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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | OCTOBER 2016 | 3 By Doug Swenson FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK Recently I overheard a conversation outside the Pro Shop in regard to the bad condition of the golf course and how poorly it was being maintained. As everyone knows, the golf courses are our largest amenity and we work hard to maintain and improve them each and every year. Currently, we have water restriction requirements which leaves the outer perimeters brown due to lack of water. Three years ago we replaced all the lake liners on the Championship course. We are planning on replacing the lake liners on the Executive course next year. This not only improves the look of each lake but saves thousands of gallons of water that would otherwise leak out through the damaged liners saving the HOA a large amount on the water bill. Two years ago we replaced the water pumps that provide the pressure for the course irrigation system. This allowed us far better control of the irrigation system cutting down on damage to the piping system as well as again, saving a lot of water and money. Over the last two years we have reworked all the sand traps on both golf courses providing good drainage to all of them which cuts down on the damage heavy rainfalls could have to them as well as makes them much more playable. The next large project is to replace all the main water lines to each hole. They are almost 30 years old and leaks are a regular occurrence. As you can see, the golf course staff is constantly reviewing the operation of the course to make sure that all issues are quickly taken a look at and resolved in a way to improve the maintenance today and into the future. In light of there always being a water issue in Southern California, all methods of reducing water usage are regularly reviewed to see what can be done and what the savings would be as well as the payback to the association. The big one that is on the horizon is called turf conversion. This involves removing many acres of grass and replacing them with drought tolerant plants. This allows us to reduce our water usage since we would maintain the plants with a drip system instead of the sprinklers we have today. A good example of this is along side of the tee on hole #10 as well as the island area by the lake on hole #17 of the Championship course. We are currently under contract with an organization to provide us the plans to accomplish this so that we can go out to bid to see what the cost would be. We know it will not be inexpensive so we will need to review it to see how the project could be phased. This covers the large projects that have been completed or are on the planning table for the future. Along with them, there are a large number of small projects that are accomplished regularly that improve play as well as save money. To say that our course is in bad condition and is not maintained very well is not a true statement. It is in better playing condition today than at any time I have seen it in my 17 years here. The course is green and beautiful and when we have outsiders play here, all they do is rave about how well it looks and plays. I think we should all make sure that when we see a member of the golf course staff, to stop them and thank them for all the good work they do. The second issue I want to discuss today is the issue of age. We are all getting older and many of the people who are moving in today are the age we were when we moved in. In light of this age difference, many of the older residents feel it is their right to question anyone that they feel is too young to live here. Please remember that we all age differently and that we have residents that are in their 50s all the way up to over 100. Rather than harass someone who looks young, you should thank them for moving to Sun Lakes Country Club and compliment them on making such a good decision. They are the ones that are going to be the movers and shakers of the future in Sun Lakes and we all want them to feel welcome and enjoy their retirement just as we are doing. Last month Jeremy Wilson who had been our General Manager for seven years was promoted to Vice President at PCM. He will be greatly missed. His replacement, Chris Mitchell, came to us from Canyon Lakes and started on Sept. 13. Our new Food Beverage Director, Marco Calderon, started the end of August. Please join me in welcoming them to the Sun Lakes Country Club family.

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