Six New Cocktails for the New Year, Alcohol Not Included

If you’re feeling a bit pickled after a month of holiday celebration — or just prefer to keep your drinking to a minimum, regardless of season — take heart: It’s an especially good time to be a teetotaler. Across the country this year, restaurants are beginning to respond to the vogue for “dry January” or “Drynuary,” the practice of starting the year off free of alcohol. (Its adherents swear by the practice’s benefits: a reset for weary livers, incidental weight loss, better sleep and, perhaps, the feelings of accomplishment and reassurance that attend proving to oneself that taking a month off drinking is possible in the first place.)

Thankfully, with increased demand come better offerings. Gone are syrupy Shirley Temple variants and lazy, tequila-free margaritas; mixologists are instead giving alcohol-less options the same care and attention they do to their standard cocktails. That directive has been facilitated by the stateside arrival last year of Seedlip, a nonalcoholic spirit distilled like liquor in either spiced or botanical variants, which originally debuted in London in 2015.

Here, bartenders and beverage directors across North America — many of whom are introducing full drink menus at their restaurants this month — share alcohol-free cocktail recipes for those observing dry January. (Those who don’t drink all year round are, of course, equally welcome to enjoy them.) A word to the wise: avoid the word “mocktail.” Try calling them “zero-proof” instead.

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Providence, Los Angeles

Dry January represents well-worn territory for Kim Stodel, the bar manager at Providence, a Michelin-starred restaurant whose inventive nonalcoholic cocktail offerings are almost as popular as the boozy ones. “I think every bar in the world should offer something for people who choose not to drink,” he says. “Being a slinger of booze, I’ve become very sensitive to the effects of alcohol on people and believe it’s my responsibility to offer alternatives while doing so. At Providence, we have a special section on the cocktail menu entitled ‘For those who don’t partake.’”

Stodel is also known for his “zero-waste” cocktail program, which aims to work in tandem with Providence’s kitchen to reimagine a new liquid life for produce that would otherwise end up as food scraps. The Sea Cucumber drink repurposes leftover cucumbers that were first used in a sashimi-style dish at the restaurant. “The cucumbers are salted and then a tiny melon baller is used to cut out small perfect orbs of delicious cucumber for the dish,” Stodel says. “What’s left is mine, which is to say, salted cucumbers with holes in them.” He blends them and uses both the juice and the pulp to make the cocktail.

Sea Cucumber (pictured above)

½ ounce fresh lemon

¾ ounce simple syrup

1 ½ ounces filtered water

Salted cucumber juice, to top (see method, below)

Method: Serve ingredients shaken or built, in a single rocks glass. To make the salted cucumber juice, take the salted cucumbers and put them in a blender on high for about a minute until everything has liquefied. Then strain the mixture through a fine strainer; you’re left with a vibrant green cucumber juice and cucumber pulp. The juice will be used to top the drink. If you’re feeling adventurous, use the pulp, too: At Providence, it’s seasoned and fortified, spread on a silicon mat and dehydrated to make a chip to garnish.

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The Fat Radish, New York

This month, Lower Manhattan’s best-loved British restaurant is featuring a new menu of five alcohol-free cocktails: takes on two classics (a Martini and a “NOgroni”); two “cameo” drinks by guest bartenders (including a honey-and-kefir concoction by Sam Anderson of Mission Chinese); and a new special, the Celery Sour, created by the mixologist Victoria Canty and Natalie Freihon, the restaurant’s managing partner.

“Victoria and I wanted to include aspects of wellness in the drink, not just have something that looked and acted like a cocktail without alcohol,” Freihon says. “We did want guests to feel like they were drinking something thoughtfully crafted, and vegan to go along with our January menu. So, we used aquafaba instead of eggs as the foaming agent.”

The Garden Sour (pictured above)

1 ½ ounces Seedlip Garden

½ ounce aquafaba

¼ ounce simple syrup

¼ ounce celery

½ ounce apple

¼ ounce ​lemon Nigella seeds garnish

Method: Pour all ingredients into a Boston shaker. Dry shake (without ice). Add ice (enough to fill small side of cocktail shaker) and shake until frothy. Double strain into an 8-ounce coupe using Hawthorne and mesh strainers. Garnish with Nigella seeds.

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Sunday in Brooklyn, New York

Claire Sprouse, the bar manager at Sunday in Brooklyn, was inspired to modify the recipe for the restaurant’s popular Golden Coconut cocktail after trying Seedlip Spice. “I love that this is a product made deliberately and thoughtfully for the zero-alcohol-by-volume crowd,” she says. “Oftentimes, nonalcoholic cocktails are just made with leftover syrups and juices that happen to be laying around the bar. This product adds complexity without necessarily adding sweetness or citrus.” The nonalcoholic version, called the Coco Squash, is available this month.

Coco Squash (pictured above)

2 ounces Seedlip Spice

1 ounce butternut squash juice

¾ ounce coconut crème

¾ ounce fresh orange juice

¼ ounce fresh lime juice

Method: Combine ingredients and shake with ice. Pack into glass and garnish with coconut flakes.

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Oyster Bah, Chicago

“The struggle of taking menu ‘real estate’ up with a zero-proof area is a gamble,” concedes Christina Smith, the beverage director of Oyster Bah, a rustic New England-style seafood shack in Lincoln Park. “However, we are in the business of hospitality, and being able to accommodate a guest’s request when they point to one of our cocktails and say, ‘Can you make that with no alcohol?’ — and being able to deliver something that may be even better without hesitation — is something special.” The restaurant’s Pineapple Ginger Mojito will join several other nonalcoholic cocktail offerings on the menu this month.

Pineapple Ginger Mojito (pictured above)

2 ounces pineapple syrup

1 ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce fresh pineapple juice

¾ ounce spiced ginger syrup

3 pieces pineapple chunks

1 tablespoon mint leaves

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Method: Served in a Collins glass. Combine all ingredients, shake, strain, pour and top with extra ice and a splash of soda.

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Quince, San Francisco

“I’ve always been excited when there has been a request for a nonalcoholic pairing,” says Michael Kudra, the lead bartender at the triple-Michelin-starred Quince. “I love bringing someone down the rabbit hole of how interesting it can be to pair drinks with food.” For January 2018, he is introducing four ambitious new zero-proof options to Quince’s cocktail menu: twists on a granita and a gin and tonic; a Chinotto sweetened with wood syrup; and, below, a buckwheat tea that, once infused with carbon dioxide, bears a striking resemblance to Champagne.

Buckwheat “Champagne” (pictured above)

For the buckwheat tea:

∙ Soba-cha (Japanese toasted buckwheat) tea

∙ Pinch of salt

∙ ½ to ¼ ounce of one-to-one simple syrup

For the lemon foam:

∙ 10 fluid ounces of lemon juice

∙ 1 ⅔ fluid ounces of water

∙ 2 grams of soy lecithin powder

Method: For the buckwheat tea base, infuse the soba-cha tea with hot water for two to three minutes or until texture and color resemble that of a glass of Champagne. Place the tea in an ice bath and stir to cool evenly. While stirring, add simple syrup and a pinch of salt. Once the tea is slightly above room temperature, carbonate it with a CO2 charger. For the lemon air, combine all ingredients and blend in an immersion blender. Serve the buckwheat tea in a Champagne flute and top off with lemon air.

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The Bonnie, Astoria, New York

Mike Di Tota, the bar director at the Bonnie, made a concerted effort to ramp up the gastro pub’s alcohol-free offerings after his wife gave up drinking several years ago. For Dry January, the bar will supplement its usual zero-proof cocktail list with a special drinks menu called “Easy Does It.” One adventurous offering is the Baker’s Dozen, which is built on a blackberry-fig gastrique. “Vinegar is a traditional natural cure-all, and I love its flavor. I’m a big fan of kombucha, and I drink a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water first thing every morning to stimulate my metabolism and to wake me up,” Di Tota says. “In the Baker’s Dozen, we combine white balsamic vinegar with fruit preserves to make it more drinkable in a cocktail; it opens up your palate and adds a deep, funky layer of flavor to the drink.”

Di Tota, a graduate of the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture, puts particular emphasis on inventive use of herbs, spices and produce; Haber’s, the tonic used in the Baker’s Dozen, is a small-batch product rich with botanical flavor. (And it’s a hometown favorite — it’s produced in Astoria, Queens, not far from the Bonnie.)

Baker’s Dozen (pictured above)

1 ounce blackberry-fig syrup (recipe follows)

½ ounce Haber’s Tonic Syrup

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

Soda water

Dried Lebanese-style aphrodisiac tea (available at Kalustyan’s), for garnish

Method: Combine first three ingredients in a highball glass and fill with ice. Top with soda water. Stir to mix. Garnish with a sprinkle of dried tea leaves and buds.

Blackberry-Fig Syrup

1 quart turbinado sugar simple syrup

13 ounces fig preserves (Di Tota uses Bonne Maman brand)

13 ounces blackberry preserves (Di Tota uses Bonne Maman brand)

1 cinnamon stick, crushed

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

5 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

Method: Blend until smooth. Strain and discard pulpy solids. Store in a covered container, refrigerated, for up to one week.

Union Club Fundraiser Raises over $32,000 for AGGV

AGGV PRESS RELEASE – NOVEMBER 30, 2017: 

 

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria has received a cheque for over $32,000 from the Union Club of BC following a highly successful Art+Fare 3 Gala.  The event which took place on Sept. 23 raised money to support programming for children and families at the AGGV.

The Gallery has a long history of engaging children of all ages in art and art-making and this support ensures they will continue to provide Family Sundays, school tours and workshops, resource guides for teachers outlining projects and activities suitable for K-12 students, and the New Extreme Mentorship Program that puts local artists together with young people who are artistically inclined.

“We are most grateful to the Union Club of BC, for their support of programs which assist us in bringing art to children and families throughout the Capital Region,” said Jon Tupper, AGGV Director. “It was a fantastic event bringing art and art lovers together.”

Art has played an important role for the Union Club of BC throughout it’s long history. Two of the earliest members of the Union Club of BC were architects  Francis Rattenbury and Samuel Maclure, both also founding members of Victoria’s arts community. As well, the Union Club of BC  art collection dates at least back to the time when the Club moved into its clubhouse on Douglas Street in 1885. In recent years  the Club has endeavoured to underscore its engagement with the community through  lively programs of art activities including events such as speakers and demonstrations, exhibitions, and further art acquisitions which reflect the personalities, events and places of British Columbia.

Art+Fare has raised over $65,000 for the AGGV’s children and family programs since it’s inception in 2015.  Art+Fare 4 is scheduled for Sept. 22, 2018.

Visiting London? Check Your Bags from Your Doorstep!

Recently, a Club member was travelling to London, England, and he had the pleasure of making use of a great new luggage service – AirPortr.  As AirPortr says, It’s “Time to Travel Better – We’re changing the way you fly with luggage for good”.

ABOUT AIRPORTR

Goodbye to Luggage at the Airport

Back in 2014 AirPortr’s founders came to a realization. As frequent flyers they understood that getting your bags to and from the airport came with a little too much, well, baggage. They were tired of checking in cases. Of organizing their days around luggage. And of arriving at the airport two hours early to queue.

Travel agents had gone online. Boarding passes had moved onto mobile phones. Surely something could be done to make getting your luggage to and from the airport a little easier?

With that in mind, AirPortr was founded with one clear aim – to make travel simpler.

Hello to Home Bag Drop

In 2016 in London AirPortr launched Bag Check-In with British Airways. They moved the bag drop desk online, allowing you to give your luggage to their friendly, professional drivers at your front door.

So now, when you fly BA, you can check in your bags on your doorstep. Then relax in your very own departure lounge, safe in the knowledge your bags will be returned to you when you land.

No time-wasting. No lugging. No lifting. No queuing. No wondering now where on earth can that bag drop be? No stressing. No worries.

What Next?

AirPortr is working with some of the world’s largest airlines and airports to help shape the future of air travel.

One day we’ll take your bags from your doorstep before you fly and return them to you at your doorstep at the other end – wherever in the world that may be.

All you’ll have to do is take it easy….

New Private Clubs Embrace Young Creative Class

A new breed of fashionable private members clubs are growing in popularity around the world, promising to be more inclusive and diverse than their stuffy older counterparts, BBC reported.

Yet while the newer venues certainly have a far more youthful membership, and you certainly don’t need to have gone to a posh school or university, they still have high joining fees and strict vetting processes, BBC reported.

“I like how organically relationships happen at Soho House,” said tech entrepreneur Tyler McIntyre. “You can’t wear business suits, you can’t hand out business cards, and you can’t take phone calls.”

The 26-year-old joined Soho Beach House in Miami two years ago, after visiting with friends who were members. “It’s a laidback place to network but it’s also given me the opportunity to try things I typically wouldn’t do by myself, like wine tastings or a jam-making class,” McIntyre said. “And sometimes I’ll go to the sunset DJ parties by the pool, which are loud and pretty crazy.”

Welcome to the new breed of private members’ club, which claim to be less restrictive and more diverse than the stuffy gentlemen’s clubs of the past. These modern venues—with their co-working spaces, screening rooms and rooftop pools—are fast becoming the places where many of today’s young creative class choose to work and play, BBC reported.

C&RB has reported on the new social clubs, including The Hospital Club in Los AngelesSoho House and The Battery, and The Arts Club, the first Southern California outpost of the United Kingdom-based club.

Membership isn’t cheap though, with some charging more than $2,000 per annum, along with joining fees of $300, BBC reported.

“In the past, members’ clubs were seen as being elitist and populated by people who went to the same public schools and universities,” said Richard Cope, a senior trends consultant at Mintel. “But these places are more for entrepreneurs and self-made people. The only thing you have to be able to do is pay the fee, and it can be fairly expensive.”

While trendy members’ clubs have been around for years, they became much more common after the launch of Soho House in London in 1995. The trend has also gained a foothold in the US and other countries, BBC reported.

“We’ve see a huge jump in the number of the new types of club coming online, as compared to the traditional model,” said Zack Bates of Private Club Marketing, a firm that promotes members’ clubs. “In Los Angeles, you can’t get into Soho House. So others are being built, the Hospital Club, Griffin House and Norwood, to keep up with the appetite for these spaces.”

Soho House itself now boasts 18 venues around the world, including in New York, Istanbul, Berlin, and soon Mumbai. Group revenue rose 3% in 2016, while global membership jumped from 56,000 to 70,000, BBC reported.

There’s a tough background check to ensure potential members are part of the creative class—Soho House frowns on those who work in financial services, for instance. Once accepted, members enjoy a host of perks. Soho House Barcelona, for example, one of the chain’s newest venues, boasts a retro-themed gym, pool and free classes like yoga. Members pay full price for food and drink, but get discounts on the club’s hotel rooms, BBC reported.

“These clubs offer people a discreet place to network and wind down, typically in cities where personal space is at a premium,” Cope said. “In an age of social media, people like to let others know where they hang out or which restaurants they eat at. So there’s an element of satisfying those peacock tendencies.”

The newer clubs do serve more practical functions, though, such as offering young entrepreneurs a place to work. London’s Hospital Club offers its own meeting and conference rooms, and even an in-house TV and music recording studio. Members’ clubs also offer vital networking opportunities that help further your career, said Zikki Munyao, 40. The remote IT worker joined Common House, a private member’s club in Charlottesville, Va., largely for this purpose, BBC reported.

“There are areas to socialize and meeting spaces where I can have privacy,” he said of the club. “I even met my estate agent over a game of pool.”

The new breed of members’ clubs does face challenges, though. Some warn that as clubs proliferate, their exclusivity is becoming diluted, and they struggle to attract the celebrities that once lent them cachet, BBC reported.

“Traditionally, private members’ clubs have played on their exclusivity and being able to attract the ‘magic people,’” social commentator Peter York said. “But as more and more of them pop up, you get blase. The magical people also can’t be corralled in one place anymore.”

As clubs like Soho House keep on expanding, they seem to be “more about business,” York said, which further dilutes their brand. “The danger is that a new challenger, which looks younger and groovier, arrives and steals your limelight.”

But Cope believes the market for these new clubs is going to expand. “Having somewhere where you can unwind and host friends in the center of cities is useful. So there are a lot of practicalities around this.,” Cope said. “It is also about expressing your individuality, so I think the emotional need for this is only going to grow.”

BBC News: Ever Fancied Joining a Private Members’ Club?

Above: The Hospital Club is one of a new breed of trendy private members’ clubs

A new breed of fashionable private members clubs are growing in popularity around the world, promising to be more inclusive and diverse than their stuffy older counterparts.

Yet while the newer venues certainly have a far more youthful membership, and you certainly don’t need to have gone to a posh school or university, they still have high joining fees and strict vetting processes.

So how less elitist are they? And what are the benefits of getting your name on the list?

“I like how organically relationships happen at Soho House,” says tech entrepreneur Tyler McIntyre. “You can’t wear business suits, you can’t hand out business cards, and you can’t take phone calls.”

The 26-year-old joined Soho Beach House in Miami two years ago, after visiting with friends who were members.

“It’s a laidback place to network but it’s also given me the opportunity to try things I typically wouldn’t do by myself, like wine tastings or a jam-making class.”

Above: Soho House New York has a rooftop pool

“And sometimes I’ll go to the sunset DJ parties by the pool, which are loud and pretty crazy.”

Welcome to the new breed of private members’ club, which claim to be less restrictive and more diverse than the stuffy gentlemen’s clubs of the past.

These modern venues – with their co-working spaces, screening rooms and rooftop pools – are fast becoming the places where many of today’s young creative class choose to work and play.

Membership isn’t cheap though, with some charging more than $2,000 (£1,500) per annum, along with joining fees of $300.

“In the past, members’ clubs were seen as being elitist and populated by people who went to the same public schools and universities,” says Richard Cope, a senior trends consultant at Mintel.

“But these places are more for entrepreneurs and self-made people. The only thing you have to be able to do is pay the fee, and it can be fairly expensive.”

Soho House is thought to have been the first of this new wave of clubs, having opened its first site in London in 1995.

However, the trend is gaining a foothold in the US and other countries.

“We’ve see a huge jump in the number of the new types of club coming online, as compared to the traditional model,” says Zack Bates of Private Club Marketing, a firm that promotes members’ clubs.

Soho House Barcelona looks to attract creative entrepreneurs

“In Los Angeles, you can’t get into Soho House. So others are being built, the Hospital Club, Griffin House and Norwood, to keep up with the appetite for these spaces.”

Soho House itself now boasts 18 venues around the world, including in New York, Istanbul, Berlin, and soon Mumbai.

Group revenue rose 3% in 2016 to £293.4m, while global membership jumped from 56,000 to 70,000.

However, you have to do more than just fill out an application to join its venues.

Membership costs between £400 to £1,580 per annum, depending on the club, although there are discounts for under-27s.

Above: The gym at Soho House Barcelona

And there’s a tough background check to ensure potential members are part of the creative class – Soho House frowns on those who work in financial services, for instance.

Once accepted, members enjoy a host of perks. Soho House Barcelona, for example, one of the chain’s newest venues, boasts a retro-themed gym, pool and free classes like yoga.

Members pay full price for food and drink but get discounts on the club’s hotel rooms.

Mr Cope says: “These clubs offer people a discreet place to network and wind down, typically in cities where personal space is at a premium.”

However, they are also about “showing off to a degree”.

“In an age of social media, people like to let others know where they hang out or which restaurants they eat at. So there’s an element of satisfying those peacock tendencies.”

Above: The Hospital Club has a TV and music studio on site

The newer clubs do serve more practical functions, though, such as offering young entrepreneurs a place to work.

Take London’s Hospital Club, based in Covent Garden, which offers its own meeting and conference rooms, and even an in-house TV and music recording studio. Standard membership costs £865 plus a £250 joining fee.

While some might find such fees high, it’s still cheaper than forking out for your own office space, says Mr Bates.

“It suits today’s digital nomads, who work remotely via their laptops. Paying for an office can be prohibitively expensive, especially in a major city.”

Members’ clubs also offer vital networking opportunities that help further your career, says Zikki Munyao, 40.

The remote IT worker joined Common House, a private member’s club in Charlottesville, USA, largely for this purpose.

Above: The co-working space at Common House

“There are areas to socialise and meeting spaces where I can have privacy,” he says of the club, where membership costs $150 (£113) a month, plus a $600 joining fee.

“I even met my estate agent over a game of pool.”

The new breed of members’ clubs does face challenges, though.

Some warn that as clubs proliferate, their exclusivity is becoming diluted, and they struggle to attract the celebrities that once lent them cachet.

The social commentator Peter York tells the BBC: “Traditionally private members’ clubs have played on their exclusivity and being able to attract the ‘magic people’.

“But as more and more of them pop up, you get blase. The magical people also can’t be corralled in one place anymore.”

He adds that as clubs like Soho House keep on expanding, they seem to be “more about business”, which further dilutes their brand.

“The danger is that a new challenger, which looks younger and groovier, arrives and steals your limelight.”

But Mr Cope believes the market for these new clubs is going to expand.

“Having somewhere where you can unwind and host friends in the centre of cities is useful. So there are a lot of practicalities around this.

“It is also about expressing your individuality, so I think the emotional need for this is only going to grow.”

 

Congratulations to Oughtred Coffee & Tea

In the land of the bean, Oughtred Coffee & Tea, headquartered in Victoria, and proud coffee supplier to the Union Club, took the Roast Magazine’s top prize for Macro Roaster of the Year – the most prestigious award in the North American coffee industry – with an output of 900,000 pounds of roasted coffee per year.  The award is a first for Western Canada, and only the fourth time a Canadian roaster has taken home the award in 15 years.  Roast Magazine honoured Oughtred for their commitment to sustainable practices, employee wellness, educational practices and involvement in roasting innovations, marketing and business practices.

About Oughtred Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1973, Oughtred has been family-owned and operated (and UC members!) for nearly 45 years. In recent years, with a second generation of Oughtreds at the helm, the company has made remarkable strides in minimizing its environmental impact, ensuring outstanding coffee quality through comprehensive client and staff training programs, working to benefit communities at origin and at home, and sourcing and roasting exceptional coffees. For more information, visit oughtred.com.

VicPD Chief Constable Del Manak Visits the Club

VicPD Chief Constable Del Manak and A/Inspector Jason Laidman recently paid a visit to the Union Club to meet with David Hammonds, GM.

The purpose of the visit was to thank Mr. Hammonds and the Union Club for the generous hospitality that was afforded to VicPD during both Canada Day festivities (July 1) and Symphony Splash festivities (August 6).

The Union Club – “Home to Generations of Leaders”

Chief Constable Del Manak

Born and raised in Victoria, Chief Constable Del Manak started his policing career with four years of service with the Vancouver Police Department. He came to VicPD in 1993, where he has served in a variety of sections and roles.

Chief Manak has an extensive traffic safety background. He spent five years in the VicPD Traffic section, where he was a collision analyst and part of the escort and drill team. Selected to set up a provincial government pilot project, Chief Manak helped create the Integrated Road Safety Unit (IRSU) in the Capital Regional District. The success of this pilot program led to the expansion of other IRSU units throughout the province.

Promoted to the rank of Inspector in 2006, Chief Manak served as the Officer In Charge of Human Resources for over 3 years.  He has personally hired more than 60 officers, or nearly one quarter of VicPD’s current members.  He then oversaw the Patrol Division until he was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in 2010. He was promoted to Chief Constable on July 1st, 2017.

Chief Manak is a graduate of the Dalhousie University Police Leadership Program, the FBI’s National Academy Program, and is in the process of completing a master’s degree at Simon Fraser University in Terrorism, Risk and Security Studies. 

Remaining active in the community remains important to Chief Manak.  He is involved in coaching baseball, hockey and soccer and has proudly coached over 30 teams through the years.

Catherine Holt Attends the Business Women’s Luncheon

At the monthly Business Women’s Luncheon, held on Friday, October 27, UC members were joined by their fellow member and CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, Catherine Holt.

Please be reminded of this monthly luncheon, taking place on the last Friday of every month at 1:00pm.  Reservations can be made through the Front Desk.

 

Top 5 Reasons Why Autumn Golf Is The Best

GORGEOUS AUTUMN COLORS, LESS CROWDS, OFF-SEASON PRICING—THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY AUTUMN GOLF IS SO GREAT.

With summer somewhat of a distant memory and autumn upon us, there is still lots of great golf to enjoy – especially in Victoria!  So don’t put away the sticks quite yet. It is true that start times might be a little later but crisp cool weather, clear skies and beautiful course conditions all make fall a great time to enjoy an extra round of golf or two.

Here are some great reasons to extend your golf season this fall…

1.  Beat the crowds:  Summer is over and the crowds have by and large gone home.  So you probably won’t be rushed along by the anxious foursome behind you.  You can take a bit more time, relax and really enjoy the round – hone your golf skills that much more.

2.  Your game is in top form:  You have had an entire golf season under your belt.  You’ve been playing all season long and you are feeling comfortable with your swing, your putting is in top form and your equipment is feeling like an extension of your arms.  Chances are that your golf game has never been better (hopefully, or the theory goes).

3.  Great time for a golf lesson:  Your local golf pro is probably less busy than he has been throughout the busy spring and summer golf season.  He or she can spend a little extra time giving you the personalized instruction you need to take your game to the next level.

4.  The courses are in fantastic shape:  The golf courses have enjoyed a full season of primping and coddling by obsessive grounds keepers – every blade of grass has been nurtured to its natural best, greens have been babied to near perfection and tee boxes in are pristine shape.  Greens tends to be smoother, fairways thick and lush, and landscaping at its best.

5.  Scenery is at its best:  There is nothing like golfing though a forest of fall colors.  Yellow poplars, red maples, golden tamarack often grace the fairways – adding an extra element of beauty to the golf experience.  Blue skies and majestic mountains seem closer and even more dramatic in the crisp fall light.