THE MAD POST

Submitted by Gary Ward, General Manager & C.O.O.

The golf course contractor made tremendous headway on both #12 and #17 last week. Doug Carrick was on site last week to meet with us along with the team leaders from Northgate Farms. We met as a group to cover key aspects of each work zone and clarify any questions before the real grading work began.

Doug will return this week to assess progress to the plan. The contractor believes they will be ready for Doug to review their green excavation on #17 green, and they should be far enough along with earth moving on #12 to move into the next phase of grading.

The plan is to have #12 shaped and prepared for irrigation installation in early August and #17 will be ready at the same time. The Northgate team may start work on #6 green later this week depending on feedback from Doug.

Submitted by Carl Penfold, Head Professional

The final major of the season for the men concluded yesterday which means our Mad River Majors Pool is officially over. Scottie Scheffler cruised to a 4-shot victory over Harris English to capture the Claret Jug. It is amazing to watch a player make the game look so easy at times. Congratulations to Shawn Murphy for winning The Open in the majors pool. His team had a combined total of -46. In second place, only 3 shots behind was Laurie Patillo. Finally, there was a 3-way tie for 3^rd place at -40, which included Fran Painter, Henry McGowan and Mike Zettel.

In the race for overall, it was a close finish with only 4 shots separating the top 3! Kevin Whibbs is the season long winner with a combined score over the four majors of 4505. That was only 1 shot better than second place finisher Brian Cott at 4506. Rounding out the top 3 was Mike Zettel with a total score of 4509. Thank you to all members that participated in the pool this season, we hope that you enjoyed it and it added some extra drama to the telecast on Sunday afternoon. All winnings have been applied to members’ credit book accounts.

 
Submitted by Rob Wilson, Assistant Superintendent

As The Golf Course Enhancement Project 2025 wraps up week one, the grounds team continues to manicure and provide the best playing surfaces to the rest of the golf course. The extreme heat wave this past week had the grounds team playing “defense” for the turf and employees. We took some days off mowing and just rolled in order to not stress the plant out more then it would already be due to the weather.  As we try to stay healthy and hydrated from the heat, the grounds crew have been busy maintaining the course and getting the finer details dialed in. Sprinkler head and yardage plate edging, filling divots on fairways, Line trimming creek and pond edges, trimming low hanging branches, & cleaning up and seeding the mainline irrigation sod lines has been top priority. This is done to help the seams of the sod knit and hopefully be nonexistent once the sod has recovered.  Bare areas will be sodded when the weather is in our favour.

Submitted by PA Irwin-Allen, Ladies Captain
 

Submitted by Colin Tyler, Men's Captain

With just five weeks left in our regular Wednesday Mad League season, things are heating up! Team Black holds a slight lead over Team Grey, but there's still plenty to be decided before the Finals on August 27. Your participation is more important than ever in these final weeks – not only to help your team win some weekly prizes, but also to push towards the Championship week.
  
The same goes for Creemore Cup points in the chase to catch Tim Martin, who's defending his title from last year. We'll be adding Match Play participation points later this week, so keep a close eye on the standings after this week’s league play.

Submitted by Michelle Larcher, Food & Beverage Manager

“In Between the Vines”
Why Canadian Rosé is Often Darker than French Rosé and Why that Doesn’t Mean it’s Sweeter
As rosé continues to rise in popularity, many wine lovers have noticed that Canadian rosés often appear darker in colour than their French counterparts. This has led to the common assumption that deeper colour means a sweeter wine — but that’s not necessarily true.

Canadian rosés, especially those from Niagara or the Okanagan, often use darker-skinned grapes like Cabernet Franc, Merlot, or Baco Noir. These varietals naturally yield a deeper hue, even when the wine is dry and refreshing like Malivoire’s Ladybug Rosé. French rosés, particularly from Provence, use lighter grapes such as Grenache and Cinsault, producing that pale salmon-pink that is bone dry that we often associate with a classic rosé like Maison Nicolas Idiart’s “Espérance” Rosé.