APRIL NEWS FROM RETIREES GOLF

 THIS WEEK (April 2) UPDATED

A couple of brave souls April 2 (not Retirees) brave the driving rain and snowflakes while we were warm and dry in the Bistro

Thursday - first round of Retirees Club season PLUS... 

Welcome back coffee & snack for returning and new members 9 - 11am 

REGARDLESS OF THE WEATHER. (yes it was snowing AND raining AND 3° C)

— pay your Retirees Club fee ($30) before the price goes up

— sign up for next week's tee time

— share any ideas you have for improving our events

— enjoy a cuppa while the rain falls, or snow, or frost clears; Typical April weather.

— let us know if you wish to continue with our monthly majors competitions or do you have another idea

APRIL 30 'I hope it doesn't rain' Opening Scramble & Lunch

Online registrations is now open for our first team scramble of the season. Teams are created from the players who sign up with the goal of having equal total team handicaps, with a mix of low, medium and high handicaps, and played in a scramble format. Entry fee includes golf, prizes, and lunch. 

Online Signups are found on our WEBSITE (link below)

ONLINE SIGN UP PAGE ON THE WEBSITE

The tournament schedule is starting to take shape with the possible addition of Redstone hosting in July. As details become available for each tournament it will be posted on the ONLINE SIGNUP page. 

NOTE: We have been updating the page and you can already sign up for many of them in order to reserve your spot. The rest will be updated this week as well.

A reminder of a previous 'I hope it doesn't rain' Scramble 

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK.

• THURSDAY, April 2 is the official opening of the season and we are plan to have FREE coffee and treats available for all who attend. The weather forecast doesn't look great, but rain or shine we will be there.
• Drop in for a coffee, pay your Retirees Club fees ($30), sign up for a tee time for April 9, volunteer to help out with the May 21 Invitational or any other of the monthly events.  
• If you want to continue with the Retirees Majors events for each month, then we will need a group to look after the results (April would be Masters month).

REGISTER FOR RETIREES CLUB ONLINE - CLICK HERE

** Please use the online signup links and eTransfers for payment in order to cut down on the paper work for us.

OUR WEBSITE: birchbankretireesclub.blogspot.com

 Our email address: birchbankretirees@gmail.com

Winning team from last year's 'I hope it doesn't rain' Scramble and Lunch

2026 HERE WE GO!

 RETIREES SEASON BEGINS APRIL 2

Regular sign up sheet for designated Retirees tee times will be posted Thursday, March 26. 

Once the sign up sheet is turned into the Pro Shop, any changes must be done through the Pro Shop — empty tee times will be filled by them as needed. Please stick to your tee time unless told otherwise by the Pro Shop.

All players should check in with the Pro Shop before teeing off.

FEES & REGISTRATION

$30.00 if paid before the end of April, please use eTransfer. 

Please use the Online Registrations link at the top of the screen to register for the 2026 season — this cuts our paperwork to almost zero.

NEW MEMBERS

Please pass this information along to any newly retired golfers looking to join us and have them email us at: birchbankretirees@gmail.com

WHITFORD & SWANSON TAKE OVERALL TITLES

 2025 RETIREES CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS    

45 members of the Retirees Club teed off Sept 18 to determine the Club Champions. Three flights of players competed for the Overall Title, Flight winners, and KP/LP prizes. 

L-R Ken Swanson (Overall Low Net), Don Whitford Overall Low Gross)

It was a fine Autumn day, with sunshine and comfortable temperatures for the full 18 holes thanks to the meticulous planning by the volunteers running the event. 

"A" Flight: L-R; Chris Vlanich (2nd), Dave Muir (1st), Bob Elliott (3rd)

Following the completion of play, the players enjoyed a steak dinner and tasty desserts as well as a refreshing beverage while having a laugh or two about how they played.

"B" Flight: L-R Brian Muskeyn (3rd), Paul Troseth (1st), Stan Trozzo (2nd)

After the event prizes were awarded, several more draws were made for prizes some provided by the Trail Hockey Club Society, 50/50 cash prizes, and additional sleeves of golf balls

"C" Flight Results *** an error was found in the 3rd place results for this flight, the correct results are as follows (new photo will need to be arranged for posting here)

1st: Merv Olson

2nd: John Newton

3rd: John Rilkoff ***

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, helped out when asked, made suggestions for improving things, and generally made things run as well as they could for the season.

Special thanks to all the members who have learned how to check in early at our events,  how to use the online sign up link, have switched from cash only to using eTransfers for fees — it all makes our job a whole lot easier.

2025 SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP AND CLOSING MEAL

RETIREES CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SEPT 18

The entry deadline is Saturday Sept 13 at noon, entry fee is $25.00 and includes tournament golf, steak sandwich lunch, individual prizes for Overall Low Net & Low Gross as well as 1st, 2nd, 3rd Low Net for each flight. 

50/50 and door prize draw tickets will be sold at Check-in and at the conclusion of play.

CHECK IN - 8AM    SHOTGUN START- 9AM

Here are a few photos taken during the 2025 season

FINAL MAJOR WINNER PLAYS LIKE SCOTTIE, DICE SCRAMBLE RESULTS, AND Only 4 Weeks to go...

 LAST RETIREES MAJOR WINNER FOR 2025 DECLARED

Reg Cherenko ran away with the Fed Ex Cup event to win our final Retirees Major for the 2025 season and took home 'slightly' less than a $10 million first place prize. 

Huge thank you to Robin Valentine and Stan Trozzo for taking on the running of the monthly competitions — 'It was a piece of cake." was the comment I thought I heard Robin say....

DICE SCRAMBLE COMPLAINTS OF DEFECTIVE DICE

This year's event was filled with stories of possible defective dice as several teams complained of repeatedly rolling the SAD FACE. Needless to say, the top teams didn't seem to have any such issue however.

L-R: John Rilkoff, Don Szilagyi, John Lattanzio, Marlin Frederick

Results:

1st: Rilkoff, Szilagyi, Lattanzio, Frederick (67)

2nd: Cherenko, DeWitt, Piccolo, Papilion (68)

3rd: Muir, Brown, Dewdney, Newton (71*)via tiebreak

KP winners: #2- Frederick, #7- Rilkoff, #14- Burke, #17- Gallant

LP winners: #9- Brennen, #18- Burke

TIME FLIES ON THIS SEASON

Get out there, there are only 4 weeks left in the Retirees season for 2025. The Retirees Club Championship is set for Sept 18 at 9 AM (back up date is Sept 25 in case it snows on the 18th) 

Entry fee is $25.00 and includes all the golf, prizes and steak sandwich lunch.

CHRISTINA LAKE TOURNAMENT - SEPT 4 

9AM SHOTGUN, check in at 8am. The deadline has passed and the entries sent in. Here is the list of entries.

WOW, WASN'T THAT A STORM!

A POEM

Hurrah, hurrah it's August 1st,  not the first of May
The cold weather has gone away,
If you needed another good reason
To play golf today
The end of the season is only 3 months away.
(And the cold weather too)

HAWAIIAN SHIRT DAY

If you needed a reason to wear one while you play, just ask Brian Muskeyn about how well he played wearing his Hawaiian Shirt. Look for photos on our website later today.

TOURNAMENTS THIS MONTH

Retirees DICE SCRAMBLE and lunch

August 28, you can sign up online NOW and pay later in August. Details about entry fee coming as soon as John puts new batteries in his calculator and sharpens his 'figurin' pencil.

Use the ONLINE REGISTRATIONS link at the top of the screen...

BIRCHBANK MEN'S OPEN

Check the poster on the bulletin board for full details - remember that there is a Senior Division for those who are old enough....

TRAIL HOCKEY CLUB SOCIETY 

Check their poster on the bulletin board for details - support their efforts in providing bursaries and scholarships to local male and female players and officials that are moving on to further their schooling. (Even if I have never won one of their 50/50 draws at the Smokies games, yet.)

FEX EX CUP MONTH

Get ready for the last month long tournament of the year - the FED EX CUP. Robin and Stan have made a few modifications to the results sheets so be sure to take a close look once it is posted.

PS. - by this point in the season you should know how to fill out a scorecard correctly (names of players, correct course handicap for the tees you are playing, and correctly calculated net scores for all players PLUS made sure your score is entered on the list on the bulletin board)

Make a point of thanking Robin and Stan for taking on this job for the season.

SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENTS

Christina Lake Invitational Thursday, Sept 4 

That is all the detail we have at this time, I am sure they will be contacting us soon.

While you are waiting - sign up online now and pay once we get the final details. ONLINE REGISTRATIONS link is found on our website - link above

RETIREES CHAMPIONSHIP AND CLOSING

THURSDAY, September 18

Sign up now pay and pay in September once John restarts his calculator, the one with fresh batteries and finds that sharpened pencil......you get the rest.

Use the ONLINE REGISTRATIONS link found on our website (link above) - DO IT NOW before you forget why you were on the computer....