Review Rules for Tuesday says TD Jenkins

     Tournament Director Sam Jenkins offers two rules to follow for players participating in Tuesday's Two Best Net scores of the four-player team format. The first rule is to put the gross score for each player on the official scorecard and the second rule is follow the first rule.
     The official scorecard that is to be turned in to the office must have all four scores for all players on each hole. The computer will adjust the scores when they are tabulated and select the two best NET scores so that a team score can be determined.
     All players' scores are required as they will be used for handicap purposes. Players may keep another unofficial scorecard for their own use but the official one needs only the gross hole scores of the players. Think of the format as an individual format for all four players and scores should reflect that.

Election of ASGA Board of Directors

The following ASGA Board of Directors officers were confirmed at the ASGA Annual Meeting on November 8, 2018:

• President Paul Redden
• Vice President Travis McWhorter
• Past President Shawn Higgins
•  Secretary-Treasurer Sam Mihalik
• Tournament Director Sam Jenkins
• Handicap Chairman Bill Burke
• Parks and Recreation Representative Jack Scruggs
• Delegate-at-Large Don Greenway
• Delegate-at-Large Lewis Howell

Their term of office is from November 8, 2018 until November 14, 2019.

Preliminary minutes of the Annual Meeting are posted on THIS LINK.

Riverside Tee Time Information

The tee time assignments at Riverside for the tournament on Tuesday, November 20 resulted in large gaps with empty assignments. As a result the earlier tee times before the gaps will be adjusted upward to eliminate those gaps while maintaining the  assigned order.  Foursomes who have a need to play early can still do so by informing the course. Additional tee times are still being accepted.

CLICK HERE to view the initial assignments; check the Tournament Schedule page for the updated listing.

President's Cup, What's That?

By Sammy Charles

As a serious journalist who always keeps his nose close to the ground, I have sniffed out a story that is indeed strange. What is this thing called the “President's Cup” that is supposed to be played at the Annual Banquet in the Fall of 2019? Yea, yea, I know, that's so far in the future (October, 2019) we have more important things to worry about.......like the state of the nation after an election......or should I put out the garbage tonight or in the morning......or is it too cold today to play golf.....you know, important things. But I digress!

The President's Cup, some new format dreamed up by that upstart tournament director, Sam Jenkins, is a match play event! Match play! Well, nobody plays match play anymore. That went out of style when golf came to America, right? No, you say, it is still being played? Like it is the format for the USGA Amateur Championship.....it is the way the NCAA determines it's champions.....and, it is still one of the features of the …...(gulp)...Ryder Cup?

Ok, ok, so it is still a major part of golf, so now we have to have it in the ASGA? Well, Mr. Jenkins says yes it will be part of our schedule next year. Ok, so what is this all about?

My expert reporting has found out that the President's Cup is a format where the players who sign up for the annual banquet tournament will be divided into two teams and lined up to play each other in a match play format. Something called a draft will be held where two captains will choose their teams on an alternate basis and line-ups will be set up similar to the Ryder Cup. And who are those so-called captains? According to my astute and nose to the grindstone reporting, the current ASGA President, uh....uh...what's his name.......oh, yea, Paul Redden, will choose the two captains early next year.

Soooo, Jenkins has tentatively named the two teams, Blue and White, according to a secret email that I was able to get from a hacker friend of mine. How mundane! I could think of two better names than that off the top of my head, like North and South teams.....nooo....maybe not, we'd have 118 players on one side and 2 on the other, besides we know how that competition turned out! Maybe East vs West? … ..no, if you were on the East team people might end up calling you a Yankee from New York and if you were on the West team you'd be associated with California and everybody knows that Texas and California are rivals. Since it is the “President's” Cup, we could call one team Junior and the other Eric....no, forget that! Senators and Judges? Representatives(too long)! How about Democrats and Republicans? Oh gosh, NO! Enough is enough!

I got it! Longhorns and ….and.....dare I say it...Aggies? That would be a one-sided choice so no to that. What about the Texans and the Cowboys! Now we're getting somewhere. Who would refuse to be on either team, right? Still. Not great. Maybe Blue and White wasn't so bad after all.

Do you have a preference or two new names? Send them to Mr Jenkins. I'll alert him your choices are coming. I have his secret email address, scjenkins29@gmail.com.

Urgent Request to Complete Golf Survey

     Golfers' needed! Not to play golf but to assist in giving the game of golf a boost in the Austin area. How? The city of Austin has a large land area called the Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park located in east Austin just west of State Highway 130. The property includes over 3,500 acres of parkland and over 1,100 acre lake and the city is conducting a survey to get help in deciding whether golf should be part of their master plan.
     At the most recent meeting of the city planners in which the public was invited for comment, fewer than a dozen golfers showed up while the audience was well populated with disc golfers, fisherman, and other partisan citizens. But golfers have a second chance to try to influence the thinking and the planning of the city officials. This comes in the form of a new survey that the ASGA is urging its members to complete.
     This is urgent and necessary if golfers wish to have a new course available to them for future use. Fishermen were there in mass and they look at the golf courses as poisoning the fish with the runoff from watering the course. Although Kevin Gomillion, an official with the city golf department, set this issue straight there are numerous other harmful myths out there that people believe about golf.
     Therefore it is essential that golfers respond and complete the survey before November 14th.
Here are a few tips when filling out the survey.
1) One of the first golf questions is about the 36 hole course, with one of them PGA quality course. Select VERY IMPORTANT
2) A later question asks about GolfATX public course and how important that is to you. Select VERY IMPORTANT.
3) Use the comments section to list any other thoughts you feel are important.  They are reading each of the comments.

     Here is the link (click on the address below and then on the URL that pops up):http://www.austintexas.gov/department/walter-e-long-park-master-plan. 
     Scroll down to middle of page to "Take Survey #3”

    Please spread the word, so we get more than 70 golfers to respond.  Get your spouse, relatives, and friends to complete a survey as well. We need to have the survey reflect our desire for another golf course in Austin.

New Formats Added, 2019 Event Schedule Released

Tournament Director Samuel Jenkins has released a 2019 event schedule with a variety of formats for individuals, two and four player teams.  The event formats include those in the 2018 schedule and two new formats are introduced: Total Net (2 of 4 players) that is  similar to the 2018 format, Total Net (3 of 4 players), but in the new format only the two lowest total net scores are used;  Presidents Cup (Team Match Play), a brand new format pitting two teams of players at the annual banquet in match play competition.  Details on this competition will be announced as the schedule unfolds in the coming year.

In summary, the schedule includes: Individual:  16 events (includes the two-day annual tournament); Two-Player Team: 16 events; Four-Player Team: 20 events (including the Presidents Cup).  The schedule is linked on the ASGA website Tournament Schedule page and can be accessed directly HERE. 

Annual ASGA Election and Meeting, 1:00 PM, Thursday at Lions

     President Shawn Higgins issued an important announcement today concerning the election of the 2019 new board members. All ASGA members are urged to attend the Lions conference room to vote for their choices for the new board. After the vote, the new president will conduct a general meeting concerning any business before the board. 

     The following is Higgins' official statement:

Election of New Board/Officers on November 8, 2018, 1:00 PM in the big meeting room at Lions.

     ASGA Bylaws require an annual meeting. As your president it is my responsibility to set up this meeting. As a current member of ASGA it is your responsibility to attend and vote in person. Only those in attendance will  have a vote. Please come a few minutes early as we plan to start the meeting promptly. 

     The nominating committee plans to announce the following candidates at the meeting and place their names in nomination. Please remember that in addition to the two Delegates-at-Large put forth by the committee, members can place any name for any position by nominating them from the floor. 

Nominees for 2019 ASGA Board

President: Paul Redden

Vice President: Travis McWhorter

Past President: Shawn Higgins (Not to be voted on)

Secretary/Treasurer: Sam Mihalik

Tournament Chairman: Sam Jenkins

Handicap Chairman: Bill Burke

PARD City Board Rep: Jack Scruggs

Recommended from the floor

Delegate-at-Large: Gene Payne

Delegate-at-Large: Don Greenway

Mark your calendars and be there,

Shawn Higgins

ASGA President