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300 Girdle Road, East Aurora, NY 14052 716-652-6800 www.eastauroracc.com

Message from the President: September 2020

September? Hard to believe, isn’t it. It seems like only yesterday that we were cleaning April’s mud off our balls following those majestic tee shots. August was a busy golf month - Club Championships, Past President’s Day, the Lobster Stag, Senior Guest Day and the Drive for the Cure. We also saw the return of Monday outside events. Through all of this volume, our golf course remains as pristine as ever, our events are run smoothly and professionally, and our food and beverages are delivered safely and deliciously. Many thanks to our management team - Drew, David and Eric - and their hustling staffs. August was also a “project month.” By now I hope you’ve seen the beautiful handrail installed on the stairway up to the patio. Thanks to Drew and former member Chris LaCongo for making this happen. Our gas line installation has now been successfully completed. Again, we owe a debt of gratitude to Joe Perillo and Bryan Smith for their tireless work on this project. And to Drew, who managed to squeeze this in while running a golf course operation. Continued on Page 2

East Aurora Country Club Member Newsletter - September 2020

Board of Directors

Mark Melas 2020

President

Ann Woloszynski 2021

Vice President, & HR

Jon Zach 2021

Treasurer & Finance

James Bodziak 2022

Secretary, House & HR

Bruce Davidson 2022

Grounds & Audit

Rick Dean 2020

Audit & Golf

Kevin Rozo 2021

House & Membership

Matt Hasselback 2020

House & Membership

Sean Sullivan 2022

Finance & Grounds

EACC NEWS

Upcoming Events - Reservations Required

September 2,3: WBDGA-2 Girl

September 3: Closes at 4pm: Whiskey Club Only Event 6pm-9pm

September 7: Labor Day, Clubhouse open at 11am

September 11,12: Harvest Tournament

September 19: Pro Day

September 20: Closed, Towne Ford Outing

Club Hours

September 2020

Sunday: 11am - 6 pm Brunch 11am - 3 pm

Monday: Closed

Tuesday 11 am - 8 pm

Wednesday 11 am - 8 pm

Wine Down 4 pm - 8 pm

Thursday 11 am - 8 pm

Friday 11 am - 8 pm

Reservations Required

Saturday 11 am - 8 pm

Reservations Required

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Message from the President: September 2020 (continued)

If you haven’t noticed, our parking lot has “lotsa” cars in it these days, and that’s a good thing, because our membership level is at a high not seen in many, many years. Our outstanding golf course continues to attract prospective members and David’s presentation of what EACC has to offer turns prospects into new members. I would like to give a warm welcome to all of our new members that have recently joined and say thank you for choosing our wonderful club. You’ll be glad you did. Membership numbers are just part of the good story. Through July, our financials remain positive to budget. With that said, much like we say when we make the turn after a good front nine, there’s still a lot of golf left and man, that back nine is tough. So we will, we must, remain vigilant. Speaking of vigilant, please take a moment next time you are at the club to thank our always vigilant front-line workers: our under-staffed grounds crew who have been doing a terrific job keeping up with the myriad of tasks necessary to deliver a championship product under adverse conditions, our golf shop and bag room staff who follow sanitization protocols and deliver service with efficiency and good humor, our business office team (Sally and Heather) who continue to pound away and keep all the administrative trains on the tracks, and finally our house team (servers, bussers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers) who ensure that your food and beverages are delivered safely and professionally as they smile at us and deliver cheer from behind those masks. Lastly, I’d like to congratulate and recognize Jody Marshall and her Women’s Board for the terrific job they did with their Drive for the Cure Event which benefited the Roswell Park Alliance - a truly worthy cause. Thank you ladies for your hard work. Hey, just because Labor Day is approaching, don’t think the golf season is over. Fall golf at EACC is a wonder to behold. So keep swingin’ till the snow flies, or at least till the leaves start falling. Hope to see you out there. As always, please feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions that you may have: markmelas@gmail.com 716-474-5777

An EACC history "tee-ser"

1915 - The site for the development of the club, had a total area of about 135 acres. Options obtained upon the property would cost $12,000. Existing farm buildings would be used as a place of residence for a caretaker.

Years later, Mrs. Rennie Merritt would reminisce "In the early days, men and women would have stone collecting parties. We'd take picnics, cook steaks over charcoal and wood fires, and dig stones from the fairway".

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News from the Golf Shop:

While plenty has changed in our day to day lives due to COVID-19, one thing that has not changed is how quickly the golf season seems to go. Just like that, August has come and gone and what an incredible month it was for playing golf. Rarely did we have a bad weather day, and plenty of events dotted the calendar. Here is a recap of the month on the golf course.

Our 9 Hole Ladies group conducted their Guest Day on Thursday the 6th. Participation was at an all-time high and a good time was had by all. The victorious team consisted of Marilyn Marky, Donna Almeter, Maura Birdd & Lori Wyman who shot 36 in a step aside scramble to win.

The following evening, August 7th, we hosted another Friday Night Social. The format for this particular social was a mixed 2 of 4. The Marky’s and their guests, Paul & Barbara Jonmaire, fired a net score of 59 to top the field. Another great evening of golf and friends!

The 8th & 9th was Club Championship weekend here at EACC. Due to the impact of COVID on the early portion of the golf calendar, we added the Senior Club Championship to the slate. Participation was again through the roof, so much so that we had to cram everything just to fit it on the scoreboard! Our Men’s Club Champion was Cory Cullen who shot -1 (141) for two days. The Overall Runner Up was Billy Hanes with 143. Our Senior Men’s Club Champion was Jeff Pappalardo who shot 158 and won in a playoff to claim the title. Molly Zittel claimed both the Women’s Club Championship and the Women’s Senior Club Championships by shooting 165 to win by 2 shots. Eric Schleicher was our Junior Club Champion this year with 83. Club Championship flight winners are as follows:

Senior Club Championship flight winners are as follows:

Senior Net - Jay Hoagland - 143

Senior Championship Flight – Dave Manuszewski – 158

Senior First Flight – Bruce Davidson – 166

Senior Second Flight – Dave Finn – 187

Women’s Club Championship flight winners are as follows:

Overall Net – Sherrill Kujawski – 145

Championship Flight – Lori Potter – 167

First Flight – Deb Ruschmann – 184

Second Flight - Sue Martinick – 201

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Overall Net – Kyle Byrns – 143 Third Flight - Bruce Davidson - 166 (MOC)

Championship Flight – Jim Kane – 146 Fourth Flight - Blaine Pfeifer - 172

First Flight – Anthony Day – 156 Fifth Flight - John McKenna - 175

Second Flight – Dave Manuszewski – 158

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News from the Golf Shop Continued.

We wrapped up our WWL season during the month of August. Our Regular Season champions were Sue Martinick & Jody Marshall. Kathy Lentz & Denise Tait followed closely in second while Deb Colt & Sherrill Kujawski snatched 3rd. Rounding out the top 4 were Charmaine Kaes & Doris Brand. The playoff title was captured by Ann Woloszynski & Molly Zittel. 2nd place was Anna Davidson & Karen Olson while 3rd was Jody Marshall & Sue Martinick. Rounding out the top 4 was Kathy Lentz & Denise Tait. A new addition to WWL this season was a fun Thursday night scramble on the 20th which was won by Rita Szczerbowski & Maura Birdd. Thank you all for a fantastic season! On Saturday the 15th, 20 of our Past Presidents joined to play a round of golf and share some great stories and comradery. Thank you to you all for your service to our great club and we cannot thank you enough!

In addition to wrapping up our WWL season, we also brought our Men’s Twilight season to an end. We only had one rain out for the year. We are so very happy that we were able to complete the league with the applicable modifications. Here are those flight winners from the regular season:

The following two Tuesdays consisted of the playoffs where Mike Ervin & Jeff Pappalardo won in a playoff.

The ever-popular August Lobster Stag was carefully planned out in order to be as safe as possible and our members (and their guests) are sure thankful for that! The event sold out in record fashion, as most of our big events have, and yet again the event was a huge success. Our overall champions were Mike Ervin, John Sigeti, Sean Schoenborn & Jeff Schoenborn with 112. Flight 1 was won by Gene Lavis, Don Harris, James Johnson & Frank Jurek with 116 while Flight 2 was captured by the team of Scott Converse, Joe Arlotta, Randall Ferrino & Mike DiGiore with a score of 117. Dinner was all it was cracked up to be and a good time was had by all.

Our social golf season wrapped up on the 21st of the month. We had a really nice turnout and a fun format as well, a best drive, alternate shot. Paul Healy and his wife, Lynette, bested the field to cap off a great season of Friday Social events. Thank you for your continued support of these functions.

David

PGA Professional

A Flight – Roger Bantle/Jim Collins D Flight - Jack Livingston/Jim McCready

B Flight – Jim Sickler/John Young E Flight - Cory Cullen/Dave Lefebre

C Flight – Hap Keller/Paul Keller F Flight - Dan Conron/Matt Conron

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Newsletter- Grounds and Business Office

What a busy summer it’s been so far. The golf course has seen record play and we are proud that we have been able to keep things in good shape through the heat this year. I can’t give enough thanks to the grounds crew for a job well done. Not only has the course been busy but we have had our fair share of projects to keep us busy. The removal of the electric poles on #10, the railing install at the patio steps and of course the installation of a new gas line to the clubhouse and maintenance facility. I can’t thank Joe Perillo enough for his assistance with the gas line. By doing what we did in-house it saved the club tens of thousands of dollars. Thanks Joe. Bryan Smith also lent his expertise by helping with repairs to the interior piping in the buildings to make sure the project would go smoothly. Thanks to Bryan as well.

If you’ve been out on the course over the last week you know that greens have been aerified and are healing nicely. We will complete fairway aerification through September and tees and approaches will be done late month or early October.

A reminder that if you need any additional assistance with billing issues or questions you can reach me at drew.thompson@eastauroracc.com.

See you on the Course!

Drew Thompson, CGCS

House News

It’s hard to believe I am writing about September already, but here we are with shorter days and cooler nights.

The slight change in weather brings the return of Wine Down Wednesdays, every Wednesday night beginning at 4:00pm. Chef Tom is making some wonderful, creative, small plates along with his signature “Chef’s Feature” of the night every Wednesday. Reserve a table to enjoy these mid-week culinary exploits every Wednesday night.

Please be sure to always call ahead when planning your visit to EACC. We have very limited seating capacity both inside and out, and the only way to guarantee a table is through reservations.

We will be open for Labor day this year from 11am-8pm for anyone to stop by after their round for a drink on the patio, or a quick bite to eat. The clubhouse will open at noon the following Tuesday.

The clubhouse will be closed on the following dates:

September 3, Thursday: Closes at 4:00pm: Whiskey Club Night September 11, Friday: Harvest Tournament September 12, Saturday: Harvest Tournament September 19, Saturday: Pro Day September 20, Sunday: Towne Ford Outing We apologize in advance for any inconvenience, and appreciate your patience and continued support.

Remember to get your Annual Lottery Tickets at the bar! One ticket for $100 or three for $150 (ps. Go for three). Great prizes, including the Grand Prize of $5,000 off 2021 dues.

Thank you members for doing your part to keep EACC safe by following state instituted guidelines. Everyone is doing their part and cooperating with the restrictions in place. All with a big smile under those masks! Let’s keep up the great work and continued cooperation so we can enjoy our club into the fall and winter months.

Eric Kanner Clubhouse Manager

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The Following list is in accordance to NYS regulations

This pertains to all areas of the clubhouse (Locker rooms, patio, dining areas, and the bar area)

• Tables must be spaced 6' apart from each other • Masks must be worn by members and guests when not seated at a table

o We will provide masks if members or guests don't have them • No more than 6 guests per table • Limit indoor capacity to 50% maximum occupancy • Bar area chairs and stools have been removed to reduce congregation

o Please adhere to proper 6’ social distancing etiquette when at the bar o Please limit your time spent at the bar

• The main clubhouse door will be open, please wait to be seated o Please Wait to be seated at designated area

• Reservations required for dining on Friday and Saturday nights o Reservations encouraged for all other service, but not required o In which case, it will be on a first come, first serve basis o We have very limited seating, please plan accordingly

• No more than one member allowed in upstairs clubhouse restrooms at a time o Masks must be worn whenever in clubhouse (this includes locker rooms)

• There will be a sanitation station set up for your convenience

For our staff and members safety, all staff must wear masks at all time, disinfect every table after each use, disinfect common areas and restrooms often, handle silverware with gloves and masks on, staff must be pre-screened before each shift, staff required to wash hands often. We will also be using disposable menus and we will not be presenting checks in bill folds. For a member’s peace of mind, our dishwasher and cleaning stations have built in disinfecting units that properly sanitize every plate, fork, and glassware we have. Finally, we kindly ask that when enjoying yourselves on the patio, that you consider other members and try and restrict your stay for an hour and half or less. Twilight players, we kindly ask that you restrict your dining duration for under an hour so we can properly and safely serve all our players. As we inch forward towards a sense of normalcy, please respect and follow all these state regulated guidelines and restrictions. We also ask that you be patient with our staff and crew as we adjust to these new guidelines. Thank you, and we look forward to serving our membership in the days to come, feel free to call or email Eric 652-6800 ext 2, eric.kanner@eastauroracc.com for any questions or concerns you may have.

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18 - Hole Golf News

September 2020

What a beautiful (HOT) month of August it was.... great for golf! As we move into September we will be looking forward to some cooler weather, my favorite time of year.

The Member/Member had 22 girls playing in our Major 2 day event. Here are the winners:

OVERALL : Lori Potter & Tami Krotje RUNNER UP: (MOC) Deb Colt & Sherrill Kujawski THIRD PLACE : Emily Bobek & Jenn Dean FOURTH PLACE: Deb Lyons & Maura Birdd

PROXIMITIES

Day 1: Maura Birdd Day 2: Deb Ruschmann

Our closing luncheon is scheduled for September 22nd. We will be playing a scramble format that day with lunch and a meeting to follow. A sign up sheet will be posted in the locker room. You may also accept to play/stay for lunch through the golf genius invitation that will go out from the pro shop.

Lastly - starting September 10th we will be teeing off at 9:00.

Go out and enjoy our beautiful course during this lovely time of year.

Doris Brand, 18 Hole Chairperson

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9-HOLE GOLF LEAGUE – September

WOMEN’S 9-HOLE GOLF LEAGUE

Boy did August fly by! Here we are getting ready for September and the start of fall. August was a very busy

month for the 9-hole league.

On Thursday, August 6th we hosted our annual Guest Day event with a total of 28 players. The weather could not

have been more perfect and we followed-up with a wonderful lunch on the patio. Hats off to Carol Smith, Donna

McKenna and Cathy Melas for creating such a wonderful day with a fun format and great prizes. Thank you to

Brandon, Erik and our wonderful staff who made this day extra special. The results of the event were:

1st Place – Marilyn Marky, Donna Almeter, Maura Birdd and Lori Wyman 2nd Place – Cathy Melas, Jenn Dean, Carol Smith and Melissa Smith 3rd Place – Lisa Bonaventura & Guest, Sharon Kettner and Caryn Bartnik Closest to the Pin on #2 was a blind draw – Liz Hurd Closest to the Pin on #5 was Lori Wyman Longest Drive in the Rough on #5 was Melissa Smith Longest Drive on #9 was Jenn Dean On August 20th we had our Summer Skills Tournament and the results for the day were:

1st Place – LuAnn Burghardt (Low Net of 35) and Maura Birdd (Gross Net of 44) Closest to the Pin on #2 – Maura Birdd (36’ 9”) Longest Drive on #3 – Maura Birrd Closest to the Line on #5 – LuAnn Burghardt (10’ 6”) Last but not least, our closing lunch is scheduled for Thursday, September 24th, and we still have what I hope is a lot of golf to play.

Debbie Kane – Co-chair

Mulligan’s News

August was a good golfing month with lots of member participation and the weekly fun rules invented by Phil Kadet. Competition included 3best balls by hole, 2 man scramble and 2 man lowest ten scores by hole. No cheating. J Hasselback and R Bantle were the winners of the 2 man scramble while R Ruschmann A Depew, D Hayes and P Kadet were the winners of 3 best balls of 4.

David Jones addressed the group with an upbeat report on play and membership.

We had a special visit for lunch by Joe Freeman. It was great to see him. You are never to old to join and par-cipate in Mulligans!

Fred Torino

Mulligan’s President

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Women’s Board September 2020

It has been a busy August filled with social events, the close of the Tuesday night Twilight and Wednesday

night WWL seasons, another “Club Championship” behind us, and the planning for a number of fun-filled fall

events.

August was likewise an eventful month for the Women’s Board. We were happy to present the 2nd annual

“Drive for the Cure” a 9-hole social golf event for a great cause. As I write this message, we have 67 golfers

signed up for the golfing event and even more for the BBQ. We have been thrilled by the support of the

membership through your generosity in purchasing tickets for the various fund-raising raffles and

participating in the Event. I want to personally thank the members of the Women’s Board who put together

beautiful prize baskets and gave of their time to sell raffle tickets. Special thanks as always go to David, Eric

and Drew and their staffs for helping to make The Drive a success! More details regarding the amount

raised for Roswell Park Alliance will be provided in next month’s newsletter.

The Birdie and Par Tree contests close on Labor Day. Winners for each tree will be drawn at the September

Women’s Board meeting. Respective award recipients will be contacted by a member of the Board and announced in the October newsletter. Good luck to all who chose to participate.

Jody Marshall Women’s Board President Questions or Suggestions: Cell: (716) 432-9640; email: jgc314@aol.com

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IJM Update September 2020

We have had quite a summer here at EACC! Weather has been excellent and our membership has certainly availed themselves of the opportunity to play golf! Kudos to Drew, David, Eric and Tom, along with their respective staffs for making the golf/dining experience at EACC so enjoyable these past few months. They are all to be congratulated for the efforts they have put forth during these uncertain times. I should also extend those sentiments to the EACC Board of Directors, who have done excellent work in wading through the everchanging NYS Guidelines and guiding everyone through this craziness. Not a whole lot to report on the IJM front. The committee has had a couple of organizational meetings and look forward to starting in earnest this Fall. We are hopeful to stage another first class event next June. One thing the committee has done these past several months is look at the history of the IJM. As many of you know it was started in 1953 and was held for 67 consecutive years. We have always recognized our notable competitors over the years. Our longstanding members are aware that touring professionals such as Jim Furyk, Matt Every, Billy Mayfair, Trevor Immelman, Camilo Villegas, Tim Clark and Rory Sabbatini once walked the fairways at EACC. In looking at our more recent past we discovered that current PGA professionals Corey Connors, MacKenzie Hughes and Abraham Ancer competed in 2007-2009. All three have qualified for the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Chicago; placing them in the top 70 for 2020. We have congratulated them and wished them well on the IJM Twitter account which is @IJMGolf. For those of you on Twitter please follow us. We will have our first formal organizational meeting in the Fall and are hopeful to add some members to our volunteer list for the 2021 Tournament. We expect that this will present unique challenges. Please look for further information in this Newsletter as well as your EACC email. Enjoy the end of summer and hope to see you out on the golf course! Jeff Kamien Tournament Director

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Submitted by Ray Zorn:

Buffalo Evening News—Thursday, August 2, 1945

Par Takes 16-Stroke Beating;

Nelson Has 63; McSpaden 65

By TONY WURZER

Byron Nelson, the golf robot from Toledo, and Harold (Jug) McSpaden, the noncommittal Kansas cowpuncher, today are back in Toronto for the opening of the Canadian Open after making a casual shambles of the East Aurora Country Club record Wednesday.

Nelson, as coldly precise as a mechanical man, looked the course over with the air of a man who has business to attend to and wants to get done with it. Then he awed a gallery of 2000 as he romped over the 6458-yard course in 63, nine under par and three below the course record.

Bespectacled Jug McSpaden, as colorful as Nelson was cold and precise, adjusted his motorcycle sun-glasses at the start, looked down the rolling fairways, turned to Nelson and said: "Very nice. Let's give this the Tarn O'Shanter treatment." (Nelson was 14 under par there and set a 72-holc record of 269)

Nelson shrugged in a detached sort of way and sent his ball a screaming 275-yards off the first tee as straight as a Robin Hood arrow. His shot outdrove Jug's by 30 yards, both in a dead line for the pin.

From that point it became a race against the course record. Par never was considered. Playing an exhibition with George A. Van Schenck Jr., club champion, and the veteran Frank E. Wattles Jr. former champion, Nelson and McSpaden unfurled one of their typical close matches.

McSpaden, as he has done many times before, took a quick lead, but Nelson, as usual, came blazing back in the final nine with a finishing spurt that, made the game look easy as he scored a 30.

Harold led by a stroke, 32 to 33, after the outgoing nine. He birdied the 3d, 5th, 6th and 7th holes, while Nelson had birdies on the 6th, 7th and 8th. As they came up to the ninth tee someone in the gallery remarked: "Looks like McSpaden's day. Nelson seems very tired,"

Then the mechanical man went to work. On the incoming nine he birded the 11th, 12th, 16th and 17th holes, and casually registered an eagle 2 on the 14th. Jug was content with a birdie on the 14th and an eagle 2 on the 305-yard 17th for a 65 total.

The club's competitive course record was set by H. Rennie Merritt Jr., a 68. The late Milton Trish, one-time club pro, once toured the difficult layout in 66.

The famed pros did most of their damage on the par-five holes, shaving seven strokes off these between them. Wattles and Van Schenck also turned in fine rounds, the former finishing in 37-37—74, and the latter in 37-38—75.

NOTE: This was the “Old” nine-hole course.

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2020 Annual Lottery Grand Prize-$5000 off 2021 Membership

2nd Prize-Season Cart Pass plus $500 in House Credit

3rd Prize-Season Cart Pass or $500 in House Credit

4th Prize-(3 each)-$250 in House Credit

5th Prize-(6 each)-$100 Pro Shop Credit

Purchase Deadline December 31, 2020

Purchase Tickets at the Bar (House Charge Only)

Prize Drawing to be Held on New Year’s Eve

$100 for one Ticket

3 Tickets for $150

Increase your chance at winning for only $50 more

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Support the Club and the Newsletter by submitting articles and pictures to:

Judy Smith at: dajusmith@roadrunner.com