, Sheila Polite. Sheila has been serving members and guests for over 20 years at Port Royal Sheila goes above and beyond for members and guests alike on a daily basis Sheila is always willing to help, and she has an awesome smile! We love having She-She on our team!

Callaway Fitting Event

Nine & Dine

TaylorMade Fitting Event

Mexican Fiesta

Picnic in July