Bill and Patty Galloway, the co-owners of Dutch Hollow Country Club, know how much their golfers love hearing updates about the course.
"We send a newsletter to our members who spend the winter in Florida," Bill said. "They really enjoy it because they like to know what's going on here and what they can look forward to when they come back."
Dutch Hollow, which is open to the public, has made improvements that Galloway said players familiar with his Owasco track would notice quickly.
Meanwhile, Highland Park Golf Club has major renovations planned over the next two years, and Auburn Golf and Country Club is hoping get more use out of a par-5 on its front side - giving players a bit more variety.
For the past three years, Bill Galloway, who is also director of golf operations at Dutch Hollow, has had overgrown trees and willows pruned and cleared away.
This season, there are more open areas to the right and left of the uphill third hole, a 334-yard par-4, and to the left on the dogleg 12th hole, a par-4 measuring 375 yards.
"We did it for two reasons," Galloway said. "First, to give golfers more room to play, and also to expose those pretty areas along the brook. It looks so much better with the trees trimmed."
Players who hook their iron shots off the tee on the tricky 12th now have a chance to punch their next shot through an opening to get across the brook. Before the changes, "you'd be in jail if you got it too far to the left" as Galloway so succinctly put it and golfers know only too well.
On the 15th hole, a 578-yard par-5, Dutch Hollow is adding an oval bunker some 260 to 275 yards out on the left corner of the rough.
That, Galloway said, could keep skilled players from cutting the corner en route to a shorter second shot.
The bunker, set for completion in two weeks, will frame the hole and emphasize the expanse of fairway that actually exists there.
Highland Park, with head pro Steve Spinney and his new assistant, Joe Lynch (from the Watkins Glen area), begins renovations in June.
Larger tees will be constructed on the course's front nine, while that nine's cart paths will be blacktopped. A new drainage system for the entire course will also be installed.
Mike Loberg, in his eighth year as greens superintendent, said that as a rule it should take two or three weeks to complete each new tee box. The club hopes to have everything done by the end of the season.
"We need new grass to be grown and put to sleep for the winter," said Loberg, the onsite supervisor for the project. "We could finish everything in two or three months, but it all depends on the weather."
Next year, Highland Park plans to rework the 10th, 11th and 14th greens, which will increase available pin placements and make the putting surfaces more level, Spinney said.
The semi-private Franklin Street Road club is open to the public weekdays and after 2 p.m. on weekends, but players must call for tee-times.
At AG&CC, co-owner Gary Gauthier will use the alternative third hole, a 510-yard par-5, more often.
Built in the early 1990s, the hole spreads out to the left along a pond, as opposed to the original straightaway 380-yard par-4.
"It is probably the prettiest part of the whole course, with the water on the left," said Gauthier, whose club is open to the public. "And there isn't a par-5 on the front side, so that hole makes things more interesting."
Gauthier said the "newer" hole was used at times last year. Members have expressed a desire to use it even more, and he will grant their wishes.
Al Doan, an AG&CC member for the past six years, welcomes the change.
"It's a good idea to use that hole more," he said. "It definitely offers a challenge. I like the par-4 that is there also, but playing a par-5 adds a lot to the front nine."
Dutch Hollow, which is open to the public, has made improvements that Galloway said players familiar with his Owasco track would notice quickly.
Meanwhile, Highland Park Golf Club has major renovations planned over the next two years, and Auburn Golf and Country Club is hoping get more use out of a par-5 on its front side - giving players a bit more variety.
For the past three years, Bill Galloway, who is also director of golf operations at Dutch Hollow, has had overgrown trees and willows pruned and cleared away.
This season, there are more open areas to the right and left of the uphill third hole, a 334-yard par-4, and to the left on the dogleg 12th hole, a par-4 measuring 375 yards.
"We did it for two reasons," Galloway said. "First, to give golfers more room to play, and also to expose those pretty areas along the brook. It looks so much better with the trees trimmed."
Players who hook their iron shots off the tee on the tricky 12th now have a chance to punch their next shot through an opening to get across the brook. Before the changes, "you'd be in jail if you got it too far to the left" as Galloway so succinctly put it and golfers know only too well.
On the 15th hole, a 578-yard par-5, Dutch Hollow is adding an oval bunker some 260 to 275 yards out on the left corner of the rough.
That, Galloway said, could keep skilled players from cutting the corner en route to a shorter second shot.
The bunker, set for completion in two weeks, will frame the hole and emphasize the expanse of fairway that actually exists there.
Highland Park, with head pro Steve Spinney and his new assistant, Joe Lynch (from the Watkins Glen area), begins renovations in June.
Larger tees will be constructed on the course's front nine, while that nine's cart paths will be blacktopped. A new drainage system for the entire course will also be installed.
Mike Loberg, in his eighth year as greens superintendent, said that as a rule it should take two or three weeks to complete each new tee box. The club hopes to have everything done by the end of the season.
"We need new grass to be grown and put to sleep for the winter," said Loberg, the onsite supervisor for the project. "We could finish everything in two or three months, but it all depends on the weather."
Next year, Highland Park plans to rework the 10th, 11th and 14th greens, which will increase available pin placements and make the putting surfaces more level, Spinney said.
The semi-private Franklin Street Road club is open to the public weekdays and after 2 p.m. on weekends, but players must call for tee-times.
At AG&CC, co-owner Gary Gauthier will use the alternative third hole, a 510-yard par-5, more often.
Built in the early 1990s, the hole spreads out to the left along a pond, as opposed to the original straightaway 380-yard par-4.
"It is probably the prettiest part of the whole course, with the water on the left," said Gauthier, whose club is open to the public. "And there isn't a par-5 on the front side, so that hole makes things more interesting."
Gauthier said the "newer" hole was used at times last year. Members have expressed a desire to use it even more, and he will grant their wishes.
Al Doan, an AG&CC member for the past six years, welcomes the change.
"It's a good idea to use that hole more," he said. "It definitely offers a challenge. I like the par-4 that is there also, but playing a par-5 adds a lot to the front nine."
