Trumansburg Golf Club opens for spring

Trumansburg Golf Club (TGC) opened for the 2021 season March 22. Things are looking good for the course, a stark contrast to this time last year, when the staff at TGC was feeling quite nervous about finances.

“Last year, we actually saw an increased number of members and players, which was the opposite of all of our fears,” said Golf Operations Manager Kevin Manheim. “With Newman being shut down and Cornell being closed until around mid-June, there wasn’t a lot of options.”

In March of 2020, the course opened for about a week and was then forced by state mandate to close until May. When it opened back up, there was a list of new safety measures in place, many of which will be reimplemented for this season.

“A big part of our COVID strategy last year was mandating tee times,” Manheim said. “That made things a lot more convenient because sometimes when you get the walk-ins, that’s when you can quickly get eight or more people in the same area. We were trying to avoid the congestion as much as possible.”

The organization closed the whole building to the public last year, except for the restrooms, and required golfers to sign up and pay ahead online. The restaurant was still open, but all food was served to-go through a window. These decisions were hard to make, Manheim said, but ultimately made enforcing social distancing rules much easier for staff.

A more difficult situation to deal with was the “one person per cart” rule on golf carts. When carts were done being used by a guest, they were disinfected and then put in a roped-off section to dry for a mandatory two hours, which did cause the course to miss out on revenue.

“One person per cart stunk for us because you take a lot of hits on gas,” Manheim said. “Once people were out and wanting to play all the time, we would have a shortage of carts. But at the end of the day, that all came secondary to keeping everybody healthy and doing the right thing by the community and not getting shut down.”

Board of Directors President Gregg Weatherby said the past year was an anxious one for everyone involved with the course, but thankfully, the Board was able to secure a PPP loan.

“We’d just started to turn the corner financially and purchase new equipment and we were nervous that COVID could put us back in the hole,” Weatherby said. “The course was forced to close for a time by the government, but you can’t just let a golf course go. If you don’t take care of the greens or irrigation system, it would be ruined. So, we had to pay for payroll and we had no income coming in.”

The Trumansburg Golf Club has a history of being resourceful in times of need. It was founded in 1969 by a group of residents with a mutual desire to build something that didn’t rely on the town or state. Enough of the community got involved to fund the entire business on donations.

The people who donated more than 50 years ago are called “shareholders,” and though they don’t receive any dividends, they do elect the Board.

The seven-person Board is in charge of supervising the main staff. Course Superintendent Damon Reed is in charge of keeping up the greens, which includes tending to the fairways, tee boxes, bunkers and inevitable turf diseases and bugs. Kristin Harrington leases the on-premise restaurant, Clubhouse Bar and Grille. Each of the three staff are in charge of their departments and handle day-to-day operations, but the Board is ultimately responsible for the business as a whole.

Weatherby is in his fourth year of serving on the Board. He was born and raised in Trumansburg but left the area to work at golf courses in Arizona and Bedford Hills, New York, before coming back to his home course. He grew up playing golf and said the course is an important part of the community.

“Most small towns don’t have many opportunities for entertainment and activities,” Weatherby said. “There’s not a lot to do here other than hike, so having the golf course as a place to go for recreation is good for the town. There’s also baby showers here, wedding showers, celebrations of life — there’s a lot of history at the course.”

The Board and staff said they are looking forward to making more history at the course this year and want to welcome everyone to get some fresh air and safe socialization.

“People are excited,” Manheim said. “When you’re trapped in your house all the time, I think any step out into the world is a relief. They can come out and do things they’re passionate about and love. It gives a little bit of normalcy to the life that got interrupted.”

The bar and restaurant are scheduled to open April 5, weather permitting. A decision on whether indoor seating will be available hasn’t been made yet. Learn more at trumansburggolfclub.com.

In Brief:

In-person browsing appointments at Ulysses Philomathic Library

As of March 30, the Ulysses Philomathic Library is now open to browsing by appointment. This important step in its reopening plan will allow members of the public to schedule 30-minute appointments to safely browse the full collection.

The library’s grab-and-go holds pickup service will continue to be available to patrons. Masks are required for all visitors. Appointments will be available on Tuesdays and Fridays between 1 and 5 p.m. Please call (607) 387-5623 for more information or to schedule an appointment.