Joint_2-3-2015 - West Bend Lakes

Volume III, Issue II, November 2015
And then there were three...
On The Inside:
Page 1: Membership Changes
Page 2: Camelot’s 2015 In Review
Page 3: Improvements at Camelot in 2015
membership
programs CHANGE
Page 3: WBL’s Gift Certificate Special
Page 4: Camelot Members Party Set
Page 5: Adios to Paul Ley
Page 6: Adios (cont.)
Page 6. Changes to Horicon Hills
Page 7L New Years Eve at WBL’s
Page 7: Kay Shaffer Retirement Party
Page 8: Tom Set for Surgery
Page 8: Bridge Rises at WBL”s
DRASTICALLY IN 2016!
The Merkel Family is proud to announce a radical
change in the 2016 membership program at all 3 family
owned courses. Basically, what that means is that you
will be receiving golf privileges at 3 courses for the price
of one. What a great way to make your recreation dollar
stretch farther. We have eliminated the reciprocal fee
for our members when playing at Camelot, Horicon Hills
or West Bend Lakes Golf Clubs.
Simply, if you have a weekday membership at one course and want to play during the week at one of the other two courses, all you have to do is make a tee time
with your membership number. You and any applicable players in your tee time will be
asked to present their membership cards when checking in. The same process is true
for full members except that they will be able to play on any day of the week.
There are of course some procedures which must be followed:

Be sure you have made the tee time at the proper course

Golf cart memberships do not transfer from one course to another
Page 2
CAMELOT’S 2015 “YEAR IN REVIEW”
scary
into a more relaxing lifestyle at the
around here with the Adams’ Family
lake and will be enjoying her time
winning two of our Club Tourna-
away from the rigorous schedule she
ments.
Congratulations go out to
has maintained here over the past 15
our 2015 Club Champion, Adam Ha-
years. We will miss her around here!
It
has
been
a
little
drian, his second title in a row. Con-
grats, as well, to Adam Haese, our
Match Play Champion, who defeated
Ron Cole in the finals. We would also
like
to
Weekday
welcome
our
Member
newest
Mark
Scharschmidt who won the membership at this year’s Royalty Outing.
We are not sure how he is related
yet…
As many of you noticed we
have made a significant number of
changes this years in all aspects of
the business. Thank you for sticking
with us as we all adapt to new roles
and get new employees acquainted
with our customers. We want to welcome Sarah Duff, as she will be taking a full time position with us to coordinate weddings and banquets. If
Keep an eye out for the league
you or anyone you know wants to
Once
book a catered event, give Sarah a
these dates are set, they will be
call and she will be happy to walk
posted on the league boards at Cam-
you through the process.
meeting dates and times.
elot, on our website and emailed
through the imagolfer.com system.
If you are a league player, be sure to
update your email on this system as
it will be the best way to communicate all league news.
If you have
any suggestions or concerns, the only time to make changes is at these
meetings.
So please be sure to at-
tend.
There is a rumor that Pat and
Lee were burying all of our troublesome customers in the new mound
we are putting between 6 and 15.
The truth is we are covering up the
stump of the old oak tree that fell
earlier this year, although, Pat has
been tempted to bury Lee in the
mound as well. As always, hats off
to Pat and his crew who continue to
When you happen to see Kay,
keep the course in great shape with
thank her for all of her service and
their dedication, knowledge and loy-
dedication to Camelot.
alty.
She is mov-
Page 3
Page 2
CAMELOT PROJECTS FOR 2015/16

Extended cart path on #16 (to
help when course is wet

Rework grass bunker on #5

Planted more trees and removed
WEST BEND LAKES
GIFT CERTIFICATES
NOW AVAILABLE
dead ones

Started repair of cart path on #8
to be completed next year

Added sand to traps on #11

Enhanced waterfall on #9

Purchased new equipment at a
cost of $60k

Plans to replace bev cart in 2016
for $15k

New program for cart replacement to begin in 2016 $270k

New electrical efficiency monitoring system installed $30k

Purchased sidewinder for cutting
hills $35k

4 year Tee program to aerate and
sand all tee boxes

Additional $10k outsourced chemical application in addition to our
annual program

Thanks Pat/Crew for a great job

Thank you for being a member!
WITH a BONUS
GIFT…
JUST FOR YOU!
Page 4
Page 5
~~~Our very own O’LEY is saying GRACIAS and
ADIOS to West Bend Lakes~~~
As most of you know, “The
Lakes” very own Paul Ley, has taken a new position with Cleveland
Golf/ Srixon / XXIO.
He has be-
come the sales person for Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan for them, and began on
August 1st.
You may have still
seen him around, though, as he
Paul with his sons Nicholas and Ryan and wife Kira, spending an
evening at the race track. The boys love golf and race cars!
has committed to helping us finish
the outing and special event sea-
built his first set of clubs at age 11, and
son of 2015 (multi-tasking to the
began fitting golfers for custom clubs at
Nth degree!)
age 12. Paul actually started out at The
We first want to thank Paul
for his many years of service and
his invaluable skills in assisting
Chris in both the daily and special
operations of West Bend Lakes for
the past 8+ years. To say Paul will
be missed is an understatement.
But we are proud that he has taken
his
natural
skills
plus
the
knowledge he has developed here
and advanced himself. We are al-
Lakes in 2001, assisting with the junior
golf program, after hosting a similar
program at UW-Parkside with fellow
teammates. He made his first foray into golf equipment sales as an independent representative of Phantom Golf, a
company specializing
in wedges,
in
2005. He had a small display inside of
his parent’s appliance store, and fit customers for refrigerators as well as
wedges.
ways proud when an employee
After the junior program conclud-
betters him or herself and takes
ed in the summer of 2007 2007, Chris
the next big step in their career.
Merkel was in a bind for part-time pro
shopworker.
(cont. on page 6)
Page 6
From Page 5 Adios Oley
Paul’s parents had since gotten out of the appliance business, and Paul was working for a
company that operated both the Milwaukee
and Madison Golf Tours, and he was open to
the idea of staying in the golf business but
closer to home. Chris made him an offer that
most would refuse, but Paul was happy to be
on board! Paul’s first day on the job was for
the Concordia Football Fundraiser, and he
spent most of it in the KITCHEN, as our staff
was short-handed that day...which also says a
lot about Paul, that he would gladly do the dirty
work whenever needed.
Paul has been a part of the family at
West Bend Lakes since the first time he played
here in 1987 when his family moved to town. I
know that he is very proud of what we have
grown here since then, and he’s also proud to
have been a part of that growth for the past 8+
years as well.
In his new position, Paul is an independent representative with Cleveland/Srixon, and
is able to represent other complimentary golf
equipment lines. He has also recently signed
to represent Bermuda Sands Apparel, as well
as Team Effort, a company specializing in
NCAA, NFL, and NHL logoed accessories.
Hopefully with Pauls’ new job he will
have more time for his growing family. His wife
Kira, sons Nicholas (4 1/2) and Ryan (2 1/2)
are certainly looking forward to more consistent
family time….and with baby #3 on the way,
he’s trying to figure out a way to reserve tee
times for fivesomes on our tee sheet! Congratulate Paul and his family on all of their fantastic
changes when you see them!
CHANGES AT
HORICON HILLS!
Our major emphasis has been improving the entire irrigation system. Starting in the
pump house, new pumps and computers were
installed. The two worn out 20 horse pumps
were replaced with 40 and 60 horse motors.
State of the art computer and control panels
are also in place. About 25% of all the pipes
are presently replaced along with new valves.
The remainder of pipes will be finished next
year. Over 300 new heads have already been
purchased and another 300 will be added in
spring. By this time next year the new system
should be completely operational. The original
quote for the system exceeded $500,000. Because of a few good deals and doing much of
the work in-house we finished about 20% under budget.
For safety reasons, we redesigned the
first tee. This created several lower tees and
made the parking lot less in danger of errant
drives off the tee. Nick and the crew also started an extensive tree removal and pruning process that will continue this winter and into next
season.
Several other tees were rebuilt and that
process will continue. With the purchase of
new equipment, carts and building remodeling,
it is projected that we will make nearly 1 million
dollars of improvements over this and the next
2 years.
As true with all our courses, we never
stop making improvements. Be sure to let us
know what you think of our efforts so far.
Page 7
Cruise Director Annie is already making
plans for our upcoming New Year’s Eve Party
at West Bend Lakes. It looks like you all had a
lot of fun with the games we played last year,
so she is working on a selection of new games
to add to her repertoire.
We will be having our fabulous sit down dinner with singles at
$40 and couples at $75. Dress will be casual and we will have the
usual horns, hats and New Year’s champagne toast.
Plan on an evening of fun and games. See Annie, Stacy or Bob
for more information. Reservations must be in by December 15th.
It’s true , kay has retired!
COME JOIN US AT CAMELOT
ON SATURDAY, November 14
AS WE CELEBRATE THE
RETIREMENT OF Former general manager FRIEND, MOM,
AUNT AND ALL AROUND INCREDIBLE person, KAY SHAFFER.
Kay will be there from two until 6 and SHE would be
happy to share her big day with you. Hope to see you
there.
If you have any questions PLEASE call Laura at :
Camelot 920– 269-4949
[email protected]
Page 3
TOM HEADED FOR
SURGERY!
As many of you know, our
superintendent, Tom has been
less prominent at the course
this summer. He has been here
and working, but he has been
spending quite a bit of his time
at the hospital.
Tom contracted a bone infection, which was partially related to his early stages of diabetes. By the time you read this
article,
he
will
have
gone
BRIDGE RISES!
The
well
needed
bridge
through almost 30 treatments in
over the concrete swale on the
a hyperbaric chamber to try to
14th tee was completed earlier
get the infection under control.
this fall. Constructed of steel I
After all that time, and effort,
beams, anchored in concrete
the doctors decided that his big
and using treated 2 x 10’s the
toe must come off to prevent the
structure should last for many
spreading of the infection and he
years to come.
is scheduled for the surgery on
November 13th, at Hartford Hospital.
The bridge will allow players to cross the swale without
hearing the girlish screams of
While it is a day surgery, he
members like Jeff Werner, when
will be laid up for a considerable
they get their feet wet or think
time to allow it to heal.
they see a grass snake.