st andrews club - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T08:18:58Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/st+andrews+clubCelebrations: Cocktails for the Club; The St. Andrews Club, Delray Beach — Dec. 6https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/celebrations-cocktails-for-the-club-the-st-andrews-club-delray-be2023-01-31T17:44:53.000Z2023-01-31T17:44:53.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158267,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158267,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10952158267?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158884,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158884,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="10952158884?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>A total of $221,000 in proceeds from the fourth annual affair will boost the Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach’s hunger-relief program. The program strives to serve 100,000 nutritious meals to children in the community. ‘We are so excited that this year’s Cocktails for the Club event was a huge success with a record-breaking year,’ co-chairwoman Virginia Costa said. ‘This event brought the Delray community together for a social and fun night to support the club that is near and dear to all of our hearts.’ </em><br /><em><strong>ABOVE:</strong> (l-r) Jorgette Smith, Jennifer Coulter and Costa. <strong>RIGHT:</strong> Marc and Melissa deBaptiste. <strong>BELOW:</strong> Susan and Michael Mullin. <strong>Photos provided</strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158687,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10952158687,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10952158687?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></strong></em></p></div>Along the Coast: Iguanas are a growing hazard for coastal golf courseshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-iguanas-are-a-growing-hazard-for-coastal-golf-cou2021-12-29T16:32:59.000Z2021-12-29T16:32:59.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9966183857,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9966183857,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9966183857?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a></strong><em>The orange-and-gray iguanas are the primary breeders in the colonies often found along the coast, according to exterminator Keith Shepherd.</em><strong> Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star<br /> </strong></p>
<p><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong></p>
<p>Tony Chateauvert, head pro and manager of the Palm Beach Par-3 golf course on State Road A1A, says he has spent $1,500 each of the last two years — and figures he’ll do the same in 2022 — to curtail the iguana population on his course.<br /> “The guy comes out in the morning, shoots them out of the trees, they come tumbling down, and we put them on the menu Tuesdays and Fridays,” he said.<br /> Chateauvert was joking, but the absence of any killing cold weather in recent years and iguanas’ desire to live near fresh water have meant the invasive reptiles are an increasing headache for golf courses on the barrier island.<br /> “They’re so proficient at procreating, and they get bigger and bigger,” Chateauvert said. “They’re not aggressive, they don’t bite people, but they do have salmonella, and they burrow under the sea wall, which is a problem. They also burrow under the banks of the pond, which creates erosion.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9966184485,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9966184485,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9966184485?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Although iguanas do not attack or generally disturb golfers, they eat plants and damage the ground with their burrowing.</em></p>
<p><br /> Jason Holmes, who oversees the par-3 course at Red Reef Park for the city of Boca Raton, says iguanas are “becoming an issue we have to deal with.” <br /> “We haven’t hired anybody to address it, but we are seeing an increased number of them, and all that goes along with it. One of the biggest problems we have is they do some burrowing, which causes some issues for the golf course.”<br /> Glen Terranova, superintendent at St. Andrews Club, which like the other two courses has several holes along the Intracoastal Waterway, said that’s not the only damage iguanas inflict.<br /> “They eat the hibiscus flowers … and really any plant they can find,” he said. “They don’t mess with oleanders, because they could be poisonous, but hibiscus, they eat all the flowers.”<br /> The hibiscus “is one of their favorites,” Holmes said. “We notice the damage more there because it’s an ornamental flower.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9966187060,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9966187060,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9966187060?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Keith Shepherd, owner of Ten-Seven Iguana Removal.</em><br /> </p>
<p>Keith Shepherd, who hunts iguanas in his time away from his full-time job as a coastal police officer, has yet to be summoned by a golf course but has customers whose homes are alongside them.<br /> “They do a lot of damage,” said Shepherd, whose business, Ten-Seven Iguana Removal, refers to the police code for off-duty. “They burrow into the banks, and the biggest complaint I get is the poop. It’s like having a bunch of small dogs running around pooping everywhere.”<br /> Chateauvert and groundskeeper Tim Campbell have hired Enviroscapes Plus, a landscaping company from Plantation, to address their problem. Owner Johnny Cannon said he’s used a pellet gun to harvest about 100 iguanas from the course over two days each of the last two years.<br /> Chateauvert’s course attracts a number of tourists, and he’s seen their attitude toward the reptiles change quickly.<br /> “It starts out with, ‘Oh, the cute iguanas,’ and they take pictures of them. Then it’s, ‘Oh, look at the size of ’em,’ and ‘They’re all over the place.’ They mostly run away from humans, but the big ones sort of lie there. They’re nasty looking.”<br /> Shepherd said the orange-and-gray variety, which can grow up to several feet long, are more destructive as they eat more and poop more.<br /> “They’re the breeders,” he said. “And they have territories. From my experience you’ll see an orange one every four or five houses. You shoot one and there’s another waiting to take over the territory.” <br /> He said three half-hour roundups a few days apart will typically cut the numbers significantly.<br /> But the iguanas are smart. <br /> “They get used to people hunting them,” Shepherd said. “Their first defense is to hold still. Sometimes you feel like you’re being watched, and then you spot them standing 20 feet away.<br /> “I have a diesel truck and after three or four visits they’ll start running before I get out, so I have to park down the street and walk up.”<br /> Terranova said he hasn’t gone to what he considers the “extreme” of buying a gun — Shepherd uses a pellet gun with .177 ammunition — or calling in outside help yet out of consideration for his members, many of whom live in condos overlooking the course.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9966193677,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9966193677,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="9966193677?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></em>“A lot of members just like them,” he said. “They’re not moving their golf balls, they’re not running in front of them, they’re not disturbing them yet. I do have people who say they don’t want hibiscus plants because the flowers disappear. So that could be an issue as time goes on.”<br /> Holmes, who said he’s been on the job only about six months, said he’s considering taking the Red Reef situation to the Boca City Council and that hiring a contractor could be in the offing.<br /> “We have not taken the steps to address it at this point,” he said. “But that’s probably not far off.”<br /> The one phenomenon that could make a difference is a sub-freezing cold snap, though it’s been years since South Florida has experienced one.<br /> Cold slows the blood of these cold-blooded reptiles, eventually leading to death.<br /> “I hope it freezes in January, goes down to 28 degrees for two days,” Chateauvert said. “That would do it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>LEFT:</strong> <em>The sea wall along the parking lot and the first hole at Red Reef Park’s par-3 course in Boca Raton is home to dozens of iguanas that sun themselves on the concrete and eat grass.</em></p></div>Migrant boat gets stuck at St. Andrews Club — May 2-8https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/migrant-boat-gets-stuck-at-st-andrews-club-may-2-82021-06-02T15:29:40.000Z2021-06-02T15:29:40.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9025834869,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9025834869,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="9025834869?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em>Jason Miele, a marine interdiction agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, retrieves evidence from a fishing boat that ran aground at the St. Andrews Club on May 2, loaded with 28 Haitians. Officers from Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and the county Sheriff's Office also responded. Efforts to free the boat that day failed and fuel leaked from it, prompting authorities to close Gulfstream Park for two days.</em> <strong>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong> <br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9025841084,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9025841084,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="9025841084?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>By May 7 a recovery crew with floats and a backhoe was brought in to drain water from the boat and free it from the submerged rocks. On May 8 the crew pulled the boat ashore for demolition.</em><br /><br /></p></div>Obituary: Ted Withallhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/obituary-ted-withall2019-10-02T15:02:12.000Z2019-10-02T15:02:12.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p>BOCA RATON — Ted Withall was born on Nov. 20, 1918, in El Paso, Texas, to Sam and Katy Withall. He died Aug. 8 at the Boca Raton Hospice, at age 100. <br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960898894,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960898894,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960898894?profile=original" /></a>He was born just nine days after the end of World War I, when his father was discharged from the Army and he moved his family back to California.<br /> Ted Withall was a man of many talents.<br /> His high school athleticism led him to college sports where he not only pitched for the freshman baseball team at San Diego State College, in his hometown, but he also became the No. 1 player on the freshman tennis team.<br /> After four years at San Diego State, Mr. Withall transferred to the University of California at Berkeley. After earning his bachelor’s degree and before he put in a year of graduate studies, he took the time out to serve from 1942 to 1946 as a member of the United States Air Corps.<br /> His talent and love for tennis led to a lifelong career when he began to teach tennis to celebrities in and around Beverly Hills. <br /> Mr. Withall’s other love was greatly influenced by the big-band era. He performed in nightclubs and on Hollywood Studio radio shows where he entertained audiences with his gift of song.<br /> In 1947, while at the famously romantic Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Ted met the love of his life. It was love at first sight, when Mr. Withall spotted a beautiful young woman, Helen Garey (from Big Bow, Kansas), walking into the powder room. He boldly followed her inside and they were married just 10 days later — a marriage that would last for 70 years. Helen died in 2017 at the age of 93 and Mr. Withall missed her dearly over the last two years.<br /> From 1951 to 1956 Mr. Withall’s career took him to upstate New York, where he succeeded Pancho Segura (ranked No. 1 in the world in 1950) as tennis pro at the Concord Hotel, where he taught during the summer months. He taught in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, during the winter months.<br /> The couple gave birth to daughters Robin in 1952 and Lisa in 1955 and moved to Boca Raton in 1957. Mr. Withall succeeded Fred Perry at the Boca Raton Hotel & Club and was the residing tennis pro for 13 years. He worked at the Hollywood Golf Club in Deal, New Jersey, from 1960-1969 in the summer months. <br /> He left the Boca Hotel for the Tennis Club in Fort Lauderdale and then went to the Beach Club in Palm Beach during the mid-70s for several years. He was offered a vice presidency at the indoor Tennis Club of the Palm Beaches and was head pro at the St. Andrews Club in Gulf Stream. <br /> Mr. Withall joined the U.S. Professional Tennis Association in 1950 and was president in 1972. He was also the first president of the Florida PTA and was among the first members to be honored as a master pro. He was also the first member to be inducted into the Florida PTA Hall of Fame.<br /> Mr. Withall’s busy work life brought him to many interesting places, where he made lasting friendships on and off the court. His strong work ethic, his attention to detail and his competitive spirit are remembered by the many tennis players who were lucky to have been mentored by him.<br /> His inspiration and guidance greatly influenced his grandchildren, with his grandson, J.J., following in his footsteps as an accomplished tennis pro and his granddaughter, Erin, a talented singer. <br /> He is survived by his daughters, Robin Cox and Lisa McCusker; his grandchildren, J.J. McDonough and Erin McCusker; and his great-grandchildren, Kane and Van McDonough.</p>
<p><em>— Obituary submitted by the family</em></p></div>Along the Coast: Blistered but fulfilled, friends finish PlasTrek 2019 in Tallahasseehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-blistered-but-fulfilled-friends-finish-plastrek-22019-09-05T13:36:49.000Z2019-09-05T13:36:49.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960891252,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960891252,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960891252?profile=original" /></a><em>ABOVE: Heather Bolint of Lake Worth and Bryan Galvin of Delray Beach stand on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee, where they obtained a permit to display the burlap bags holding some of the trash they found. The placard reads: This is Ocean Plastic. BELOW: The two friends walked 1,200 miles around Florida’s perimeter to raise awareness of plastic waste on the state’s beaches. <strong>Photos provided</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960891067,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960891067,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="500" alt="7960891067?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong></p>
<p>In the end they piled their trash on the steps of the state Capitol in Tallahassee.<br /> Last February, Bryan Galvin quit his job as a lifeguard at the St. Andrew’s Club in Gulf Stream, and on March 1, he and a friend, Heather Bolint, left Amelia Island, near the Georgia line, on a mission they called “PlasTrek 2019.”<br /> Armed with 300 burlap bags, a blue Dodge Dakota pickup, a canoe and a smartphone, Galvin, 28, of Delray Beach, and Bolint, 32, of Lake Worth, would trek the 1,200 miles of Florida’s coast, picking up plastic litter along the sand. Bottles and bottle caps, straws, bags — whatever they found soiling our beaches.<br /> They would photograph it, save it, store it, sort it, count it and, in the end, display it on the Capitol steps in a plea for the end of unsustainable plastics.<br /> The plan was to reach Pensacola by mid-June.<br /> But plans change. Plastic happens.<br /> They started out averaging 15-20 miles a day, but once past Sebastian Inlet, nearing South Florida, the plastic waste increased and their progress slowed.<br /> “This isn’t a beach cleanup,” Galvin proclaimed when the pair reached Gulf Stream on April 3, 34 days into the quest. “It’s an awareness trek.”<br /> Their schedule had them at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton that evening. They made it as far as Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach.<br /> A week later, they were five miles from the south end of Miami Beach and April 29 found them resting in Everglades City after an eight-day, 100-mile paddle through the Everglades.<br /> By May 24, they’d reached Manasota Key, about 35 miles south of Sarasota, and on June 27 they were enjoying Santa Rosa Beach, 80 miles east of Pensacola.<br /> They didn’t make Pensacola by mid-June, but they made it.<br /> “We finished on July 1,” Bolint reports, “four months to the day after we started,” and one day after she turned 33. “We drove to the very end of Fort Pickens and watched the sunset on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in the entire four months.”<br /> Now they needed a break. Galvin came home to Delray Beach, while Bolint visited her father on St. Simons Island in Georgia.<br /> Of the 300 burlap bags, they’d filled about 250, which were stored at the homes of friends and family in Melbourne, Jupiter, Delray Beach and Panama City.<br /> Galvin guesstimated they had about 3,000 pounds of plastic trash.<br /> They also had nearly 10,000 photos capturing each piece of trash they found, sometimes group photos.<br /> “When we upload them, we’ll get a final count,” he promised.<br /> They wanted to display what they’d found on the Capitol steps in an unapologetic publicity stunt for the cause of clean beaches. Maybe the governor could drop by, along with some news media. For that, they’d need a permit.<br /> “The lady was concerned that 3,000 pounds might damage the historic steps,” Bolint says, “but I assured her it would be all right, they were just plastic bottles.”<br /> The permit was issued for Monday morning, July 29. <br /> Let the sorting begin.<br /> “We ran out of time to count it all,” Galvin concedes. Based on what they had counted, they’d found 55 categories of plastic waste, the top six being bottle caps and lids, bags, bottles, food wrappers and containers, beach toys and straws.<br /> “I went the entire trek trying to keep plastic-free,” he says, “but it was impossible. Even the Whole Foods bags had little plastic windows in them.”<br /> On Sunday, July 28, Galvin and his brother Sean left Delray Beach in Sean’s truck and trailer and retrieved the bags they’d left in Jupiter and Melbourne.<br /> Bolint left St. Simons Island and headed for Panama City to collect another load stored there.<br /> She reached Tallahassee at midnight, the Galvin brothers arrived at 5:30 a.m., and at 9:30 they met at the Capitol.<br /> “It took us about two hours to set it up on the steps, and I still had a pallet and a half we left behind in the truck,” Galvin says.<br /> “We didn’t even get through half of it before reporters were showing up and people were taking pictures.”<br /> The governor didn’t drop by, but the local NBC and ABC affiliates put them on local TV news, and The Tallahassee Democrat and Capitol News Service did stories.<br /> In the end, their four-month, 1,200-mile, 3,000-pound PlasTrek collection sat on the Capitol steps just about two hours. Then they gathered up all those bags and stored them in a friend’s barn stall in Tampa.<br /> “It’s not going to the landfill yet,” Galvin says. “We hope to set it up in other places or maybe a little in each place, or several at a time.”<br /> Bolint is back in Lake Worth, still scoping out a new adventure.<br /> “I’ve applied to work at a sustainability school in the Bahamas,” she says.<br /> Galvin is working at The Surf District, a surf shop in Delray.<br /> And would they do it all again?<br /> “No, I don’t think so,” Bolint says. “It was just getting really hot, and we were trekking in the middle of the day with the sun beating down on us, blistering.”<br /> She pauses. “Well, maybe if it was a different time of year.”<br /> Galvin is more amenable.<br /> “It was hard,” he concedes, “but I don’t feel anywhere near done yet. Maybe the hiking part would have to be done differently, maybe with a team.<br /> “But why would we stop? We need to solve a problem.”</p></div>Update: PlasTrek team making progress around Floridahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/update-plastrek-team-making-progress-around-florida2019-05-29T16:08:17.000Z2019-05-29T16:08:17.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960864495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960864495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960864495?profile=original" /></a><em>Featured in the May edition of</em> The Coastal Star<em>, Heather Bolint and Bryan Galvin have been walking the coast of Florida to document and pick up waste plastic. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong></p>
<p>When last we heard from Bryan Galvin and Heather Bolint, the intrepid beachcombers were resting up in Everglades City after an eight-day canoe voyage across the Everglades.<br /> That was on April 29.<br /> Galvin, a former lifeguard at Gulf Stream’s St. Andrew’s Club, and his partner, Bolint, had left Amelia Island on March 1, determined to walk the perimeter of mainland Florida all the way to Pensacola.<br /> They would pick up plastic trash along the way, educate anyone willing to listen about the plague of unsustainable plastic bottles, etc., threatening our beaches. And they would reach Pensacola by June 30.<br /> PlasTrek 2019, they call it.<br /> On May 24, we reached them in Manasota Key, about 37 miles south of Sarasota.<br /> “The Gulf Coast isn’t so badly polluted as the east coast,” Galvin reported. “The beaches are cleaner. But some cities rake their beach every day with a tractor, so the plastic is still washing in.”<br /> Before crossing the Everglades, the couple took a three-day break. In Key Biscayne, they spent $1,000 on a little sleeper trailer they could pull behind their truck, then left the truck, trailer and about 80 burlap bags full of plastic trash with friends in Delray Beach.<br /> Now they’ve retrieved the truck and walked the 95 miles from Everglades City to Manasota Key, filling another 10 bags.<br /> “Our next goal is St. Petersburg,” Galvin said. “We have a beach cleanup scheduled there June 1 with a local group called 1 Piece Each.”<br /> Yes, he said, he and Bolint are still speaking to each other.<br /> “There’s some great, amazing, fulfilling days, and then some days when we don’t know why we’re doing this,” he confessed. “Some nights we sleep on opposite sides of the bed. But then we meet some people who cheer us on, and we remember why we’re doing this.”<br /> Are they still on schedule to reach Pensacola by June 30?<br /> “I’m not sure. We’re still hoping for the end of June. We don’t want to be trekking the whole summer.”<br /> He paused.<br /> “Let’s say by July 1.”</p></div>Obituary: Alice Dyehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/obituary-alice-dye2019-02-27T16:23:23.000Z2019-02-27T16:23:23.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong></p>
<p>GULF STREAM — Alice Dye, a golfing icon who built a strong reputation for her charity work in South Palm Beach County, died Feb. 1. She was 91. <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960860686,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960860686,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960860686?profile=original" /></a>Dye, who with her husband, Pete, formed a legendary golf course architecture team that designed 145 courses around the world, was named First Lady of Golf by the PGA of America in 2004. She was one of the top female amateur players of her day, winning 11 Indianapolis city titles and nine Indiana state championships.<br /> One of her solo designs was the par-3 St. Andrews Club course in Delray Beach, which had been planning to honor her at its ladies member-guest event on March 6.<br /> “Coming to a golf course that she designed, and getting to meet her, and seeing all the things she has done for women in golf, it was truly an honor,” St. Andrews club pro Amy Carver said.<br /> Dye had signed 80 copies of her book, <em>From Birdies to Bunkers</em>, which will be distributed to all participants in the event.<br /> “We asked her permission to do the member-guest [event] in her honor and she thought that was great,” Carver said. “And I asked her if it would be too much to sign these books, and she said she would do it, and she did.”<br /> Born Alice Holiday O’Neal in Indianapolis on Jan. 24, 1927, she was a student at Rollins College in Winter Park when she met Pete Dye, who had just returned from serving in World War II.<br /> The two were married in 1950 and for much of their time together spent their winters in Gulf Stream and their summers at a home off the 18th green at Crooked Stick Golf Club near Indianapolis.<br /> Gulf Stream neighbor Tony Graziano fittingly called the pair “golf royalty” but said, for all they’ve accomplished, their humility sets them apart.<br /> “You go in their house and it’s a simple house that any one of us could live in, not pretentious at all,” he said. “The only thing pretentious is the golf memorabilia, which comes from a family life of golf success. <br /> “And the personalities that go with them — they are and were absolutely regular folks. They never changed from being good, solid Midwestern people, no matter how famous they were.”<br /> Perhaps the only way Mrs. Dye rode her reputation was in her work for charity. Her brother, the late Perry O’Neal, was a longtime president and board member of the Wayside House, a treatment center for women in Delray Beach. For more than 25 years, the Dyes hosted the Alice & Pete Dye Golf and Bridge Invitational each November at St. Andrews.<br /> “For a long time, we had just the golf tournament,” Wayside President Kathryn Leonard said. “But then Alice said some of her friends no longer played golf, but all of them played bridge. So, it was her idea to add the bridge tournament and that brought in 100 more people.”<br /> Last year’s tournament raised more than $25,000.<br /> In addition to her prowess as a golfer — she won the 1978 North and South Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in both 1978 and 1989 and was a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team in 1970 — Mrs. Dye worked hard to help women enjoy the golf experience. She is considered the person most responsible for the advent of ladies tees that typically shorten par-72 courses by 1,000 yards or more.<br /> She was the first female board member of the PGA of America and the first woman to serve as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.<br /> It was also her inspiration that brought about one of the most famous holes in golf. Pete had removed so much sand from what was intended to be the par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra that he had no idea what to do next, whereupon Alice pulled out a napkin and drew a lake with the green in the middle. That lake has since become home to thousands of errant shots.<br /> Other courses designed by the Dyes include Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, which will host the 2020 Ryder Cup matches, The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina and PGA West in California.<br /> St. Andrews in Delray was always a favorite of Mrs. Dye, and former greenskeeper Charley Crell recalled what an honor it was to be hired there about eight years ago.<br /> “That was part of the reason I took the job,” Crell said. “It’s a smaller golf course, but it’s really special because of the people who are there, in particular the Dyes. She really enjoyed being at the club, playing bridge and going out and playing. She did a lot for St. Andrews, loaning her expertise to different things. A great lady.”<br /> Crell left St. Andrews last year for Reunion Golf and Country Club in Mississippi and said Mrs. Dye played a role in his getting that opportunity.<br /> “She put in a good word for me, and it made a difference,” he said. “That meant a lot to me and my family.” <br /> Mrs. Dye spent much of her time in recent years caring for Pete, who has Alzheimer’s disease.<br /> The Dyes have two sons, Perry Dye of Colorado and Paul Burke Dye of Ohio, who are also golf course architects.<br /> Pete Dye along with Perry’s wife, Ann, and Paul’s wife, Jean, are among Mrs. Dye’s survivors.<br /> A celebration of life was held at the Gulf Stream Golf Club on Feb. 20. Another celebration of life is planned for 2-5 p.m., May 29, at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind.<br /> Donations can be made to Wayside House, 378 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33483; waysidehouse.net; or the Indiana Golf Foundation, 2625 Hurricane Road, Franklin, IN 46131.</p></div>Obituary: Linda Bailey Searlehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/obituary-linda-bailey-searle2019-02-27T16:18:17.000Z2019-02-27T16:18:17.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p>DELRAY BEACH — Linda Bailey Searle died at her home in Delray Beach on Jan. 16. She was 93. <br /> Born March 14, 1925, in East Orange, N.J., to Clifford Sherwood Bailey and Ellen Laird Bailey, she grew up in Darien and New Canaan, Conn., and graduated from Ethel Walker School and Finch College.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960853871,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960853871,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960853871?profile=original" /></a>In June 1945, she married John “Jack” Endicott Searle Jr., who was in the Army Air Corps.<br /> Upon his discharge, Jack enrolled in MIT and the couple moved to Cambridge, Mass. In late 1947, they moved again to Marblehead, Mass, where they raised their two daughters. <br /> Mrs. Searle was very creative and had beautiful style and taste. <br /> The couple bought a home at St. Andrews Club in Delray Beach in 1973, where they became very involved in the club. In particular, Mrs. Searle was very active within St. Andrews and led a number of the club improvement projects. <br /> The couple were also members of nearby Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis, and The Little Club.<br /> They maintained a presence in New England, owning a condominium in Beverly Farms, Mass. They were members of Essex County Club in Manchester, Mass.<br /> Mrs. Searle was predeceased by her husband in 2012. She is survived by her daughters, Ellen “Kip” Searle Abbott and her husband, John H. Abbott, of Manchester, Mass., and Carol Putnam Searle, and her husband, Andrew J. Ley, of Dedham, Mass. She leaves a granddaughter, Kelsey Searle Abbott, and her husband, Peter T. McDougall, of Osprey. Also surviving her is her sister, Mary Bailey Lumet of New York City.<br /> The family is very grateful for the loving care provided by her caregivers Nadine Holloway and Claudette Kirlew Smith.<br /> Arrangements will be private. Contributions in her memory may be made to St. Andrews Club, Jack Searle Golf Tournament Fund, 4475 N. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, FL 33483.</p>
<p><em>— Obituary submitted by the family</em></p></div>Meet the Pro: New teaching pro at St. Andrews hustles to learn croquet part of jobhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/meet-the-pro-new-teaching-pro-at-st-andrews-hustles-to-learn-croq2019-01-02T16:09:51.000Z2019-01-02T16:09:51.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960830670,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960830670,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960830670?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>New St. Andrews Club pro Jackson Moore volleys with a club member during a tennis lesson. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p>David Bent didn’t know anything about croquet when St. Andrews Club in Delray Beach installed its 105-by-84-foot croquet lawn in 1998. He became so proficient at it in the ensuing years that between then and his retirement from the position of St. Andrews tennis and croquet pro last year, his ranking rose as high as second in the United States and 30th in the world.<br /> Now St. Andrews members hope the new man in that job, Jackson Moore, can even approach that level of proficiency.<br /> “David has told us that he is going to make Jackson a world-class player,” said Peter Lowenstein, who as head of the St. Andrews tennis committee recommended Moore for the position.<br /> Moore, 29, who started in October, does have a solid background in tennis, having played collegiately at Georgia State and Florida Gulf Coast before spending the past few years teaching in his native Sarasota-Bradenton area, most recently at Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande.<br /> Moore spent his past four summers at the Nantucket Yacht Club in Massachusetts, where Lowenstein happens to be a member.<br /> “I was asking around and the head man up there said he would be terrific,” Lowenstein said. “I can tell you, the job he’s done up there is grueling. He’s on the tennis court 10 hours a day, six days a week, so he’s used to hard work.”<br /> Moore said he was “curious more than anything” when told the St. Andrews position would involve croquet as well as tennis.<br /> “I’ve seen it played at Gasparilla; they play at a good level over there. But the only times I ever watched was when I was filling water jugs or things like that. But I’m enjoying it. It’s a mind game out there,” he said.<br /> Playing catch-up has involved reading a book Bent gave him on the subject and watching YouTube videos. He also has often traveled up to the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, where Bent spends much of his recreational time, and played alongside him.<br /> “To watch David go through the six-wicket game — it boggles my mind to see what he can do,” Moore said. “There’s a lot going on, a lot of strategy.<br /> “I’m taking it one day at a time, but I’m enjoying it.”<br /> Moore said that while he’s spending more time with croquet at the moment, he perceives the position as a 50-50 split and is working to expand the tennis program.<br /> One innovation is a program called “Hardcore Tennis,” an hourlong session that involves 45 minutes of fitness work followed by 15 minutes of tennis.<br /> “He’s working with Gulf Stream School to get the children involved,” St. Andrews General Manager Robert Grassi said. “Sports activities is something all the members are interested in.”<br /> “He’s working out very well,” Lowenstein said. “He’s willing, enthusiastic, and everybody is very pleased with him.”</p></div>Obituary: Roy Millerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/obituary-roy-miller2018-07-04T12:30:00.000Z2018-07-04T12:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong><br /> <br /> BRINY BREEZES — Roy Miller was a child of the Great Depression who never forgot its lessons. You don’t throw broken things away, you fix them. You work hard and appreciate what you have.<br /> “I remember once when I was cooking,” his son Roy Jr. recalls. “I put too much food on his plate. He ate it, and then complained for three days that I’d given him too much food. But he ate it. You didn’t waste anything.”<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960798898,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960798898,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="97" class="align-left" alt="7960798898?profile=original" /></a>Mr. Miller’s friends and neighbors benefited from that lesson every Monday morning as he circled the town of Briny Breezes in a pickup truck, collecting recycling bins. In 2014, his volunteer service helped the town score the highest per-capita recycling rate among South County’s coastal communities.<br /> Mr. Miller, who suffered a stroke in October, died on June 17 at Trustbridge Hospice in Lake Worth. He was 92 and had lived in Briny Breezes since 1985.<br /> “He was very, very personable and loved to tell stories,” said his son, who lives in Lantana. “He was a leader. He didn’t want to be a leader, but he was a take-charge kind of guy.”<br /> Roy Vernon Miller was born on July 28, 1925, in Brockton, Mass. <br /> As a teen, he worked at Walsh’s Ice Cream stand in the city’s expansive D.W. Field Park. Also scooping ice cream that summer was a boy named Ralph “Buddy” Magnuson, who had a sister named Rose, known to all as Sunshine. Roy was 17. She was 10.<br /> Roy and Sunshine Miller, who married in 1950, would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary June 25.<br /> Leaving school in the 11th grade, Mr. Miller worked as an usher at Brockton’s Colonial Theatre before joining the U.S. Navy in 1943. He served as a gunner attached to merchant ships, and after being discharged in 1945 went to work for Plymouth Rubber Co. in Canton, Mass.<br /> In 1968, he retired and the family moved to Athol, Mass., where he worked for a local contractor, doing industrial cleaning and painting.<br /> In Briny Breezes, Mr. Miller was very active in Curtain Raisers, the town’s amateur theater company, writing and acting in several productions. <br /> The family still laughs at the time Mr. Miller suggested the group might put on a burlesque show.<br /> “We’re not going to strip!” the women exclaimed.<br /> Mr. Miller had to explain that a burlesque show offered mildly risqué humor, but nudity was not required.<br /> In 1995, his friend and neighbor, Don Hebert, got him a part-time job at the St. Andrews Club.<br /> Joined by another neighbor, Gene Robey, the trio dubbed themselves “The Over the Hill Gang,” and for the next 22 years, Mr. Miller worked, often seven days a week, washing and rebagging golf balls he’d gathered from the practice range.<br /> “At one point, Roy quit, and they told him he had to come back because everyone liked him so much,” Hebert recalled. “I just loved working with him, and I don’t know anybody at St. Andrews or in Briny Breezes who would have a bad word to say about him. He was a great and compassionate man.”<br /> In addition to his work at the St. Andrews Club, Mr. Miller took on part-time jobs caring for residents’ homes when they went north for the winter.<br /> “He did a lot of things,” his son said. “He loved music, that’s why he did the plays. But most of the time he worked hard all his life.”<br /> In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Miller is survived by another son, Robert, and a grandson, Adam, of California.<br /> A memorial service in Briny Breezes will be scheduled after winter residents return.</p></div>Along the Coast: Summer memberships give clubs chance to attract new peoplehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-summer-memberships-give-clubs-chance-to-attract-n2018-05-02T15:42:00.000Z2018-05-02T15:42:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960788501,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="320" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960788501,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960788501?profile=original" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960789661,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="320" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960789661,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="7960789661?profile=original" /></a></p>
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<p><em><strong>LEFT:</strong> Professional quality Har-Tru tennis courts are just part of the draw at the Delray Beach Club. <strong>Coastal Star file photo</strong></em> <br /><em><strong>RIGHT:</strong> Children are a major part of the summer membership focus at the St. Andrews Club. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong></p>
<p>As spring unfolds and many of their full-time members head north, several area clubs open their doors for summer memberships.<br /> For some, such as the Delray Beach Club, it’s a way to keep members engaged with dining, beach and pool activities with a more limited — but still busy — schedule.<br /> For others, such as St. Andrews Club, it’s a means of raising additional revenue while potentially attracting future full-time applicants for membership.<br />The Royal Palm Yacht Club and the Boca Raton Resort and Club do not offer summer memberships.<br /> Most summer memberships run from May 1 to Oct. 31 and are available only to applicants who are sponsored by one or more voting members. Applicants typically face a waiting period of 14-30 days for approval. Here’s a closer look at the clubs that responded to our request for summer membership information:</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Delray Beach Club</strong></span><br /><em>2001 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, 278-6226</em><br /> Membership Director Diane Roberts said summer programs are nothing new at the iconic club in south Delray, having existed prior to her arrival nearly 25 years ago.<br /> “We don’t curtail our programs that much from the season,” Roberts said. “We have a theme party every month, along with a full run of kids’ activities and camps.”<br /> The club offers a 3.5-acre oceanfront beach, an expansive pool and activities that include canasta events on Wednesdays, known alternatively as “Cocktails and Canasta,” “Girlfriend Canasta” and “Classic Canasta.”<br /> Other activities include bridge games, a book club, art club, theater trips, luncheons, lectures, musical entertainment, holiday theme dinner parties and cabaret night.<br /> Four Har-Tru tennis courts are available, two on property and two off property, with lessons from a professional.<br /> Food and beverage service is available outside Tuesday through Thursday and inside on the weekends. The club is open Mondays but no food is served.<br />“We’ll be capping our membership at 90 this year,” Roberts said. The club had 87 summer members last year. “We’re just as busy in the summer nowadays as we are in season.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>St. Andrews Club</strong></span><br /><em>4475 N. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, 272-5050</em><br /> After attracting 25 families to its inaugural summer membership program a year ago, St. Andrews has set a goal of 50 this year.<br /> “We think our programming is a lot stronger than a lot of other clubs,” General Manager Robert Grassi said. “So we’re doing independent, large events. We’re going to have a surf camp and a lifeguard camp.”<br /> Children are a focus of the various St. Andrews programs. The club produced a book at the end of last summer featuring color displays of kids involved in activities ranging from observing turtle hatchlings to golf and tennis to pool activities.<br /> “We want to get them out to do a new activity or sport and get the phone out of their face,” Grassi said.<br /> St. Andrews offers more facilities than most, including an 18-hole par-3 golf course, tennis and croquet courts, a fitness center, and pool and beach access.<br /> Golf pro Amy Carver plans to do a variety of kids’ clinics along with a “Nine and Dine” program for adults.<br /> “If you have kids just getting introduced to golf you can’t spend the whole day on the course,” Carver said. “They need time to work on basic skills, so we’ll do that in the mornings, have lunch and go play in the afternoon.”<br /> Highlights of the dining schedule include Grillin’ and Chillin’ on Wednesdays and a pizza/pasta night on Fridays, with a snack bar on weekends.<br /> The club is also stressing responsibility for the environment, as evidenced by the April release of 200 butterflies and the donation of an ATV to Sea Turtle Adventures, which monitors nests along the beach.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Seagate Beach Club</strong></span><br /><em>400 Seasage Drive, Delray Beach, 665-4800</em><br /> GM William Sander reported that this will be the 10th year of summer memberships since the club reopened in 2009.<br /> This is the third year that Seagate offers access to the Seagate Country Club. Golf memberships began May 1 but the Beach Club won’t open until June 1 due to a renovation project involving the replacement of the roof, redoing the upstairs dining room, new pavers on the pool deck, painting the pool and installing new bathrooms.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The Little Club</strong></span><br /><em>100 Little Club Road, Gulf Stream, 278-1010</em><br /> The 18-hole par-3 golf course, a croquet court and dining are the highlights of a summer membership at The Little Club.<br /> Membership liaison Marilyn Wobeser said the fee schedule is reduced in the summer months.<br /> Summer members pay a dining room service fee but are not obligated to spend a minimum amount for food. Also, members pay no greens fees, though cart fees remain and guests are also charged greens fees.<br /> The clubhouse closes down throughout August while the golf course shuts down for two weeks at that time. “We’ve always been able to generate new members from our summer program,” Wobeser said.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Colony Cabana Club</strong></span><br /><em>1801 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach, 276-4065</em><br /> Owner Jestena Boughton said the club’s membership has topped out but the club, which features 250 feet of beach and a 25-meter pool, will continue its usual summer programs.<br /> “We have a plunge pool that’s cool in the summer and warm in winter, we serve lunch from 12 to 2 for club members and their guests and have parties on full-moon nights,” Boughton said. “We don’t have a bar, but encourage bringing food and drinks on the nights we have parties.”<br />The club has nearly 30 beach cabanas that feature a community shower, and Boughton said members make the most of that feature in the summer.<br /> “Our members love us,” Boughton said. “We’re as full as we can get.”</p></div>Golf: New pro fits right in at St. Andrews Clubhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/golf-new-pro-fits-right-in-at-st-andrews-club2018-01-03T17:35:12.000Z2018-01-03T17:35:12.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960767460,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960767460,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960767460?profile=original" /></a><em>Amy Carver enjoys that St. Andrews Club ‘has a very relaxed atmosphere.’ <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong></p>
<p>A strong teaching pedigree and a familiarity with members from her time at a club in Connecticut proved to be key assets when Amy Carver earned the job as head golf professional at St. Andrews Club.<br /> Carver, 55, replaces Jim Simon, who retired.<br /> A native of Meridian, Miss., and graduate of Mississippi State, Carver brings an expansive resume to the par-3 St. Andrews course, which includes working under Craig Harmon at Oak Hill in Rochester and Mike LaBauve in Phoenix, both of whom are listed among Golf Digest’s Top 50 teachers.<br /> She’s also familiar to several members of St. Andrews who spend their summers at Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, Conn., where she had worked from 2009 prior to taking on her first head professional position.<br /> “I wanted to come back to South Florida, so it was a nice opportunity,” said Carver, who previously also spent five years at Mariner Sands in Stuart.<br /> “Then I came to the club and it’s very laid-back here; there are certainly rules, but it’s a very relaxed atmosphere.”<br /> Carver interviewed at the club in early April and was hired a month later.<br /> “There was a lot about her background that we liked,” general manager Robert Grassi said. “Some of our members had experience with her, and she came across very strong. There were many reasons: Her whole demeanor, she’s very optimistic, her status as a PGA professional — they were all part of it.”<br /> A fitness management major at Mississippi State, Carver began her career at Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville. Her quest to earn her PGA card brought her to Mariner Sands, and members there helped her move on to Oak Hill in 1993, where she stayed through 1995, when the course hosted the Ryder Cup.<br /> She took a couple of sabbaticals from golf, working in the restaurant business and selling pharmaceuticals for Upjohn, but the game kept drawing her back. She made stops at Stonecreek in Phoenix, Maidstone on Long Island, Colonial in Memphis and another go-round at Oak Hill, this time from 2003 to 2009. <br /> Carver learned about the St. Andrews opportunity while at Wee Burn; with another MSU grad, Charley Crell, already on board as greens superintendent, it seemed a good fit.<br /> “Everything I heard was ‘You’re going to love the people,’” she said. “And I’ve certainly not been disappointed. The golf course is a great golf course, Charley works hard to keep it in good condition, and it’s challenging.”<br /> Carver has mostly taken a wait-and-see attitude toward putting her imprint on the golf program as she anticipates the busiest season after the holidays.<br /> “It’s important to see how things operate, to know what works well and what I’d like to change,” she said. “There’s a beautiful course that gets used a lot in the morning but not in the afternoon, so I want to get more use out of it. The wonderful thing is you can play 18 holes in 2 1/2 hours.<br /> “It’s wonderful to be at a course associated with” Pete and Alice Dye, she added. “I’ve been fortunate enough to meet them, and it’s an honor to be at a course they designed, because they’re so respected in the golf design community. It’s very cool to be here, to see them out riding around and still interested in what’s going on.”</p></div>Gulf Stream: Alice and Pete Dye: A legacy of golf course greatnesshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-alice-and-pete-dye-a-legacy-of-golf-course-greatness2017-05-03T16:24:36.000Z2017-05-03T16:24:36.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960717469,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960717469,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960717469?profile=original" /></a><em>Pete Dye was a hands-on supervisor during re-construction of the Gulf Stream Golf Club in 2013-14.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960717058,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960717058,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960717058?profile=original" /></a><em>Pete and Alice with one of their dogs through the years, all named Sixty. The last Sixty died in December.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photos provided by Ken May</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided by Alice Dye</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong><br /><br /> From Harbour Town in Hilton Head, S.C., to Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, to Crooked Stick in Indiana, golf course designers Pete and Alice Dye have built some of the most famous courses in the world. And as residents of Gulf Stream since 1969, they’ve left their mark across coastal Palm Beach County.<br /> Stewart Iglehart, one of the founders of St. Andrews Club, reached out to Pete and Alice to build the club’s par-3 course adjacent to the Intracoastal back in 1972.<br /> “Pete was busy so I took it on,” said Alice, who on May 20 will be presented with the prestigious Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects in Jupiter. “To call what was there a swamp would be an upgrade.<br /> “Some of the farms out in west Delray were being sold then, so they were taking dirt out and Stewart would buy it and bring it in. One night he called and said, ‘I just can’t bring any more dirt in. That’s all you’re going to have to work with.’<br /> “I said, ‘Stewart, if you don’t bring any more dirt you’re going to have a canoe club.’ So he brought more in, and St. Andrews now is a really nice par-3 golf course.”<br /> While Pete, 91, and Alice, 90, are among the longest-tenured residents of the area, Pete’s visits date to the early 1930s.<br /> “There was a flu epidemic where they lived in Ohio, and when Pete was 6, one of his younger cousins died of the flu,” Alice said. “So Pete’s father put everybody in the car and brought them down, and that’s how his family started coming to Delray Beach.”<br /> Pete and Alice met at Rollins College in Winter Park and were married in 1950. They settled in Indianapolis, where Pete sold insurance, but found themselves returning to Florida time and again so Alice, one of the nation’s top amateur female golfers, could play in tournaments.<br /> “It would be St. Augustine, then The Breakers, Coral Ridge [in Fort Lauderdale] and Miami Country Club,” Alice said. “Pete’s family had a house at Atlantic Avenue and the ocean; A1A would be paved for about a block south of Atlantic and then it would be sand. That was in the ’50s.”<br /> After Pete got into the golf design business, the pair decided Florida made a better home base than Indy.<br /> “Indianapolis had a tiny airport and terrible weather and he could never get home in the winter,” Alice said. “So we bought a house over on Seventh Avenue [in Delray] and would come down in the winter and put our boys [Perry and P.B.] in school, first at St. Vincent’s, the Catholic school, and then Atlantic High.”<br /> Pete and Alice made an instant impression on their neighbors after moving into their current house just north of Gulf Stream Golf Club in 1969.<br /> “The house needed painting and I had seen this house in the Seagate area that was a pale yellow, that I thought was so nice,” Alice said. “The painter did some work with a yellow on a board and I thought it was nice, and Pete and I left to play golf. When we came back, you could see this house … Midas Muffler never had a color this yellow. Needless to say we were not too popular.”<br /> Alice said the demographics of the area have changed markedly since the days when what is now The Little Club was a polo field and families would come down for a month or so in high season.<br /> “The kids needed a school, which led to Gulf Stream School being built, and over time what were a lot of small houses were eventually torn down and bigger ones were built. So the neighborhood has gotten younger, and Gulf Stream has become a wonderful school.”<br /> It was only a few years ago that members at Gulf Stream Golf Club decided their course needed some modernizing and offered the job to Pete Dye — with one significant stipulation.<br /> “They knew Pete’s reputation for building really difficult golf courses, which is what the owners typically have asked for,” Alice said. “This was the opposite: The members wanted Gulf Stream to be easier. So in the beginning they asked him to start with one hole. He said, ‘I can’t bring a crew in here for one hole.’”<br /> When Donald Ross built the course in 1920, he put bunkers 50 yards short of the green, which had become problematic for the average players who struggled to clear them so they could reach the green in two. Additionally, the greens had become severely sloped from back to front over time, so players who purposely went right or left of the bunkers faced approach shots made more difficult by the slopes.<br /> Membership ultimately relented and Dye took on the job, redoing the front nine in the summer of 2013 and the back nine a year later.<br /> The members’ reaction? “They’re all out there now,” Alice said. “You can hardly get on the course.”<br /> Alice’s status as both a top player and designer has helped her become a pioneer for the women’s game. She became the first woman president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and the first woman to serve as an independent director of the PGA of America.<br /> While Pete has struggled with dementia in recent years, he has continued to work, all the while amazing Alice with his remarkable ability to look at a piece of undeveloped land and see a finished golf course.<br /> “We’ll be standing there looking at a site, and what I see and what he sees are not the same,” she said. “I’m practical, and Pete is really visionary. I can’t imagine moving this much dirt; there’s bushes and stuff in my way. I don’t think he’s ever seen it as not finished. He looks at the brambles and sees it finished. I look at the brambles and think, ‘What are we going to do with those?’”<br /> Those who know the Dyes know they have had a succession of dogs, all named Sixty and all of whom have typically accompanied Pete to every job site. The latest Sixty died at age 13, just before Christmas, and Alice said that “as of right now” there are no plans to find another.<br /> While the Dyes continue to work on a handful of projects, the time for scaling back has finally come.<br /> “We’re not going to take on any more,” Alice said. “We’re going to finish what we’ve got. [Pete’s] still good in the field and he’s very creative, but he’s 91 now, so we’ve come to the end of taking on new work. Our boys have been a really big help.”<br /> Both P.B. and Perry will carry on. <br /> P.B. is a part-time Gulf Stream resident with additional homes in Urbana, Ohio, and the Dominican Republic, while Perry is based in Denver.</p></div>Along the Coast: Summer program to let locals enjoy St. Andrews Clubhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-summer-program-to-let-locals-enjoy-st-andrews-clu2017-03-01T17:22:51.000Z2017-03-01T17:22:51.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960708080,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960708080,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960708080?profile=original" /></a><em>A light rain did not spoil a family event at the club. Holly Wamser and daughter Libby talk with Taylor Morris.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong><br /><br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960708484,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960708484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960708484?profile=original" /></a><em>Gary Tapella and Robin Beamish share a laugh.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Brian Biggane</strong><br /><br /> The combination of changing demographics and having a neighboring club going through extensive renovations has helped prompt St. Andrews Club of Delray Beach to launch a summer membership program for 2017.<br /> St. Andrews introduced a limited summer program last year highlighted by what General Manager Robert Grassi called an informal “Grillin’ and Chillin’” cookout every Wednesday night.<br /> It went over so well that Grassi and the board of directors have decided to keep the club open through the summer and offer memberships spanning May 1 to Oct. 31.<br /> “The membership said, ‘We really like this. Can you do more of this?’” board member Mark Mayer said.<br /> “And Robert’s thought was, well, we’ve got a beach, pool, a golf course we take care of, tennis courts, fitness center, croquet. We should stay open not only because we have more members here year-round, but there are just more people in the area in the summer than there used to be.”<br /> Further incentive was the fact the nearby Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis Club is undergoing extensive, multimillion-dollar renovations this summer and its year-round members have reciprocal privileges at St. Andrews.<br /> A bad break with the weather resulted in what Mayer now considers only a small setback for the plans. The club invited 15 families for an introductory look-see on Jan. 29, which turned out to be a raw, rainy day on which temperatures never rose above the 50s. With the Super Bowl set for the following Sunday, there was no chance to reschedule.<br /> “So we went ahead and did it, and what we heard was, ‘We never knew this was here.’ So we at least got to show off the property,” Mayer said. Another family day, by invitation only, is set for March 5.<br /> Few other clubs in the area can even approach what St. Andrews has to offer. Located on both sides of A1A just north of The Little Club and adjacent to the county-owned Gulf Stream Park, St. Andrews has an 18-hole, par-54 Pete Dye golf course that has been recognized as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, a world-class croquet court, a family-friendly beach area, state-of-the-art fitness center, guarded pool and several dining rooms.<br /> The Little Club, open year- round, has also extended an invitation to Bath & Tennis Club members to use its facilities this summer only.<br /> Long-standing member Donna Ayers, who owns one of the 136 apartments on the grounds of the St. Andrews Club, said she’s seen a remarkable transformation in membership from older adults to younger families in recent years.<br /> “It’s become much younger,” Ayers said. “It’s amazing what has happened to this club in the last five years.”<br /> Mayer said that, while the pool remains popular, families with children more and more head for the beach.<br /> “Every year they ask, ‘Can we get more lounge chairs?’” he said.<br /> Ayers credits head lifeguard Connie Case for much of the surge in younger families. Case plays guitar when the club stages bonfires on the beach and organizes events for the kids.<br /> “She’s amazing,” Ayers said. “She’s brought in activities. She’s got the kids playing tennis, golf, out on paddleboards, teaching them about turtles. It’s a great program.”<br /> The prominence of the croquet program was underscored when world champion Stephen Mulliner of England paid a recent visit. David Bent, who is onsite pro for both the tennis and croquet programs, is ranked nationally and internationally in croquet.<br /> As for the par-3 golf course, legendary course architect Dye, who redid the greens and tees two years ago, came by to play a round in early February. Both electric and pull carts are available. Tee times are not required.<br /> New club members must have one existing member sponsor.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><em> For more information about the summer membership program, contact GM Robert Grassi at 266-5714 or email robert@standrewsclub.org.</em></p></div>Alice & Pete Dye Golf and Bridge Invitational: St. Andrews Club, Delray Beach – Nov. 18https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/alice-pete-dye-golf-and-bridge-invitational-st-andrews-club-delra2015-12-29T21:13:29.000Z2015-12-29T21:13:29.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960612069,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960612069,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="504" alt="7960612069?profile=original" /></a><em>Seventy-two golfers swung into action to raise funds for Wayside House, a Delray Beach addiction-treatment center</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>for women that has operated for more than four decades. While the golfers were busy on the course,</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>80 bridge players faced off in the clubhouse. <strong>ABOVE:</strong> (l-r) participants George McElroy,</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Tod Ortlip, Jay Wheatley and Perry O’Neal.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided</strong></p></div>Along the Coast: Memories ... Gulf Stream woman’s sketchbook records a rapidly changing areahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-memories-gulf-stream-woman-s-sketchbook-records-a2015-07-02T14:00:00.000Z2015-07-02T14:00:00.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587056,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587056,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="180" alt="7960587056?profile=original" /></a></em><em>Caryn Foltz has sketched images of the area</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>and paired them with her thoughts that day in a book she calls</em> SandScript.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Bruce Borich/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960586868,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960586868,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="175" alt="7960586868?profile=original" /></a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The cover of</em> <em>Caryn Foltz’s book of drawings</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>and essays is derived from her first sketch.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Ron Hayes<br /> <br /></strong> The first sketch in her book was done on Nov. 16, 2008, at 8:30 a.m., when the temperature in Gulf Stream’s public park was 68 degrees.<br /> The last one arrived on April 5, 2015, at 9:15 a.m., a drawing of the sign outside Dock Square Clothiers on East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. The temperature that morning was 73.<br /> In between, the simple blue sketchbook that Caryn Foltz bought at Hand’s Stationers to reunite with her love of art became a weapon, too.<br /> “The doctors tell me that remaining creative is a way to battle it,” she explains.<br /> When you call to ask if she’ll grant an interview about her sketches, she agrees, then politely adds, “I have a memory problem.”<br /> Seated at a patio table overlooking the golf course at St. Andrews Club, she mentions “my difficulty” — and then, after you’ve chatted a bit, confides that, because the disease is progressive, she thinks of it as a journey — “the road to Alzheimer’s.”<br /> “What I have happens to a lot of people,” she says, “and nobody knows what causes it.”<br /> She is a modest and private person, you sense, a 76-year-old woman summoning the bravery to go public about her diagnosis because she wants to shine some light in the darkness and fear that surround Alzheimer’s disease.<br /> If a question seems perhaps too personal, she turns to Henry, her husband of 55 years, and they briefly discuss her concerns while the sketchbook rests on the table between them.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587065,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587065,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="177" alt="7960587065?profile=original" /></a><em>Caryn Foltz shares a memory of a day on the shore.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960586883,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960586883,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="177" alt="7960586883?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Foltz captures images of Briny Breezes (left) and St. Andrews Club (below right).</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> <em>Sand Script</em>: An illustrated journal of Delray Beach, St. Andrews Club and Briny Breezes, Florida, is a tropical delight, page after page of colorful sketches as light and breezy as the local beaches, lazy foliage and street scenes Foltz captures with unmistakable talent.<br /> Her drawings not only look like our coastal communities, they feel like them, too, and each sketch is accompanied by a few words marking its creation.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587087,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960587087,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="175" alt="7960587087?profile=original" /></a> In Gulf Stream that first morning, Foltz welcomed the end of temperatures in the 90s.<br /> “Cool air bristles the skin. The Sea Grape leaves sparkle beneath a smiling sun. Slow waves calmly tapping their way to shore inspire meditation.”<br /> Here’s the little courtyard that houses Ciao, the venerable Atlantic Avenue café.<br /> “… the shops and courtyards are small, cozy, low, dated and comfortably shabby.”<br /> She’s captured perfectly the spirit of the Briny Breezes clubhouse, the Seaside Deli and Nomad Surf Shop.<br /> Cason Cottage and Starbucks, the Delray Beach pavilion and Pineapple Grove arch.<br /> And, of course, The Colony Hotel:<br /> “When I walk down Atlantic Avenue, a lot of the names I sketched are gone and it makes me really happy that I sketched them.”<br /> Caryn Foltz’s sketches drift on waves of gentle nostalgia, the work of a woman who first came to Delray Beach in the 1950s, a child vacationing from Cleveland.<br /> Her father, R. Franklin Outcalt, was a prominent architect who later designed the Barr Terrace condominium on Atlantic Avenue. <br /> “I would watch my dad drawing at home,” she remembers, “and I guess it just came into me. I have two older brothers and neither one had any interest in architecture, but I was always creating something.”<br /> As a student at Skidmore College, she signed up for an art class one September, and when the students’ work was displayed that October thought, “Oh, no, I’m not anywhere near this!”<br /> She finished the art class, but never took another, and sketching became a sometime thing until she and Henry retired to the St. Andrews Club in 1998.<br /> “Back in the ’50s it was called Dull-Ray,” she remembers. “You could throw a bowling ball down the street and nobody would ever know. But when Henry and I came back — boy, how it had changed!”<br /> And so she began sketching again, holding back with pencils, pens and paper those inevitable changes overtaking the no longer dull town of Delray Beach.<br /> “I always start with a pencil, and then I come home and look at what I’ve done and make a few changes,” she says, “and once I’ve got it how I want, use black ink and colored pencils.”<br /> The Office restaurant and bar. Her four favorite homes in Del-Ida Park. And of course the golfers at the St. Andrews Club itself, home for the past 17 years.<br /> The pen became a sword in her battle with Alzheimer’s, and then suddenly it’s 9:15 a.m. on April 5, 2015. She’s sketching the stylized signs of Delray’s couture shops, ice cream parlors and resort boutiques, and her blue book is full.<br /> “I’m delighted that many places are still thriving, e.g., The Colony Hotel, Trouser Shop & Delray News.”<br /> Caryn Foltz is thriving, too. Not long ago, she told the women in her weekly bridge club about the road she is traveling, and her eyes fill with gentle joy as she remembers their response. They told her, she says, that if and when the day comes when she can no longer play, they still want her company at the game. The game is not why they want her around.<br /> She and Henry are having the sketchbook privately printed by Middle River Press, with an initial run of 50 copies to share with family and friends.<br /> “And now I’m thinking about what’s the next thing I can work on. The other day when I was in Hand’s, I bought another sketchbook.<br /> “It’s green,” she says, “but it’s a nice shade of green.”</p></div>Briny Breezes/St. Andrews: Octogenarian trio likes links jobs but never plays a roundhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/briny-breezes-st-andrews-octogenarian-trio-likes-links-jobs-but-n2014-02-26T19:07:41.000Z2014-02-26T19:07:41.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960493682,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960493682,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" class="align-center" alt="7960493682?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The ‘Over the Hill Gang’ — Roy Miller, Gene Robey and Don Hebert</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>— at The St. Andrews Club. </em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span><b>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</b></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p><span><b>By Ron Hayes </b></span></p>
<p> Golfers and guests arriving at the bag room in The St. Andrews Club are greeted by a homemade sign warning that they are about to be served by:</p>
<p><i> The Over The Hill Gang</i></p>
<p><i> Roy 1925. Gene 1932. Don 1927.</i></p>
<p> Don’s wife, Jane, made the sign, and she’s an honest woman; but the sign’s not true.</p>
<p> Spend just a few minutes with Roy Miller, Gene Robey and Don Hebert and you see at once that they are clearly on top of things, but still not over the hill.</p>
<p> They are, however, painfully over par.</p>
<p> All three men live in Briny Breezes, all three are in their 80s, and all three have worked in that bag room for an average of 20 seasons.</p>
<p> From November to May, they maintain the members’ golf bags, check out their carts, record their fees, and make sure they’re armed with ice water on sweltering days.</p>
<p> Hebert, 86, came first. The owner of a family supermarket in Somersworth, N.H., he retired to Briny Breezes in 1985.</p>
<p> “And by 1991, I was bored.”</p>
<p> Warren Bailey, a neighbor who worked at the club, got him a job.</p>
<p> Gene Robey, 81, a retiree from U.S. Steel in Gary, Ind., arrived at the club three years later. Roy Miller, 88, a former supervisor at a Massachusetts rubber company, came in 1995. </p>
<p> You say old folks have memory problems? Don’t tell Hebert. He’ll point to a chart listing the names of about 250 members and associates and say, “Give me a name.”</p>
<p> Call out a name at random, and without looking, Hebert will tell you that player’s four-digit account number. He also maintains all the club’s tournament schedules — who’s playing and when.</p>
<p> When Hebert’s off, Robey takes over, greeting the players, checking out bags.</p>
<p> Hebert and Robey work three days a week.</p>
<p> Miller, the oldest, works seven days a week. Every evening he gathers the balls from the practice range, then washes and rebags them — about 300 every day.</p>
<p> This is not a hobby. The men are paid for their work. They won’t say how much, but note that they’re served lunch. And it’s not the salary that keeps them working well into their ninth decades.</p>
<p> “It’s the people,” they say in unison. “They’re the best in the world.”</p>
<p> The golfers seem to feel the same.</p>
<p> “They take really good care of me,” says Isabel Rich. “They always have my bag on a pushcart and my water ready. They’re dependable, helpful, always here on time, and they have great stories to tell.”</p>
<p> In her nine years at St. Andrews, Rich confides, she’s made three holes-in-one. But improving her game is one service the Over The Hill Gang can’t provide.</p>
<p> None of them plays.</p>
<p> "Years ago, I went out on the practice range,” Hebert recalls, shaking his head. “Too much work.”</p>
<p> So he goes swimming every day at 4:30 a.m. and rides his bike every night instead.</p>
<p> Robey got talked into trying a round once, too.</p>
<p> "When I got done, I was worn out,” he recalls. “I said, ‘This is worse than work!’ ”</p>
<p> He dances with the Briny Breezes Square Dance Club instead.</p>
<p>“People ask us for golfing advice,” Miller says, “and we tell ’em, ‘You’re asking the wrong people. See the pro.’ ”</p>
<p>That’s Jim Simon, St. Andrews’ golf pro for 14 years.</p>
<p>“This coming Wednesday, we have 54 golfers here for a tournament,” Simon says, “and the No. 1 thing is, these men are all extremely dependable. They’re all very polite and cordial with the membership, so it worked out well for me. They’re a really good fit.”</p>
<p>And at 88, Roy Miller has no plans to retire.</p>
<p>“That’s in the pro’s hands,” he says. “We’ll be here until we’re thrown out.”</p>
<p>And should Gene Robey lose his job, he’s already got a backup.</p>
<p>“I work at the tennis club a couple half-days, too,” he says, and grins. “I don’t play tennis, either.”</p></div>Golf: Dye’s renovation polishes gem of a golf coursehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/golf-dye-s-renovation-polishes-gem-of-a-golf-course2014-01-02T16:13:06.000Z2014-01-02T16:13:06.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960486882,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960486882,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" class="align-center" alt="7960486882?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The St. Andrews golf course greens were extensively renovated in 2013.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><b>Photo provided</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><span><b>By Steve Pike</b></span></p>
<p> Geoffrey Hume looked across the practice tee at St. Andrews Club north of Delray Beach and surveyed the club’s emerald fairways and greens.</p>
<p> “I call this my ‘little jewel on the ocean,’ ” said Hume, the club’s general manager.</p>
<p> That jewel has a new polish, thanks to legendary golf course architect Pete Dye, who along with his wife, Alice, son P.B. and St. Andrews Superintendent Charley Crell, rebuilt the club’s 18 greens.</p>
<p> The project, which took place this past summer and into the fall, was much smaller than Dye’s redesign work at neighboring Gulf Stream Golf Club, but just as important to St. Andrews Club members, who for the past several years had been putting on slow, inconsistent greens.</p>
<p> Many of those greens had developed what are known as “turtleback.” A turtleback is a large hump or mound in a green caused by years of top dressing. It often limits the area where a pin can be placed and causes even well-struck balls to miss their targets.</p>
<p> “You almost couldn’t get a ball to stay on a couple of the greens,” Hume said.</p>
<p> To make matters more challenging, St. Andrews’ greens were filled with different kinds of grasses that made them difficult to read and gauge the speed. For example, if two players had 4-foot putts from different sides of the hole, one player might have been putting on a completely different grass than his or her partner.</p>
<p> “We were dealing with a lot of intrusion, where we had multiple types of grasses on the greens and within the whole course,” Hume said. </p>
<p> That’s no longer the case. St. Andrews Club’s greens now each feature TifEagle Bermudagrass, which is popular in South Florida, along with TifGrand Bermudagrass (a newer form of cultivar) on their collars. The turtlebacks are gone, too. </p>
<p> “Everything was done that needed to be done,” said Crell, who came to St. Andrews Club in December 2012 from PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie. “Anything that [has] age to it, like an old house, needs to be updated. It’s the same with a golf course. </p>
<p> “We try and keep (the greens) between 9 and 10 (on the Stimpmeter) daily, but for tournament play we can get as fast as any private club in the area.”</p>
<p> Crell and the Dyes also replaced irrigation around the greens, renovated each tee box and added tee boxes to a few holes, including a forward tee on the 160-yard, fifth.</p>
<p> The fifth hole — the longest at St. Andrews — probably is the best example of the entire project. The green, which originally hugged the Intracoastal along the left side of the fairway, was moved approximately 15 yards to the right, allowing the hole to play as long as 185 yards.</p>
<p> Much of the old material that was removed from the greens, Hume said, was used to create a berm along the third hole that protects the course from rising Intracoastal tides.</p>
<p> “We had problems with swamping,” Hume said. “Nothing is worse for a golf course than salt water.”</p>
<p> The berm is a preview of what is coming at St. Andrews Club.</p>
<p> “This summer we’re going to do a lot of reclamation of land because of what we’ve lost to erosion,” Hume said. “In the next couple of years we’re planning to renovate the rough and fairways.”</p>
<p> And add more polish to the jewel.</p></div>Golf: St. Andrews pro Jim Simon has a goal: ‘to serve the customers’https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/golf-st-andrews-pro-jim-simon-has-a-goal-to-serve-the-customers2012-02-01T17:00:00.000Z2012-02-01T17:00:00.000ZDeborah Hartz-Seeleyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/DeborahHartzSeeley<div><p><span><b><br /></b></span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960363672,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960363672,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="360" alt="7960363672?profile=original" /></a></b></span><em>With 40 years of experience at Disney World, the Ocean Reef Club</em> <br /> <em>and the Atlantis Country Club, Jim Simon has settled in at</em> <br /> <em>St. Andrews Club. <b>Photo by Kurtis Boggs</b></em></p>
<p><span><b>By Steve Pike</b></span></p>
<p>Jim Simon and the St. Andrews Club are a perfect match. Each is classy, understated and comes with a fine history. The club, with its 18-hole, par-54 golf course, was founded in 1971 and has become one of the area’s most popular winter destinations for not only golf, but also games such as bridge, backgammon, tennis and croquet.</p>
<p>“One of our members calls this ‘Camp St. Andrews,’ ” said Simon, the club’s head professional. His 40 years of experience includes Disney World, Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Atlantis Country Club and, since 2000, St. Andrews Club.</p>
<p>Simon’s golf story began ingloriously in 1968. En route to Palm Beach Gardens to caddy for golf professional Jim Jamieson (Simon and Jamieson were each from Moline, Ill.) at PGA Tour Qualifying School, Simon’s car broke down in Orlando. </p>
<p>“Jim went to Palm Beach Gardens but I couldn’t do that,” Simon said from behind his desk inside the St. Andrews pro shop he and his wife, Pat, own and operate. “I was broke and needed a job.”</p>
<p>Simon found a job 40 miles from Orlando and light years away from golf. He started working as a tour guide at the Kennedy Space Center.</p>
<p>“It was during the launches to the moon, so that was fun and exciting,” Simon said.</p>
<p>For the next three years, Simon played golf “for fun,” and in 1971 heard about this new place in Orlando called Disney World. He was hired as the equivalent of an assistant professional and later would help his fellow Disney golf professionals get into the PGA Apprentice program — the first step to becoming a full-fledged PGA professional.</p>
<p>“It was fun — a great opportunity to learn the Disney system,” Simon said. “I still go back to some of those lessons I learned.”</p>
<p>For example, Simon said, “They do things right; they don’t cut corners. Cleanliness and neatness is their forte. That’s the No. 1 things people comment about. And customer service, making sure their guests are happy.</p>
<p>“They’re there to serve the customers and make it as pleasant as possible. That’s a philosophy I’ve tried to carry through my career.”</p>
<p>St. Andrews Club, nestled just off A1A near Gulf Stream, has approximately 300 members, most of whom are there only during the winter months. The course and other amenities are open year-round, but services, such as the golf pro shop and food and beverage, are only open during the winter season.</p>
<p>“We have a great membership. That’s the key,” Simon said. “And I teach quite a bit during the season. My philosophy is I try to help each individual with their specific needs — try to make them feel like they have better opportunity to hit fewer bad shots. That gets them to enjoy the game and feel as though they’ve improved, even if it’s just a few shots here and there.</p>
<p>“That’s why golf is such a great game. It can bring so many different abilities together and be in competition with the handicap system. I think that’s what makes golf fun.” </p></div>Gulf Stream: St. Andrews condos will benefit from utilities projecthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-st-andrews-condos-will-benefit-from-utilities-project2011-09-28T21:18:16.000Z2011-09-28T21:18:16.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>By Steve Plunkett<br /><br />Residents of condos at the St. Andrews Club just north of town will benefit from Gulf Stream’s underground utilities project without spending a dime.<br /> Town commissioners decided Sept. 15 to pull $450,000 from reserves to prepay Gulf Stream’s portion of the project, which includes assessments for six town-owned parcels and the share St. Andrews residents would pay if they lived inside town limits instead of in Boynton Beach. <br />The St. Andrews Club condos are included in the project because they will enjoy aesthetic and other benefits from the removal of powerlines on Little Club Road.<br /> Twenty-two Gulf Stream property owners already had sent in checks totaling $169,000, beating the Nov. 1 deadline to prepay and saving $10,424 in first-year capitalized interest, financing costs and administrative fees, Town Manager William Thrasher said. <br /> The underground assessment for Town Hall, for example, is $10,898.61 with a $638.24 prepay savings.<br /> Gulf Stream mailed notices about the prepay option Sept. 2 that warned a 20-year installment plan could include interest rates “not to exceed 10 percent,” Thrasher said, “which prompted a lot of people to prepay.’’<br /> He noted the exact interest rate won’t be known until February, but added it should be closer to 4 percent.<br /> Town Clerk Rita Taylor said the first prepayment check arrived even before the notice was sent out. A second, final notice about prepayments was to be mailed Sept. 30.<br /> Surveyors finished measur-ing the south part of town and their work was forwarded to Gulf Stream’s consulting engineer, Thrasher said. The engineer has said actual construction to bury electric, phone and cable TV lines will begin next spring.</div>