September 10, 2025 • 48 mins
Rich is joined by Jim Skacan, Golf Shop Manager at Fort Cherry Golf Club. They discuss the changes that have taken place at the club, get into some Ryder Cup talk, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the rich Comwalgolf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This week, before I get started, I get some interesting
I received some interesting news from our station manager. It
sounds like we're really famous. But and I found out
that in the last month the radio show Slash podcast
has received two hundred and fifteen downloads, which is a
(00:25):
really good month. So yeah, so things are going pretty well.
It seems like there seems to be a little bit
of momentum going to follow the show, and also seems
like people are enjoying the.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Guests that I'm able to get on the show. And
so with that in mind, we are going to go.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Local this week. I have this week, I have secured
a guest by the name of Jim Scatt. And Jim
is a long time, long time UH player, a very
good golf player, player of golf. His brother is a
PGA professional UH and so I thought that because I
(01:13):
did in the interest of full disclosure, I had I
had another guest lined up, but he had to go
to the hospital today, so actually last night a little
family thing, So so we pivoted. There's a fancy term,
pivoted to pivoted to Jim this week. So Jim, first off, thanks,
(01:36):
Thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you rich having me. You know, I've been wanting
to be on the show for a long time.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, Jim is Jim.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Jim sends me emails weekly, text messages every other day
asking to be on the show. So I guess, in
some way, shape or form, Corey, we made a young
man's stream come trump because we got him on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Now, so this is great.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I feel like, you know, I feel like I've actually
made a wish come true and.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
This is this is it?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So Jim, So I realize that you are not a
golf professional or a professional golfer, which would be a
tour player. But give me your background in golf.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Oh boy. I started playing golf of probably about ten
or twelve years old. My dad and brother played at
the course that we work at for Cherry Golf Club.
It was not called Cherry Hills at the time. Really
never practiced or played competitively until you know, later in life,
(02:40):
when you know, I had wife and kids and things
were growing, kids are going up, and then I started
getting little bit more time and started taking the game
a little bit more serious and been in the league
for forty some years, played in several events several member guests,
several pro ams with different pros from either Middtlandic or
(03:01):
Try State, and basically just loved the game. I really
loved the game. I love the fact that something that
you can play forever until you can't, you can play
on courses that the pros play on. You know, just
just a fantastic game I love. I love the whole
thing about it. You know.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That's yeah, that's and if anybody ever gets to spend
time with Jimmy realized that very quickly.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Jim actually loves the game of golf and the interest.
Full disclosure, Jim is on strike from watching the Pirates.
He will not he will not watch one pitch. I think,
I believe.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Last week he declared he's on strike from college and
professional football. So Jim has basically resigned viewership of any
sport other than golf. Uh, he's yeah, he's done with
hockey as well. Oh, that's right, that's right, hockey. He's
still in on He he has resigned viewership of the
(04:01):
two largest watch sports in the United States of America
and the world. So he does not watch football. He
does not watch baseball, and there are many reasons for that,
and We're not going to get into that today because
Jim would actually become angry and we may have probably
(04:23):
visit some dark moments in Jim's life a ka.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Gambling.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
But we're not going to do that this week, where
we're going to keep it kind of light and breezy
and not going in the dark corners of the history
of Jim's habits. So, Jim, in the interest of full disclosure,
you're a very good player. You're a very good player.
For those of you who don't believe me, Jim shot
thirty last week for nine holes two weeks ago. Jim
(04:50):
has been a good player for a long time. When
I say that, I don't mean that Jim is old.
I just mean that he's been He's been good for
a long time, and hits it far, hits it solidly,
really good potter, really good potter.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And actually just loves people that that like to play golf.
And it's really interesting with with Jim and that that
Jim doesn't really care how you play as long as
you like to play.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
If you like to play, he'll play with you. He
doesn't he doesn't care your skill level. He just wants
to go play golf. And and So that being said, Jim,
that's a unique trait because you know, I've been obviously,
I've been obviously, but I've been around really good players
my entire life and and and there are very few
(05:39):
that are willing to not willing that don't mind how
you play, as long as you like to play and
you go have fun with it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So where's it? Where does that come from?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Because that that's not that that is unique, that is unique.
Most people like to like to play with, you know,
players of their own skill level, or only seek out
players good players, other good plays.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And so where's that? Where's that mindset come like? All
in all the time?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, well, well someone that had helped me when I
was younger to play to play better. Uh. I always
enjoyed playing with better players, you know, just because of
the competition, and you know, you can pick up so
much from someone that's really good. Maybe they can share
a couple of tips and uh, you know, like they're
(06:24):
trying to get the people to pay it forward. That's
something that that I feel strongly about that you can
see you take someone that loves the game, like a
young child or a female or someone just starting out,
and uh, you know, give them some pointers and and
if they hit a couple of good shots and they
said come back and say, hey man, that that tippy
(06:45):
you help me, or you help me with the pot error,
you help me with the chipping, that that drow you
gave me with the chipping, And and I broke ninety
for the first time, or I vote one hundred for
the first time. That's pretty that's pretty good stuff. Whenever
someone comes in and you know, you can they share
with their success with what you helped them with or
or showed them, you know, and if they get some
(07:09):
fun out of it, you know, as you know a
lot of people get intimidated playing with better players, but
I try not to even you know, have that crossed
their mind, because we just have so much fun laughing
and talking about different things. You know. My mind travels
a different directions quite easily.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So yeah, well I can keep them off there, can.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Keep them off their they're bad shots, very easy.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
In the third segment, you guys don't want to stick
around for this one because in the third segment, we're
gonna go on a roller coaster ride you call it.
Follow follow Jim's mind, and it will be it will
be better than any ride Kenny Wood has ever had.
I mean, I'm telling you, it's a it's a it's
a crazy ride. So now obviously I'm I'm not kidding
(07:55):
that that Jim doesn't watch football anymore, was doesn't watch
baseball anymore. But I know he's very knowledgeable about the
about the PGA Tour. So we're going to pick his
brain a little bit because the Ryder Cup came out
this week.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Jim, So what do you what do you? What's your
take on all that?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I really haven't studied it yet. Who who's in it?
I love the fact that they are playing on American soil.
I'm just hoping that the fans don't embarrass us and
uh and have it carry over to our golf course
throughouting thiss and and uh. I just hope it's really
good golf. I hope it's really well accepted. I hope
(08:33):
it's very very Uh. I don't know how to word
for gentlemanly goes back to a little bit of u uh,
you know, courtesy and camaraderie. And you know, these guys
are playing for you know, once once every two years.
They played for prize in the Ryder Cup, you know,
and that's what most players play for, you know, on
(08:54):
our course, especially in other courses, you know, you play
for your best score. And it's kind of cool to
one the best players in the world feel the heat
a little bit, yeah, because they feel the heat and
they also can feel you know, the the the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So it's really not that. Yeah, it's it's not the heat.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
They're fine, it's the weight they're feeling because you don't
ever see the weight, like you know, so like like
obviously everybody's really it's a really good, feel, feel good
story that Tommy Fleet would won, you know, for the
first time ever at the at the Players Champion or
the Tour Championship. But but the flip side of it is,
you know what, when he plays in the Ryder Cup,
he's playing for the entire on, not only the other teammates,
(09:40):
but the entire country.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And so that's weight. That's weight that you don't normally have.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
So all right, so not that we really want to,
as I said, we wouldn't dip into the whole gambling
thing with you, but if you had, if you had,
you would you bet on the United States.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know what the odds would be on something
like that probably not not very probably even odds or
maybe two and a half to one or something like that.
Maybe I don't see.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
See see how that was so that mine works always
paying out there out there. He Jim just created his
own odds for the Ryder Cup right there in front
of you, Right there in front of you.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He just did it. You got it to two and
a half to one.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And I don't know what any of that means, but
that's another insight into how Jim's mind flies here. So yeah,
so all right, so all right, just straight up have
at it. You're going to root for the United States?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Oh, no doubt?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Okay, because in the interest of full disclosure, and this
is much dismay to my son and to anybody that
I tell this to, I actually root for the Europeans
because I think they work harder.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I do think they work harder. I think I think
when you start looking at guys like you know, they
start to you know, they work harder. I do believe
that a lot of them are on the Live Tour.
I'm a big, big believer in the Live Tour. I
know that's kind of goofy, but so I root for
(11:12):
the Europeans.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So you and I can have a couple of coffee
bet as to how this goes, you know, in September.
But it is a really really really unique event. Interestingly enough,
I thought about going because I actually can get I
get in for free as a PGAF America member, but
I I'm not going to go because that's that's a
(11:34):
long ride. I will tell you this. Interestingly enough, Golf
is really hard to watch on TV, but the Ryder
Cup is really hard to watch in person.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Because there's only six.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Groups on the on the golf course at any one time,
so it's really really really crowded, and it's really it's
really hard to see, like get a flow of the
event because it's match places that they quit playing, you know,
like like you know, you may three and we're done.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, our team's going next hole.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So so okay, you're taking the United States.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
How all the live thing is gone now? Jim, So
I want to ask you something, So, how important do
you think the Ryder Cup is for the landscape of golf?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well, I just think it keeps the momentum going, it
keeps the interest during well one during the first couple
of weeks of football season, I mean, they're competing.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Gives you something to watch. It gives you something to
watch because you don't watch football, right.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Right, It's going to be special for me. I'm looking
forward to that weekend, you know, I I but you know,
I really think that it's it's such an exciting event.
And you know yourself, it's all by putting, you know,
they all hit it really well, they do. And someone
(13:07):
drains a putt for from thirty feet or chips in
and Scott he's got a ten footer for birdie or
five footer for birdie, and someone just steals a hole
and the crowd goes wild, whether it's the United States
crowd or the European crowd goes wild. And you can
tell that the momentum, the swing, the swings can happen
(13:27):
in an event like that or fantastic. I think the
momentum carries a lot more weight on that type of
event than it does on a PGA tour making a
birdie because they're used to making birdies coming down the stretch, right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And then the other thing is is the other thing
is you know, if you watch the interviews of those
guys and they get introduced, it's it's as close to
a football game as they're going to get or a
large sporting event because because they walk out and it's
just like it's they're the only people on the golf course,
like those four those you know, like the first round,
(14:01):
you know, the first pairings out are the only fourcems.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
On the golf course.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And it starts at like nine o'clock in the morning.
So like at nine o'clock in the morning, like there's
thirty thousand people watching four guys.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It's just it like explodes.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
They talk about how it feels like it erupts when
they walk on the walk on to the first ta,
so it is it's a it's a unique event like
that too, because you don't get that feel or that
vibe from any other event except for the Ryder Cup,
including the President's Cup, which is the off yeer thing
they do. But but the Ryder Cup is the real deal,
(14:35):
and it's it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I think if you go back and watch some of
the older ones too, which we talk about the older
generations and Nicholas is the Turvinos and but you go
back to that we're on the shore at.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
What was that eighty one or something, Quila.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, Kila, and I think that's that event there turned
a Ryder Cup from a who hum event to a
much watch TV Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I know, I know, especially when when Nicholas actually pushed
to have all of Europe included instead of Great Britain
in Ireland because they would just stomp Great Britain in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Because those teams I think about that, I know, and.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
They just they just they just they just kick them
around and and but now it's all of Europe and
so I mean, now you have I mean think about this.
I mean, you have people from Italy playing, and you
have people from from from Germany.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, it's it's well the.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Most one of the most famous European America players from Spain.
So it is a really really really unique, unique event.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Okay, So when we.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Come back from this commercial break, we are going to
talk about local golf and specifically southwest Pennsylvania, and and
we're going to get into some some really cool stories
with that. This is the Rich Combo Golf Show. Welcome
back to the Rich Combo Golf Show. We it's interesting
(16:00):
as we move into this week end of this week
and this Sunday, the local team, the Pittsburgh Steelers are
playing in New York Jets and there's several storylines in that,
and so it's, uh, there's a different mood in Pittsburgh.
But since this is obviously a golf a golf show,
(16:22):
we're going to continue to talk about golf. But I
do want to.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
To catch everybody up. I have Jim skaking with us.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Jim is the the golf shop manager at Fort Cherry Golf.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Club and he works there along with me, and.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So we are going to take this segment and just
talk about the last September, so the nine months. So Jim,
tell me, tell us, tell everybody about some of the
changes that have happened at Fort Cherry Golf Club in
the last nine months.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Oh boy, let's let's start with last year. We uh,
they they had lost to individuals. I was brought in
in September, never worked at golf tournament, an outing, and
was kind of thrown in the fire, I guess, so
to speak, jumping in and trying to accommodate customers the
(17:19):
way that I was treated in different outings and things
like that. So it was kind of unique doing that. Then,
as you know, we were met in this January or
early February and put a plan together for the golf club,
and we've done some really good things the junior program,
(17:40):
the membership program, your veterans program, the ladies golf lessons
and things like that, and we have really turned a
corner on I think we have one customer service. We've
generated more rounds already this year than we have last year.
I think we've overcome a lot of the obstacles that
(18:04):
that kind of hindered our golf course from being a neat,
fun place to play. I think our staff has welcomed
golfers of all walks of life and all abilities to
play at our facility. And I think, you know, moving forward,
(18:26):
I think we're going to do a good job in
the fall. We just need to continue doing what we're
doing and keep our foot on the pedal.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So you know, from your perspective, obviously only one year
into all this, because it was about last September, right,
so it's a year and this is a bigger picture
at large. I kind of feel like we are taking
advantage of COVID, although the impact of golf COVID seems
(18:57):
to have kind of kind of leveled. But I have
never I personally have never been around professionally, have never
been around a facility as busy as we are.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
We are very busy. We are. We are busy from
seven o'clock in the morning till five o'clock in the
afternoon on the weekends. It's carrying over to some weekdays.
We have several leagus. What do we have twenty some
legs in the in the four days that we offered
a league play, you know, Monday through Thursday and friday's
open to the general public. But yeah, we we we
(19:32):
really have turned a corner on that. Our course is
in fantastic shape too. By the way, shout out to
our superintendent, Brandon Craigo. He's he's done a marvelous job
with with the the golf course. You know, everyone struggled
this year with the rain and the heat after after
(19:52):
the torrential rain, and we seem to be recovering pretty well.
Our greens are probably the best I've seen him in
in ten years. They're a receptive, they're smooth, they're fast
people walking off the course, they're happy. You know, I
think I think we're you know, we're heading in the
right direction. If if if not, we're not quite there yet.
(20:14):
But I think we're we're heading in the right direction,
and with help and with some good weather coming in
we get some time and the rain, I think our
course will really be spectacular this fall. You have a
lot of trees on it, so we don't have to
worry about only one hole really that you have to
blow leaves. So it's it's it's really a player friendly
golf course in the fall, but you know, you're not
(20:36):
looking for balls, and it leaves all over the place.
One hole that' said maybe two holes pis.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So, But yeah, it's I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm glad you brought up Brandon, because Brandon Craigil is
our golf course superintendent and and every one of his guys,
every one of them works very, very very hard and
has it and I think this is the difference. And
I've obviously been a lot of my career has been
on the private side. And but I will tell you this,
(21:08):
I don't think, actually I would tell you, I don't.
I don't know of any one facility that the entire
golf course maintenance staff has more pride in the product
than our guys. I really don't. I mean, I mean,
I realized that, you know, everybody has personalities and you
(21:29):
know that there's just things like that. But you know,
from a strict turf quality product presentation, I don't know how, how,
how anybody, how anybody could have any more pride than
our guys do.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I think that's all through our staff too, rich, I
think it. I think a lot of the especially the
older guys, take a lot of pride and making sure
that the you know, the little things. The carts are cleaning,
uh so, so they're not all spotted with water spots
that the graphs has swept out of them. The baskets
in the back are clean, and the glove boxes are
(22:05):
clean to put your whatever you're going to put in
the in the glove box. And also you know, they
go around and they fix the boundary stakes that are leaning,
and you know, pick up the breed that might have
not been properly thrown in a trash can I think,
I think, I think all the way down throughout our staff,
(22:25):
for the most part, it feels the same way.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, I know that is true. That is true, And
I you know, and I.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
And the good thing for me and like you, this
is my first full season there, and I have to
say that it's really really, really interesting because we have
in the golf shop anyway, we have a majority of
our employees are retired and they are i mean they retired,
(22:56):
they had a career job. I mean, we have you know,
different different backgrounds professionally, but they all seem to they
bring that that whole kind of treat people like you
want to be treated because that's how they've lived their life.
You know, because you have a sixty five year old
and I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Old Joe is.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'm just gonna say, you know, Joe's sixty five years old.
You know, he's he's treated people pretty well and they've
treated him pretty well. So he just kind of keeps
doing that and that kind of and and I gotta
be honest with you, and I'll just say it out loud.
I'm not sure that's always been the history of for
Cherry Golf Club, but I know it's a practice now.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, we can improve on it. But yes, I do
agree with that too.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, I mean, it's just it's if we kind
of treat people the way we want to be treated,
and it's it's really kind of.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Neat to see it.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And so you know, Brandon's crew, the maintenance crew, golf
shop crew, you know, dining staff, all really really take
really pride in the product that they're putting out. And
I have to be honest with you, I where I was,
you know, for the last five years of my career,
(24:06):
I don't know that we had that pride. I know
that I had some employees that did. I had some
that had not, And it showed, and it showed.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And it's just really easy.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
It's really easy to come to work, and it's really
easy to see people get out of their car when
you actually.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Are happy to see them, you know. And I and
I I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I've never had to have the conversation with anybody at
work that if we don't, if we're not happy to
see people, then we're not gonna have a job.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
The only reason we have a.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Job is because those people come play golf, you know,
or come by by a sandwich or you know, or
or in junior golf or in the ladies clinic, whatever
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
You know, I think I think we kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Have our priorities in order with you know, chicken egg,
what comes for us, what doesn't.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I think also our customers bring us a lot, uh
that same attitude too. There they they look forward to
coming again. There's there's very few that come in. It's
like you know, selling ice cream, who's who's in a
bad mood. Whenever they're getting ready to buy an ice
cream come, you know they're they're in a good mood.
We welcome them. Hey, how you doing? You know, have
(25:18):
a nice day to thank you for coming? You have
a nice day to player or whatever. The short conversation
is that we have with them before they go out
and play. And then when they come back, how did
you do? And thank you for coming? And and I
think they they they really welcome that. Like maybe they
don't get that anywhere else, or maybe they should get
(25:39):
it somewhere else, but they don't know when we go
out of our way to thank them for their business
and and and and it's heart thoughts. It's not like
we're you know, taking advantage of them. You know, very few,
very few complaints. There's a few that complain, but very
few people come in or if they do complain that
we don't accommodate them somehow, uh like the way we
(26:01):
would we would think that, you know, sometimes it's unrealistic,
but other times it's you know, hey, you gotta gripe,
you know, let's let's work it out. Let's let's take
care of you and move on next time.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, it is true. It is true.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Like you know that we have even something as simple
as you know, the driving range, which which.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I know is is a it's not perfect.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And and but we we've had to go to to
artificial turf the past couple of weeks because we had
so much business on on on the grasp, that natural grasp.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Part of it.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's really interesting to me that how many customers have
just you know, we actually put signs up and just
say hey, Matt's only, and they just buy in. They
just go over the mat, they wait their turn. You know,
it's it's just how it goes. And and and I
think that speaks too, I'll be honestly, that speaks to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That speaks to.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Up to to to you and to everybody who works
in the golf shop and the golf operation too, because
if if they were not treated well in the golf operation,
they would complain about, hey, look I gave you this
much money for the to hit these golf balls, and
you're gonna make me hit off of a mat.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
They would complain. We have not had one complaint.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, We've We've had a few asks like, hey,
if I'm hitting driver, do I have to be on
a mat?
Speaker 1 (27:27):
No, you don't know. But that's just asks. But we
don't have anybody.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Come in and go, oh my god, I can't believe it.
You know, maybe nothing, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And I think that does speak to the fact that
we treat people.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Fairly, evenly and nicely. I mean, it's you know, I
read something a long time ago. It's harder to be
to not to treat people. It's what's more muscles to
frown than it is to smile.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Same thing.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It's it's harder to treat people poorly than it is
to be to treat people rudely than it is to
treat them nicely.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Getting back getting back to the range too. I mean,
last couple of years, that range has been closed by
no one having golf balls to hit. And I think
that my comp maybe we ran out of ball maybe
one time to two time stops when maybe our range
picker was down or something like that. But uh, we've
(28:24):
we've done a tremendous job keeping that range open, keeping
balls in there for our customers, especially our members that
get to use the range on a daily basis before
they hit they get you know, range balls as part
of their member package. I just think we've on a
(28:44):
lot of things we did. We're we're running on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I agree, I agree, And I think the thing
of it is is and this is something that that
people don't realize about Fortraery Golf Club. And I truly think,
I truly think that that people don't realize and we
get this question a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
We have twenty four.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Active hotel rooms on the property, and it's amazing to
me how many people ask us do you still do
people still stay there? Like this week I have we
have sixteen players coming you know to stay on you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
And it's it's people think that that that they're that
(29:36):
we don't let people don't stay there, like there's no
stay in place, and there are. We've had more staying
plays here this year than we did last year, and
I think that speaks to actually, I mean, with all
due respect to everybody involved, answering the phone, you know,
and trying to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
That's how I and how I look at it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And getting back to them win a reasonable timeframe too.
Yeah I left the message.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, you leave a message.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And you know, hey, I called you on you know,
on May fifteenth, and you're calling me back on June third.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I mean I already I already want a different direction,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So so it's like I just think, I just think
that that to your point, you know, the old cylinders thing.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I think we just we just try every day. I
truly believe that. I mean, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Think we try every day to make to make some
people happy. And because the other thing is is, you know,
they're coming there to play golf. You know, No nobody
says work golf, you know what I mean, Like, it's
not a it's a game. And and oddly enough, and
you know this as well as I do, and and
(30:44):
actually everybody on fundamental levels knows this. But in reality,
nobody on our property gets a W two at the
end of the year for how they played golf. Really,
you know, they don't.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They don't.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
But I'll tell you what they do get is they
do decide if they had fun or not. And I
think that that Brandon taking care of the golf course
and and and and your staff making sure that people
are like.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Acknowledging, Hey, how you doing? This is what's next? You
know you'll go have a good time.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I think that leads to that leads to a to
actually a really good environment or a culture. Is the
is the big corporate word.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
All right.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So after this commercial break, Jim, we're going to talk
about what's next at Fort Cherry Golf Club or what
you would like to see or a wish list or
any of those good things. This is the rich Comboll
Golf Show. Well, welcome back to rich Comboll Golf Show.
We are enjoying a conversation with Jim Skack and the
golf shop manager at.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Fort Cherry Golf Club.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I work with Jim almost every day, although he takes
four or five weekends off a year, and he also
takes off about three days a week. But you know,
we're not going to get into the work ethic of Jim.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
But obviously I'm kidding around.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
So Jim, what if you could snap your fingers, what
would you like to see for Cherry a change?
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Or do.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Boy? Off the top of my head, Uh, there's there's
there's quite a bit. I mean, you mentioned Mike on
a break. I mean he is a whole book. I
don't have a whole book, but just off the top
of my head, I think when you walk down our
driving range and you walked out of the pro shop,
I think number one should be spectacular. If there's no
(32:32):
other holes that are in in in as good as shape,
number one should be just just flat out beautiful. You know,
a little wider generous fairway Number one is it's a
very tough starting hole. The tea's point into the trees.
The uh, the fairway is not real wide, it's it's
(32:53):
it's a hard part. It is a really hard part.
It's a hard starting hole. So I'd like to see
number one more. I'd like to see the course just
a little bit better condition. I think if it was
in better condition, uh, people would be flocking to play there.
And not necessarily meaning that it has to be a
(33:15):
country club cut fairways because our clientele doesn't dictate that.
Our clienteile dictates, you know, fluffy or fairways ball sitting
up instead of people were way down where you really
have to pinch the ball to get it up in
the air, where you know you do on most country clubs.
I'd like to see a whole full length of range mats.
(33:39):
One whole thing of range mats for the length of
the drive range, near the near the cart path on
the drive range. So when we do go off the grass,
there's a beautiful practice thing that you could you could
hit balls off of and not have to worry about,
you know, waiting on your turn to I'd like to
(34:02):
see a heckle box.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So number one, here's the thing for those of you
who have not played for Cherry Golf Club.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Let me let me set the scene here.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
The first hole is down a hill from the golf shop,
and there's a fence that overlooks the first hole. What
Jim is advocating is actually saying nasty things to people
on the first t as they're trying to put as
they're preparing to play their own of golf. Let's just
let's just okay, don't call it heckle meter, heckle game, nothing.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Just say mean things to people. Is that what you're advocating?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Well, I think not every week, but I think maybe
maybe one weekend or two weekends. We could donate all
that money to whatever charity we beamed fitful. But you know,
five five dollars for you're allowed to say something ten
dollars if you use their name, and maybe twenty dollars
if you use their name and profanity while you're while
(34:57):
you're saying it, because you know how many people roll
the ball off the first either, I mean probably half
half they'll make the fair way, so I mean give
them a little boost, and if they know it's coming,
maybe maybe it'll embrace it. Maybe maybe maybe maybe it
will fall on its face. But I mean at least
one day we'd get a nice laugh out of it.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Okay, So here's the thing for all those who are
listening to this. He's serious. He really thinks.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
We could put a coin box down there and say,
you know what, you can say five dollars. You can
say anything you want right now to that guy. But
you got to know you just can't say it's a
complete stranger. So all right, so let's move past the
heckle box. And what else do you think?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Not just a couple other course improvements, I mean moving
some pie's around. We talked about number four, what would
be kind of a boy, It would be a it
would be a signature whole Number four where we talked
about moving the tea box to the left, and then
making making both of those all three lakes come into play.
I think that'd be sweet. Maybe shave the front of
(36:03):
it a little bit and so the balls that don't
quite make the green roll down in a little bit
of grass to stop it from going in that that
little pond that fronts it. I think maybe, uh, maybe
shaving some areas around the green. And I really think,
I really think that if we could, if we could
(36:23):
stake some of the areas around the greens where we
could leave the rough grow not not super high, but
but just enough so it stays healthy all all summer.
That that, just that little bit it'll make that that
the course isn't that hard. The you know, it's it's
it's not a long course. It's not a demanding course,
(36:43):
but just that little bit will make it which I
won't even trick it up, but just make it a
little bit more demanding that the premium on hitting a
shot in the middle of the green as opposed to
you know, if it hits off to the left and
it rolls down over the hill all the way down
across the cart path and it stays on hell, you know,
And I think that will help play too. I mean
they won't be looking for their ball down over the
(37:05):
hill on number two or whatever. And you know, just
a little a little bit a little more TLC. We're
doing a good job on it, but I think that's
something that we can improve on as well. On the
golf course.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, I think those are all all valid. They're all valid.
I think that. I think that, and I don't think
it would take.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Actually, I just think it was just to take a
switch and energy to do a lot of those, uh,
you know, to to grow the rough a little bit
more and a little.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Bit more complete.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
You know, maybe a couple of cosmetic not cosmetic, but
kind of cosmetic changes.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
It would just take a direction.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Of energy as opposed to you know, wouldn't take a
massive investment. It's just you know, a redirection of attention,
I think is what we're really talking about, is a
redirection of attention.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
A good example is on number ten, our number ten
is uh, you know, when there's a cart path and
it's flat walk to the green, the people run their
carts between the cart path and this in the in
the sand trap or the bunker on the left hand
side of the green, and it's all hard pan. Uh.
(38:14):
That doesn't need to be like that. That's that's that's
our customer's fall for driving there. We you know, we
have you know, we don't have strict cart paths rolls,
but we have rolls that just common sense. Keep the
parts on the path around the teas and greens is
the the green. Go anywhere you want, Go anywhere you
want within reason, but keep keep you know, think about
(38:36):
the other person and all and the other thing rich
is uh, you know, if we could find a way
and I know what's happening. Sometimes the ball gets in
the front and rolls at the back and they go
to the back of the green, and and and they
forget about their their pitch marker or or a ball
mark on the front of the green. You know, just
a little bit of customer help. Keeping our call, of
(39:00):
course as good as it can be too, would be
a big, big thing that I'd like to see improved.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah, that's those are all valid, those are all bad.
And again that's it. That's just the redirection of energy.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
That is a redirection of energy, you know, and China
injecting a little bit a little bit more common sense
into the situation.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Common courtesy.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
I shouldn't say common sense, common courtesy a little bit,
you know, redirect your your your your attention to to
certain areas that will actually make an impact across all
the customer base, not just.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
For you or or me, but for everybody.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
All right, So next year twenty twenty six, do you
have any goals for the golf course, for the facility.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Good boy, I'd like to. I'd like to. I'd like
to see, like they said, the conditioning improve and uh
and maybe go to a little bit more customer oriented,
you know, tell us where we need to to where
we need to take it and uh and and and
strive scribe for that all pull together, get to get
(40:08):
to reach that what we what we want to do,
whether it be you know, better outings, more fun outings,
more fun member, uh, member, guest days, you know, the
weekends that obviously the football seasons come is going to
be a test for us to keep customers on the
(40:29):
golf course in the afternoon. I think that, uh, and
the follow is the best time to play. So I mean,
just just keep rolling like what we're doing, keep improving,
and keep keep our customers happy and and uh make
it want to play. Of course, you've got to play
(40:50):
for chair for cherry is so much fun to play. Now,
let's let's keep going there and keep improving on that.
I guess it would be uh, it would be a
good thing to do, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
So let me ask you some specific numbers. Okay, two
hundred and fourteen members this year. What do you think
what do you think is a realistic goal for two
hundred for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Three hundred. I think three hundred members would be it
would be a good number.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's that's that's pretty reasonable. I
want to ask you about different type membership because we
have it.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
We have it, and we didn't do.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I probably didn't get it out to where it needed
to get to properly. But the high school membership, which
is which is only, which is only? It's a very
nominal amount and it takes care of You can walk
to golf course anytime seven.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Days a week.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
There are some there are some restrictions as a time,
I shouldn't say anytime before noon on weekdays and after
noon on weekends.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
How do we get that, bigger.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Boy? We just have to keep pounding on the UH
athletic directors of the schools that are local in our community,
the Fort Cherries, the West Elliguins, the South Ayetes, and uh,
you know, maybe maybe have functions for them that maybe
(42:19):
those schools can Maybe they don't the kids aren't on
the golf team, but would like to plan a competition
against and and meet children from Fort Cherry, from South
ay f from West Alleghany, from Bergistan and uh and
haven't like like we do our member events. Maybe have
uh an event for kids in nine whole or for
kids they go out and play nine holes, they get
(42:40):
paired up with different kids. Uh, they can again enjoy
each other's company, different skill levels. You know, they don't
have to be you know, ten of handicaps or whatever.
They can be beginners if if they enjoy it and
they maybe they maybe maybe a parent kid outing or
you know, the parent brings a child era and uh
(43:01):
you know you also talked about the the facility on
the uh the boundaries of our course putting in holes
over there that that would be family friendly. I think
that would be the term. I'm a little bit more
family friendly on on our off times.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Keep them from riding maybe maybe not let them ride
a car either, And uh and have them, you know,
go back to golf the way I think it should be. Yeah, walking,
you know, I get a bad back and bad foot,
so I'm limited. I would love to be able to
do it. I should probably still do it.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, since you since you turned ninety, your body's been
breaking down.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
So what you're trying to say?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Yeah, I just talked to my doctor today. He said,
I'm I'm pretty good. I got the same one Biden
goes to.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
So, uh no, we didn't go there, did we?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
My goodness?
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Oh I did good. I did well.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
So now I know I know it was really good.
So now we're going to jump back into getting you
to do well. All right, So we had one hundred
and fourteen kids in a junior program. How do you
think we have next year?
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Oh? I think two hundred. I think you do it
on two days. I really do two days or maybe
three days. I think two hundred. I think I was.
I think I was such a success for the kids.
I mean, look at my granddaughter. How much you enjoyed it,
you know, and how many other kids are you giving
(44:37):
lessons from that? And you know what rich too, I'll
tell you if you know you put in that your
newsletter when it goes out to those kids that were
trying to get to enjoy the game, and you use
you know, maybe this isn't the word, but Ellie is
as your poster child for that. You know, that's pretty uh,
(45:00):
pretty good stuff, right. I say, Hey, this girl, this
is a girl I work with and I'm still working
with her. She's qualified, could qualify for the drive chip
and put contest. She's she's won several of them and
has moved forward. I mean that's that's really pretty cool. Yeah,
(45:20):
to have someone that you worked with and for a
long time, and and you know she's just going to
get better and better too. She's only twelve, she's thirteen
years old.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Yeah, thirteen years yeah, seventy seventy seventy seven and one
of us kids.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Event So yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
You've brought up two days because I do think the
mornings work better for those kids. And I think I
think if we just did eight to twelve both days,
that would be eight hours and you put you know,
fifteen kids in each one of them, there's you know,
maybe do eight to one.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Yeah, I think you might be right with that. I
think two hundred is fair.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I think that I think what we should really and
this is I'm just gonna throw this out there and
see see what you think about this.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
What if we had what if we had.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
A the largest high school tournament in the state of Pennsylvania. Well,
we just set our sights on it. But okay, look,
you know what we're gonna play at Scramble. You know
you can put you can put one team in, you
can put two teams in. Men's boys, girls have a
have a you know, a women's division, a men's division.
(46:33):
Doesn't matter what high school you are. Because and then
and then maybe we maybe we do it too, you know,
we we get we get a designated charity. Maybe we
do it for you know, it's an anti drug message,
you know, because I unfortunately we've all been negatively impacted
by by by drugs. And you know, maybe maybe that's
(46:58):
what we should do. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Yeah,
So you think you think we could pull off heaving
you know, thirty six high school teams.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
There one day.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
I don't know about thirty six, but I think we
could have. We could have you know, the golf teams
from each each school there for a day or two,
and plus some other folks and I think mixing them
up so they're playing, you know, mixing them up, so
they're playing with different people too, so you know, like
almost like a blind draw. Yeah, it would be kind
(47:29):
of cool.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yeah, that's a great point. That's a really good point.
I never thought of it that way.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay, Jim, it has been. It's been really really really
neat to have you on. I know that you can
stop emailing and texting because you know you've been on
the show.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
I want to say thanks for doing this because I
know I called you out of the blue because I
kind of got dropped by a couple of different people.
So thank you very much. I appreciate your honesty. Uh,
I appreciate your enthusiasm too. So this is the This
has been the Rich con Wal Golf Show.
Welcome to the rich Comwalgolf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This week, before I get started, I get some interesting
I received some interesting news from our station manager. It
sounds like we're really famous. But and I found out
that in the last month the radio show Slash podcast
has received two hundred and fifteen downloads, which is a
(00:25):
really good month. So yeah, so things are going pretty well.
It seems like there seems to be a little bit
of momentum going to follow the show, and also seems
like people are enjoying the.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Guests that I'm able to get on the show. And
so with that in mind, we are going to go.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Local this week. I have this week, I have secured
a guest by the name of Jim Scatt. And Jim
is a long time, long time UH player, a very
good golf player, player of golf. His brother is a
PGA professional UH and so I thought that because I
(01:13):
did in the interest of full disclosure, I had I
had another guest lined up, but he had to go
to the hospital today, so actually last night a little
family thing, So so we pivoted. There's a fancy term,
pivoted to pivoted to Jim this week. So Jim, first off, thanks,
(01:36):
Thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you rich having me. You know, I've been wanting
to be on the show for a long time.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, Jim is Jim.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Jim sends me emails weekly, text messages every other day
asking to be on the show. So I guess, in
some way, shape or form, Corey, we made a young
man's stream come trump because we got him on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Now, so this is great.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I feel like, you know, I feel like I've actually
made a wish come true and.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
This is this is it?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So Jim, So I realize that you are not a
golf professional or a professional golfer, which would be a
tour player. But give me your background in golf.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Oh boy. I started playing golf of probably about ten
or twelve years old. My dad and brother played at
the course that we work at for Cherry Golf Club.
It was not called Cherry Hills at the time. Really
never practiced or played competitively until you know, later in life,
(02:40):
when you know, I had wife and kids and things
were growing, kids are going up, and then I started
getting little bit more time and started taking the game
a little bit more serious and been in the league
for forty some years, played in several events several member guests,
several pro ams with different pros from either Middtlandic or
(03:01):
Try State, and basically just loved the game. I really
loved the game. I love the fact that something that
you can play forever until you can't, you can play
on courses that the pros play on. You know, just
just a fantastic game I love. I love the whole
thing about it. You know.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
That's yeah, that's and if anybody ever gets to spend
time with Jimmy realized that very quickly.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Jim actually loves the game of golf and the interest.
Full disclosure, Jim is on strike from watching the Pirates.
He will not he will not watch one pitch. I think,
I believe.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Last week he declared he's on strike from college and
professional football. So Jim has basically resigned viewership of any
sport other than golf. Uh, he's yeah, he's done with
hockey as well. Oh, that's right, that's right, hockey. He's
still in on He he has resigned viewership of the
(04:01):
two largest watch sports in the United States of America
and the world. So he does not watch football. He
does not watch baseball, and there are many reasons for that,
and We're not going to get into that today because
Jim would actually become angry and we may have probably
(04:23):
visit some dark moments in Jim's life a ka.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Gambling.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
But we're not going to do that this week, where
we're going to keep it kind of light and breezy
and not going in the dark corners of the history
of Jim's habits. So, Jim, in the interest of full disclosure,
you're a very good player. You're a very good player.
For those of you who don't believe me, Jim shot
thirty last week for nine holes two weeks ago. Jim
(04:50):
has been a good player for a long time. When
I say that, I don't mean that Jim is old.
I just mean that he's been He's been good for
a long time, and hits it far, hits it solidly,
really good potter, really good potter.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And actually just loves people that that like to play golf.
And it's really interesting with with Jim and that that
Jim doesn't really care how you play as long as
you like to play.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
If you like to play, he'll play with you. He
doesn't he doesn't care your skill level. He just wants
to go play golf. And and So that being said, Jim,
that's a unique trait because you know, I've been obviously,
I've been obviously, but I've been around really good players
my entire life and and and there are very few
(05:39):
that are willing to not willing that don't mind how
you play, as long as you like to play and
you go have fun with it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So where's it? Where does that come from?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Because that that's not that that is unique, that is unique.
Most people like to like to play with, you know,
players of their own skill level, or only seek out
players good players, other good plays.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And so where's that? Where's that mindset come like? All
in all the time?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Well, well, well someone that had helped me when I
was younger to play to play better. Uh. I always
enjoyed playing with better players, you know, just because of
the competition, and you know, you can pick up so
much from someone that's really good. Maybe they can share
a couple of tips and uh, you know, like they're
(06:24):
trying to get the people to pay it forward. That's
something that that I feel strongly about that you can
see you take someone that loves the game, like a
young child or a female or someone just starting out,
and uh, you know, give them some pointers and and
if they hit a couple of good shots and they
said come back and say, hey man, that that tippy
(06:45):
you help me, or you help me with the pot error,
you help me with the chipping, that that drow you
gave me with the chipping, And and I broke ninety
for the first time, or I vote one hundred for
the first time. That's pretty that's pretty good stuff. Whenever
someone comes in and you know, you can they share
with their success with what you helped them with or
or showed them, you know, and if they get some
(07:09):
fun out of it, you know, as you know a
lot of people get intimidated playing with better players, but
I try not to even you know, have that crossed
their mind, because we just have so much fun laughing
and talking about different things. You know. My mind travels
a different directions quite easily.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So yeah, well I can keep them off there, can.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Keep them off their they're bad shots, very easy.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
In the third segment, you guys don't want to stick
around for this one because in the third segment, we're
gonna go on a roller coaster ride you call it.
Follow follow Jim's mind, and it will be it will
be better than any ride Kenny Wood has ever had.
I mean, I'm telling you, it's a it's a it's
a crazy ride. So now obviously I'm I'm not kidding
(07:55):
that that Jim doesn't watch football anymore, was doesn't watch
baseball anymore. But I know he's very knowledgeable about the
about the PGA Tour. So we're going to pick his
brain a little bit because the Ryder Cup came out
this week.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Jim, So what do you what do you? What's your
take on all that?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I really haven't studied it yet. Who who's in it?
I love the fact that they are playing on American soil.
I'm just hoping that the fans don't embarrass us and
uh and have it carry over to our golf course
throughouting thiss and and uh. I just hope it's really
good golf. I hope it's really well accepted. I hope
(08:33):
it's very very Uh. I don't know how to word
for gentlemanly goes back to a little bit of u uh,
you know, courtesy and camaraderie. And you know, these guys
are playing for you know, once once every two years.
They played for prize in the Ryder Cup, you know,
and that's what most players play for, you know, on
(08:54):
our course, especially in other courses, you know, you play
for your best score. And it's kind of cool to
one the best players in the world feel the heat
a little bit, yeah, because they feel the heat and
they also can feel you know, the the the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So it's really not that. Yeah, it's it's not the heat.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
They're fine, it's the weight they're feeling because you don't
ever see the weight, like you know, so like like
obviously everybody's really it's a really good, feel, feel good
story that Tommy Fleet would won, you know, for the
first time ever at the at the Players Champion or
the Tour Championship. But but the flip side of it is,
you know what, when he plays in the Ryder Cup,
he's playing for the entire on, not only the other teammates,
(09:40):
but the entire country.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And so that's weight. That's weight that you don't normally have.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
So all right, so not that we really want to,
as I said, we wouldn't dip into the whole gambling
thing with you, but if you had, if you had,
you would you bet on the United States.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I don't know what the odds would be on something
like that probably not not very probably even odds or
maybe two and a half to one or something like that.
Maybe I don't see.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
See see how that was so that mine works always
paying out there out there. He Jim just created his
own odds for the Ryder Cup right there in front
of you, Right there in front of you.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He just did it. You got it to two and
a half to one.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And I don't know what any of that means, but
that's another insight into how Jim's mind flies here. So yeah,
so all right, so all right, just straight up have
at it. You're going to root for the United States?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Oh, no doubt?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Okay, because in the interest of full disclosure, and this
is much dismay to my son and to anybody that
I tell this to, I actually root for the Europeans
because I think they work harder.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I do think they work harder. I think I think
when you start looking at guys like you know, they
start to you know, they work harder. I do believe
that a lot of them are on the Live Tour.
I'm a big, big believer in the Live Tour. I
know that's kind of goofy, but so I root for
(11:12):
the Europeans.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So you and I can have a couple of coffee
bet as to how this goes, you know, in September.
But it is a really really really unique event. Interestingly enough,
I thought about going because I actually can get I
get in for free as a PGAF America member, but
I I'm not going to go because that's that's a
(11:34):
long ride. I will tell you this. Interestingly enough, Golf
is really hard to watch on TV, but the Ryder
Cup is really hard to watch in person.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Because there's only six.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Groups on the on the golf course at any one time,
so it's really really really crowded, and it's really it's
really hard to see, like get a flow of the
event because it's match places that they quit playing, you know,
like like you know, you may three and we're done.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, our team's going next hole.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So so okay, you're taking the United States.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
How all the live thing is gone now? Jim, So
I want to ask you something, So, how important do
you think the Ryder Cup is for the landscape of golf?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well, I just think it keeps the momentum going, it
keeps the interest during well one during the first couple
of weeks of football season, I mean, they're competing.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Gives you something to watch. It gives you something to
watch because you don't watch football, right.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Right, It's going to be special for me. I'm looking
forward to that weekend, you know, I I but you know,
I really think that it's it's such an exciting event.
And you know yourself, it's all by putting, you know,
they all hit it really well, they do. And someone
(13:07):
drains a putt for from thirty feet or chips in
and Scott he's got a ten footer for birdie or
five footer for birdie, and someone just steals a hole
and the crowd goes wild, whether it's the United States
crowd or the European crowd goes wild. And you can
tell that the momentum, the swing, the swings can happen
(13:27):
in an event like that or fantastic. I think the
momentum carries a lot more weight on that type of
event than it does on a PGA tour making a
birdie because they're used to making birdies coming down the stretch, right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And then the other thing is is the other thing
is you know, if you watch the interviews of those
guys and they get introduced, it's it's as close to
a football game as they're going to get or a
large sporting event because because they walk out and it's
just like it's they're the only people on the golf course,
like those four those you know, like the first round,
(14:01):
you know, the first pairings out are the only fourcems.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
On the golf course.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And it starts at like nine o'clock in the morning.
So like at nine o'clock in the morning, like there's
thirty thousand people watching four guys.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It's just it like explodes.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
They talk about how it feels like it erupts when
they walk on the walk on to the first ta,
so it is it's a it's a unique event like
that too, because you don't get that feel or that
vibe from any other event except for the Ryder Cup,
including the President's Cup, which is the off yeer thing
they do. But but the Ryder Cup is the real deal,
(14:35):
and it's it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I think if you go back and watch some of
the older ones too, which we talk about the older
generations and Nicholas is the Turvinos and but you go
back to that we're on the shore at.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
What was that eighty one or something, Quila.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, Kila, and I think that's that event there turned
a Ryder Cup from a who hum event to a
much watch TV Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I know, I know, especially when when Nicholas actually pushed
to have all of Europe included instead of Great Britain
in Ireland because they would just stomp Great Britain in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Because those teams I think about that, I know, and.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
They just they just they just they just kick them
around and and but now it's all of Europe and
so I mean, now you have I mean think about this.
I mean, you have people from Italy playing, and you
have people from from from Germany.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, it's it's well the.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Most one of the most famous European America players from Spain.
So it is a really really really unique, unique event.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Okay, So when we.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Come back from this commercial break, we are going to
talk about local golf and specifically southwest Pennsylvania, and and
we're going to get into some some really cool stories
with that. This is the Rich Combo Golf Show. Welcome
back to the Rich Combo Golf Show. We it's interesting
(16:00):
as we move into this week end of this week
and this Sunday, the local team, the Pittsburgh Steelers are
playing in New York Jets and there's several storylines in that,
and so it's, uh, there's a different mood in Pittsburgh.
But since this is obviously a golf a golf show,
(16:22):
we're going to continue to talk about golf. But I
do want to.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
To catch everybody up. I have Jim skaking with us.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Jim is the the golf shop manager at Fort Cherry Golf.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Club and he works there along with me, and.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So we are going to take this segment and just
talk about the last September, so the nine months. So Jim,
tell me, tell us, tell everybody about some of the
changes that have happened at Fort Cherry Golf Club in
the last nine months.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Oh boy, let's let's start with last year. We uh,
they they had lost to individuals. I was brought in
in September, never worked at golf tournament, an outing, and
was kind of thrown in the fire, I guess, so
to speak, jumping in and trying to accommodate customers the
(17:19):
way that I was treated in different outings and things
like that. So it was kind of unique doing that. Then,
as you know, we were met in this January or
early February and put a plan together for the golf club,
and we've done some really good things the junior program,
(17:40):
the membership program, your veterans program, the ladies golf lessons
and things like that, and we have really turned a
corner on I think we have one customer service. We've
generated more rounds already this year than we have last year.
I think we've overcome a lot of the obstacles that
(18:04):
that kind of hindered our golf course from being a neat,
fun place to play. I think our staff has welcomed
golfers of all walks of life and all abilities to
play at our facility. And I think, you know, moving forward,
(18:26):
I think we're going to do a good job in
the fall. We just need to continue doing what we're
doing and keep our foot on the pedal.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So you know, from your perspective, obviously only one year
into all this, because it was about last September, right,
so it's a year and this is a bigger picture
at large. I kind of feel like we are taking
advantage of COVID, although the impact of golf COVID seems
(18:57):
to have kind of kind of leveled. But I have
never I personally have never been around professionally, have never
been around a facility as busy as we are.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
We are very busy. We are. We are busy from
seven o'clock in the morning till five o'clock in the
afternoon on the weekends. It's carrying over to some weekdays.
We have several leagus. What do we have twenty some
legs in the in the four days that we offered
a league play, you know, Monday through Thursday and friday's
open to the general public. But yeah, we we we
(19:32):
really have turned a corner on that. Our course is
in fantastic shape too. By the way, shout out to
our superintendent, Brandon Craigo. He's he's done a marvelous job
with with the the golf course. You know, everyone struggled
this year with the rain and the heat after after
(19:52):
the torrential rain, and we seem to be recovering pretty well.
Our greens are probably the best I've seen him in
in ten years. They're a receptive, they're smooth, they're fast
people walking off the course, they're happy. You know, I
think I think we're you know, we're heading in the
right direction. If if if not, we're not quite there yet.
(20:14):
But I think we're we're heading in the right direction,
and with help and with some good weather coming in
we get some time and the rain, I think our
course will really be spectacular this fall. You have a
lot of trees on it, so we don't have to
worry about only one hole really that you have to
blow leaves. So it's it's it's really a player friendly
golf course in the fall, but you know, you're not
(20:36):
looking for balls, and it leaves all over the place.
One hole that' said maybe two holes pis.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So, But yeah, it's I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm glad you brought up Brandon, because Brandon Craigil is
our golf course superintendent and and every one of his guys,
every one of them works very, very very hard and
has it and I think this is the difference. And
I've obviously been a lot of my career has been
on the private side. And but I will tell you this,
(21:08):
I don't think, actually I would tell you, I don't.
I don't know of any one facility that the entire
golf course maintenance staff has more pride in the product
than our guys. I really don't. I mean, I mean,
I realized that, you know, everybody has personalities and you
(21:29):
know that there's just things like that. But you know,
from a strict turf quality product presentation, I don't know how, how,
how anybody, how anybody could have any more pride than
our guys do.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I think that's all through our staff too, rich, I
think it. I think a lot of the especially the
older guys, take a lot of pride and making sure
that the you know, the little things. The carts are cleaning,
uh so, so they're not all spotted with water spots
that the graphs has swept out of them. The baskets
in the back are clean, and the glove boxes are
(22:05):
clean to put your whatever you're going to put in
the in the glove box. And also you know, they
go around and they fix the boundary stakes that are leaning,
and you know, pick up the breed that might have
not been properly thrown in a trash can I think,
I think, I think all the way down throughout our staff,
(22:25):
for the most part, it feels the same way.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, I know that is true. That is true, And
I you know, and I.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
And the good thing for me and like you, this
is my first full season there, and I have to
say that it's really really, really interesting because we have
in the golf shop anyway, we have a majority of
our employees are retired and they are i mean they retired,
(22:56):
they had a career job. I mean, we have you know,
different different backgrounds professionally, but they all seem to they
bring that that whole kind of treat people like you
want to be treated because that's how they've lived their life.
You know, because you have a sixty five year old
and I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Old Joe is.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'm just gonna say, you know, Joe's sixty five years old.
You know, he's he's treated people pretty well and they've
treated him pretty well. So he just kind of keeps
doing that and that kind of and and I gotta
be honest with you, and I'll just say it out loud.
I'm not sure that's always been the history of for
Cherry Golf Club, but I know it's a practice now.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, we can improve on it. But yes, I do
agree with that too.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, I mean, it's just it's if we kind
of treat people the way we want to be treated,
and it's it's really kind of.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Neat to see it.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And so you know, Brandon's crew, the maintenance crew, golf
shop crew, you know, dining staff, all really really take
really pride in the product that they're putting out. And
I have to be honest with you, I where I was,
you know, for the last five years of my career,
(24:06):
I don't know that we had that pride. I know
that I had some employees that did. I had some
that had not, And it showed, and it showed.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And it's just really easy.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
It's really easy to come to work, and it's really
easy to see people get out of their car when
you actually.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Are happy to see them, you know. And I and
I I didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I've never had to have the conversation with anybody at
work that if we don't, if we're not happy to
see people, then we're not gonna have a job.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
The only reason we have a.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Job is because those people come play golf, you know,
or come by by a sandwich or you know, or
or in junior golf or in the ladies clinic, whatever
we're doing.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
You know, I think I think we kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Have our priorities in order with you know, chicken egg,
what comes for us, what doesn't.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I think also our customers bring us a lot, uh
that same attitude too. There they they look forward to
coming again. There's there's very few that come in. It's
like you know, selling ice cream, who's who's in a
bad mood. Whenever they're getting ready to buy an ice
cream come, you know they're they're in a good mood.
We welcome them. Hey, how you doing? You know, have
(25:18):
a nice day to thank you for coming? You have
a nice day to player or whatever. The short conversation
is that we have with them before they go out
and play. And then when they come back, how did
you do? And thank you for coming? And and I
think they they they really welcome that. Like maybe they
don't get that anywhere else, or maybe they should get
(25:39):
it somewhere else, but they don't know when we go
out of our way to thank them for their business
and and and and it's heart thoughts. It's not like
we're you know, taking advantage of them. You know, very few,
very few complaints. There's a few that complain, but very
few people come in or if they do complain that
we don't accommodate them somehow, uh like the way we
(26:01):
would we would think that, you know, sometimes it's unrealistic,
but other times it's you know, hey, you gotta gripe,
you know, let's let's work it out. Let's let's take
care of you and move on next time.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, it is true. It is true.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Like you know that we have even something as simple
as you know, the driving range, which which.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I know is is a it's not perfect.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And and but we we've had to go to to
artificial turf the past couple of weeks because we had
so much business on on on the grasp, that natural grasp.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Part of it.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It's really interesting to me that how many customers have
just you know, we actually put signs up and just
say hey, Matt's only, and they just buy in. They
just go over the mat, they wait their turn. You know,
it's it's just how it goes. And and and I
think that speaks too, I'll be honestly, that speaks to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That speaks to.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Up to to to you and to everybody who works
in the golf shop and the golf operation too, because
if if they were not treated well in the golf operation,
they would complain about, hey, look I gave you this
much money for the to hit these golf balls, and
you're gonna make me hit off of a mat.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
They would complain. We have not had one complaint.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, We've We've had a few asks like, hey,
if I'm hitting driver, do I have to be on
a mat?
Speaker 1 (27:27):
No, you don't know. But that's just asks. But we
don't have anybody.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Come in and go, oh my god, I can't believe it.
You know, maybe nothing, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And I think that does speak to the fact that
we treat people.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Fairly, evenly and nicely. I mean, it's you know, I
read something a long time ago. It's harder to be
to not to treat people. It's what's more muscles to
frown than it is to smile.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Same thing.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It's it's harder to treat people poorly than it is
to be to treat people rudely than it is to
treat them nicely.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Getting back getting back to the range too. I mean,
last couple of years, that range has been closed by
no one having golf balls to hit. And I think
that my comp maybe we ran out of ball maybe
one time to two time stops when maybe our range
picker was down or something like that. But uh, we've
(28:24):
we've done a tremendous job keeping that range open, keeping
balls in there for our customers, especially our members that
get to use the range on a daily basis before
they hit they get you know, range balls as part
of their member package. I just think we've on a
(28:44):
lot of things we did. We're we're running on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I agree, I agree, And I think the thing
of it is is and this is something that that
people don't realize about Fortraery Golf Club. And I truly think,
I truly think that that people don't realize and we
get this question a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
We have twenty four.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Active hotel rooms on the property, and it's amazing to
me how many people ask us do you still do
people still stay there? Like this week I have we
have sixteen players coming you know to stay on you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
And it's it's people think that that that they're that
(29:36):
we don't let people don't stay there, like there's no
stay in place, and there are. We've had more staying
plays here this year than we did last year, and
I think that speaks to actually, I mean, with all
due respect to everybody involved, answering the phone, you know,
and trying to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
That's how I and how I look at it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
And getting back to them win a reasonable timeframe too.
Yeah I left the message.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, you leave a message.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And you know, hey, I called you on you know,
on May fifteenth, and you're calling me back on June third.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I mean I already I already want a different direction,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So so it's like I just think, I just think
that that to your point, you know, the old cylinders thing.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I think we just we just try every day. I
truly believe that. I mean, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Think we try every day to make to make some
people happy. And because the other thing is is, you know,
they're coming there to play golf. You know, No nobody
says work golf, you know what I mean, Like, it's
not a it's a game. And and oddly enough, and
you know this as well as I do, and and
(30:44):
actually everybody on fundamental levels knows this. But in reality,
nobody on our property gets a W two at the
end of the year for how they played golf. Really,
you know, they don't.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They don't.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
But I'll tell you what they do get is they
do decide if they had fun or not. And I
think that that Brandon taking care of the golf course
and and and and your staff making sure that people
are like.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Acknowledging, Hey, how you doing? This is what's next? You
know you'll go have a good time.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I think that leads to that leads to a to
actually a really good environment or a culture. Is the
is the big corporate word.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
All right.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So after this commercial break, Jim, we're going to talk
about what's next at Fort Cherry Golf Club or what
you would like to see or a wish list or
any of those good things. This is the rich Comboll
Golf Show. Well, welcome back to rich Comboll Golf Show.
We are enjoying a conversation with Jim Skack and the
golf shop manager at.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Fort Cherry Golf Club.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I work with Jim almost every day, although he takes
four or five weekends off a year, and he also
takes off about three days a week. But you know,
we're not going to get into the work ethic of Jim.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
But obviously I'm kidding around.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
So Jim, what if you could snap your fingers, what
would you like to see for Cherry a change?
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Or do.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Boy? Off the top of my head, Uh, there's there's
there's quite a bit. I mean, you mentioned Mike on
a break. I mean he is a whole book. I
don't have a whole book, but just off the top
of my head, I think when you walk down our
driving range and you walked out of the pro shop,
I think number one should be spectacular. If there's no
(32:32):
other holes that are in in in as good as shape,
number one should be just just flat out beautiful. You know,
a little wider generous fairway Number one is it's a
very tough starting hole. The tea's point into the trees.
The uh, the fairway is not real wide, it's it's
(32:53):
it's a hard part. It is a really hard part.
It's a hard starting hole. So I'd like to see
number one more. I'd like to see the course just
a little bit better condition. I think if it was
in better condition, uh, people would be flocking to play there.
And not necessarily meaning that it has to be a
(33:15):
country club cut fairways because our clientele doesn't dictate that.
Our clienteile dictates, you know, fluffy or fairways ball sitting
up instead of people were way down where you really
have to pinch the ball to get it up in
the air, where you know you do on most country clubs.
I'd like to see a whole full length of range mats.
(33:39):
One whole thing of range mats for the length of
the drive range, near the near the cart path on
the drive range. So when we do go off the grass,
there's a beautiful practice thing that you could you could
hit balls off of and not have to worry about,
you know, waiting on your turn to I'd like to
(34:02):
see a heckle box.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So number one, here's the thing for those of you
who have not played for Cherry Golf Club.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Let me let me set the scene here.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
The first hole is down a hill from the golf shop,
and there's a fence that overlooks the first hole. What
Jim is advocating is actually saying nasty things to people
on the first t as they're trying to put as
they're preparing to play their own of golf. Let's just
let's just okay, don't call it heckle meter, heckle game, nothing.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Just say mean things to people. Is that what you're advocating?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Well, I think not every week, but I think maybe
maybe one weekend or two weekends. We could donate all
that money to whatever charity we beamed fitful. But you know,
five five dollars for you're allowed to say something ten
dollars if you use their name, and maybe twenty dollars
if you use their name and profanity while you're while
(34:57):
you're saying it, because you know how many people roll
the ball off the first either, I mean probably half
half they'll make the fair way, so I mean give
them a little boost, and if they know it's coming,
maybe maybe it'll embrace it. Maybe maybe maybe maybe it
will fall on its face. But I mean at least
one day we'd get a nice laugh out of it.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Okay, So here's the thing for all those who are
listening to this. He's serious. He really thinks.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
We could put a coin box down there and say,
you know what, you can say five dollars. You can
say anything you want right now to that guy. But
you got to know you just can't say it's a
complete stranger. So all right, so let's move past the
heckle box. And what else do you think?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Not just a couple other course improvements, I mean moving
some pie's around. We talked about number four, what would
be kind of a boy, It would be a it
would be a signature whole Number four where we talked
about moving the tea box to the left, and then
making making both of those all three lakes come into play.
I think that'd be sweet. Maybe shave the front of
(36:03):
it a little bit and so the balls that don't
quite make the green roll down in a little bit
of grass to stop it from going in that that
little pond that fronts it. I think maybe, uh, maybe
shaving some areas around the green. And I really think,
I really think that if we could, if we could
(36:23):
stake some of the areas around the greens where we
could leave the rough grow not not super high, but
but just enough so it stays healthy all all summer.
That that, just that little bit it'll make that that
the course isn't that hard. The you know, it's it's
it's not a long course. It's not a demanding course,
(36:43):
but just that little bit will make it which I
won't even trick it up, but just make it a
little bit more demanding that the premium on hitting a
shot in the middle of the green as opposed to
you know, if it hits off to the left and
it rolls down over the hill all the way down
across the cart path and it stays on hell, you know,
And I think that will help play too. I mean
they won't be looking for their ball down over the
(37:05):
hill on number two or whatever. And you know, just
a little a little bit a little more TLC. We're
doing a good job on it, but I think that's
something that we can improve on as well. On the
golf course.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, I think those are all all valid. They're all valid.
I think that. I think that, and I don't think
it would take.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Actually, I just think it was just to take a
switch and energy to do a lot of those, uh,
you know, to to grow the rough a little bit
more and a little.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Bit more complete.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
You know, maybe a couple of cosmetic not cosmetic, but
kind of cosmetic changes.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
It would just take a direction.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Of energy as opposed to you know, wouldn't take a
massive investment. It's just you know, a redirection of attention,
I think is what we're really talking about, is a
redirection of attention.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
A good example is on number ten, our number ten
is uh, you know, when there's a cart path and
it's flat walk to the green, the people run their
carts between the cart path and this in the in
the sand trap or the bunker on the left hand
side of the green, and it's all hard pan. Uh.
(38:14):
That doesn't need to be like that. That's that's that's
our customer's fall for driving there. We you know, we
have you know, we don't have strict cart paths rolls,
but we have rolls that just common sense. Keep the
parts on the path around the teas and greens is
the the green. Go anywhere you want, Go anywhere you
want within reason, but keep keep you know, think about
(38:36):
the other person and all and the other thing rich
is uh, you know, if we could find a way
and I know what's happening. Sometimes the ball gets in
the front and rolls at the back and they go
to the back of the green, and and and they
forget about their their pitch marker or or a ball
mark on the front of the green. You know, just
a little bit of customer help. Keeping our call, of
(39:00):
course as good as it can be too, would be
a big, big thing that I'd like to see improved.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah, that's those are all valid, those are all bad.
And again that's it. That's just the redirection of energy.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
That is a redirection of energy, you know, and China
injecting a little bit a little bit more common sense
into the situation.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Common courtesy.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
I shouldn't say common sense, common courtesy a little bit,
you know, redirect your your your your attention to to
certain areas that will actually make an impact across all
the customer base, not just.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
For you or or me, but for everybody.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
All right, So next year twenty twenty six, do you
have any goals for the golf course, for the facility.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Good boy, I'd like to. I'd like to. I'd like
to see, like they said, the conditioning improve and uh
and maybe go to a little bit more customer oriented,
you know, tell us where we need to to where
we need to take it and uh and and and
strive scribe for that all pull together, get to get
(40:08):
to reach that what we what we want to do,
whether it be you know, better outings, more fun outings,
more fun member, uh, member, guest days, you know, the
weekends that obviously the football seasons come is going to
be a test for us to keep customers on the
(40:29):
golf course in the afternoon. I think that, uh, and
the follow is the best time to play. So I mean,
just just keep rolling like what we're doing, keep improving,
and keep keep our customers happy and and uh make
it want to play. Of course, you've got to play
(40:50):
for chair for cherry is so much fun to play. Now,
let's let's keep going there and keep improving on that.
I guess it would be uh, it would be a
good thing to do, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
So let me ask you some specific numbers. Okay, two
hundred and fourteen members this year. What do you think
what do you think is a realistic goal for two
hundred for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Three hundred. I think three hundred members would be it
would be a good number.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's that's that's pretty reasonable. I
want to ask you about different type membership because we
have it.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
We have it, and we didn't do.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I probably didn't get it out to where it needed
to get to properly. But the high school membership, which
is which is only, which is only? It's a very
nominal amount and it takes care of You can walk
to golf course anytime seven.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Days a week.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
There are some there are some restrictions as a time,
I shouldn't say anytime before noon on weekdays and after
noon on weekends.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
How do we get that, bigger.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Boy? We just have to keep pounding on the UH
athletic directors of the schools that are local in our community,
the Fort Cherries, the West Elliguins, the South Ayetes, and uh,
you know, maybe maybe have functions for them that maybe
(42:19):
those schools can Maybe they don't the kids aren't on
the golf team, but would like to plan a competition
against and and meet children from Fort Cherry, from South
ay f from West Alleghany, from Bergistan and uh and
haven't like like we do our member events. Maybe have
uh an event for kids in nine whole or for
kids they go out and play nine holes, they get
(42:40):
paired up with different kids. Uh, they can again enjoy
each other's company, different skill levels. You know, they don't
have to be you know, ten of handicaps or whatever.
They can be beginners if if they enjoy it and
they maybe they maybe maybe a parent kid outing or
you know, the parent brings a child era and uh
(43:01):
you know you also talked about the the facility on
the uh the boundaries of our course putting in holes
over there that that would be family friendly. I think
that would be the term. I'm a little bit more
family friendly on on our off times.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Keep them from riding maybe maybe not let them ride
a car either, And uh and have them, you know,
go back to golf the way I think it should be. Yeah, walking,
you know, I get a bad back and bad foot,
so I'm limited. I would love to be able to
do it. I should probably still do it.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, since you since you turned ninety, your body's been
breaking down.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
So what you're trying to say?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Yeah, I just talked to my doctor today. He said,
I'm I'm pretty good. I got the same one Biden
goes to.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
So, uh no, we didn't go there, did we?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
My goodness?
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Oh I did good. I did well.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
So now I know I know it was really good.
So now we're going to jump back into getting you
to do well. All right, So we had one hundred
and fourteen kids in a junior program. How do you
think we have next year?
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Oh? I think two hundred. I think you do it
on two days. I really do two days or maybe
three days. I think two hundred. I think I was.
I think I was such a success for the kids.
I mean, look at my granddaughter. How much you enjoyed it,
you know, and how many other kids are you giving
(44:37):
lessons from that? And you know what rich too, I'll
tell you if you know you put in that your
newsletter when it goes out to those kids that were
trying to get to enjoy the game, and you use
you know, maybe this isn't the word, but Ellie is
as your poster child for that. You know, that's pretty uh,
(45:00):
pretty good stuff, right. I say, Hey, this girl, this
is a girl I work with and I'm still working
with her. She's qualified, could qualify for the drive chip
and put contest. She's she's won several of them and
has moved forward. I mean that's that's really pretty cool. Yeah,
(45:20):
to have someone that you worked with and for a
long time, and and you know she's just going to
get better and better too. She's only twelve, she's thirteen
years old.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Yeah, thirteen years yeah, seventy seventy seventy seven and one
of us kids.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Event So yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
You've brought up two days because I do think the
mornings work better for those kids. And I think I
think if we just did eight to twelve both days,
that would be eight hours and you put you know,
fifteen kids in each one of them, there's you know,
maybe do eight to one.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Yeah, I think you might be right with that. I
think two hundred is fair.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I think that I think what we should really and
this is I'm just gonna throw this out there and
see see what you think about this.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
What if we had what if we had.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
A the largest high school tournament in the state of Pennsylvania. Well,
we just set our sights on it. But okay, look,
you know what we're gonna play at Scramble. You know
you can put you can put one team in, you
can put two teams in. Men's boys, girls have a
have a you know, a women's division, a men's division.
(46:33):
Doesn't matter what high school you are. Because and then
and then maybe we maybe we do it too, you know,
we we get we get a designated charity. Maybe we
do it for you know, it's an anti drug message,
you know, because I unfortunately we've all been negatively impacted
by by by drugs. And you know, maybe maybe that's
(46:58):
what we should do. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Yeah,
So you think you think we could pull off heaving
you know, thirty six high school teams.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
There one day.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
I don't know about thirty six, but I think we
could have. We could have you know, the golf teams
from each each school there for a day or two,
and plus some other folks and I think mixing them
up so they're playing, you know, mixing them up, so
they're playing with different people too, so you know, like
almost like a blind draw. Yeah, it would be kind
(47:29):
of cool.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Yeah, that's a great point. That's a really good point.
I never thought of it that way.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay, Jim, it has been. It's been really really really
neat to have you on. I know that you can
stop emailing and texting because you know you've been on
the show.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
I want to say thanks for doing this because I
know I called you out of the blue because I
kind of got dropped by a couple of different people.
So thank you very much. I appreciate your honesty. Uh,
I appreciate your enthusiasm too. So this is the This
has been the Rich con Wal Golf Show.
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