Washington Country Club looking at changes

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January 5, 2009

By Todd Lancaster The Washington Times-Herald Mon Jan 05, 2009, 10:25 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Although it may still be a while before the first tee time is made this spring at Washington Country Club, a newly-elected board of directors has been actively working on ways to improve the club through the winter months.

Along with looking to make changes to the course and clubhouse, Board president Mike Chestnut also hopes to make the image of the club, one of inclusiveness and fun.

The new board was elected in November and we really want to try to make some changes to the club,” said Chestnut.

“The last board took over at a tough time and worked hard to keep the course open during a rough time. However, we feel like now is the time to try to take things to the next level. This year we are giving board member certain responsibilities over different areas of the club.”

Chestnut wants to remind people that even though the name says County Club, it is open for public play and they are encouraging people come and check out the course.

“We want to get people playing in town. We want to get the kids playing and we want to try and have more fun things for our members to play in. One of the things we are looking at doing is setting up a ‘Ryder Cup type-event’ between our two mens’ leagues. We are also moving the Washington Open back to June,” said Chestnut.

“Not only do we want to get people playing, we want them coming by and spending time at the club too.”

One of the big draws will hopefully be the newly christianed “Mulligans.”

Mulligans is the new name for the restaurant and bar that was formally the Elks located on the course.

“We still don’t have our kitchen up and running yet, but we have recently hired back Wayne Acton, who was a manager at the Elks. We are certainly hoping to having things up and going after the first of the year,” said Chestnut.

“We hope that having some activities, like a Euchre or Texas Hold’em tournaments that will keep people coming in, along with bands and other outings throughout the year.”

The course is also looking to have some renovations done in different stages over the next few seasons.

“We know that we are pretty much land-locked with nine holes, but there are things we can do. We have done a few things right before the end of the 2008 season.

“We have added a couple of new tee boxes and added a bunker in front of No. 3 green,” said Chestnut.

“We have hired a new greenskeeper in Rob Chestnut from Petersburg. He has a degree in horticulture and landscaping and worked for us a couple of years ago. He has help from Bill Joyce Sr. and Fred Wise and they do a dynamite job.”

One area where there won’t be a major change in personnel, but patrons should see a difference, is in the pro shop too.

“We are looking to bring in some different types of equipment lines like Adams Golf and Nike, so people will have some more options with equipment,” added Chestnut.

One of the last things to change is not really a change at all — the fees.

“We know we are in a tough economy right now so we are going to try to hold the line on our fees, in fact, we are going to have some early bird specials going on like we did last year. We really want the play, so we didn’t want to gouge anyone to play, especially now.”

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