The Cleghorn Club at Tryon Resort

To: Doug Grondahl, Chief Operations Officer, Tryon International Equestrian Center

From: Undersigned Cleghorn Members and Patrons in Good Standing

CC: Sharon Decker, Sarah Madden

This memorandum of concern is submitted by the undersigned members and nonmember patrons of “The Cleghorn Club at Tryon Resort”, to seek an official and transparent response from TIEC leadership to multiple subjects of concern facing “The Cleghorn Club” facilities, specifically the golf course.

Please return a response by May 15th, 2025, by either providing a written response to the individual topics in the sections designated below or formally notifying Cleghorn members and patrons of a specified date, time, and location of forum for TIEC leadership to address the questions verbally.

Failure to provide a detailed response to the topics of concern in this letter may result in (but is not limited to) voicing of concerns and complaints to public community forums and customer review websites, complaint filings with appropriate business bureaus, and/or widespread cancellation of membership.

As you mentioned in your April 17th, 2025, letter, our passion and commitment are certainly part of what makes Cleghorn such a special place, but not the only things. What also makes Cleghorn special and ultimately drives the collective commitment to play there is the high quality golf experience a well-kept Cleghorn provides.

The passion and commitment of the undersigned continues to wane in synch with the golf experience, and we hope establishing this formal feedback loop can help instill confidence of an upward trajectory for the club.

Concern #1: Course Playing Conditions and Routine Maintenance

Course playing conditions and routine maintenance have continued to deteriorate year over year since spring of 2023. It seems clear to the membership that the grounds crew does not have the appropriate combination of the experience, leadership, knowledge, resources, and manpower to properly maintain the course. Outside of the clear visual indications of decline, it also requires the expertise of a qualified golf course superintendent and head golf professional to manage the course to amicable playing conditions that facilitate enjoyable play by golfers of all skill levels, but especially those of higher skill levels which Cleghorn has many of. This includes smooth, fast rolling greens, manicured fairways, fringe, second cut rough, decluttered and sprayed penalty / woods areas, and playable sand traps which are free from weeds, trimmed, and raked before each day or two of play.

These are all factors of playing condition that since early 2023 have significantly deteriorated in quality and consistency. Signs of disease and weed takeover are becoming evident on multiple putting greens, fairways, and playing surfaces. The historically consistent, smooth, and fast putting greens have become inconsistent, bumpy, and often so slow that comments can be heard from Members and Visitors alike.

Many have noticed that the course seems to only gets proper levels of attention 1—2 days before there is a large public event held – but in between tends to be neglected. The course conditions have quickly deteriorated to that of what one would expect in a low budget / low-cost municipal course.

In your April 17th, 2025, update letter to Cleghorn Members and Guests, you refer to TIEC’s “long term vision”. We have heard and read references to a “vision” multiple times over the past few years, yet a formal vision or plan has not been communicated or outlined to the undersigned. Our questions for your response are as follows:

As the single most important amenity at a golf club, what is TIEC’s “long term vision” and the agreed upon standard for Cleghorn’s grounds keeping and course conditions? Has a standard been identified, being actively managed towards, or has a standard already been met? If that standard has not been met, what is leadership’s action plan to meet that standard and what is the time frame to do so?

Tryon Leadership Response:

Concern #2: Need for Critical Course Renovations

The need for critical course renovations have been consistently acknowledged and teased but not actioned. Since the end of the 2022 season, the Par 3 hole #16 has been acknowledged by TIEC staff as needing critical renovation to sustain playability. While the sign on the front door of the pro-shop now claims that Hurricane Helene is responsible for the unavailability of hole #16, everyone familiar is well aware that it wasn’t playable long before Hurricane Helene. Due to the failure to maintain the water reservoir between hole #16 and hole #17 over the years, the water backup had over saturated the entirety of hole #16 and nearly half of the putting green was dead / lost well prior to September 2024, making it unplayable by average golf course standards.

While we appreciate the timing and the notion of your April 17th update, it falls short in the same ways that TIEC leadership communication has fallen short for the patrons of Cleghorn the past handful of years:

1. Failure to acknowledge and empathize with the current deficiencies and challenges facing the course and impact to patrons.

2. Declaration of some overarching long-term vision that has never been communicated written or verbally, and an overly optimistic tone that falls flat and fails to acknowledge current state.

3. The announcement of major improvements and investments to come with no clear expectation, timeline, or action plan attached to it.

Our questions for your response are as follows:

Is TIEC fully committed to renovating hole #16 at Cleghorn in order to restore the facilities to a fully functional golf course? Is TIEC officially under contract with Beau Welling Design to complete renovation of hole #16 AND (not or) additional golf amenities on property at TIEC? If so, will TIEC commit to Cleghorn hole #16 taking absolute priority over the 12-hole project and the renovation to be finished before ground is broken on a new golf hole at TIEC?

When a decision is made to allocate significant funds to grinding cart paths (proven to be a waste of funds as cart paths are now in worse condition than beforehand) or installing in a driving range mat, instead of keeping up with routine course maintenance, fertilization, or making critical long term renovations to the golf course, who is responsible and accountable to the results of those decisions? Does TIEC believe that membership should be consulted at any level on the importance of such projects before making those decisions?

Tryon Leadership Response:

Cleghorn is indeed a special place for so many who have been dedicated customers for decades and have been through many ups and downs. It should not be lost on TIEC that it is a privilege to have such a large group of people who consider the sustainability of the course systemically important to their communities’, businesses’, and families’ standards of living.

Having strong ownership, leadership, and transparent communication throughout challenging periods to sustain loyalty and instill confidence in the trajectory of the club is more important now than ever, as the concerns mentioned above have become increasingly visible to customers, prospective customers, and competitors alike who are aggressively in pursuit of new customers of their own.

Please consider this letter as the beginning of an intentional and collective effort of your most dedicated customers, to support TIEC in ensuring Cleghorn once again reaches and exceeds the great potential it has in the past. All we ask in exchange for that support, is detailed, transparent communication and visibly prompt action to address the primary concerns outlined above.

Sincerely,

Cleghorn Members and Patrons

Undersigned: