Mountain View
A Message From The Board of Directors
Members,
It continues to be another busy few months on the Mountain. The summer finished strong with successful Labor Day parties, CMIC events, Food Truck events, and numerous other private events. This past week, Cramer Mountain Club hosted Holy Angels back at the club, for its annual tournament. We had over 150 golfers and 187 participants. It was a little wet, but the staff and team did a fabulous job. The club was showcased in the region by this event. This is small Community victory; the tournament had not been at Cramer Mountain in over 12 years. The community is seeing the value of Cramer Mountain again.
I personally wanted to share where we are going as a club. I think it is important to continue to emphasize where we are going and the decisions the leadership team are making. The Board of Directors have worked diligently in the past 2 plus years to build a sustainable model. The Board had one clear vision in sight, that was and is to purchase the golf course. We had to put a strong leadership team in place, and we now have that. We had to rebuild the club fixed assets and come up with a model to continuously improve and repair the golf course, restaurant, and other amenities. There is no doubt, this board has been hands on as we continue to pivot to a strategic board. With Scott at the helm, we feel we have our guy and continue to empower him to make the best club decisions for all members.
The model does not work unless we strive to be a dynamic family club. The model only works if we have all members rowing together. The club needs to continue to offer dinner service, pool, pickle ball, and tennis. We have continued to offer a full slate of programming for families. The recently announced Oyster Roast, Camp Out, Holiday Party and Trunk or Treat are just a few of the events coming up. We have worked to add over 230 members in the past two years, it is the only way we can purchase and afford the club amenities. The opportunity is at our front gate and the purchase of the golf course will begin to take shape in early in January. A large assessment is not coming, if we continue to all work together to promote the club. Our ask is fairly simple, help us showcase the club, build up your club in the community, bring us new prospective members, we are close to our goal, but we need your help. We know we have limited restaurant space in the short run but please be respective to all members and welcome them by our actions in the club and restaurant. Show up to the events, respect the golf course. We have had more damage on the course in the past 60 days, then just about any other time in the history of the club. Please report misuse of our club. The Board and staff will be doing a poll to members later this year, to understand what you want our club to be once we purchase the course. We will then have a strategic session and role out a short term and long-term plan to the community, which we will post in the restaurant for all to see. We are asking for your proactive involvement the next 120 days. We are excited for the next chapter of the club and where we can go. Most importantly, thank you for being a member. You are critical for our continued success. Enjoy the Fall and I hope to see you at the events.
Regards,
John Forgan President Cramer Mountain Club
From The Manager’s Desk
Dear Members,
Summer is over, but the fun continues at Cramer Mountain Club! September is a busy, busy month at our Club! And why not?!?! Nice weather, and great course conditions. And football to watch after your round of golf!
This year September will indeed be a great month for our Club and much of the thanks goes to all of you (the members). But today, I want to point out the hard work and dedication of our staff. As you are all aware, we are still in the latter stages of our busy club season. During the busy season, there are so many events, tournaments, dinners, parties, clinics, meetings, swim meets, etc. that there is barely a chance for us to catch our breath. As soon as one event wraps up, we start getting ready for the next one. And this year we have had even more complications and challenges than usual. Changes in staff across several departments including the hire of a new Golf Pro (who has made a big positive impact on CMC) and a new GM (no comments from the peanut gallery). We also changed key personnel in Accounting
Golf Maintenance
F&B
House Maintenance
And I believe all these changes were “for the good”! We are building our plan for the long-term growth and stability of CMC. We are building a TEAM of the right employees who share our vision and want to be a part of helping our club achieve its goals. But changing personnel is not easy, especially in the interim when all remaining staff has to come together.
They have to pick up additional work and responsibilities to make sure the job gets done and our members get taken care of. And our employees are doing just that!
Recently we made the decision to restructure our F&B department. We changed the menu, the hours of operation, our service model (when and what offerings we make available to the members) and our staffing model (change in departmental management). THAT is a lot of change in a short period of time. And, as my staff likes to remind me… we made all these changes during the absolute busiest time of year. What could go wrong?? A metaphorical trainwreck? Certainly possible. But, I am proud to say what has happened instead is that the F&B staff has rallied, they have taken on additional responsibilities. They are helping each other and covering for the positions that are currently unoccupied. Servers are supporting each other, picking up extra shifts and filling in when another employee calls out sick. The bartenders and cooks putting together weekly food/linen orders, making work schedules and coming up with ways to make improvements. Specifically, I want to acknowledge Steve Clemmer for the extra time, effort and patience he has shown. He has taken on many additional responsibilities and put in far more hours every week to ensure that our events and member functions go smoothly every time. Not only has our product not suffered, but I have received a lot of feedback that there has been an improvement in our consistency and quality over the last month. Thank you to Steve Clemmer and the other kitchen staff for a great job and for their dedication. And I hope you will join me in thanking all the employees of Cramer Mountain Club for being part of what makes our club special!
Scott Brannan
Tennis News
It hasn’t felt like fall yet on the courts, hopefully it is right around the corner. The US Open is in full swing in the Big Apple, hope you’re checking some of the matches out! Keep checking out the calendar as well, plenty of tennis and pickleball activities over the fall. Afterschool groups and lessons are getting started as well as men’s and ladies fall quads. The singles ladder continues to run through September, plenty of time to get your challenge matches in to prepare for the Top of the Mountain Tourney later in October.
We had a great meetup at the Winston-Salem Open, a fun Tennis, Pizza, Movie Night, and are looking forward to what September has in store for us… I know of one big event we are looking forward to on Sept 21st, the Take a Swing against Breast Cancer, go ahead and start signing up for some of your options provided on that one, namely the Pickleball Player Pool Event on our side!
By: Will Borders, Director of Tennis
Upcoming Adult Tennis Activities
EVENT NAME: Tuesday Men’s Summer Quads
EVENT DATE: Tuesdays Aug 17 - Nov 12
EVENT TIME: 6:30-8:30pm $5.00 optional warmup-clinic 6-6:30pm
FEE: $10 one-time ball fee for the summer season
EVENT DESCRIPTION: We are continuing on Tuesday night through the summer! Your tennis professional will be offering an optional ($5.00) 30-minute warm up clinic from 6-6:30pm. At 6:30pm the quad players will get after it on the courts moving up and down courts depending on results from the week. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday nights!
EVENT NAME: Cramer Mtn Club Summer Ladies Quads
EVENT DATE: Wednesday evenings Aug 28 - Nov 13
EVENT TIME: Wednesday at 6:30-8pm
FEE: $10 one time ball fee for the season
EVENT DESCRIPTION: The Ladies tried it out over the spring and are ready to keep it rolling through the summer on Wednesday evenings, the courts are set for the season, we will re-configure in the fall if you’d like to be a regular then, let me know.
EVENT NAME: CMC Ladies Mix Around
EVENT DATE: Every Friday Aug 16 - Nov 8 EVENT TIME: Fridays at 9:00am
EVENT DESCRIPTION: Will is going to lead an optional 30min clinic ($5) at the beginning of the scheduled time on Friday mornings (9- 9:30am) and then mix around for the remainder with plenty of hits and giggles. All levels welcome and the more the merrier!
EVENT NAME: Monday Night Dinks and Drinks
EVENT DATE: Mondays in August - November
EVENT TIME: 6:30 - 8pm
EVENT FEE: Free each night attended which includes round robin play and waters.
EVENT DESCRIPTION: Monday nights are going to be our pickleball night at the club down on the hard court area! Come out early for some food truck yummies then head to the hard court for a little instruction and then get to dinking and drinking with your fellow pickleballers at Cramer Mountain!
Court & Clubhouse Membership
Cramer Mountain Club is proud to introduce the Court & Clubhouse membership! Because of the tremendous upgrades to our racket sport areas, we are in a position to serve the area’s most engaged tennis and pickleball players! Our high quality tennis and pickleball courts give members the facilities needed to compete in our inviting community.
Pro’s Corner
August was a busy tournament month here at CMC. We had the Couples Golf Championship as well as the Ladies, Junior, Men’s and Senior Club Championships. I would like to thank all that participated to make these events Great. September will be a busy month as well with the Ladies Member Guest on September 7, Women in Pink event on September 21, and the Men’s Member Guest September 26-28. We all look forward to these events having our membership together for fun times. Here is a recap of our August events.
Couples Golf Championship
Andrea & Rod Sipka, Adam & Kerri Rappaport- Winners
LADIES CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall Ladies Club Campion- Andrea Sipka
2nd Place- Margie Sullivan
Senior Flight
1st Gross- Joyce Cloninger
1st Net- Barb Tyler
Junior Club Championship
10 & under- Mason Lichty
11-13- Jacob Rappaport
Girls Division- Winsley Crotts
14-18 Boys- Lane Crotts
14-18 Boys- 2nd Place- Drew Mercer
Men’s Club Championship
Senior Division- Russ Russell
2nd Place- Lee Niesler
Maymont Division- Brad Wilson **Won in a playoff
Overall Club Championship
Club Champion- Lane Crotts
2nd Place- John Frisby
LGA “Take a Swing Against Breast Cancer” Charity Event
Get your Pink on and head down to the club on Saturday, September 21, 8:00am-3:00pm, to support the LGA Charity Event with 100% of the proceeds to The Woman in Pink Boutique!!
Pink on the Course, Range, Courts, Hill of Honor, Putt-putt,
Pink Raffle (HV3 Ping Golf Bag, Tennis/Wine Baskets, Handcrafted items, Panthers’ Tickets, Gift Cards and more!
Silent Auction – Eagle Rare, Bulleit, Savage & Cooke Decorative Bourbon Barrels & a bottle!
No Pink? Stop by The Woman in Pink Boutique, grab Pink for Breast Cancer Month in October!
Be away for Pink Day? Donations welcome and appreciated!! Drop off at the Golf Shop.
Check out the flyer for detail! Hope to see you in the Pink on September 21!
Superintendent’s Update
What's been going on around the course...
Washed out creekbank at 16 bunker reinforced
Major flooding and winds around the course brought debris and downed trees
Storm drain pipe on 4 was washed out from storm and repaired
Floods covered our irrigation intake, intake area was cleaned and pumps cleaned Hurricane Debby brought Army worms to the area, preventative insecticide sprayed for control measure
Natural area along right side of 16 trimmed
Core grasses on 14 & 18 have been trimmed and cleaned out
We endured more rain on the mountain than most surrounding areas, which is good for the turf, but makes managing ball roll difficult. We have been very aggressive with cultural practices to keep a consistent roll along with a playable speed.
John Baker - Superintendent
Precision Health & Fitness
As many of you know, we have a beautiful gym located upstairs in the clubhouse! We would like to introduce Jonathan and LeShea to tell you about their offerings.
Precision health and fitness is designed and curated with the community fitness needs in mind to support the health and wellbeing of our members.
Jonathan and LeShea are a diverse team of Trainers, with different strengths and backgrounds. Whether you're looking for strength training, injury prevention, post rehab, TPI sessions, or need to work on your flexibility and mobility with assisted stretching or yoga sessions, they have you covered.
Individual and family memberships are offerred. Please reach out to Jonathan and LeShea if you are interested!
Gym Hours: 5am - 10pm
John Forgan, President: jforgan@firsthorizon.com | 704-616-3843
Alex Bryant, Vice President: brandymercer@me.com | 704-718-9858
Paul Rundzieher, Treasurer: prundzieher@yahoo.com | 908-327-1715
Andy Mercer, Membership: andy@finialconstruction.com | 704-718-8910
Brad Drury, Secretary: bdrury@pinnix.com | 980-522-1373
Alan Hyman, Golf: ahyman@imperialsports.com | 843-260-7526
Ronnie Payne, Golf: ronniepayne76@gmail.com |
CMC Contact Directory
General Manager: Scott Brannan sbrannan@cramermountainclub.org | 704-879-4888 ext. 3
Golf Professional, Billy Powell & First Assistant, Devin Saunders: proshop@cramermountainclub.org | 704-879-4888 ext. 1 bpowell@cramermountainclub.org | dsaunders@cramermountainclub.org
Golf Course Superintendent, John Baker: jbaker@cramermountainclub.org
Tennis Director, Will Borders: wborders@cramermountainclub.org | 704-472-3436
Director of Marketing and Membership, Austin Holland: aholland@cramermountainclub.org | 704-879-4888 ext. 4
Account Manager, Tabatha Friday: tfriday@cramermountainclub.org | 704-879-4888 ext. 6
Pool Manager, Shannon Irish: sirish@cramermountainclub.org