The Bay Club at Mattapoisett opens their Twilight Golf season this month for both the Ladies and the Men.  The evenings include nine holes of golf followed by cocktails and dinner at the Golf House restaurant.  Twilight Leagues run all summer long and are a great informal competition for the members.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via e-mail or phone, 508-758-9543.

The Bay Club’s Peter Uihlein is the new World Amateur Golf Ranking Number One.  Peter moved into the number one spot after Italy’s Matteo Manassero announced his transition to the professional game. The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men is based on the results of over 750 amateur tournaments and is updated weekly. Rankings are based on the players’ average performances in counting events over a rolling 52 week period.

>Read the full story as posted by Word Amateur Golf Ranking, or read Peter Uihlein’s 2009 Walker Cup Success previously posted on this blog.

This video is one of our favorites, it captures Uihlein’s 18-foot putt on No. 18 at the 2009 Walker Cup in Merion, PA, which gave Team USA a 3-1 lead heading into the Saturday afternoon singles session.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is proud to have been selected by Golf Course Home as a part of their Dream 18.  The GolfCourseHome® Dream 18 is a fantasy golf course created from the best golf holes from the more than 325 golf courses featured on GolfCourseHome.net, representing more than 5,800 golf holes in the U.S. , Canada , Mexico and the Caribbean .

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett’s signature hole, number 17, will be featured as part of the Dream 18, and is in the company of such notable courses as Reynolds Plantation, Tehama, and The Cliffs at Keowee.

Hole 17 is the Bay Club at Mattapoisett’s longest most demanding par 4 on the course, playing 487 yards from the tips typically into the prevailing wind.  The hole swings slightly from right to left requiring a long tee ball to set up the approach. The 2^nd shot is plenty challenging as well, as the hole slopes downhill with a large green side bunker catching any short or left shots. A par here puts you in limited company.

Currently there is one house beautifully positioned behind the 17^th green, while another magnificent house sits in the distance serving as the aiming point for your tee ball. There are two lots still available to the left of the green on a nice cul de sac along the hole, and one additional lot behind the green.

David Lott, publisher of The GolfCourseHome® Dream 18 visited the club last year, arriving in Mattapoisett Harbor by boat.  The chronicle of his journey from the Vineyard to the Club was a feature story on his blog this past summer.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via e-mail or phone, 508-758-9543.

Jon O’Connor, Bay Club at Mattapoisett Course Superintendent, is hard at work with his team to have the course ready to open when conditions permit, perhaps as early as, April 2nd.

The weather this past winter was typical of what one would expect in New England, entirely unpredictable!  A blizzard, harsh winds, driving rains, and a spring Nor’easter all blew through Mattapoisett; however, none of this has fazed O’Connor or proved detrimental to the course.  Varying degrees of brush cutting and tree trimming were necessary, some of which was storm related yet there is no turf damage.

O’Connor’s objective is always to keep the course at a championship level and it sounds like we are on our way to another successful year.

Jon O’Connor holds a BS in Turfgrass Management from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, he has worked as a course superintendent in the Midwest and on the East Coast for over twenty years. Click here to read more about Jon’s work at the club.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via email or phone, 508-758-9543.

Back Care Lecture Saturday, January 23

Dave Maloney, Fitness Director for the Bay Club at Mattapoisett is hosting a lecture which will focus on Back Care at the Sports and Activities Center on Saturday.  Low fat muffins, coffee, and juice will be available for you to enjoy while you learn more about your back and golf fitness tips that will help you stay healthy and improve your flexibility.

The discussion will cover the following:

• Common Back Disorders
• Back Anatomy
• Treatment Choices
• How exercise and flexibility can relieve your pain

The Cat and Dog or also know as the Cat and Cow stretch is an excellent stretching movement for individuals with back pain.

1) Start on your hands and your knee’s. Make sure hands are under shoulders and knee’s under hips.

2) Cat: Arch your back up as high as you can, while lowering your head and neck. (hold for a few seconds)

3) Dog/Cow: Now try to increase the curve in your lower back, while lifting your head and neck. (hold for a few seconds)

4) Repeat each movement 8 to 15 times for 2 sets.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via email or phone, 508-758-9543

Greg Yeomans

Bay Club at Mattapoisett Head Golf Professional Greg Yeomans was recently interviewed by Liza Churchill, author of Goldie Bounce Golf blog and radio host of Goldie Bounce on WATD-FM95.9.

During the interview, Liza and Greg discuss his current position as Head Golf Pro at the Bay Club at Mattapoisett, his experience as a member of the UCONN Men’s Basketball Team, and his recent victory in the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England PGA’s Wessner Player of the Year for 2009.  Listen to the full Greg Yeomans Interview.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via email or phone, 508-758-9543.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett has opened its Winter Golf Center.  This indoor practice facility allows members to continue to improve upon their games during the off season.

Of course this facility is valuable to all Bay Club golfers, but especially fun for the techno geek hidden in most of us!  The P3Pro Swing Desktop Simulator measures swing speed, ball speed, face angle at impact, club path and angle of attack.  Now I am not quite sure what I will do with all of that information, but I can continue to work on my game in one of the three independent hitting stations which are 25 feet away from the wall, a 40 x 20 putting carpet and multiple swing training aids.  There is even a complete set up of SNAG Golf for junior use.

For those of us who just can’t get enough golf, this is a perfect playland for a cold winters day.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a country club with an eighteen hole championship level golf course and residential property located in Southeastern MA.   To arrange a private tour please contact Dave Andrews via email or phone, 508-758-9543.

This past August the Bay Club had a guest who documented his round of golf for his blog,   “Defining Golf As Somewhere between a Religion and A Disease For Over 20 Years“.   The mystery blogger uses the nom de plume, Redanman.  We encourage you to read the account of his round Bay Club Mattapoisett, for an objective opinion of the course and how it plays.

Thank you for visiting Redanman, and thank you for your blog post, we hope that you will join us for another round in the spring to update your followers on the course improvements.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is a full service country club and living community featuring an 18-hole championship level golf course on the south coast of Massachusetts.

The Bay Club at Mattapoisett Head Golf Professional Greg Yeomans demonstrates his tip  How to Correct A Slice during The Golf Channel’s “The Golf Fix”.

Click here to view Yeomans on The Golf Fix.

Bay Club at Mattapoisett Head Golf Professional, Greg Yeomans captured the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England PGA’s Wessner Player of the Year Award for 2009.  Yeomans earned points for his performance in Cape Cod Chapter events played throughout the year. In the end, he bested second place finisher Rusty Gunnerson of Rochester Golf Club by 24 points.

Yeomans played in 10 of the 15 events scheduled and had four first place finishes, including one of the Chapter’s two major events, the Match Play Championship.  Greg finished third in the second major event, the Chapter Stroke Play Championship and also recorded two second place finishes.

With 8 of the 10 events played being Pro Am and Pro Junior events, Greg was able to invite some Bay Club members to test their game for a fun day of team competition against clubs from around the Cape Cod Chapter. The Pro Ams were an opportunity for Greg to compete against his fellow professionals for individual low pro honors.

For the complete 2009 standings, of the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England PGA’s Wessner Player of the Year please click here.

Congratulations Greg on a great year on the links!

Oklahoma State sophomore, and the Bay Club’s most celebrated member, Peter Uihlein, won the Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle for his second title this fall.  This accomplishment has earned Uihlein the No. 1 position in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings and Player of the Week by Golfweek Magazine.  Uihlein posted 14-under 202 to beat Stanford junior Sihwan Kim by five shots.

Peter has been at the top of his game since the summer.  He is a two-time American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year and posted a 4-0 record in leading Team USA to a victory at the Walker Cup in August.

This fall Uihlein has won the Ping/Golfweek Invitational at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Wash, and just prior to arriving at CordeValle, he tied for third at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla.

“Confidence is a funny thing,” Uilhein said. “I’ve just been going off of it since (the Walker Cup). Hopefully I’ll continue to play well so I can help the team play well.”  The Bay Club congratulates this gracious player and is closely following his success!

Bay Club Mattapoisett Fitness Director Dave Maloney explains that getting stronger, specific to golf, may be the key to gaining the edge for the junior level golfer.

“We are noticing a dramatic change in the caliber of junior golfers, especially with the potential of college scholarships as a reward. Junior golfers are getting fitter and stronger, as a result they are hitting it as long as the PGA and LPGA players. This is a combination of personal coaching on swing mechanics and gaining strength,” Maloney explains.

Junior golfers like Peter Uihlein, Ty Tryon, Michelle Wie and the Songsters are a perfect examples of what junior golfers are capable of, given the right training. The difference between junior golfers and adults is typically strength – not flexibility. “I’ve worked with hundreds of junior golfers and within a very short period of time, with the proper strength training, their drives increased as much as 50 yards, ” Dave reports.

It is Maloney’s opinion that the age to begin a strength training workout for juniors is best begun at around twelve years old. It is strongly recommended that a professional oversee the program at the earlier stages to set the routine and establish goals. The purpose of the exercises are to compliment the golf swing from a dynamic and a stability standpoint.

If you would like to get your junior golfer on a golf specific fitness program please call Bay Club Fitness Director Dave Maloney at 508-207-9251.

In keeping with the Golf Course Operations Committee Charter with regards to the course, “to develop and maintain a Continuous Improvement Plan“, a number of off-season golf course projects are currently underway.  Included on the 2009/2010 projects list: the continued reduction of our formal turfgrass footprint, drainage improvements and collar reduction, and the re-design of hole #10.

Construction has already begun on hole #10, a beautiful hole that runs along the Bay Club Pond and recently mentioned as one of GolfCourseHome’s Great Water Holes.   First, the fairway and rough will be moved 25-30 yards to the left from what currently exists and then a total of three bunkers will be eliminated allowing golfers to challenge the left side.

These changes will modify the strategies players employ when approaching the tee box.  First, an option will still exist for players to play safer out to the right, but a ball played too far right could find fescue that will border the rough along the entire right side.  Your approach will be slightly more difficult as the water could come into to play if you are short or left.  Also, with the green running away from you, stopping the ball close to a front or left pin will add a putting challenge.  The hole will effectively play shorter but will require some strategy; do you “go for it” or lay back and have a longer shot into the green, your call.

There are several areas that have been identified for fescue conversion.  Those browned out areas around tee boxes, edges of the rough, and on the tops of bunkers will not only add further definition to our holes, but also significantly reduce our bluegrass acreage.

Drainage work will be completed on holes #3, #6 and #17.  Holes #3 and #17, long par 4’s, were designed to be firm in the approach area, allowing a player to run their ball onto the green. Once completed, the drainage work will provide a firmer landing area and ultimately allow the holes to play as they were intended.

In the past few months the Bay Club has been gradually reducing our collar widths and subsequently enlarging the greens.  This process will reduce green turf wear, offer more challenging pin placements and make your chip shot just off the green slightly more delicate.

As always the Bay Club is committed to the continuous improvement of the golf course.  These modifications will continue to challenge your game and either increase your frustration or add to the thrill of your round!

Head Golf Professional Greg Yeomans

Head Bay Club Golf Professional Greg Yeomans currently sits in 1st place in the year long Cape Cod PGA Wessner Player of the Year race.  He is leading the way, ahead of Rochester Golf Club’s Head Professional Rusty Gunnarson, by 23 points with only three events remaining.  Points are earned for performances in all chapter events, including Pro-Ams.  All of the major events have been completed, just a few Pro-Am events remain.  Check the website to track his performance.  We wish Greg the best of luck down the stretch.

Although seldom considered, the golf course in and of itself is any country clubs largest asset.  The balance of art and science that is required to achieve and maintain a championship level of play at The Bay Club at Mattapoisett is the responsibility of Course Superintendent Jon O’Connor.   The club aerates a minimum of twice each year, which is necessary for strong grass rooting, smooth healthy greens and overall course performance.  Regardless of geography, soil type dictates the aeration process; however for a course located in the Northeast, minutes away from the ocean, specific considerations are taken by O’Connor to ensure a successful evolution of the course’s maturation process.

The course conditions were especially complimented this past September when the Bay Club at Mattapoisett was host to the MGA Senior Four Ball tournament.  The lightning fast greens were the topic of much positive response from players and MGA officials.  Consistent attention to details by O’Connor and the regular aeration program contribute towards the goal of a championship level golf course.

Jon O’Connor holds a BS in Turfgrass Management from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, he has worked as a course superintendent in the Midwest and on the East Coast for over twenty years.

Question: You inadvertently move your ball while clearing a plug that has been produced through the aeration process, do you receive a penalty stroke under Rule 18-2b?

Answer: Under USGA Rule 23-1, a player incurs no penalty if a ball on the putting green moves while he/she is in the process of removing a loose impediment.  Rule 23-1 overrides Rule 18-2b in this case.