Dear TMGC members

As of this posting, and if Mother Nature continues to please us with one of the mildest winters on record, we are now just 20 days away from the opening of the 2012 season of the Topstone Men’s Golf Club.

It is hard to believe after the snowy beating of 2011, that we would have the opportunity to play golf throughout most of the winter so far this winter. I hope everyone has had the opportunity to venture out and hit balls, play 9 or 18 holes, and enjoy trying to guess which greens will hold, and which are frozen. With this extended golf season, I expect members will return to Topstone in mid season form, picking up right where they left off in the fall.

The Board has been meeting throughout the winter to review what we accomplished last year, and to prepare for 2012 with a new tournament schedule, a new interclub match, and hopefully additional new members to continue growing our roster.

In 2011, with the advertising campaign in the spring, the mid season membership, and a lot of word of mouth, our membership grew by over 10% in an year when most clubs were fighting shrinking rosters.

In no small part, does the fabulous conditions we enjoy weekly at Topstone, promote our course and our men’s club. We heard comments from outsiders all season regarding how good the course is and thoughts of joining our club next year. I and others on the board have been approached by players from other courses letting us know that , “We have a foursome”, “my son and I”, “my partner and I”, will be joining Topstone next year. With these comments, and the early membership returns year to date, we believe we will have another strong growth year in 2012.

The club ended the year on financially strong ground. Any cuts made from payouts, positions paid in majors, cut in banquet expenses, all helped get us through financially challenging times, but have now been all put back in place. We will continue as always, to monitor our financial position throughout the season, as membership and weather, both play rolls in determining our position at year end.

We are holding the membership rates where they were for the 2012 season. (we are still deciding to see about raising the rates for those making more than $1,000,000 per year).

In working to keep our interclubs exciting, and attract team players each time, in 2011 we invited Wintonbury Hills to a match, and in 2012, we are inviting Rolling Meadows to a match. This local course, with sloping fairways and undulating greens, will be a challenge to those who have not played there before. You will find the conditions there, very much like the conditions we enjoy at our home course, and their president and Tournament Chairman are excited to initiate a new rivalry between two neighboring courses.

In 2011, we brought the fall banquet back to Three Seasons at Topstone. This was a great way to end our season and enjoyed by all who attended. It was great to spend an evening with the staff that wait on us daily. It was appropriate, after many years of going elsewhere. As the facility is not ready for us to have our spring banquet there in early March, we will be back at Manleyee’s for the spring banquet.

In Closing, I would tell you that the Board, the Pro Shop staff, and the Grounds crew work hard each year to make our club and our course, one that we can all be proud of, and enjoy with our friends every weekend. 2012 will be no different. I look forward to seeing you all out there, and hopefully have the opportunity to play with another 50 different members again this year.

Fairways and greens,

Al Cusson
President, tmgc
acusson@deringerney.com

RSVP fall banquet // Wednesday, November 7 at Topstone

Opening day, Saturday, March 17– 4-man shamble

Download a 2012 returning membership form.
Download a 2012 new membership application.