Embedded as a “utility worker” on Merion Golf Club’s expanded kitchen staff to help feed all those who descended on Ardmore, Pa. for the 113th U.S. Open Championship, Club & Resort Business Editor Joe Barks filed daily postings about his experience during each day of the tournament week. Here are his final thoughts after the last three days of the competition. A Q&A with Merion Golf Club’s Executive Chef (and C&RB Contributing Editor) Jerry Schreck about the entire tournament experience will be presented as the “Chef to Chef” feature in the July issue of C&RB.

• No Playoff Needed: Merion’s F&B staff openly expressed hope that Sunday’s competition would not end in a tie that would extend the Championship into an 18-hole playoff on Monday. This was largely because many of the part-time workers and volunteers (including me) who were added to the regular staff to help make it through the week would not be available to help out for one more day.

But while Justin Rose’s two-shot win avoided the need for a playoff, I still don’t think there’s any doubt, based on how the Merion team handled every challenge thrown their way throughout the week (many of which came up without any warning) that they would have found a way to make a Monday playoff day be another winner, too, even if short-staffed.

• Curious: Another concern about handling the Monday playoff came from the fact that an additional order to Merion’s foodservice distributor (and many things would be needed, with much of what had been ordered, and replenished, during the week, having been depleted) would have to be made by 3 PM on Sunday—a time when those leading the tournament had yet to tee off for the final round.

While the club would be able to return and get credit for anything else it ordered for Monday and didn’t use, it was surprising—at least to me—to hear that the supplier apparently wasn’t making any effort build in any flexibility to its schedule or provide extra service around the situation, especially for such a prominent customer and cause.

• Also Curious: While Merion is getting universal acclaim for hosting a great tournament, speculation about whether it will ever get another one is divided, largely because profitability (or even a break-even performance) was limited by smaller crowds and reduced hospitality space. Those are understandable concerns—but the USGA might also want to revisit how its own merchandising operation was run. On the final day, all the talk I heard among disappointed spectators centered around how the souvenir shelves were depleted and virtually nothing remained available for sale.

• Coolest Sight of the Tournament: The daily “shock and awe” caravan of golf course maintenance equipment as it rolled through Merion each morning, like Patton’s tanks heading to Belgium.

• Also Cool: Being called “Chef”—always very respectfully—by people who saw me walking through the grounds or riding the train to and from the club while wearing my white jacket and black pants. At first I thought I should correct them, but then I decided to just go ahead and bask in it for the week.

• Not Cool: Vendors and suppliers—and in many cases, not very major ones— who frequently sent texts (interfering with a critical communication tool between the kitchens and other spots on the property) to Merion F&B staff members throughout the tournament, wondering if there was “any way” they could get some passes and tickets.

• Affirmation: After the first couple days of trying to help cope with how we were being slammed in the members’ tent kitchen, I decided that my contribution to maximum efficiency and productivity for the operation could come through maintaining a steady “assembly line” of buns in their packaging and then constantly moving them into place as the “chassis” for the various sandwiches that had to be “built” with hot dogs, bratwurst, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, crab cakes, pulled pork and grilled chicken from the hotbox.

I was proud to have the value of this was recognized when, in the heat of one prolonged period when members were grabbing new sandwiches as fast as we could get them out on the steam table, one chef noted how my “assembly line” was helping us keep up and exclaimed, “Joe, you’re like Gerald Ford!”

But of course, I then also had to correct him to say, “Thanks…but I think you mean Henry Ford. If I was like Gerald Ford, everything would be on the floor.”

• Last word: Merion put on a great Championship, and I was proud to be part of its great team.

Privately held golf courses and country clubs are still trying to hit out of the rough, but data from Sageworks, a financial information company, shows that at least sales may be out of the deep rough.

Sales at privately owned golf courses and country clubs, as studied through a financial statement analysis by Sageworks, a financial information company, increased 5.5 percent over the 12 months that ended in April 2013, Forbes.com reported. That was an improvement over the 4.6 percent increase reported by the Sageworks Private Company Report for the period that ended in April 2012, Forbes.com reported, and the biggest gain shown by the annual study since 2004.

But despite the sales improvement, the golf courses and clubs that were studied are still, on average, struggling with profitability, Sageworks analyst Brad Schaefer told Forbes.com. Net losses for golf courses have been around 2 percent of sales since 2012, Sageworks data shows. The good news is that represents a significant improvement from negative mid-single-digit margins shown from 2009 through 2011.

“It still doesn’t look like [the privately owned clubs in the study] are in a great position from their net profit margins, which are still negative, but it’s definitely better than it has been,” Schaefer told Forbes.com. Clubs may be able to cut some spending to account for lower sales in leaner years, he noted, but the capital-intensive nature of golf courses makes it tough to adjust spending commensurately with fluctuating prices and revenues to maintain profitability.

Golf courses and country clubs stand to benefit further from the slowly improving economy, which has aided other leisure sports and activities, Schaefer told Forbes.com.

“Some of those leisure industries are rebounding now that the economy is growing a little bit and people are getting more comfortable with extra spending,” he said.

But because many courses require memberships involving financial commitments of a year or more, golfing may be slower to rebound than some other leisure activities, he added. In addition, business budgets for entertaining clients through golf and other activities may still be constrained.

Through a cooperative data model, Sageworks collects financial statements for private companies from accounting firms, banks and credit unions, and aggregates the data at an approximate rate of 1,000 statements a day. Net profit margin has been adjusted to exclude taxes and include owner compensation in excess of their market-rate salaries. These adjustments are commonly made to private company financials to provide a more accurate picture of the companies’ operational performance.

A man was pronounced dead after being pulled from a pond on the property of The Courses at Watters Creek in the Dallas, Texas area early on Sunday morning, June 16, DallasNews.com reported.

Captain Peggy Harrell of the Plano (Texas) Fire-Rescue department said crews were called to Watters Creek just after 1 AM after nearby homeowners heard a man yelling for help from one of the ponds, DallasNews.com reported. When Fire-Rescue personnel arrived, Plano police were already on the scene performing CPR on a man who’d been pulled from the pond. According to Harrell, rescue workers jumped in and transported the man to the Medical Center of Plano, where he was prounounced dead, DallasNews.com reported.

According to Harrell, the homeowner who initially dialed 911 said the man who was shouting for help “said there was another individual with him.” But 11 rescue workers searched the scene and came up empty, DallasNews.com reported.

“Fire crews asked the Wylie (Texas) Fire Department’s Water and Dive Rescue Team to respond to the scene to assist with an underwater search,” said Harrell in a release sent to media. “The search was conducted and no other body was found.”

The name of the deceased was not immediately released.

On Monday June 17, a sudden and heavy rainstorm forced a car off U.S. Route 1 in a rural section southeast of Philadelphia and onto the property of Loch Nairn Golf Links in New Garden, Pa., the (West Chester, Pa.) Daily Local News reported.

The driver of the car said traffic stopped suddenly because of the storm, with cars pulling over to the shoulder, which caused him to swerve and run off the road. His car went down a grassy slope, through a fence and onto the golf course as the driver tried to avoid trees, the Daily Local News reported. No injuries were reported.

In a national cookoff held on the campus of The Miami Dade College Hospitality School of the Miami Culinary Institute, Kara Adanalian of Fresno, Calif., wowed judges with her winning recipe— Red Pepper and Avocado Stuffed Chicken Breast with a pastry gremolata and white-wine reduction—to earn the top prize—a retreat for two to the Napa Valley Culinary Institute—in the “Find Your Inner Chef” competition sponsored by Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc.

The cookoff culminated an online contest that was launched April 15 to encourage consumers to submit a favorite recipe using Del Monte® fresh fruits and vegetables.

 Four finalists, determined by social media response on the Del Monte Produce Facebook page (where daily winners were awarded culinary kitchen tools, tabletop appliances, gift cards and more), then competed in the cookoff, in a faceoff/bracket-challenge format, with contestants given an hour to complete their recipes.

Judges—who included Chef John Richards, CEC, CCA, CWPC, MBA, Miami Culinary Institute Director; Jim Prevor, Founder, Perishable Pundit; Lou Sena, President of SenaReider; Elizabeth Pivonka, President and CEO for the Produce for Better Health Foundation, and Food and Travel Writer Libby Platus—based their final decision on four criteria: creativity, taste, use of Del Monte® fresh fruits or vegetables, and presentation.

The entire cookoff event was filmed, photographed, and live-streamed on www.fruits.com.

“The cookoff event was as exciting to witness as it was to judge, as was the entire span of the contest, from launch to [the final] cooking competition, and we congratulate Kara as our Grand Prize winner,” said Dennis Christou, VP of Marketing, North America for Del Monte. “We’re amazed at each finalist’s culinary skills and at their creativity in using specific ingredients such as our Del Monte® fresh fruits and vegetables during this intense competition.”

Being the Grand Prize winner of the “Find Your Inner Chef” contest is “not only a thrill but an honor, given the level of competition, judging and event facility,” said Adanalian. “I’m at a loss for words to describe how happy I am, but there’s a smile on my face that won’t go away. Thank you Del Monte for providing such a great product and top-notch event! I’m very proud.”

Rocky Bayou CC, Niceville, Fla.

Rocky Bayou CC members who live near the Niceville, Fla., club can partake of the maintenance staff’s expertise through lawn care, landscaping and golf car repair services.

While some golfers might ask golf course superintendents for the occasional lawn care tip or landscaping advice, they can now get the real thing from golf course maintenance staff members at Rocky Bayou Country Club in Niceville, Fla. Last year, the club’s maintenance department started offering lawn and landscape services to members who live in the immediate Rocky Bayou community, and the property also opened its shop doors for golf car service and repairs to all members who own personal golf cars.

“I can always come up with ideas for other departments to generate capital funds, and I was trying to find an innovative way to generate more revenue for our capital account,” says Golf Course Superintendent Wayne Phillips, whose staff’s contributions to the club’s food-and-beverage program through property-grown fruit and vegetables were highlighted in the October 2012 C&RB (“Locally Grown”).

Most of Rocky Bayou’s members have their own golf cars, Phillips says, and he saw an opportunity when a local repairman who serviced their vehicles retired a couple years ago.

“I came up with an ad for golf cart repair as a spring tune-up for electric- and gas-powered carts. We devised a price list for that and other repair needs,” Phillips explains. “The landscape services started as a way to help people get ready for a new growing season.”

Ads were placed in the club’s monthly newsletter and on bulletin boards around the property, and the initiatives soon spread by word-of-mouth as well. All services are billed directly to the members’ accounts and added to their monthly statements.

“We bill a dollar amount per hour for two men to do a particular job,” notes Phillips. “I needed to devise equal billing for all members. I needed to be sure I treated everybody equally.”

Standard lawn and landscape services now provided by Phillips’ department include mowing, shrub pruning, edging, blowing, string trimming, and leaf collection. Additional services offered by estimate include sand topdressing, lawn aerification, and irrigation system audit and repair.

Members who receive the services must live in the surrounding neighborhood, so crews can reach their homes by utility cart. “I can keep two men busy on these projects on a part-time basis and still use them on the golf course,” Phillips explains. “It’s not a 40-hour-a-week job. They probably spend 15 hours a week, if that, on lawn and landscaping services.”

Rocky Bayou CC, Niceville, Fla.

The lawn care services are priced competitively, Phillips says. “Most of the members who are using our service did not have a lawn care service prior to this,” he notes.

For golf car service, a flat fee is charged for one of the two technicians on staff to tune up electric and gas cars by checking and filling batteries, checking brakes and adjusting them if needed, checking tires and tire pressure, checking all running lights, greasing all applicable fittings, and inspecting and replacing belts if needed. For gasoline cars, other standard services include changing the oil and filter, and checking and replacing the fuel filter and spark plugs if needed.

Other golf car services include battery testing and diagnosis, battery replacement, electrical troubleshooting and repair, electrical wiring for street-legal use, tire replacement and repair, frame work and repair, cosmetic repair, belt replacement, clutch repair or replacement, and annual inspection and service.

“Any of our members that have a cart problem will now come to us first,” says Phillips. “We usually have a couple of carts in the shop a week.”

The maintenance department runs the lawn and golf car repair services like a business, and the expenses are designated under a separate line item in the maintenance budget.

“To keep track of it honestly, all expenses have to be in a separate category,” reports Phillips. “I code the supplies separately. But if I order pine straw for the golf course, I might set aside 100 bales for lawn and landscaping needs.”

In addition, he says, the maintenance staff does not enter into a contract with a member for these services. “They just pay us for the work we do, and we have the flexibility and the freedom to come when we can,” he notes. “The members understand if something comes up and we need to put them off for a few days.”

These services, Phillips emphasizes, are seen as supplemental income, and golf course maintenance duties remain the crew’s top priority. “We wanted to show that we are willing to make innovative efforts to fund things that our members come here to enjoy and to provide the product they expect,” he says. “It’s just another way to build relationships and a level of trust with our members.”

The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Va. Instant Idea Fescue sprinkler head markers, made from one-foot-long wooden dowel rods that are painted green, with the top two inches painted white for added visibility, are now used to help the Course & Grounds Department at the Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Va., mark above-ground irrigation heads in the fine fescue and tall fescue secondary rough of the club’s Tuckahoe Creek course. “Marking the sprinkler heads increases their visibility and reduces the chance of heads being hit by golf carts or maintenance equipment,” the club reports. The markers are screwed into the top of the sprinkler head, with no damage to the head, and cost $1 per head to make.

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Wide-ranging improvements to its facilities and a revised pricing structure are just some of the changes that are transforming the Maysville (Ky.) Country Club, the Maysville (Ky.) Ledger Independent reported.

Andrew Wood, president of the Board of Directors, said the club has seen plenty of changes since it was established in 1925, but few have been as wide-ranging as those made since January, the Ledger Independent reported.

“Times have changed,” Wood said. “We must be financially prudent, while at the same time offering an updated and broader experience at a reasonable cost, appropriate to the area we serve.

“We want to attract new members and offer a better value to our existing members. Our goal is to provide activities and value for every member of the family.”

Wood cited food quality and the dining experience as well as a major upgrade to the golf course among the most significant changes, the Ledger Independent reported.

“Our new chef, Clayton Lesak, came to us from Mitchell’s Fish Market in Cincinnati and Newport,” Wood said. “He is also on the faculty of the MCTC Culinary School in Maysville, and is assisted by experienced dining room manager Chrissie Hord.”

The ongoing zoysia grass installation is part of changes to both the course and club that Head Golf Professional Denny Nash believes will improve the experience heading into the course’s 2013 Chippeways Tournament, the Ledger Independent reported.

“I think the course is great going into Chippeways,” Nash said. “I think it’s looking the best it’s looked in probably a long time, and (course superintendent) Joe (Kaczmarek) feels the same way.

“We’re getting a lot of compliments from our members right now and getting a lot of compliments from people coming in from out of town that haven’t seen the zoysia yet or seen the changes to the golf course.”

Zoysia, known for its ability to handle hot, dry summers, has been installed on the fairways of the club’s front nine, with the exception of No. 1, and on two par-3 holes on the back nine, the Ledger Independent reported.

“Right now, when we see this heat move in, we’re already starting to see our roughs dry up a little bit,” Nash said. “It’ll handle some rain, but basically the biggest plus for zoysia is it handles the heat and it doesn’t need nearly the water that our basic everyday bluegrass, fescue (and) ryegrass needs. The drier it gets, the greener it’ll get for us for a while.”

The plan is still to get zoysia on the entire course, but the club is “just trying to get through Chippeways and then kind of get a game plan from there,” Nash said.

“Obviously the zoysia is an expensive project,” Nash said. “We’re fortunate because it’s been privately funded here at the club, meaning individuals have kicked in to the project. And then a lot of it has to do with timing. It’s a matter of, how do we want to affect our play? If we kept stripping fairways and kept laying zoysia, it would sort of affect play all through the summer.”

The course also added “nature preserves” last year to reduce maintenance and tweak the course’s appearance. Another change is the installation of additional tee boxes, which won’t affect the Chippeways but will provide additional playing options, the Ledger Independent reported.

“We’ve put a lot of new tee boxes on the golf course, the idea being to pick the tee box you want to play based on your ability and your age and your level of play,” Nash said. “Like the forward tees, probably great tees for kids to get started on and women that are just getting started in the game, even some of your older gentlemen who are maybe taking up golf late in life. There’s a lot more choices of tee boxes out there.”

In addition to improvements inside and outside the clubhouse, the board has targeted event planning as one of its major goals. Another change has come in membership options, the Ledger Independent reported.

“We knew if we’re trying to reach out to more families and younger families, we needed to think outside the box,” said Wood, referring to social memberships, active social, full membership, stockholder membership, junior membership and senior membership offerings.

Families with a parent member under the age of 35 can enjoy the rest of 2013 for significantly less than the cost of a junior membership, with full use of the facilities for all family members. The senior membership is aimed at retirees who want to play golf at the club, but wouldn’t necessarily want a full membership, the Ledger Independent reported.

Single members receive a 25 percent discount in the category chosen.

New club facilities now include:

• A refurbished and redecorated clubhouse

• A new data management system designed specifically for country clubs

• A new volleyball court

“It’s not all or nothing (in dues) anymore. We are prorating memberships right now, which makes it a good time to test-drive the club and see if you like it,” Wood said.

First Liberty Bank moved to foreclose on the owners of Gaillardia Golf and Country Club in Oklahoma City on June 14, the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoman reported.

In court documents, First Liberty Bank claims Gaillardia owes it more than $1.5 million, plus more than $19,000 in interest on loans it extended to the country club in 2012 and 2013, the Oklahoman reported.

Joey Root, First Liberty Bank president and CEO, said in a statement that he hoped the club would remain open during the court proceedings.

“It is unfortunate the club faces a variety of financial challenges in addition to its obligations to First Liberty Bank,” Root said. “After much effort, First Liberty was unable to reach common ground with the borrower on a viable solution.”

First Liberty Bank is asking an Oklahoma County District Court judge to appoint a receiver to take control of the country club and its more than 240-acre, 7,119 yard championship golf course, the Oklahoman reported.

The Little Rock, Ark.-based private equity and development firm Herrington Inc., controlled by businessman Phil Herrington, has owned Gaillardia since 2002, when it purchased the property from a subsidiary of the Oklahoma Publishing Company for $9.1 million, the Oklahoman reported.

The foreclosure comes after weeks of rumors about the club’s future among its membership. In a letter to members last week, Herrington announced that Gaillardia would cancel its annual Le Concours tournament scheduled for this week, the Oklahoman reported.

Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based Pace Group has entered into a lease-purchase agreement of Palmetto Greens Golf & Country Club, and assumed management and operations on June 14.

The first tactic in the operational strategy will be to officially change the name of the Longs, S.C., facility back to its original name, Colonial Charters Golf Club.

East Coast Golf Management has been hired by Pace Group to manage the property. Led by PGA professional and East Coast Golf Management President Mike Buccerone, the management company will be responsible for administration, golf operations, maintenance operations, food & beverage operations, sales and marketing, finance and accounting and guest services.

In 2008, the property underwent a complete golf course renovation and was renamed Palmetto Greens Golf & Country Club. Pace Group is changing the name of the property back, to establish name recognition with the original development of Colonial Charters Golf Club.

“We are truly excited about this new venture in purchasing Palmetto Greens and the plans associated with returning the facility to its roots in the name Colonial Charters as well as the playability of the course and service to our community, members and future guests,” said Pace Group owner Van Watts. “We know that with the assistance and experience of East Coast Golf Management, Colonial Charters will once again be a Myrtle Beach must-play golf course.”

Immediate plans for the golf club will include course renovations, clubhouse upfits and development of a membership plan for local residents. It is anticipated that the club will reopen in August after all facility upgrades have been completed.

“This golf course played a major role in establishing the Grand Strand as a nation-wide golf destination,” said Buccerone. “Colonial Charters has great potential and our team is excited to take on the challenge of reestablishing an old Myrtle Beach hidden gem.”

U-shaped holes are being chewed into Cocoa Beach (Fla.) Country Club’s earthen embankments by waves in the Banana River, the Melbourne (Fla.)-based Florida Today reported.

Undermined mangroves now lie submerged near the third-hole’s fairway on the River course, along the property’s southeastern shoreline. Joe Tucker, golf course manager, surveyed erosion damages, Today reported.

“You get down here, and you get up to about 7 miles to build up waves,’’ Tucker said.

Five years after Tropical Storm Fay struck in August 2008, city officials are still trying to secure Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for an estimated $323,000 repair job, Today reported.

The slow-moving storm breached mangroves and other vegetation barriers, damaging 4,869 sq. ft. of golf course shoreline, city records show.

The FEMA funding process typically takes years, said Charles Holland, finance director. The agency rejected the city’s application on technical terms late last year, but the city is appealing, Today reported.

“I have every confidence that we will eventually prevail,” Holland said.

U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, lobbied on the city’s behalf in a December letter, noting that high tides are worsening damages, and golf course turf is collapsing in some undermined areas, Today reported.

Compounding matters last year, Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Isaac further damaged roughly 1,000 feet of country club shoreline. Tucker fears a similar storm could punch an inlet near the clubhouse, sending river water pouring into a nearby retention lake, Today reported.

In the long term, Cocoa Beach engineers have floated an erosion-fighting idea: Build a $1.95 million metal seawall along the golf course riverfront, Today reported.

“Hopefully, this will help us prevent any future damage from storms,” city manager Bob Majka said. “We not only have damage that occurs from tropical systems. When we have a really good thunderstorm move through here and the wind is blowing in the right direction, we have significant erosion in areas.”

No money has been budgeted for the seawall proposal. Commissioners will discuss it during budget talks, Majka said.

Back in 2004, hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne combined to damage 2,196 sq. ft. of golf course shoreline. The city applied for FEMA relief in September 2005, and funding for a $161,650 repair project was released in 2008-09, Holland said. FEMA reimbursed the city $158,445, or 98 percent of the bill, Today reported.

Cocoa Beach Country Club and numerous properties along western Minutemen Causeway were constructed atop fill dirt, Today reported.

Eroded shoreline areas across the golf course are considered out-of-bounds and do not affect golfers’ games, said Melissa Byron, director of marketing and economic development.

Club & Resort Business Editor Joe Barks, “embedded” as a utility worker on the expanded kitchen staff of Merion Golf Club as the Ardmore, Pa., club hosted the U.S. Open Championship last week, has filed behind-the–scenes reports after ending his 10-hour shifts providing whatever support is needed for the high-volume food operation in the members’ tent. Barks’ final report will be filed tomorrow and featured in C&RB’s daily e-newsletter.

Merion Executive Chef and C&RB Advisory Board member Jerry Schreck will offer his own insights on the event in C&RB’s “Chef to Chef” feature in the July 2013 issue.

The Briar Club, Houston, Texas

To appeal to the other half of the family, The Briar Club implemented a Mother-Son Brunch, complete with an indoor putt-putt course.

The classic father-daughter dance, while adorable, is clearly limited in scope.

“What about mothers and sons?” Richard Lareau, General Manager/COO of The Briar Club, asked after implementing the club’s own father-daughter dance in 2003. In an effort to extend the same parent-child bonding to the other half of the family, the Houston, Texas club developed the mother-son brunch.

The precise idea derived from a youth-oriented focus group conducted by the club’s youth committee. A 10-year-old boy suggested the club offer a mother-son brunch coupled with an activity. Although The Briar Club doesn’t have its own golf course, a day of miniature golf fit the bill. “Boy, moms like mini-golf, and so do their sons,” Lareau says.

Through a Google search, the club found a company that would create a 9-hole putt-putt course inside the club’s 3,800-sq. ft. ballroom. It took the company two to three hours to assemble the course, which Lareau says “snaps together like puzzle pieces.” The company also brought along putters, balls, and scorecards, and even took pictures of the event.

The Briar Club, Houston, Texas THE GOAL: Offer an event tailored to mothers and sons, to balance out the father-daughter dance at The Briar Club. THE PLAN: Through a youth focus group, a young member suggested a mother-son brunch paired with an activity. An indoor miniature golf course was pieced together for the other half of the family to enjoy. THE PAYOFF: With attendance at 60-70 people, including the tough-to-please teenager demographic, GM Richard Lareau (above, with first-place winner Wilson Grant) calls the event a “rousing success,” and a repeat is already planned for this year.

For good measure, a 50-foot challenge putt rounded out the course. Those who got closest to the hole won special prizes.

“It’s a big long putt that everyone tries to make,” Lareau says. “It’s basically a 10th hole.”

This wasn’t the first time the club set up a physical structure for a recreational event. The Briar Club’s fall festival is similar to a carnival and uses an outdoor sports pavilion.

“Golf isn’t the number-one focus for our members,” Lareau says, while noting that The Briar Club does have reciprocal relationships with area golf clubs. “We’re only on 5 ½ acres in an urban environment near downtown Houston. We’re their ‘backyard.’ ”

When planning an event in the Houston heat, timing is key. Though Mother’s Day was considered, the club determined that the short gap of time after school lets out and before residents travel to escape the summer heat would be ideal. So, the second week of June would belong to mothers and their sons.
In another example of mother-son adventures, Country Club of Birmingham (Ala.), hosted a scavenger hunt for Mother’s Day. The day included a dinner outside, a race through the clubhouse, a Frisbee and ribbon-tree challenge, Play-Doh sculpting, ice cream-eating contest, and more.

Back at The Briar Club, moms and sons were rewarded individually for their best mini-golf scores, as well as by team. The prizes included admissions to other club events, family bingo, and free admittance to the family festival.

In total, 60-70 people attended the event, including tough-to-please teenagers, and the entry fee was $20, which included the titular brunch with egg dishes, food stations and carvings, as well as bananas foster. Lareau describes the event as a “rousing success,” and plans are already in place for this year.

“We’re anticipating the same positive response this year,” Lareau says. “It’s important to have that experience with moms and sons, and we found something that works.”

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Club & Resort Business Editor Joe Barks, “embedded” as a utility worker on the expanded kitchen staff of Merion Golf Club as the Ardmore, Pa., club hosts the U.S. Open Championship this week, will file behind-the–scenes reports after ending his 10-hour shifts providing whatever support is needed for the high-volume food operation in the members’ tent. Here are some of his impressions and insights after Thursday’s first round:

•  Probably the least surprising, but most welcomed, development during this U.S. Open week was that the doomsday weather scenario predicted for Thursday—which included calls for a tornado, damaging hail, raging floods and seemingly every other conceivable calamity short of fire and famine—instead just proved to be more evidence that meteorology is a fancy name for well-dressed people getting way too much airtime for breathless guesswork.

Thankfully, all the concern and speculation over how Thursday’s predicted weather might dash the careful planning and eager anticipation that went into bringing the tournament back to Merion proved to be unnecessary. But the reality of the three-hour storm delay that actually did transpire posed another new test of the ability, and flexibility, of the membership tent’s kitchen team.

After taking early steps to be better prepared for another lunch onslaught like Wednesday’s, the rain brought members and guests inside three hours earlier than expected—and with different appetites than had been planned for. Breakfast croissants that had been made in small quantities in expectation of light morning business quickly disappeared, and our kitchen suddenly became a short-order diner, scrambling to assemble supplies to make a slew of breakfast sandwiches (this time on English muffins) while also filling special orders for various combinations of eggs and bacon.

Filling up members and their guests in this fashion also created a new consumption pattern for lunch—it was still a busy day, but the volume was spread out more evenly and later into the afternoon, without the hour-plus, full-out “slam” we’d experienced the day before.

• The final numbers that came in for Wednesday showed that the pace of activity was double what we’d started the week with (and Monday was by no means slow), with more than 1,600 transactions, most of which were concentrated into a two-hour lunch period.

•  Membership—and serving members—certainly has its privileges. Before things got too hectic because of the rain delay, the kitchen crew was able to take a quick break to step outside on the members’ tent balcony, which offers a tremendous view of Merion’s 13^th hole (a signature par-3 of barely more than 100 yards)—and we did so just in time to see Phil Mickelson drop a remarkable tee shot onto the green that spun back 20 feet to set up his first birdie of his first-round 67 (his round started on the 11^th hole).

• Valuable new knowledge gained today (after spotting my uniform with what I thought would be unremovable cherry water ice stains while restocking the ice cream cooler): Chefs’ coats are double-breasted for a practical reason—it’s the fastest and most effective way to “clean” them, simply by rebuttoning the other way.

About 200 trees will be replaced at three Fort Wayne, Ind., golf courses in celebration of their anniversaries, the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel reported.

The oldest, Foster Golf Course, is celebrating its 85th year in business. McMillen Golf Course and Shoaff Golf Course have been in operation for 55 and 50 years, respectively, the News-Sentinel reported.

“It’s pretty special to have three separate facilities that have survived all these years,” said Rick Hemsoth, PGA professional and manager of golf operations for the Fort Wayne Parks Department.

The Fort Wayne courses are in good shape, Hemsoth said, considering that thousands of golf courses nationwide have closed during the last 10 years, the News-Sentinel reported.

“For it to have survived all these years is a tribute to the public support of golf in this area,” Hemsoth said.

And while the courses have remained open, they have lost a number of ash trees to the emerald ash borer beetle in recent years. Al Moll, director of Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation, said between the golf courses and parks in Fort Wayne, about 4,000 trees were lost in the last four years, the News-Sentinel reported.

About 1,000 have been replaced so far, Moll said, with the rest to be replaced over the next decade. Most of the diseased trees were planted in the early ’80s, Hemsoth said, though because a variety of types were planted then, the courses did not lose all their trees, the News-Sentinel reported.

The loss of natural greenery is why the department is making a commitment to plant 85, 55 and 50 trees at Foster, McMillen Park and Shoaff, respectively. It’s also a way for the department to celebrate the three courses’ legacy in the community, Moll said.

Maple, oak and hickory trees will be among the variety planted. Funding for the project will come from department reserves built up from golf activities. Additionally, the three courses will also lower their prices for one day only — Sunday, June 23, the News-Sentinel reported.

In celebration of the various milestones, prices for 18 walking holes of golf will reflect the anniversary year of the course. Costs will be $8.50 for 18 walking holes at Foster Park, $5.50 at McMillen Park and $5 at Shoaff Park. Carts and any additional services will cost extra, the News-Sentinel reported.

Golfers aren’t able to reserve a tee time for these one-day deals until Sunday, a week before the event. Additionally, there will be a raffle, the winner of which will receive a free membership for the remainder of this year, the News-Sentinel reported.