September 2016 newsletter

OCC Newsletter

September 2016

General Manager Message……………………………….Page 2 September Calendar Of Events………………….……..Page 3 Food & Beverage Update………………………………….Page 4

Administrative Office Hours: Monday - Friday

9 AM - 5 PM

Grill Hours: Monday - Friday Saturday Sunday

8 AM - 9 PM 7 AM - 9 PM 7 AM - 8 PM

The Bend Hours: Thursday All Other Days

4 PM - 9 PM Reservation Only

Employee Spotlight…………………………………………..Page 5 Pro Shop News………………………………………………….Page 6 Ladies’ Golf/Glow Ball……………………………………….Page 7 News From The Fairway……………………………………Page 8 Pool Information……………………….……………………..Page 9

FOLLOW YOUR CLUB ON:

Pro Shop Hours: Monday - Friday Saturday & Sunday Pool Hours: Daily

7:30 AM - 8 PM 7 AM - 8 PM

11 AM - 8 PM

130 Oxbow Drive Oxbow, ND 58047 | 701.588.4666 | oxbowcc.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS DAVE CAMPBELL - PRESIDENT

It is hard to believe it is already September! School has started, college football is back, and fall will be here before we know it. While many associate September with the end of summer, September actually provides some of the best golfing weather of the year! We hope you have the opportunity to keep golfing and enjoying the club!

Also, we have many of our traditional favorite fall events coming up, including League Playoffs, the Club Championship, and Couples’ Glow Ball. There are still so many great events for everyone to enjoy!

JOE TALLEY - VICE PRESIDENT BRITTON MATTSON SECRETARY/TREASURER CHRIS CHAMP

DJ RIEGER

KEVIN HARRISON

RANCY SCHNEIBEL

JEFF KRUGER

BILL SHORT

I want to let everyone know some key dates in September. The pool is closing on Labor Day, September 5th, at 8 PM for the season. The day after, we will be allowing our furry friends to enjoy a dip - more details on this later in the newsletter. Until then, the forecast looks great for coming out to enjoy the last of the pool season. Also, breakfast service will conclude for the season on Labor Day.

MANAGEMENT STAFF SEDI HALVORSON GENERAL MANAGER SEDI@OXBOWCC.COM JAKE HUGHES ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER JAKE@OXBOWCC.COM ALISON MOLONY MEMBER ENGAGEMENT & EVENTS ALISON@OXBOWCC.COM SCOTT MOTSCHENBACHER EXECUTIVE CHEF CHEF@OXBOWCC.COM TOM KEPPEL CONTROLLER ACCOUNTING@OXBOWCC.COM JOHN DAHL, PGA HEAD GOLF PRO JDGOLF@OXBOWCC.COM DAVID WOOD SUPERINTENDENT DAVIDW@OXBOWCC.COM ERIC WENAAS, PGA 1ST ASSISTANT GOLF PRO ERIC@OXBOWCC.COM

Chef I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Chef Scott Motschenbacher to the Oxbow team! Scott has a wealth of culinary experience that he brings to your club! You will read much more about Scott later in the newsletter. Please welcome Scott to Oxbow when you see him around. We are truly excited to have someone with his experience and skill!

Clubhouse The new clubhouse is nearing completion on the inside. There are still many detail items to accomplish throughout, but we envision over 95% of the interior work to be completed by the end of September. Exterior work on the pool and landscaping will continue in to October, but will not affect our ability to begin the relocation process.

Please do not go in to the clubhouse while work is taking place. As we near completion, it is very important to let our contractors finish their work, while not disturbing any recently completed areas. Please reach out to me if you would like a tour of the facility.

Our schedule for moving in to the clubhouse is early November. During the latter part of October, we will begin limited service in the current bar and grill so that we can begin the moving process. Please watch for email communications later this month for more details.

New 9 Holes The maturation of the new nine holes continues. Landscapes Unlimited continues to work on detail and punch list items, while maintaining the completed areas of the course. We have a second visit from the USGA on September 7th to evaluate the progress made since the end of July. At this point, we do not have a definitive change over date. Please watch your emails in the next week or so for updates as we continue to make sure we proceed the best way possible for our members, the course, and the project as a whole. We do know our course configuration will change in some way in September, so please come out and enjoy the Oxbow course as it has been for the last 41 seasons while you can!

In closing, I would like to thank all of our membership for your enthusiasm and support as we begin a truly amazing transition on both our golf course and our clubhouse. The last two years have been both great and challenging, and there will still be more challenges ahead. What started out as drawings, renderings, and ideas, is now becoming reality. It is incredible what has been accomplished over the last few years. It is truly a great time to be a member at Oxbow Country Club!

Sedi 2

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

1 Last Day for Breakfast / Last Day The Pool Is Open 4

5

Take Your Dog For a Dip! League Playoffs

7

League Playoffs 13

14

Couples’ Night

2

Oxbow Championship

Ladies’ Invitational 6

SATURDAY

Men’s Day

3 Oxbow Championship

8

Couples’ Night 9

10

Men’s Day 15

Couples’ Night 16

17

Oxbow Championship 11

12

Couples’ Glow Ball 18

19

20

21

25

26

27

28

Men’s Day 22

Men’s Day

29

Hot Ball 23

24

30

FAREWELL PARTIES & GRAND OPENINGS - The coming months will be filled with many “Goodbyes” and “Hellos”. As many of you know, construction timelines can be unpredictable, but we will keep you wellinformed about the moving process of your clubhouse and golf course. There is one date I want you to mark down on your calendar right now: Saturday, October 8th. This will be the Clubhouse Farewell Party!

Service will continue at our current location through October, but this is the last party scheduled. Even though the new facility is gorgeous, you can’t beat the character of our original red barn clubhouse! Plan to come say “Goodbye” and make one last night of memories!

OXBOW FURNITURE - One major perk of our new facility is that it comes completely furnished! That means we have chairs, tables, office furniture - YOU NAME IT - that need a new home. If you would like to see a list of the items available or know of any local businesses that would be interested, please contact me. This furniture would be a fantastic addition to any church, organization, etc.

Saturday, October 8th FAREWELL PARTY AT THE CLUBHOUSE!

PHOTOGRAPHS - I am on the hunt for old photos of the golf course, clubhouse, and membership. As we move forward, I want to ensure the past has been welldocumented. If you or someone you know has pictures - particularly from the early days of Oxbow - I would love to see them!

3

Have you heard the sizzle? Oxbow has a NEW Chef in the kitchen!

Welcome, Chef Scott Motschenbacher! Your new Chef has more than just his knife skills to be proud of, Chef Scott graduated at the top of his class from Le Cordon Bleu (2006). He was also voted Best Chef (2011) and won the award for Best Cocktail (2012, 2013, & 2014) by High Plains Reader.

Chef Scott is very involved within our community and loves giving back.

He has conducted a live educational radio show with KFGO, live cooking demos on Valley News Live, volunteered with Fargo Public Schools to create a family-oriented dinner and homework program, and volunteered to cook meals once a week for the North Dakota Boys and Girls club.

“What do you love to cook most?” is a question most chefs find annoying, but Chef Scott was happy to answer! He really enjoys cooking fish. “Fish is my favorite because there is so much variety in types of fish, and it’s actually quite challenging.

One minute, you have the perfect piece of fish and within thirty seconds, it can turn rubbery and be ruined.”

Fun fact about Chef: his favorite meal of the day is lunch. “Lunch is my biggest and most sustaining meal of the day. In the culinary business, you never know where the night will take you. By making lunch my biggest meal, it provides me with enough energy to make it through all of the night’s kitchen challenges.”

What is Chef Scott most looking forward to while working at Oxbow? “I’m excited about working with the management team, looking forward to the new clubhouse kitchen, and of course, getting to know the members!” Chef wants you all to know that if you have any suggestions on menus, daily specials, or themed nights, please feel free to drop in and chat or send him an email at chef@oxbowcc.com.

In his free time, Chef Scott enjoys researching new culinary trends, camping, Boundary Water canoe trips, golfing, ice fishing, and trying to get his laundry done.

The new Clubhouse will be ready to move in before you know it. Your new clubhouse will feature six glycol tap lines. A glycol tap line is a refrigerated line that carries beer from the keg to the tap. The beer storage will be in the kitchen area, so you will never see us change a keg again!

For the first time, we will be able to carry six different beers on tap. We look forward to providing you with rotating seasonal options. I would love to hear your thoughts on which beers you’d like to have available at the new facility!

4

A day in the life of Shellie Simonson-Ulven might seem a little dirty, but she’s in heaven working at Oxbow Country Club as your Horticulturist. Shellie has been Oxbow’s lead flower whisperer for four years and she says she is “truly blessed for this job”. When asked how she learned of the position at Oxbow, she ran to her golf cart and pulled out the newspaper clipping she kept of the job opening posted by David Wood. “Getting this job was spontaneous for me. I knew that I loved to garden and had been gardening since I was young, so I called David on a whim.” Her passion for gardening must have been evident, because she was hired on the spot. In talking with Shellie, she clearly radiates enthusiasm for plants and the knowledge necessary to create beautiful flower beds.

An aspect of her job that she absolutely adores is the fact that she can experiment with the different flower beds around the course. Oxbow currently has 10 flower beds which are all Shellie’s play area. “Being able to experiment with the flower beds is truly a gift. I get to take control, plan out the gardens, and work with a variety of plants and flowers to get the desired end result. It’s truly the best job because I get to channel my creativity in a fun and flexible way.”

Shellie Simonson - Ulven,

One of Shellie’s goals in life was to complete the Master Gardener Classes held at NDSU. Obtaining the job at Oxbow as the Horticulturist pushed her to fulfill her dream. After lots of classes, lecture hours, and exams, she can now proudly call herself a graduate of the Master Gardener Classes, which grants her the title of Horticultural Professional! Through her classes, she gained more insight into landscaping, soil, turf, plant diseases, planning flower beds, and more appreciation for gardening.

Oxbow Horticulturist

In Shellie’s free time (if she’s not gardening), she’s having family time with her husband and two kids, traveling, reading, and cooking. Finally, can anyone guess Shellie’s favorite flower? There is not a single one planted at Oxbow because of the small window of time that these flowers thrive due to our climate. The answer is tulips!

5

August was a great month for golf at Oxbow! We started off with our annual Oxbow Best Ball tournament. There was a great field of 94 golfers for the 2-day event. Russ Newman and Bill Carlson won the gross division while Scott Woodmansee and Jake Dehne from Bismarck won the net division.

The Parent-Child Tournament on August 21st had a big turn-out. Winners in the 12 and under division were Jared and Logan Heller. In the 13-18 division, the winners were Kory and Parker Bartels. Congratulations and thank you to all the players.

Oxbow hosted the annual El Zagal/S&L Computer Pro-Am on August 24th. 150 golfers participated in this event benefitting Shrine Hospitals.

A couple ongoing events came to a close in August: Wednesday ladies’ clinics and the junior clinics held on Monday and Tuesday mornings. However, September is a beautiful month to golf at Oxbow and other events are still planned!

On September 7th, we will have our annual Ladies’ Invitational. This is an open 2-woman best ball event (membermember, member-guest, or guest-guest) and always lots of fun. Plan to play and call the Pro Shop to sign up. September 9th, 10th, and 11th is our Club Championship. This 2-round event will have a men’s gross, men’s net, women’s net, and junior divisions. Play your first round on either Friday or Saturday. The Pro Shop will make pairings for Sunday’s second and final round. September 23rd is Couples’ Glow Ball. This is a 6-person event, so get your friends together for this unique, fun, and colorful event. Finishing out the month, we will have our annual Hot Ball Tournament on Saturday, September 24th. This is a 4-person event: one hot ball and 3-person scramble on each hole. Call and sign up soon for all your September events!

In the Pro Shop, we have new fall apparel from Polo Ralph Lauren, Bobby Jones, and Adidas. Stop in to check everything out before it’s gone!

LADIES’ INVITATIONAL

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

HOT BALL

September 7

September 9 - 11

September 24

8:00 AM - Registration with coffee/rolls 9:00 AM - Shotgun start Lunch to follow 2-Person Best Ball $40/Oxbow member $55/non-member Entry fee includes prizing & food

Contact the Pro Shop for more information: 701.588.4669, jdgolf@oxbowcc.com.

$50/Member

10:00 AM - Shotgun start 4-Person Teams Hot Ball Format $35/member $50/guest Lunch & prizing included 6

CONGRATULATIONS! - The Oxbow Ladies have taken home the Interclub Trophy for the second straight year! The following members participated on the Oxbow team: Carol Morlock, Cassie Huesman, Cheryl Wold, Cindy Fisher, Dawn Zook, Deb Schneibel, Jane Mattson, Kerry Brothers, Kristina Mattson, Leeann Townsend, Lexi Piatz, Mae Tonsfeldt, Marie Talley, Mary Johnson, Michelle Feland, Rhonda Grenyo, Ronda Menze, Sarah Mattson, Shelley Kappes, Sheri Champ, Tami Henke, and Wendy Frappier. THANK YOU for your dedication to the team and representing Oxbow!

LADIES’ INVITATIONAL Our Annual Ladies’ Invitational is on Wednesday, September 7th. Gather up a partner for this 2-person tournament and join the fun. Contact the Pro Shop for more details and/or to find a partner: jdgolf@oxbowcc.com, 701.588.4669.

FRIDAY, September 23rd $50/Couple

6:30 PM: 7:30 PM:

SOCIAL TEE OFF, 6-Person Scramble Chili Bar To Follow 7

Landscapes Unlimited has focused their efforts in preparing the new course for turnover. They have dedicated their man-hours on punch list items that Oxbow and Bruce Charlton (the golf course architect) prepared in July. Many items on the list were small detail tasks such as leveling drain and irrigation boxes and cutting off pipes in the ponds. Other jobs involved more labor like seeding play and non-play areas, repairing tire ruts, and finishing sand bunkers. Many of the items have been or will be completed by the end of September.

Areas in need of attention were mainly the interior greens and fairways. Additional seeding has started on putting green edges on Holes 1, 9, and 18. These perimeters are showing many new grass plants and filling in. Seeding of the green surroundings has taken place on Holes 10 and 15. The first seed was mechanically planted August 3rd and we are seeing some turf beginning to fill bare areas. The second seeding, which occurred on August 25th, was done by hand and has not had time to germinate. Additional fertilizer has been applied to all the thin areas to encourage growth.

The sand bunkers are finished and ready for play. The sod on the perimeter on 11 fairway bunkers was replaced after it had died over the winter. All the contaminants were removed and sand depth was adjusted as per the architect’s specification.

The turnover date is tentatively planned for September. Bruce and Blake Meentemayer, USGA Agronomist, will be here on September 7th and 8th to review the current conditions and provide Oxbow with a recommendation on playability.

Oxbow staff is working on several projects that are important for the turnover also. The present irrigation system has to be modified for us to continue irrigating Holes 1-7, 17, and 18. We will be cutting off water to Holes 8-16 in September so LU can begin phase two. There are no working water valves to shut off to allow the water flow to stop, so we will have to cut and cap the mainline pipes in 5 locations. There will also be electrical issues that will need to be resolved for us to continue using our current irrigation satellites.

Phase two construction will begin in September on current Holes 16, 15, 14, and 13. Pond drawdowns have begun on the Hole 15 lake to help dry this area for construction. LU will also begin tree removal, old cart path removal and erosion control measures. We will keep everyone updated as phase two progresses.

See you on the course, New #11 Green

David

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for the last pool party of the season! We had a wonderful afternoon. The pool is open through Labor Day, September 5th. You still have a chance to make one last splash and say “Goodbye!”

9