have a lot of different aspects of family-centeredactivity to provide.”
Central to the growing family-friendly appeal ofthe club is the swimming pool. TCG&CC Member-ship Director Susan Ling says she’s been hear-ing for years about how members of thelocal community wanted an outdoorrecreational pool. Excepting localresorts, there has been no such facili-ty in Traverse City until now.
The swimming pool will be the coreof the TCG&CC’s new programmingstrategy, so it stands to reason that theclub is pushing to finish that aspect ofthe project as soon as possible. With anambitious timeline and not a moment to waste,the swimming pool contractor for the project, B&BPool Service & Supply Co. poured concrete for thepool in January. Since then, the company has beenworking under a tent – and with the aid of somemuch-needed propane heat – to keep constructionrolling through a brutal winter.
Once completed, the pool will be a draw not justfor recreational opportunities, but also for teaching,learning, and exercise. One segment of the mainpool will have four lap lanes, available for open lapswimming and programs such as swim and lifeguardlessons. Another area will be used for recreationalplay – including water volleyball – and for groupexercise classes like water aerobics. Separately,there will be a zero entry pool intended for youngerkids and complete with fun water features.
Another child-friendly improvement on thedocket is a brand-new kids activity space. Van-derVeen says that specific plans for that room are
TRAVERSE CITY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB • 1725 S Union Street Traverse City, MI 49684 • 231-947-9140 • tcgcc.com
still being sketched out, but that the goal is for it tobe an “active play zone, providing a dedicated spacefor both physical and social development.”
“Sports and fitness provide life-long benefits,”VanderVeen said. “This space, along with our otherjunior programming including sports and golfcamps, is one more benefit we can offer to our mem-bers’ families.”
Also on the list of improvements are a 4,000-square-foot outdoor dining space overlooking thegolf course and a fitness facility with outdoor viewsand a space for group fitness classes. In the pub-styledining and activity area, the TCG&CC is addingtwo state-of-the-art indoor golf simulators. Thesimulators, from the brand TrackMan, pair immer-sive graphics with smart software that can performswing analysis and other benchmarking. TrackMantechnology is used by top coaches and golfersaround the world to hone performance and craft.The software also incorporates 30 different golfcourses, to keep things fresh and entertaining forplayers just using the simulators for fun. Ling saysthe variety will be perfect for the winter golf leaguesthat TCG&CC will be adding to its programmingcalendar come next winter, headed up by ScottHebert, the club’s head golf pro.
When the simulators aren’t in use, the projectorsand large screens will be available for video gamingor for viewing movies and sporting events.
Collectively, the improvements mark the start ofa new chapter for the TCG&CC – an institutionthat already has a storied history. 2019 marks theclub’s 104th year, while the renovations andimprovements represent just the latest incarnationof the clubhouse and grounds. The clubhouse, forinstance, has been rebuilt several times, due to bothnecessity (two previous versions were badly dam-
aged by fires) and preference (in 1998, theclub membership voted to tear the club-
house down to its footprint and build amodernized version in its place).
Between the new improvements andquality work from TCG&CC’s con-tractors – including Traverse Citybased Cornerstone Architects, Com-
stock Construction, and RenaissanceGolf Design, – VanderVeen and Ling are
both confident that the enhancements tothe club will bring about an evolution in the
membership. TCG&CC currently boasts over 400member families.
“We’re positioning ourselves for some pretty nicegrowth this year,” Ling said. “We are undertakingmost of these improvements so that we can meetwhat a lot of people have asked for. People in Tra-verse City are looking for the kinds of amenities andprogramming we are going to be offering.”
With a busy summer of road work on the way forTraverse City – including the reconstruction ofEighth Street and the replacement or repair of sev-eral downtown bridges – VanderVeen says there isone other perk of the TCG&CC: it’s an escape.
“We like to consider ourselves an ‘oasis’ for ourmembers, for when the hustle and bustle of TraverseCity gets to be a little bit much,” VanderVeen said.“We are just steps away from the heart of downtownTraverse City, and we’re inviting people to come onup into the oasis and get away!”
TC Golf & Country Club’s$3.5 Million Expansion
At the end of last year’s golf season, the TraverseCity Golf & Country Club (TCG&CC) officiallybroke ground on its first major expansion in 20 years.The project will add a new outdoor swimming poolto the property, revamp several holes on the golfcourse – under the direction of notable golf coursearchitects Renaissance Golf Design – and makenumerous changes to the clubhouse itself. TheTCG&CC is hoping to open the facilities on orbefore July 1.
With a price tag of $3.5 million, this particularimprovement project is a substantial undertaking forthe TCG&CC. However, it’s also an improvementthat the club membership very adamantly wanted.According to General Manager Diane VanderVeen,last year’s May 9 vote for the capital improvementssaw a turnout of roughly 90 percent of eligible voters.Among those voters, the project passed with an 80percent approval rating. The message, she said, wasclear: it was time for the TCG&CC to evolve.
“This was a mandate,” VanderVeen said. “Doingthis suite of improvements was something our com-munity really wanted.”
For VanderVeen, the new improvements are achance to “update the complexion of the club” andexpand its focus. Broadly, the goal is to be morethings to more people, whether by expanding theathletic offerings of the club or by adding new eventslike game nights to the calendar. More specifically,though, the TCG&CC is especially interested inattracting young families to the table.
“Something we hear a lot is how people are goingout as a family and looking for things to do in town,”VanderVeen said. “We’re hoping to be the place thatpeople think about for that, because we’re going to
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Outdoor Pool and Dining Just Some of the Improvements
