March 2023 Newsletter

March 2023

The 2023 Season is upon us!

Welcome to Thousand Acres Golf Club

Dear Members, The 2023 Season is upon us! The golf course will be open this Thursday March 30, 2023. In regards to the back nine, we will follow the same schedule as last fall, available to members only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; we have just a bit more work to do to get the back nine ready for everyday play. And that will all happen by May 15, 2023. That’s right, the official Grand Opening of our 18-Hole Championship Golf Course will be on May 15, 2023. We are beyond excited to move on from the Best Nine Hole Course at Deep Creek Lake to the Best New Championship Course in all of Maryland. We will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony and a golf event to celebrate the grand opening. Look for details to follow soon. There will also be a full golf calendar available in the next newsletter, as we continue to expand our events. In addition to the grand opening, we have a lot of excitement planned for the coming season. We continue to improve our golf shop operations, with the completion of our cart building, and relocating the golf shop for a more streamlined golfing experience, but also in preparations for construction of a club house. We are still in the design phase but are optimistic to begin the permitting and contractor selection phase soon. I also want to thank you all for helping us complete our membership document process this spring. This has been a long tedious process that we are ecstatic to be wrapping up. We hope you found the process acceptable, but please do contact us on ways we can improve moving forward. If you have not completed your Membership Agreement and Dues Agreement, we ask that you try to do so as soon as possible. And finally, we have some exciting news regarding our growing team. We have added a Director of Golf to help lead our golf shop operation. Craig Yutzy comes to us with a wealth of experience and will be a tremendous asset to the operation and our members. Fortunately for all of us, Scott Gonder will continue in his role as Head Golf Professional. The next chance you get, please stop by and welcome Craig to Thousand Acres.

With best wishes,

Bob Raley
General Manager

CRAIG YUTZY , DIRECTOR OF GOLF

An Introduction to Craig…

Members, my name is Craig Yutzy and I am the new Director of Golf at Thousand Acres Golf Club. I grew up in Meyersdale, PA which is about 30 miles from our course. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Accounting and Economics. From the early age of 12, I’ve loved the game of golf. Since 1995, I’ve been a Class A member of the PGA. I began my professional career at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Most recently, I was the GM/Golf Professional at Latrobe Elks Golf Club in Pennsylvania.

I’ve made Deep Creek my home. The area suits my interests of golfing, boating, and hiking. I’m proud to be a part of the vision for Thousand Acres to provide a premiere golf experience for the new or seasoned golfer. I have 2 beautiful daughters, and I’ve recently become a grandfather. I look forward to instilling a love for the sport in the next generation as my own father did with me.

Learn more about Craig and our team

TOM HARSHBERGER , GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT

April usually marks the beginning of the golf season in most colder climates. We are preparing for the golf season and starting to clean up the playing surfaces. There is a lot of debris down from the wind and storms and the first task is to clean up the debris to enable us to get out and mow. Once we dry down enough, we will get out and start mowing the playing surfaces.

Since we experienced a mild winter with less snow, some may ask what does that mean for the golf course. Think of snow as one big protective blanket. Without snow cover, one thing that golf course managers worry about is winter desiccation. Desiccation is wind-blown death to the turfgrass plant. Although we had some snow cover there was some mild desiccation but not enough to worry us.

As you may be aware, finding help in this area is quite difficult even before you factor in the pandemic. In turn, we have to supplement our labor force with some extra labor from Mexico. We are lucky enough to be granted H2B visas through the Department of Labor. We have a great group of hard-working folks coming soon and we are very fortunate to be able to host this group. Please say hello or hola on your way around the course when you come across the staff.

It’s going to be a very busy golf season and we are ready to have all 18 holes open for play. There are still a lot of moving parts to work around this season and we are looking forward to great a year at TAGC.

When you play your next round, please be sure to fix ball marks on greens, rake bunkers and replace divots. I look forward to seeing everyone out on the course very soon.

SCOTT GONDER,GOLF PRO

As promised, we are expanding our golf calendar this year to include member only events, 9-hole leagues, a local pro event, and a few outings. Our first official outing ever will take place on June 23, 2023, Putt for Pets Golf in support of HART for Animals.

Please consider supporting this event. And as promised, look for details on the Opening Day event soon.

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