[Bill Gayne]

The attached article was just posted on the WSJ website

The Golf-Course Doctor Is In
After years of 'improvements,' prominent clubs
around the country are restoring their original designs
By JOHN PAUL NEWPORT
October 28, 2006

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116199022249506583.html?mod=home_we_banner_left

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bill,

Thanks for posting the article.

What TEPaul, myself and others have been trying to get across to others, is how hard it is to get a membership behind and commited to a restoration project, especially when so many want a modernization project.

I wish Gil, George and all of those involved with restoration projects the best of luck.

[Bill Gayne]

Pat,

I think the article is important in your efforts to "get a membership behind and commited to a restoration project." The text of the article isn't so important but the publication source. By being published in the WSJ it will reach many more members of Sleepy Hollow and similar club memberships than if it was published in Golf Week. (Not to bash GolfWeek but it doesn't have the general audience reach of the WSJ.) Despite the WSJ being primarily a business publication it has a huge amount of influence on matters beyond business.

As to the possible impact of this website and the commitment of a handful of particpants, I found the following comment on the slideshow of particular interest:

"The 15th hole at the Yale Golf Course. Renovations in the 1950s to make the course easier eliminated some of the course's distinctive features.

Some critics have said that a recent restoration by Roger G. Rulewich didn't go far enough in reclaiming the original design."

 

[brad_miller]

Good article as the text goes, but did the author have to include Yale as if this restoration project is anything like the thought and quality going on at Sleepy Hollow. The comments that relate to the club champ at Sleepy are particuarly telling and positive.

Yale should be given credit for hiring a first rate super and letting him run, but the underlying restoration? project is nothing like what it could have been. (can be)

[Dean Paolucci]

The restoration process we did was organized, coordinated, and choreographed.  We distributed tons of written material such as existing conditions, recommendations, and the Master Plan.  We systematically exposed every objector and objection to the restoration by a series of town meetings.  This included members with a vote and those without.  Those without were certainly influencers for those that had a vote.  After the objectors and objections were identified, we campaigned individually to respond to their concerns.  The process was long and painstaking.  Almost a year in total.  The whole process of selecting an architect, contractor, Committee, Master Plan, etc, took around three years to complete.  In the end we had a 96% affirmative vote.  It was not without its detractors but, we did not schedule the vote until we had the necessary votes for success.

[TEPaul]

Patrick;

You think it's really hard to get memberships to buy into restoration projects but I don't.

The difference between us is simply our different techniques in dealing with club memberships.

You are inherently mean and nasty with them, accussing them of being idiots who are not even allowed to have an opinion on anything.

I'm the opposite. I'm very friendly and accomodating with them and I ask them to tell me all about their games and stuff. This gets them on my side remarkably well. I then very calmly explain to them the undeniable logic of a really good restoration project with the appropriate maintenance practices to follow. This entire memberships tend to get if my technique is used.

But at that point if there are any amongst them who remain adverserial or resistant, I very calmly and quietly take the .45 I carry under my jacket out and lay it on the table.  

I'm a true historian, you know, and I'm of the Theodore Roosevelt School of diplomay which is to walk softly but carry a big stick (in this case a big gun). Every club member I've run into seems to understand that if he continues to oppose my calm entreaties on architectural restoration and the Ideal Maintenance Melf he probably won't make it out of the club parking lot alive.

The good news is once a really good restoration is accomplished followed by IMM application, entire memberships tend to love it. If for some odd reason, there happens to be one who doesn't and he complains about it after the fact, I will gun him down right in the middle of the 18th green if need be.

[Patrick_Mucci]

You think it's really hard to get memberships to buy into restoration projects but I don't.

Then why did getting your membership behind your project FAIL the first time around ?

The WSJ article is pretty clear with respect to the difficulties clubs encounter with respect to membership opposition.  
Few like change, many oppose spending money and even fewer like disrupting play.  That all adds up to opposition.  Those three elements exist at every club and have to be dealt with properly.

The project at my club was approved overwhelmingly at the general membership meeting.  Your's was defeated and you club had to scramble to make additional presentations before your membership bought into your project.

Talk is cheap.
Action speaks louder than words.
I got it done, quickly, with overwhelming membership approval
[/color]

The difference between us is simply our different techniques in dealing with club memberships.

You are inherently mean and nasty with them, accussing them of being idiots who are not even allowed to have an opinion on anything.

Not at all, that's just how I view and treat you.  [/color]

I'm the opposite. I'm very friendly and accomodating with them and I ask them to tell me all about their games and stuff. This gets them on my side remarkably well. I then very calmly explain to them the undeniable logic of a really good restoration project with the appropriate maintenance practices to follow. This entire memberships tend to get if my technique is used.

Then how do you explain how my project was passed overwhelmingly by the membership on the first round, while yours met great resistance and was defeated on the first go around ?[/color]

But at that point if there are any amongst them who remain adverserial or resistant, I very calmly and quietly take the .45 I carry under my jacket out and lay it on the table.  

I see that you've finally adopted Tony Soprano's methods.
Remember, you always get more with a kind word,   and a gun,
than just a kind word.

By the way, I do know of a fellow who handled his divorce negotiations as you describe.[/color]

I'm a true historian, you know, and I'm of the Theodore Roosevelt School of diplomay which is to walk softly but carry a big stick (in this case a big gun). Every club member I've run into seems to understand that if he continues to oppose my calm entreaties on architectural restoration and the Ideal Maintenance Melf he probably won't make it out of the club parking lot alive.

The good news is once a really good restoration is accomplished followed by IMM application, entire memberships tend to love it. If for some odd reason, there happens to be one who doesn't and he complains about it after the fact, I will gun him down right in the middle of the 18th green if need be.

TE, I tend to agree, once a well done project is completed, everyone wants to take credit for it, or, say that they were always behind it. [/color]

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bill Gayne,

I agree, I think the exposure was terrific.

The WSJ's audience is broader than GCA.com's or Golfweek's.
The WSJ reaches the membership, where as GCA.com and Golfweek only reach a select segment of the membership.

The article was great publicity for restorations and architecture.

[Adam Clayman]

Congrats to George Bahto on the promotion.

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