Dear Bois de Sioux Golfers:

When I said to the Board and Dustin that I’d like to draft a mid-year letter to our golfers, I had unanimous direction that my letter couldn’t be longer than one page.  So the following is what you get.

In no particular order, here are some of the things that have happened so far this year: we secured the financing and hired a nationally known golf construction firm to completely replace our irrigation system (work begins late August); the City has plans to cement the gravel roadway that borders the levee leading to the clubhouse (work also begins late August); we secured new bunker rakes, designed and used a new logo, bought new flagsticks, flags and putting green cups and flags; we will be adding and replacing sand in all our bunkers in the next few weeks; Jake punched our greens, fringes and other areas of the course and the greens are immaculate; trees have been trimmed and taken out; new flags dot the range to help with short game practice; our courtyard has been cemented and in the next few weeks, a short wall, landscaping and lighting will be added; our new hitting mats are installed and will soon start to be used on a regular schedule; in the next few weeks a new practice bunker just to the west of the clubhouse will be built; a very successful advertising program has been implemented with commercial signage appearing on all our rental carts, our drink cart, and new hole sponsors have signed onto some of our hole markers; on July 14, the North Dakota Golf Association ratings team will be here to re-rate our course (course and slope ratings for all four tee markers for both men and women); the ratings team will be using new yardages calibrated to the inch by the survey crew from NDSCS; new colored tee markers have been painted and installed with grey senior tees placed in new, better positions; more ropes and signs are being used to keep golfers away from greens, slopes and areas where the course could be damaged by too much traffic; we bought a ranger sign that is attached to one of our carts and you’ve undoubtedly noticed rangers from the shop crew cruising our course to ensure our rules are being enforced (no sixsomes please, stay off slopes like the north side of number 8 green and the number 8 tee box, stay 30 feet from greens, etc.); new 150 markers with flags denoting pin positions are on the course; the hedge near the number 8 tee box will be taken out and the area will be used more and more as a tee box; tee boxes are being re-worked and redesigned (such as the new elongated box on 18); revised website and communications ability; new camera to regulate the 10 tee box; magnetic white boards in the hallway and grille room; gift card promotion; new scorecards are coming after the re-rating is finished; we have a plan to till up and replant better grass on the hitting area of the range with the work to get started in early fall; with the assistance of Duininck Golf (sprinkler people) we hope to do some drainage work in various trouble spots later in the year; older, unsightly split rail fencing has been eliminated; weeds have been sprayed; the course is being mowed on a regular basis with new machinery promoting a better height; some fairways have been widened; our greens are running around 9-10 on the stimpmeter; throughout the year and this winter, we will be working on a master plan to prioritize and cost estimate projects; donations totaling over $65,000 were received which made possible many of the purchases and things we’ve accomplished; we hope to someday replace the existing stairs leading to the pro shop and grille room; we have an equipment replacement plan to ensure that our greens crew has decent equipment to work with.  Oops, I’m near the end of the page.  We’ve done much more that I could include in this letter, but I ran out of room.  Thanks to our great pro shop and grille room staff, greens crew, Dustin, Jake, Dan Julson, Carla Broadland, invaluable City Council assistance, volunteer expertise (Amanda Fisher, Kevin Shannon, Barry Burchill, NDSCS, Comstock Construction, Scott’s Electric and others) and our great board,  – they’ve made all this happen.

Fred Strege, President (PS our finances are in good shape – keep all fingers and toes crossed)