Hello Twin Lakes!
Well, we’ve made it through the year of January. The sun is rising earlier and setting later and soon we’ll be done with frost delays and back to mud. I appreciate John and Kathy making prudent decisions with the golf course to ensure it’s in great shape once the weather improves. Thanks to all of you golfers for your flexibility with tee times.
The Board met early this month since I had to be out of the country at the Nuremberg Toy Fair (a dream come true!) and minutes have been distributed. The Board and Committee Chairs met on January 18th to set goals for the 2025 year, hear results of the member survey and work on the strategic plan. Sincere thanks to Clint Smith for executing the survey, compiling the results and penning our preliminary strategic plan. Our overarching goals haven’t changed much, the golf course, finances and membership continue to be our main focus. Once the Board approves the 2025-2027 strategic plan, it will be shared with the membership.
The Board voted to approve families with children under 21 sitting in the upper part of the lounge through April 30th on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I hope you take advantage of a night off from cooking during the week to come to the club.
Twin Lakes Staff and the Social Committee are working hard to schedule fun activities during these cold and dark months. We held another trivia night in the lounge a couple of weeks ago and had a fantastic turnout with overflow into the dining room! Get your RSVP in for the Valentine’s Day dinner soon, seating is limited! The Social Committee is working on plans for a February Bingo night, a March Oscars watch party and has just announced a charcuterie class in March – did you see the awesome boards for sale? Stay at the club to enjoy your creation at a wine tasting immediately following the class. These events are a great way to get to know your fellow club members and are a lot of fun. I hope we see you at the club!
Sincerely,
Erika
Happy February Everyone!
It was a difficult January of weather and course conditions, and I want to thank everyone for their understanding as we have had to adjust the course openings. I am so grateful for the knowledge and professionalism of our Greens Superintendent, John Leslie, who has helped us determine the best decisions daily to help protect our golf course while considering the desires of the membership. We know the impact of closing the golf course and we hope you all know how much thought goes into making that decision. I also want to praise Kathy and Ben for their detailed and timely member communications through this winter. We are truly lucky to have this team of professionals, both in the shop and on the course.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Wine Tasting on Thursday, January 30th. It was very exciting to have a full dining room! Thank you to Matt Howland and his team at NW Beverage, who were kind enough to host the event for us again. It was a success on all levels! Our in-house wine expert, John Crallie, selected a great list of wines for members to sample, resulting in over 12 cases of wine sold. The next event will be Saturday, March 22nd. Even if wine isn’t your drink of choice, don’t let that stop you from attending! It is a great social event, and all of your friends would love to see you there!
Please keep an eye out for emails from Janel regarding upcoming events. With the help of the Social Committee, the calendar is full of wonderful opportunities to come to the club and enjoy time with friends. Hope to see you all there!
Birthdays
Anniversaries
Hello Everyone!!
As we enter the month of February 2025 looks promising as we start out with Punxsutawney Phil predicting six more weeks of winter. So, cross your fingers that Buckeye Chuck is correct, and spring is on its way.
We had to cancel our final Winter Tour Series event on Saturday. With the forecast showing rain, snow, and below freezing temperatures again, the course conditions weren’t the best to put this event on. We thought it would be better for the course in the long run.
Our next event is scheduled for this weekend on Sunday, Feb 9, our 4th Annual Super Bowl Scramble. We still have room for sign ups and should be lots of fun prior to watching the Super Bowl. Entry fee for this event is $55 which includes Kick Off tailgate breakfast burritos, tournament competition, and Nacho Bar afterwards while you watch the game. Guests are invited to play with their $80 entry which includes their green fee. Carts are optional at $17.50 + tax per rider.
We will be having our annual Pro-Am Draw evening planned for February 21st. We are waiting for our selections to come back from the PGA section office. Once we get our allocations, we will send out the notification so that you can plan your Pro Am. For those members new to this program, this Pro-Am allocation draw is an opportunity for our members to travel to local area golf clubs with one of your club professionals and compete against golfers from other clubs. Keep your eye open for an e-blast with the date and specifics concerning the Pro-Am draw. The email blast will contain a link so that you can see the dates/times/courses.
Mark your Calendars for March 8. This is when our Winter 2-person event is scheduled for. 27 holes of golf featuring a best ball, scramble, and chapman format all in a full day of play.
Our 2025 calendar of events is geared towards a busy and fun season of golf at Twin Lakes Country Club. We are currently working with vendors to provide you with individual Fitting Experiences. We will keep you posted to the dates/times as we get closer to spring. We will also have them posted on the membership calendar. Our new inventory for the coming golf season will start arriving throughout the month of March and into April. If you are planning on attending the Seattle Golf Show this next weekend, make sure to get a head start by taking advantage of the hitting bays to try out the 2025 equipment line. Take notes (or pictures) on the product that you are testing and interested in purchasing. We can special order the product for you if it is not in the shop. Our hope is that you make your golf shop your first stop when looking for golf equipment. Try before you buy is always what you want to do.
Every year with the buzz of new equipment, comes the golfing fever. So, when you have a moment, let us look at your equipment to see if you need new grips and/or let us check to make sure that you have the proper grip size on your clubs. This goes for your putter as well. For those members with Scotty Cameron Putters, we have a couple of replacement grips that just arrived. Need to replace the spikes on your shoes? Bring them in as well.
We are also starting to put together our spring lesson schedule. Many have taken advantage of Ben’s winter lesson packages. As we get towards springtime, please know that we are here to help you with your putting, short game, as well as your driver, fairway woods, and hybrids. Have a question or clarification with something you read or watched on the television? Come on in and ask away…. We want to help you understand your swing better.
For the ladies, Kathy is working on “Swing into Summer” 4–5-person group lessons. Click Here to let Kathy know that you are interested in more information regarding these clinics. For the juniors, Ben has finalized the PGA Jr. League (13yrs & under) and has sent out information for sign-ups to last year’s participants. If your junior is interested in this program, Click Here to let Ben know he will get more information to you regarding dates and registration fee. Shortly, we will have information sent out regarding our junior program “Kick Off” and camp dates for 2025.
For those members with private carts, your first half of yearly renewal fees were charged to your account at the end of the year. We will have your 2025 cart stickers in the golf shop for you to pick up in March when the season starts up. The second half of the renewal fee is charged July 1.
For all members who ride, we are trying to get carts onto the golf course as soon as possible. The weather last month didn’t help with the conditions, but we are hoping that the weather will turn to the positive so that we can dry out the course. As those players have noticed with the last few weeks of frost, we haven’t even been able to get our mowers out to cut the grass, let alone change the cups. As soon as we can get our mowers on the fairways, we will have an update to the cart restrictions.
Speaking of golf carts, we are getting our new fleet of rental carts at the end of the month. YEAH! Brand new club cars… Can’t wait…
We would also like to remind everyone once again that during the cold mornings to call the golf shop to make sure that the course, driving range, putting/chipping area are open for use. We still have an opportunity of frost delays during this month. Upon checking into the golf shop prior to starting off, the team will keep you informed of the course conditions and any/all cart restrictions as well as if it is a #1 or #10 tee start. We are doing our best to get emails out to everyone but still need your help in understanding that if you wake up at below 33 degrees outside, we will have a delayed start.
We have a good supply of range balls moving forward so we should only be having to close the range on Monday afternoons from 2:30 – 3:30pm this month to do a clean pick for the week. We still suggest calling ahead for those late afternoon practices to make sure that you are good to go when you get here.
Stay warm and safe! We will see you around the club.
Kathy, Ben, Mikey, Brighton, Miguel, Logan, Aiden, Bruce, Leilah
We have new course ratings starting March 14 when we start posting again. All the tees have been rated for both men and women. Our combo tees have been rated as well. All of the course/slope ratings are below for your review. In addition, we are working on our new scorecards to include these combo tees.
COURSE/SLOPE RATINGS EFFECTIVE MARCH 2025
Tee | M/W | Total | Length | M/W | Total |
Blue | M | 70.7/132 | 6221 | W | 76.6/137 |
Blue/White | M | 70.0/129 | 6027 | W | 75.7/129 |
White | M | 69.3/127 | 5912 | W | 74.9/132 |
White/Green | M | 68.3/121 | 5664 | W | 73.5/131 |
Green | M | 67.6/118 | 5527 | W | 72.7/128 |
Green/Gold | M | 66.6/116 | 5293 | W | 71.7/128 |
Gold | M | 65.9/113 | 5118 | W | 70.5/123 |
The majority of January was dry and cold, until the last week or so. We have had to work around several frost delays and with snow now in the forecast, John and team have taken extra precautions with the greens to help avoid any snow disease. Thank you to everyone for your patience, as we have not been able to play as much golf as we are used to. Thank you to John Leslie and his team for their efforts and continuing to maintain excellent conditions during a challenging time of year.
With some of the frost delays taking away from normal course maintenance duties, John and team were able to turn focus to some other items and remained extremely productive:
We as a committee will continue to work with John and focus on various items. Potential upcoming projects we have discussed:
If you have other ideas you would like the Greens Committee to address, you are always welcome to reach out. For other questions, comments, or concerns please email me at tpac14@gmail.com and I will review with the committee.
Thank you,
Tyler Pac
Committee Chair
The 2025 season will Kick Off on Saturday, March 1st at 12:00 noon with a luncheon! Don’t forget to bring some cash to sign up for Eccy’s and Birdie Club. Our 2025 calendar will be there for you to pick up also. You will be receiving an email to make your reservation. Be watching for that!
All Twin Lakes women golfers who are 18 years or older are welcome to join the Women’s Division.
The 18 Hole group plays on Tuesday mornings from March thru October. There are regular weekly competitions, 3 major tournaments and monthly mixers. Players of all levels are welcome. Members have opportunities to play other private courses in the area through our member associations with SWGA and WSWGA. We welcome all levels of players. Dues are $100.
The 9 Hole group plays in the afternoons March thru September. The 9 Hole division is looking forward to another fun season of laughter, learning and small competitions. We are a group of ladies with a wide range of abilities. From those that have golfing experience and knowledge to true beginners who are wanting to learn. Dues are $70.
Anyone interested in joining or has questions may contact our Membership Chair, Chong Sena, at chong_sena@comcast.net
Our Captain, Frankie Stephens, and committee chairs have been hard at work making plans for the 2025 season. Here are some highlights:
Our Annual Women’s Invitational: May 23rd and 24th
Our 3 Major Tournaments:
Captain’s Cup begins May 25th
President’s Cup begins June 17th
Women’s Division Club Championship is August 5th, 8th and 12th
Washington State Grandmother’s Tournament at Olympia Country & Golf Club June 2nd & 3rd
Guest Day July 31st
Partners Tournament August 19th and 26th.
SWGA City Championship Tournament at Sahalee June 9th thru 12th
WSWGA Sate Championship at Meadow Springs in Kennewick July 21m 22 & 23
WSWGA State Seniors Championship is at Bellingham September 8 and 9
End of the year Horserace October 25th
More information on all of this will be coming your way but now is the time to make your plans and mark your calendars!
Many thanks to these lovely ladies (and one gentleman) who were at the “Undecorating” event!
We are looking forward to seeing all of you on March 1st.
It’s time to start signing up for this year’s Women’s Invitational Golf Tournament. This Invitational is open to all women golfers who meet the handicap requirements below. Entry forms are now available in the women’s locker room.
The entry fee is $210 per person. The dates of this year’s Invitational are May 23-24. The field is limited to 48 teams of two, so get your team together and sign up ASAP. This is a member/guest, guest/guest or member/member Tournament. We are permitting two members to play together, although we highly encourage members to invite guests if possible. This is such a fun tournament and high participation makes it all the more successful. Maximum Handicap index allowed is 38.5 (40 Twin Lakes), with a maximum 10 stroke difference between partners.
Entry fee includes practice round, range balls, 2 tournament rounds, daily payouts, horserace, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, entry into raffle, snacks, appetizers and a fun evening of music. Carts are separate, and the charge is $40 per person for both days.
Questions? Ask any of our committee members:
Frankie Stephens
Denise Harrell
Sally Irvine
January started off with some crowd favorites, including another round of Trivia Night in the Lounge. Teams brought their “A Game” battling through four rounds of categories ranging from easy to truly obscure. (What was the first ever PG-13 Movie?) January’s event had two tie breaker rounds, and when all four rounds were tallied Team Kim Crahan, Jaason Stull, and Karey and Chuck Wolber took the overall prize to defend until next time. Thank you to Erika Sheffield-Stull for hosting. Let your Social Committee know what categories you’d like to see next time! (Answer: 1984’s Red Dawn)
Last week NW Beverage poured seven different wines to a full crowd for our Impromptu Wine Tasting event. Impromptu simply means no reservations required, and no cover charge! We have another event planned for Saturday, March 22nd, starting at 5pm, so mark your calendar.
A new social event is debuting that same Saturday; Charcuterie Class. Reservations are required, and the class runs from 3:30 – 5pm, so you can either take your delicious creation home or you can enjoy it at the free wine tasting immediately after the class.
Watch for more to come on Bingo Nights, and an Oscar Viewing Party, March 2nd.
We are looking forward to growing our list of Social Events in 2025 with your input. If you have considered volunteering on a committee here at Twin Lakes, we would love to have you join us!
Meeting: Second Thursday – 5:30pm
Meeting: When Needed
Meeting: Third Wednesday – 5:30pm
Meeting: Every Other Month
Meeting: Third Thursday
Actively seeking and appointing committee members!
Meeting: Second Wednesday – 6:00 pm
Marlies Scott-Wenzel & Casey Gibson (Chair)
Meeting: Third Tuesday—6:00 pm
Meeting: Wednesday – 6:00 pm
To help promote the game of golf by offering a challenging and beautiful course and other complementary facilities that are affordable, inclusive, and inviting. Provide a thriving comprehensive recreational and social venue offering its members, guests, and community partners exceptional experiences to play, relax and socialize in a tranquil and peaceful environment.