Another new member

[Chris DeToro]

I've been on the board for the past few months, but I don't think I ever took the time to introduce myself...

This site has been a fixture of my life for the past several years and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to participate in the lively discourse and banter on all of my favorite topics, but mainly the game of golf.  Having grown up around the world with a father in the military, I actually really got into the game while a high school sophomore living in Germany.  We moved a lot at this time, always during the summer, so they were typically pretty lonely until school started and I could start to meet new people.  So most of the time I made my way to the course on base and spent my days there, playing and practicing basically from dawn to dusk.  My dad got into the game around the same time I did, so we basically caught the bug together.    

Living in Europe, and in a family that loves to travel, I was exposed to some great courses at a very early stage--one of the first real golf trips I took was a trip to Scotland in high school during which we played The Old Course, Carnoustie and Royal Aberdeen.  I've continued this throughout the rest of my life, attending college in a golf-rich area of southern Virginia, studying abroad at the University of St Andrews (where I mostly just toured the country playing), and making a point of playing and visiting the best courses in the world at every possibility.  

I currently live in Battle Creek MI where I work in market research for a large cereal company.  Battle Creek is also now known as the site of the upcoming new show from Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad fame (so maybe this town has seen better days ).  My home course is Battle Creek CC, a 1919 Willie Park Jr design.  I'm going on two years straight of posting 100+ rounds in a region where the golf season lasts a mere 7 months and my handicap has maintained around 5 for the last several years.  

I would list Royal County Down, The Old Course, Prairie Dunes, Pebble Beach and Inverness among my all-time favorites.  My quest at the moment, beyond aspirations of playing the top 100, is discovering the lost and/or hidden gems around the country.  In the southwest Michigan area alone, there are several gems that have been forgotten and abused which, frankly, upsets me.  

But I look forward to participating on the board, discussing our collective passion for the game and hopefully getting to meet many of you.  

Chris

[Matthew Sander]

Chris,

I look forward to meeting you next Saturday. I think that you and my wife probably receive paychecks from the same entity...small world!

Do you have any quick thoughts regarding your home course? I think that Tom Doak recently proclaimed Battle Creek CC as a mighty big surprise, or something to that effect.  

[Chris DeToro]

Hey Matt, I look forward to it as well--are we on for Saturday or Sunday?  I thought it was Saturday, so hope I didn't get my dates mixed up because I can't make it Sunday...

So do you live in the Elmhurst area?    That should lead to some good off-golf topic discussion as well...

We were very excited to have Tom Doak stop by last summer and make a nice mention of us in Golf Magazine.  I'm on the greens committee as well and we were very thrilled to get this mention as we do feel we have the best course in this area, but lose membership as most people who work in Battle Creek tend not to live in Battle Creek for various reasons.  

Golf course wise, I think most would say we're a little short tipping out at just over 6,900 yards but we're defined by the size, speed and slope of our greens.  Many of our greens are severely sloped and our super likes to push the limit in terms of speed especially given the slope of many of the greens.  Certain pin locations have actually been "lost" over the years because they're too severe at those speeds.  But we've hosted many qualifiers over the years and even with the lack of length, it always proves to be a tough challenge to the best players in the world (Dustin Johnson played the US Open qualifier here in the early 2000s) and I believe medalist during the last state am qualifier we had last year was only 71 (-1).  We also just wrapped up a tree removal and bunker and I'm working to get some before/after pictures of that work to post as well.  

[Matthew Sander]

Chris,

Oops, I meant Saturday...

It sounds like you have some pretty exciting things underway at BCCC, I look forward to seeing any before/afters that you post.

[PCCraig]

Welcome Chris! It looks like you'll fit right in around here.

Battle Creek CC looks pretty neat from what I can see on Google Maps. From above, it reminds me of a Willie Park, Jr. routing here in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis GC. I hope you post pictures as I would like to see what it looks like from the ground.

Who did the bunker work? What was the extent of the tree removal?

And, what is your favorite Bell's beer?

[Chris DeToro]

I've been promised before/after pictures from our super who is currently busy tidying things up for the end of the season, so it'll be a month or so before I can post anything...unfortunately I didn't take any pics myself.  

Bruce Hepner, an associate of Tom Doak's, did all of the work.  He's been working with the club for many years and developed our master plan.  The tree removal has been extensive and on-going for several years, even prior to my arrival at the club (I've been in the area and a member for the past 3 years), but I believe this fall is the last major piece of the process.  I guess back in the 70s, there was a push for trees, so a lot of poor quality trees were planted to frame some of the holes.  Now those shoddy trees are either diseased, overgrowing into fairways and just generally presenting a lot of issues.  They've also taken away some of the great sightlines we had across the property.  I think we've taken down over 50 trees in the past 5 years.  

Arcadia brewing located directly in Battle Creek actually brews a special beer, I believe primarily for us, called the Willie Park Pale Ale.  We've got it on tap in the grill room  

[Andrew Buck]

at the club (I've been in the area and a member for the past 3 years), but I believe this fall is the last major piece of the process.  I guess back in the 70s, there was a push for trees, so a lot of poor quality trees were planted to frame some of the holes.

Funny you mention this.  I was just commenting in an e-mail yesterday that we finally received consensus to remove about 40 arborvitae trees from the course.  For those that aren't familiar, arborvitae's are the long skinny evergreen "bushes" that devour a ball and have no place on a golf course.  For an added bonus, deer like to feast on leaves nearest the ground creating a rounded top that leaves a tree that is decidedly phallic in appearance.

Why were these planted in the first place?  "Trees are good, and these were free".  It amazes me how easily they went onto the course 20 years ago, because they were free, and how much work it was to get them down.  

[Andrew Buck]

at the club (I've been in the area and a member for the past 3 years), but I believe this fall is the last major piece of the process.  I guess back in the 70s, there was a push for trees, so a lot of poor quality trees were planted to frame some of the holes.

Welcome Chris!

Funny you mention this.  I was just commenting in an e-mail yesterday that we finally received consensus to remove about 40 arborvitae trees from the course.  For those that aren't familiar, arborvitae's are the long skinny evergreen "bushes" that devour a ball and have no place on a golf course.  For an added bonus, deer like to feast on leaves nearest the ground creating a rounded top that leaves a tree that is decidedly phallic in appearance.

Why were these planted in the first place?  "Trees are good, and these were free".  It amazes me how easily they went onto the course 20 years ago, because they were free, and how much work it was to get them down.  

[Chris DeToro]

It's funny how that happens...but even if the trees were good trees, they still don't belong there!!

[Jon Wiggett]

Welcome to the group Chris.

[Jim Tang]

Welcome Chris.  Looking forward to meeting you next Saturday.