JANUARY 2023
Savor
MEMBER NEWSLETTER
From the President
By Mark Richman, 2022 Club President
Happy New Years, as 2022 comes to a close we have much to be thankful for. Our Club just had a fantastic December. We had a record crowd at our "Santa Brunch", our ice rink is in and we continue to have activities and specials to make your trip to the Club in the cold fun and enjoyable. I want to thank Mitch Albers and Tricia Lydon for all their time and service to Dellwood as they step down from their time on the Advisory Committee. At that, we welcome to Sarah Han and Blair Oklobzija. Along with our President elect Brianna Schuette, who will take the President seat one year from now as I complete my two-year term. We are lucky to have so many qualified members that have the time and passion to make our Club better every day. We've put a segment together to provide a proper introduction to new and exisiting Committee Members. Their committement to the Club makes them a great person to bounce ideas and feedback off of, as we discuss these at all meetings with an underlying goal to continuously improve our Club. We all answered some common questions so you can get to know us a little better! I'll start if off below! See you at the Club, Richie
Member Since: 1998 Amenity Used Most: Golf & Restauraunt Favorite Menu Item: Walleye & recently Chef's Specials What I Enjoy Most about DCC: Our Membership that exudes a welcoming culture. You can make friends easily and feel comfortable right away. 2023 & Beyond: The incoming youth we see in our Membership is outstanding. They are the next generation here at DCC!
From Michelle's Desk
by Michelle Murray Office / HR Manager
Happy New Year to all of you! It has certainly been a crazy last few weeks of weather, which brings to me reminding all members how important it is to have the Club Central by Foretees App. installed on your phones. We have had some power outages and closings, and this is the best way for us to communicate with all of you the happenings at the Club. If you already have the app. installed, please make sure that you are allowing push notifications. If you do not have the app. installed and would like to get credentials to login, please email me and I can send those to you. As I reflect on the past year, I am so grateful for all of our DCC members and employees. I get to work with the absolute best people every day, and interact with so many different members. It feels like “family” here at Dellwood, and that is what makes this such a great place to be a part of. One of my goals for this new year is to get to personally know each and every staff member that works here, and hopefully be able to meet all members of the Club. If we have not met yet, please feel free to stop in the main office and say hello. I know I exchange phone calls and emails with a lot of you, but it is always nice to put a face to the name. Cheers to 2023!
Introducing your 2023 Advisory Committee
Member Since: 2021 Amenity Used Most: Golf (Pool a close 2nd!) Favorite Menu Item: Our made-from-scratch margaritas, Buffalo Mac & Cheese What I Enjoy Most about DCC: The down-to-earth atmosphere and welcoming Members have made this a place where our family can comfortably learn golf & tennis, while makin gunoforgettable memories. Little Did we Know.. : Joining DCC is one of the blessings that came out of the pandemic for our family. We wanted options for outdoor fun during COVID, but now we're in for the long haul.
Brienna Schuette, President Elect
Sara Han
Member Since: 2020 Amenity Used Most: Golf Favorite Menu Item: Turkey Burger w/ Cranberry Aioli & Bootleggers What I Enjoy Most about DCC: Women's League on Thursday nights and Couples Golf Events. Lifelong friendships have been created through these events. Claim to Fame: My husband Steve & I won the Couples Club Championship in 2022!
Michele Klegin
Member Since: 2017 Amenity Used Most: Golf Favorite Menu Item: Tennessee Hot Chicken Sandwich What I Enjoy Most about DCC: I love the feeling of community. I feel everyone matters and everyone cares about one another. Shout-Out: Our staff is amazing!
Blair Oklobzija
Member Since: 2009 Amenity Used Most: Golf. IMO it's one of the most alluring courses in the Metro Favorite Menu Item: Seared Ahi Tuna w/ Sweet Chili Sauce and Wasabi Aioli What I Enjoy Most about DCC: Dellwood Members have become second family. I've created lifetime friendships with men & women, young and old. Every summer I look forward to seeing the next generation partake in Junior Golf Camps. Claim to Fame: I aced Hole #12. On Mother's Day. AND in front of all my kids. That's tough to beat!
Beth Pilacinski
Member Since: 1983 Amenity Used Most: Golf Favorite Menu Item: Flat Iron Steak What I Enjoy Most about DCC: The conditions of the golf course and the challenges it presents Claim to Fame: Former Minnesota Golf Association (MGA) Senior Champion
Bob Manning
Member Since: 2016 Amenity Used Most: Myself: Golf. My wife Amanda & Kids: Pool Favorite Menu Item: Seafood Risotta & Oktoberfest Pretzels! What I Enjoy Most about DCC: The overall welcoming feel. I entertain a lot of customers and business partners at the Club and they all love the experience and look forward to coming back. All Family: Amanda and I have three boys, Miles (14), Oliver (12) & Calvin (10). They love hanging at the pool and enjoy the food!
Bill LeBlanc
Member Since: 2012 Amenity Used Most: Golf & Restaraunt Favorite Menu Item: Everything breakfast What I Enjoy Most about DCC: #1-Great golf events. #2-The people! I'm fascinated at how approachable members are and the respect everyone has for one another. Claim to Fame: I've had two aces at DCC on the same hole: #16 which was #7 the first time I aced it. The second one was with Driver, but hey, it was from the tips!
James Christopherson
Member Since: 2015 Amenity Used Most: DCC has created 3 golfers, & 3 tennis players in our family! Favorite Menu Item: The rotating food menu and signature cocktails! What I Enjoy Most about DCC: We love the sense of community between the Members and the amazing staff. You'll Know Where to Find Us: My wife Deb and I are frequent diners at the Bar, and have worn in our spot over a number of years. Up front and center on bar stools!
Clayton Johnson, Head Golf Professional Pete LaCoursiere, General Manager
Michelle Murray, Office Manager Brita van Guilder, Director of Food & Beverage
Representing DCC Staff:
By Pete LaCoursiere, General Manager
From Your GM...
If we didn’t have a chance to catch you at any of our festive gatherings over the past few weeks to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas or Happy New Year – we genuinely hope you had the best of both! Our last day of 2022 was celebrated at the Club with a day we intend to make a tradition out of. We had nearly 150 members, children & guests enjoy complimentary sleigh rides on a perfect winter day. Our Chefs put together a wonderful NYE surf & turf dinner special and our dining room was at full capacity for much of the evening. To me, it summed up 2022 perfectly: well-participated, mixes of decade-old traditions, a few restored, and even more added, all with a fun and energetic buzz enjoyed by one of the most diverse private Club memberships in the Midwest. Our team and I take a lot of pride in that and look at 2023 with an overwhelming amount of excitement. As the year ended, I had opportunities to meet individually with all department heads, as well as gather as a group of directors & managers, and as an entire staff in an annual EOY event. Each of these had their own approach, but all shared an underlying purpose: to make 2023 our best year yet. For our all-staff meeting, I was able to gather some historical insight from a few folks, including our owner Tim Lawin, to share Dellwood CC’s history with our staff. The Club faced its fair share of obstacles since its inception in 1970, and while the future looked bleak at times (notably post 2007-2009 crash), we’re as healthy of a Club now as we’ve ever been and have an incredible amount to be grateful for.
Our current state presents a new set of challenges as we encounter some firsts along the way. Capacity, whether that’s on the golf course, at the pool, or in the restaurant, has not always been an issue. In many cases throughout the years it was quite the opposite, where fewer members and less activity led to operational losses and cutbacks in a number of areas.We continue to strategize both internally and with the help and support of our Advisory Committee, to fine-tune our operation to provide the best experience possible for our Membership. To those that have gone out of their way to connect with me or other members of our management team, whether through email or in-person, to share both amazing and less than satisfying experiences, THANK YOU. We draw from all of these and they become testaments to our practices or adversely, provides us necessary information which allows us opportunities to improve. After a fall season of typical attrition, we have a limited number of Golf Memberships still available for the upcoming golf season. Our membership acts as the best marketing tool out there, and we love welcoming new Members that were introduced to the Club by existing Members. We’re happy to pass along referrals to Members who facilitate introductions to new potential Members. We are happy to pass along a 12-month dues credit of $25-$50/mo for all incoming Golf Members that were first introduced to us by referral. If you have someone that you think would be a great addition to our Club, please let us know! We hope that our event calendar for the season has multiple offerings for each and every one of you and that you are able to partake! We recently collaborated with Minnesota Special Olympics to sponsor and become the off-site host for the upcoming Polar Plunge on White Bear Lake on January 28! The Polar Plunge, who's slogan for 2023 is "Go Jump in a Lake!" coordinates 28 plunges in lakes across the state, but the WBL site is one of the originals and a focal point. We're excited to be a part of this amazing organization, and encourage you all to take part in any way that you can! As a staff we will be there to test out the waters of WBL, and if you'd like to join us - click HERE for info and registration. Cheers to an amazing 2023 - thank you all!
From the Pro:
By Clayton Johnson, Head Golf Professional
As we roll into 2023, we have lots of winter fitting days set up for our members here at Dellwood. This is an exciting time of year for the club manufacturers as they launch their 2023 product for consumers. If you have been thinking about getting fit for new clubs or want to see how the new product compares to what you currently have, this is the time to do it. Here are the fittings days that we currently have scheduled and if you would like to be fit, please emailclayton@dellwoodcountryclub.comto get fit and let me know what you are looking to get fit for. This helps with the amount of time we need to set aside for each fitting. January 19thPing from 4-7 pm New G430 Product, Woods and Irons January 21stPXG from 11 am-2 pm Gen 5 Product January 28thCleveland/Srixon 11 am-2 pm New Iron and Wood Line February 11thCallaway 11 am-3:30 pm New Paradym Product, Woods and Irons February 25thMizuno 11 am-3 pm New Iron and Wood Line
by Brita van Guilder Food & Beverage Director
Food & Wine
Welcome to 2023! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with family and friends! I am so excited for all the fun events we have planned for this year, the new members we will meet, and much much ore for the year ahead. A quick recap on December- one of my top highlights was executing our famous Santa Brunch on December 18th- with record attendance of over 600 adults and children! We had a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Clause, giant draft horses pulling a sleigh along the course, along with lots of great food and treats! I always look forward to this event because we are able to connect with so many different families and celebrate the season together at DCC. For those of you who don’t know, I have always been passionate about wine and wine education so this month, we are partnering with Small Lot Wines to host our first wine dinner post-Covid! Small Lot, a Minneapolis based company,prides themselves on bringing together wine and soul and educating curious customers with their many brands. One of their finest, Marcus Hanson, and myself will take you on a “Taste of Italy”, celebrating grapes across the amazing country ranging from Barbera, to Montepulciano, to Sangiovese! So Save the Date for Friday, January 13th, beginning at 6pm. Signups will be available on Foretees and we really hope to see you there! It will be an approachable event, suitable for all types of wine drinkers- no experience necessary ;) Looking forward to an amazing 2023 with you all!
Upcoming Weekend Specials in January ~ ~ ~ ~ Fri, Jan 6 - Sat, Jan 7 It's All Greek to Me Fri, Jan 13 - Sat, Jan 14 Surf & Turf Fri, Jan 20 - Sat, Jan 21 DCC Juicy Lucy Stuffed Burgers Fri, Jan 27 - Sat, Jan 28 Streets of Italy ~ ~ ~ ~ EVERY TUESDAY Cozy Cantina! Hours 4:00-8:30PM