President's Message -- December 21, 2020

Thanks For Speeding Up Play, Reviewing Important Key Points  and Merry Christmas!!

 It was not quite the Indy 500 mile race (The record fastest race for 500 miles is under  three hours) but we did a great job Tuesday the 15th at Lions 5 mile golf event (our fastest first group out finished in well under 4 hours.)  It is possible that our last group could do under 4 hours at some point. The last team out finished in 4 Hours and 20 minutes Tuesday. That is almost 1 hour better than the week before. Thanks so much for the speed up. There is no need to race, but moving along at a nice pace of 4 hours or close is so rewarding and Lions loved it too.

Four things to review:

1. The NEWS Update on August 26th reported an early Christmas Gift. It said:

   "Your Board took the following actions:
   

   At this point we have canceled both annual major events, so we are extending every current member at the end of this fiscal year for another year of membership at no cost. LET ME BE CLEAR. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER IN 2020, YOU OWE NO DUES FOR 2021. KEEP YOUR $10 RENEWAL. IT IS A GIFT FROM SANTA AND YOUR ASGA BOARD."

2. The hole-in-one jackpot stays in play until some one wins. It has not been won recently. Please go to Membership Programs on our website and click on HOLE-IN-ONE JACKPOT. If your name is listed you are in and if not you cannot win until you enter. There are 72 currently listed. The entrance is $5 until some one wins again. Shawn Higgins, Event Chairman, handles that fund.
   
   
3. Please call the courses plus notify your foursome if you are canceling and not playing an event you were signed up to play.  Give them time to find a substitute. 
   
   
4. 2020  has two more events and then 2021 will take over. I am rooting for a great 2021. 2020 was a difficult year in lot of ways, but I am thankful we kept ASGA together and that about 200 of you are paid up members at this point with a lot of fun ahead. New members male and female are welcome to join if they are 62 or older.
   

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League, 

Travis McWhorter, President

 

Merry Christmas!

 

President's Message -- December 13, 2020

Playing Faster, Scoring Lower and Winning a Big Paycheck

When we had that long layoff, I had nostalgia for our group. We are back now. Maybe we are  enjoying our time on the course too much. Our first groups last Tuesday at Lions finished in less than 4 hours. Some of our later groups did not finish until well over 5 hours from their start time. We are bleeding into the time the courses have reserved for other players and in some cases making it difficult for them to finish their rounds. Lions has advised us of this issue and has asked us to help them by improving. Also, when you feel your time will be on the slower side please request 4 and preferred tee time near the last.  We must all speed up all through all flights and playing in more than  4 and 1/2 hours is not acceptable!!

The playing faster issue has plagued us before but not so many over 5 hours. We must work together by foursomes and individuals to correct it as quickly as our next event. 

Speaking of nostalgia we went back into the News stories on our website and found the following excerpts from a write-up from Sam Jenkins our previous Event Director (Alias Sammy Charles in 2019) . It is as follows:

"Some do's and don't's: Do consult the ASGA website often, especially the NEWS site. Yea, go ahead, click on it, yea, really. you might be surprised at what you might find. Do speed up! Everyone likes a unhurried but undelayed round. I'm slow, but I know I'm slow. So what do I do to keep me from being a drag on my team and the other groups? I try to putt continuously once I start.  I start walking to my cart after I putt out until I am at least half way to my cart. I take one practice swing, really, just one.  I'm out of my cart with club in hand before it is my time to hit. I don't wait to be driven to my ball if my cart mate is hitting his ball within quick walking distance of mine, I don't spend more than three minutes looking for a ball while I have a barrel full at home. It's just a ball, not your wife's diamond ring!"

Well said Sam. I played with Sam and he kept up totally. Go to News and read the entire article. We keep them on our website for you to read.

So with speed of play in mind our current Event Chairman, Shawn Higgins, Handicap Chairman, Bill Burke and I decided to have conversation with some other of our faster players to see what 8 things they would suggest to speed us up. We plan to post them at the clubhouses counters in the future as a reminder. Here they are.

1. Keep within one hole of  the group in front of you. Look back to see if the group behind you is waiting on you. Speed up as a group until you catch up and until you close the gap. Maintain a healthy gap with those trailing you.
2. If you are at your ball and can hit without any risk to anyone, hit it! Play ready golf!!
3. Help those in  your group with their ball flight when teeing. If there is any way you can give them directions or point out their ball as you pass by in route to your ball please do so.
4. Finish out your putt without marking if at all possible. Be ready to putt!
5. When feasible let the shortest drivers hit first so they can depart first. Red tee players get as close as you can to your teeing area while green/white tee players are hitting.
6. Take less waggles and practice swings and stop looking at every angle of a putt. Just "take dead aim" and hit the ball as Harvey Penick taught!
7. Don't spend more than 3 minutes looking for a lost ball. You can take the line of flight where it went into the woods and hit with the same one stroke penalty you would have if you found. When your group is behind you can save time by not looking. Take your line, your medicine and hit the replacement ball. Save 3 minutes when you can!!
8. Manage your push cart and your electric cart as to where you park around the greens. Think about the the next hole and where the exit to your cart would lead you off the green the quickest and out of the way of those following!
   

The Marshals have the authority to warn those when over 1 hole down to catch up and when they do not in a reasonable period and the gap gets to 2 down, the group must move over and let the next group through or be DQ'D. Then the group needs to keep up or it will happen again. This in fact slows you and all following players down. KEEP UP!

If we can not speed up enough to be courteous golfers our next step would have to be looking at penalty strokes as a remedy.  None of us really want that, so speed up every time we play!

Okay, so we can't guarantee lower scores like the headline mentioned. Our headline was to get you to read this News story and to let us all have more fun. It would not surprise any of us if you got on with it and practiced  the ideas we have shared you would play better and win more money and put a smile on all of our golfing faces and the courses would like us much more, too. Play Faster Now, Please!

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League, 

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message -- November 29, 2020

 Board, Grand Prix, Event Schedule and Putt Them Out!!

The  ASGA Audit committee has done their constitutional duty of auditing the books. Vice President Lino Oballo and General Membership Delegate Lewis Howell have confirmed  that the 2020 Board's records, maintained by Treasurer Sam Mihalik, are in balance and all funds accounted for at the end of the fiscal year 2020. With the annual audit completed the board officially hands the gavel over to the new 2021 Board. You will recall that the general membership has voted in the same board and officers for this new term in order to efficiently continue dealing with Covid 19 as it relates to golf and managing the business of ASGA. Our goal is to continue playing safely within the guidelines, while serving our membership with as many events as possible for our league play and supporting golf throughout our area.

The first order of business of the new board will be in the very near future to announce the Grand Prix modifications led by Paul Redden and the 2021 Event Schedule led by Shawn Higgins. Paul and his team's goal is to increase awareness and involvement for Grand Prix and to simplify the rules going forward. The standings will come out after this  is done, retroactively to the event played October 27th. Shawn has advised that he plans to leave the event format (TBD) to be determined later on many dates, in the hope that Covid19 will become more controlled and we will be given the green light to add some four person team events to the schedule. He will be putting the new schedule on the website soon.

We had a long layoff this year in dealing with the pandemic and also have added some new members. Both of these situations brings up the need to remind us all that one of ASGA oldest and most famous traditions is that we believe in putting the ball in the hole and to never "give" a putt. The tradition of ASGA also has some very relaxed rules to help with speed of play and safety of our mature membership. We encourage you to read the Golf Information on our website especially focused on ASGA Rules of Golf and ASGA Rules (FAQ). However, the only time you can pick up a ball and quit a hole is when you have hit the maximum shots allowed per hole of 4 over par or in the rare event we schedule a matched play event and you give an opponent a putt as a good gesture or strategy in that format only. Neither Foursomes deciding on their own, board members "puffing" their chest nor anyone else can give a putt or take a putt without penalty. The Event Director will investigate those pointed out to him, but come on you don't need that, take care of it within your group. It is the right thing and honest thing to do to protect the other players. I am not sure how religious any or all of you might be, but wouldn't it be a terrible thing to get to the gates of Heaven and be told to turn back because the records showed that you accepted a gimme in an ASGA Event or witnessed one and stayed silent. I know for sure the golf gods will get even with you. Come on now! Putt them all out!! We come to play and have fun within the rules we have set.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League, 

Travis McWhorter, President

An Important Message from your Handicap Chair

It is not hard. One Score Card procedure works for all current formats.

Below is the current schedule for the next three ASGA Events. Currently these are the only type events we are planning to play due to Covid 19 risk analysis by the City.

Next Three Events

As a person and as your Handicap Chair I really believe in keeping things simple.

Bruce Jones our Website Chair and Paul Redden before him have created computer programs that will do the calculating for us. All you have to do is put the last name first then first name or at minimum the initial. Then keep score for all players in your group using the actual score made (maximum of 4 over par per hole.) Turn the completed card in at end of round, including scorer's and the one that attest's names. All I will then have to do is key in the actual scores you and all the rest of the golfers in your group actually made on each hole.. You can total them if you like so I can compare, but do not write in dots in best ball or net scores or anything else, just your actual score. See the card example we have shown. That is all we want. You can keep a separate card for your own games, dots or whatever. Do not turn in that card.

Now you are all smarter than me maybe, but there are two reasons I want you to follow my directions. One is we use your actual score to be a part of your handicap calculation. Two is that filling out cards the same as you would for an individual event will let the computer do the thinking and make your life simple. So there is only one way to fill out cards for all current event formats. I like simple and it will make your life simple too.

You can go to this link and see an actually completed card the way we want it. Oh yeah, if I can not figure out your numbers and/or figure out who you are from your names or lack of, I am told I can DQ you. Ok, now whose the smartest?

Thanks so much for helping me do my job and here's hoping your team wins our first team event in a while.

Handicap Chair,
Bill Burke

Sample Card (click here for larger image)

 

President's Message -- November 3, 2020

Our First Team Event. We Are Expanding The Periods Requested To Four.

Beginning tomorrow November 4th, when you sign up for next week's event at Morris Williams you will be registering for a 2-Person Best Ball Net Event. It will be important to remember to create the two-person teams as you register your players. The system will initially sign up the four players alphabetically. In some cases that will be your teams, but if not please move the player numbers around to match the teams.You should end up with player 1 and 2 being a  desired  team and player 3 and 4 being the other team. In the event you sign up one player it is obvious they will need a teammate. If you sign up 3 it will be assumed that player 1 and 2 are teammates and we will need to add a player to the foursome to have 2 teams. And finally if you sign up two players we will know they are teammates and we will be trying to add a team to fill the foursome. If we can not find a teammate during registration, a single can not compete in the event (you can still play the round of golf, however). It is safest to have picked a partner before signing up if you possibly can.

The other very desired change we have been working on is that we are expanding your requested tee time periods from 3 to 4 with some flexibility. We have discovered from conversations, sign up patterns and the survey that some did not sign up for period one because they did not want to risk getting the very earliest tee times. In the beginning period one was the most popular requested and then it switched to period two with the fewest being period three. We believe that expanding to four gives the best chance for all to get their desired range. If you really want the first few earliest tee times pick period one, a little later pick period two, middle morning, pick period three and later in the morning pick four. We are also asking you to complete the short survey for preferred time range to see how that matches up with the new four periods. Thanks for your support.

Remember you can always reread Registration Help under the Tee Time Registration button to better understand the process.  We really recommend you do before signing up this week and we have revised this information to match these changes. 

Should you be thinking about how to keep score for the event next week,  Bill Burke our Handicap Chair will be updating you about that before the event is played.

It will be fun to play some team events and we wish you the best of luck in obtaining your favorite times. The computer will be as fair as possible and we will keep a watchful eye to ensure the same.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - October 29, 2020

Your Board Meets, Team Events Return and Grand Prix Results

Your Board of Directors met yesterday on-line via Zoom. As you know next year, with your overwhelming support, the board will be the exact same as this year. When Lino Oballo Vice President's team completes the financial audit we will begin the new board.  I would like to personally express my appreciation of the membership support in this bizarre year and to say that this board worked harder than any board I have seen.  Please give them  an air or email high-five to thank them for their efforts in keeping us together during this pandemic.

We accomplished a great deal and will be a better ASGA as we move toward 50 years having passed our 46th year in 2020. Can you believe it we have come from a behind the club house meeting after a round at Lions in 1974 with a simple question "are you playing next week?"  to set up the tee times to our on-line reservation system and the board meeting on Zoom. Wow!! Life does begin at 62 these days.

You asked for it often through Lewis Howell General Membership Delegate, and now thanks to the Parks and Recreation Golf Division, Shawn Higgins Event Chair, Bruce Jones Website Chair, Bill Burke Handicap Chair,  and the rest of the board we have added 2-person team events starting November 10. Check your schedule. Next week's update will talk about the procedures to sign up, your play at the course is the same as individual and the score card as it relates to your part in 2-person scoring. Get your partner chosen.

Daylight Savings goes away this Sunday the 1st and you will see all tee-times move up about an hour next week at Kizer. The event weather does look good at this time.

We have now played eight events using our on-line sign up system and over 120 of you have played 1 to 7 events. The ratio of sign-ups to playing, discounting iffy weather days in both years, has actually gone up a couple percent compared to the previous way. That is a very good sign of your support. However, using the empirical data  of the real events and the survey that Bruce Jones is asking this week we now are ready to make another tweak that we believe will improve your positive feeling even more. Next week's update will also cover the fact that we will refine sign up periods to a total of four. We will explain it more then, but this change will give you the option to have a little later tee times than very early without the risk of getting the very first few tee times which is perfect for some and too early for others. This should also help with pace of play as we are going to encourage the groups in the first groups to commit to setting a reasonably fast pace to get us all going a little faster and avoiding gaps.

GRAND PRIX RESULTS: Paul Redden, Grand Prix Chair, has announced the final standings. Congrats to the winners, Oliver Crinkelmeyer Individual and Travis McWhorter and Don Visness Team.  The top four in the individual and team standings will receive a check in the mail from Treasurer Sam Mihalik: 1st $50 each, 2nd $25 each, 3rd $15 each and 4th $10 each.  

The Grand Prix is a year long contest with the goal of playing well and often. It is quite an accomplishment. Paul is forming a committee to develop the Grand Prix program for the coming year and we will announce the outcome soon. Review the final results at this link and/or on our website under Member Programs.

That is enough for one week. I told you that your Board of Directors are good. Make that great.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message -- October 19, 2020

 This Update Is as Simple as 1,2, and 3. Take Time To Read It.

1. Kizer is the last chance to make it into the top 5 of the Grand Prix Individuals. Last week there were some great pushes. Play hard and shoot a low score.
2. It is important to tee off on time and to stay up. Sometimes we get ahead at the events. Please show up at least 30 minutes before your scheduled tee times. In most cases we have been gaining 10 or more minutes on tee times as the day progresses. This will help to speed up the event for everyone if you are ready to go. And remember to avoid gaps. It is always the group's responsibility to stay within 1 hole of those playing in front of you.

3. Turn in clean score cards with the first and last names of the players.  We prefer all the scores for one group on one score card using the lines from the top down. Please have the scorer sign and one of the group attest. This helps in entering the scores for handicap purposes and to determine the winners. We are doing our own entry into the computer. You are all responsible to check the score card for accuracy before it is  turned in. The computer will check your numbers, but getting the card right makes it easier and faster.

System report: Those signing up and those playing has been really good with our new system. It is performing at a higher percent than our previous system. Next week is the last week before daylight saving time ends and that will move all tee times an hour earlier and that should be very popular. Bruce Jones and I have one more tweak planned in a couple weeks.  Armed with our experience we believe we can perform even better. We will keep you posted.

1, 2, and 3 and you are free to go and have some fun on the golf course.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message -- October 12, 2020

 Grand Prix Is Down to Two Events for the Individual this Season

The standings have been updated for the Grand Prix today by Paul Redden and below are the top 15 for the individual contest for this season. You can review the entire standings on our website. The Team Standings are final as there are no more team events, but with many points available in these next two events you need to play hard tomorrow and next Tuesday and you can move into the top five of the Individual standings and claim your name on the trophy for 1st some extra money in the top 5.

The winner of the Individual Championship will win $50 as will each of the members of the winning Team Championship. Second place individual and team members will receive $25 while third place holders will pull in $15. Fourth place will finish up with $10 each.

All members are entered and the top 15 are listed here for the Individual so you can plan your push. The Points start out at 100 for winning your flight and the higher you finish in your flights the better the chance. Play to win your flight and move up into the top 5 by the end of the event play  scheduled for October 20th at Roy Kizer. The final standings will be posted and the results withing a couple weeks of the final event. Good Luck!

Current top 15 through October 6th

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

Carl Hedrick Passes

Carl Hedrick (1938-2020)
(courtesy of Legacy.com)

President Travis McWhorter reports that a long time member of ASGA passed away September 24, 2020.

"Though I did not know Carl well, my association with Paul Redden as a fellow player and friend of Carl's made me wish I did. Paul always spoke so highly of him." 

ASGA extends our warmest feelings and prayers for the entire family.

"Carl was a long-time ASGA member and a good friend and golf partner of mine for several years," said Paul Redden, ASGA Board Member and Past President.

Carl had many accomplishments in life as well as displaying his love of his country having served 39 years in the United States Air Force. You can read more at the link to his obituary below.

He enjoyed ASGA and will be greatly missed by all of us and especially Paul Redden, his long time golfing partner.

Carl Hedrick Obituary

President's Message - October 5, 2020

 Most Valuable Players. Turn In A Great Card. Make it Count.

Lions Clubhouse

One of our goals is to have healthy fun playing golf. Last Tuesday the weather was near perfect and the turn out was nearing 100% of those signing up and then showing up. Let's do it again at Lions this week. Come join the fun.

 

When you sign up as a foursome, we depend on that group to deal with the city courses three-cart maximum per tee time, so one or more of them must walk or share a cart safely. When you sign up less than a foursome, the Saturday committee strives to fill up groups the same way. This is a requirement for us to continue to play during this Covid-19 era. So you riders that have a cart to yourselves for your comfort please hear this!! Volunteers who share a cart and walkers are making this all possible.

So take your hat off and thank them from a safe distance and respect their space on the course. A couple of ways I can think of are:

1. When you in a cart and a walker are approaching a bridge or narrow space let them go first. You can find your ball in the rough soon enough. 
2. If a walker hits their ball in what might be a hard space to find their ball try zooming over and spotting it for them.  Walkers learn the short cuts to the next tee box  and when possible all of us should park our walking or driving carts on the exit side of a putting green so you can move out of the approaching players quicker when putting out. This all helps keeps the pace, but also have a dab of patience. Remember the walkers and the cart sharers are the most valuable players. We need one or more in each foursome to play. They make our play possible. 

Bill Burke, our Handicap Chairman, could write a good humor book about score cards. Did you know that Bill, like all of us on the board and committees, is a volunteer? Bill plays almost every week and in addition has volunteered to take control of the score cards for hole-by-hole entry. He often invests 8 to 10 hours on Tuesday so you can find out if you won some "money' and how you did with your peers. Here is a bit of humor relayed to me--maybe not so humorous for Bill. We had a score card turned in with only first initial of each player, and one hole not added in. On another, two players forgot to turn in their cards, and a third example were a few turned in that were less than legible. 

Why are the scorecards not filled out in advance with names and handicap and why do we not turn in scorecards to the course for them to calculate like in the past? For health reasons and to be able to play we agreed to use standard cards and keep our own scores. It is not that hard to find your handicap on our website and it is not that hard to write the last name and at least the first initial of each player on the card. Bill's preference would be that the two best scorers in each group keep all players on one card each with the last name first and then first name or initial on the line to the left of their score line.  At the conclusion total each and if they match, turn in the cleanest, with the other attesting the scores. Each of you should keep you own score to verify your score. If you decide to keep one card each and cross verify with one scoring and one attesting that is fine, but please, please check your math before attesting. Bill will have a lot more cards to store and enter the data from. Also, don't forget to turn in your score card. In many cases Bill will find a comfortable place to take your cards and key the scores in as he goes once he completes his round. In all cases you can ask the folks behind the counter and they will either take them, show you the box to put them in or tell your where Bill is if he has finished. I was near the end last week and that is exactly what I did. It worked. In some cases Bill may leave and come back to pick up the cards.  But make sure you turn in your card. Make it legible and accurate. In the end you must have a card turned in to count and it is the computer and what Bill reads to enter that produces the final score. Make it Count!!

Remember to wear your mask in the common areas, not just the club house. That is what we agreed with the City to do. When you reach the first tee, separate safely and remove your mask if you like. I am forecasting that you will have more fun this weekend and clean score cards!

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League, 

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - September 23, 2020

Morris Williams Sept. 29th  Perfect Forecast. Individual Format Continues.

courtesy of weather.com

The weather forecast got in our way yesterday and we only had 16 play. The good news for those that did is that the course did not receive any rain during the event. We were the last group to finish and it was hard to believe how nice it was. Now the forecast for Morris Williams September 29th is near perfect, so sign up and come out to play. I usually look at the forecast when choosing the period of time requested for tee times. As the weather cools that may be more important.

Next week will be our third event since given the green light to play and we really need as many of you that are ready to play to sign up and come out. Also, I wanted to tell you that our sign up system is working well and we are looking forward to gathering some data as the fall seasons starts and when winter comes. With this data we hope to end up with a system that makes the most people happy, comfortable and well maybe even greater golfers. For sure during this pandemic we have likely all bulked up. That concept, though maybe more muscle oriented, sure worked well for Bryson DeChambeau.

A few of you have been questioning why we are only playing individual net.  When we were given the green light to play again, we had to demonstrate that we could play safely. The individual format and all the other protocol we have previously presented to you were determined to be best format to engage. We have been encouraged to continue for the next month or so and then we can review again. There are so many things we have given up, but being able to play even one format, get exercise and have fun is important. We want that to continue. Shawn Higgins, our Event Chairman, has updated the next few events to be individual format. With work being done on the irrigation system for Jimmy Clay we will be moving around between the other three courses as you will see when you review the Event Schedule on our website.

I am forecasting that you will have fun next week. Commit, sign up and show up to play.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - September 14, 2020

Playing Morris Williams Sept.15 and Sign-up For Lions Sept. 22 Starts Wednesday

If you're playing tomorrow, signups are posted. Remember to follow the current protocol. We want to be safe and continue playing. The highlights are to wear a mask in and around the club house and practice areas. Even when you remove the mask to play, remember to honor at least 6, if not 10 feet spacing from others. You must pay with credit card or debit card. The course will collect the $5 entry fee as a part of payment.

As to the Hole-In-One entry that is with cash and is not a part of the course and must be put in the container along with your name as Shawn Higgins has previously instructed. Many of you have signed up earlier in the year and only if you have not entered since the last winner should you sign-up again. This program is totally voluntary, but should you hit a hole-in-one and not be signed up you will not collect.

Also please show up only 30 minutes earlier than tee time, only three carts per group so you and your group will need to work out details. Shawn Higgins outlined those options under the update last week. You should just use regular score cards and record each player's gross score for each hole. Place the cards in the box near the check-in area after completing the round. The course will not handle the score cards. Bill Burke and the computer program will put in the handicaps as the scores are input. Please make the names very legible and have someone attest the scorekeeper. The results will be posted on our website as soon as possible.

The online sign-up went very well last week. If there are any of you nervous about signing up for next weeks event at Lions, please feel free to call me and I will walk you though the sign-up process. We tested a couple tweaks this week and will  continue to improve our system. Our goal is--fair to all and easy to do. Having fun is really why we play.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League 

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - September 8, 2020

Sign-up for Morris Williams September 15 Individual Net begins tomorrow 

You do not have to get up early just get on line and do it at your convenience Wednesday through Friday. It has been a long road getting back to playing and though I know some of you love the individual net format and some prefer others. It was felt from the city of Austin and the Parks and Recreation that to get us back on the course safely we should start with this for now. Follow the guidelines and we will  look for ways to expand formats down the line. The most important thing is please sign up and please show up. The current forecast is a near perfect "fall-like" day. Next Monday, I will update again with protocol issues as a reminder. Following are some pointers from some of your board members with the most involvement in league play management.

Shawn Higgins, Event Chairman 

1st - No one should arrive more than 30 minutes before their tee time.Once you pay and check in do not hang around inside the club house. 

2nd - No more than 3 carts to a group. If you do double up you should wear a mask while both are in the cart, but do not double up if you are uncomfortable with it. You can put 2 bags in a cart and take turns walking if this works for the 2 of you. If I did this I would clean the steering wheel before driving just to be safe. If you have 4 and one or more of you is willing to walk with a push cart or carry bag then all of the other 3 can have an individual cart.

3rd - There are 56 players currently in the Hole-in-one (HIO) pot. Please check the list of players already to see if you are already entered before putting your $5 in. I will leave the blue container to enter if you wish. It is okay to touch the note pads, pencils or make change as long as you clean your hands immediately after doing so. 

Bill Burke, Handicap Chairman

The completed score cards will be turned in at the end of your rounds. There will be a container close to the counter area. Drop you cards in there and I will pick them up to enter in the scores. All I need is a filled out scorecard with your gross scores written on them. The ideal is to score for one person and let them score for you. Make sure you identify the scorer and then attest. If more than one person is put on a card make sure they are properly attested by one of those playing in the group.  

 
Paul Redden, Immediate Past President and Registration Manager

I will be going over the sign ups on Saturday to organize and send to the course. In the event that you made a mistake and want to correct please email or call me. You can find my email and phone number on the website. You can also check with Travis McWhorter.  It is not mandatory that anyone has to share a cart. The limit of three includes personally owned ones. There are a some regular walkers and several that are used to riding with someone.  You should be able to find a group to play with that will make the three cart limit work as Shawn described. 

 
Bruce Jones, Website Chairman 

Don’t forget that signups for the next event are now just a few clicks on-line. No more dialing in at 7:00 a.m. or standing in line at the counter on a specific morning. Our TEE TIME REGISTRATION SYSTEM is available ANYTIME Wednesday through Friday. One person can sign up your usual group if desired—all signups are randomly distributed into one of three signup blocks you choose--early, middle, and late. Just come back to austinsga.org on Sunday to see your Tee Time, then head to the course Tuesday morning. Further info can be found at austinsga.org/TeeTime_Signup/signup_help.php
Be sure to call the course if you need to cancel after the tee times are posted.
 

We have been on the sidelines too long. Now we must play. See you Tuesday.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League 

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - September 5, 2020

The City, Parks and Recreation and Golf Division Said Yes!! We Will Restart League Play  September 15th at Morris Williams. The Voting Has Closed and You Have Extended Your Board for an Additional Term.

It was very exciting to learn from Kevin Gomillion and I quote, "We have been given permission to allow our Tuesday Senior Golf League to re-start on Tuesday, September 15th at Morris Williams. A couple of changes to the format and Travis McWhorter may chime in on any additional information."  I have so chimed and we are ready to start. Some of the details will be covered later in this update. I can honestly say that "goose bumps" overcame me. Thanks to all of you and the board, we have succeeded.

The voting for extending the board has completed today and after 10-24 hour periods the voting was closed by Bruce Jones, voting coordinator. Since at the unanimous recommendation of the board we were suspending  our normal by-laws for this one time exception to the date of election and term limits the vote by the membership had to pass by a minimum of 2/3 of those casting a vote.  The final results were 86 sent back the email response. Those that voted yes were 84, no was 1 and without a vote 1. The without a vote was not counted, so we had 98.8 % approval. The Board and I do appreciate your vote of confidence and look forward to serving you until the appropriate election and transfer meetings in 2021. It would be nice that at some point during this time normality or something close to it returns. In the mean time we will zig and zag when needed and get the job done.

Now it is time to get ready to return to playing golf. Next week we will give you more information to help our return to golf go smoothly. It is important that we play by the guidelines we have agreed to. Remember that all sign up for tee times will be on line. The sign up for the Morris Williams Event will begin Wednesday morning at your convenience and will end Friday. You may want to review under Member Programs and then open Tee Time Registration. A complete outline of the program is then available by clicking on Registration Help. Those of you that played at our last tournament at Riverside used the program and all of you had a chance to practice it as we tested during our downtime.

A few key things about playing. We are now playing for the foreseeable future Individual net only. We will be playing under the Austin Senior Golf League as we will not play tournaments but league play only.  This was deemed to safest form relating to Covid-19 Guidelines for us to re-start. In time we will look into other safe formats. Carts are limited to three per group. If you are playing in a foursome at least one person will have to walk or if all wish to ride two will have to share a cart. Those requesting a cart alone will not have to pay extra, but will need to balance out the three cart maximum in some way. We will be working on a way to find out your desires up front so we can make sure to comply and help with the foursome groups to have enough walkers to make it work. In the event that some share a cart it is recommended that you each wear a mask when in the cart at the same time. The three cart situation is about quantity of carts available. In and around the club house you must wear a mask. At the first tee, practicing safe distancing of at least 6 feet or more if possible, you may remove your mask if you like. Please put it back on as you complete your round and turn in the score card. The course will take your appropriate fee plus Event entry fee of $5 by debit or credit card only when you arrive to sign in. Signs are everywhere explaining course protocol.  The score card properly signed and attested will be put into a receptacle near the front desk. ASGA Senior Golf League will be responsible for the scoring and results posted on the ASGA website as soon as possible after the event. Do not attempt  to hand the score card to the course employees. They are required not to touch.

Many of our officers will take on dual roles as a results of our playing as Austin Senior Golf League. I am the president of both our groups. Shawn Higgins is the Event Chairman. All the rest will do their normal duties while focusing on serving the Austin Senior League. All the age restrictions, membership etc are the same for both groups.

Paul Redden and Bruce Jones will be working hard to get all ready on the website to start taking your registrations on Wednesday. Do not call or go to the course to get reservations. We are hoping with cooler weather now here that we will fill up all our tee times available. We have a lot so come and play. We have worked so hard to return and now all you have to do is at your convenience sign up yourself or your group, select the approximate tee time range you would like and all will be treated equally as the computer with a tweak or two from last time strives for fun, easy and healthy golf. Let the events begin!! Think positively and play with respect and safety for all.


On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and Austin Senior Golf League

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message - August 26, 2020

Your City has responded and your ASGA Board met via Zoom Thursday, August 20. The meeting resulted in many new plans for the future.

The Mayor's office finally was able to follow up with me and the result is that we are developing a new program to be presented to Parks and Recreation within the next few days.  The objective is to develop a program to comply with the current Covid-19 Risk-Based Guidelines and city golf course protocol  seamlessly. If our program is approved the very earliest we can return to playing our Tuesday events will be 9/15. Originally that date would have been for Jimmy Clay and have been the first day of our Annual Tournament. Since traditional tournaments are currently not authorized we have decided to cancel the Annual  Tournament. We are also canceling 9/08 at Morris Williams and the second date scheduled  for the annual  tournament 9/17. Shawn Higgins is working on the schedule from 9/15 for the balance of the year. He will update our website when he has it completed. We of course will advise you when we can officially resume in time to plan and make your tee times.

Your Board took the following actions:

1. At this point we have cancelled both annuals, so we are extending every current member at the end of this fiscal year for another year of membership at no cost.

2. The Grand Prix for 2020 will still be awarded. Should we not get to return to playing, the current standings will be the final standings. However, should we resume at some point the new points will be added as played. In either event the final tournament to count this year will be October 20. After that points will start accumulating for 2021 and on October 27 or soon thereafter we will announce the final standings for the 2020 Grand Prix.

3. Due to the group gathering rules currently in place for "banquets" and other meetings we will not attempt to schedule our annual meeting which also serves as our election on October 27. We will cancel it and replace with a digital vote as outlined in 4. below.

4. Your officers and directors have mostly met on-line this year and a couple have served much less than a year so did not get to gain experience for future roles. We were not able to pursue two out of three of our goals.  We were successful in developing and launching our on-line Tee Time Registration System, but could not pursue new memberships to grow our membership or create a new golf event involving young people. It is with this in mind that several members recommended that the officers and directors also have their roles extended for another year. The Board all agreed with the members blessing that they would so serve. 

What action do Members need to take:

The Board via our group email system will be sending an email asking for you to vote by return email either yes or no to extend the terms. If the total vote approves you will have authorized the waiving of normal procedure and give us an experienced board to continue to guide us through this pandemic and hopefully to more normal times next year. Please Vote As Soon as you receive the email outlining the voting procedure. You will have a limited time to vote.

We did not plan on having a pandemic, but together we have worked our way through it. Keep positive thoughts flowing while keeping safe and happy.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors

Travis McWhorter

Waymon McLamb (1946-2020) Passes

Waymon 'Mack' McLamb

 

 Long-time member Waymon McLamb, known as 'Mack' to our many members, passed away July 26, 2020. A member since late 2008, he will be missed.  

Member Don Akers remembers Waymon..."I played many rounds of golf with Mack and always enjoyed his camaraderie. RIP my friend." 

An obituary for Mack may be found here:

https://www.allfaithsonline.com/obituary/Waymon-McLamb

 There is also a GoFundMe page raising funds for his widow, Bobbie located at:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/waymon-mclamb

According to the site, his former employer Medlift, is matching donations.

President's Message - August 4, 2020

The City of Austin Courses did not reopen and Riverside followed.

August 4, 2020 - Here we go again! The Riverside tournament is cancelled and so are the next three scheduled through and including September 1.  Riverside has the policy, pertaining to open/close to follow the city courses, so they are closed for now. Shawn Higgins will be trying hard to find another non city course to take one or more of our tournaments. Should he be successful we will make that announcement but for now we have marked all of these cancelled.

The Golf Division of the Parks and Recreation, currently feels (hopes) that toward the end of August the courses may open, but that for sure no tournaments will be played until at least after Labor Day.There is a good possibility that after they reopen there will be some tournaments allowed.

The Mayor's office has yet to set up my meeting, but in the mean time I have not been idle. Over the weekend it looked like I would be invited to speak at a committee meeting Monday morning for Health and Human Services when the committee instead forwarded my information to all of the City Council and the Mayor.. We shall see.

I am doing something out of the ordinary below as we normally do not do political or business things on our website. However, this is about golf and it is what we do as a charter. I just signed this petition and it was number 470 of a needed at least 500 to get the City Council and Mayor's attention. It is up to you if you take action, but we need to have as loud a voice as we can. Paul Redden advised that the gentleman that started this petition is well respected in the Austin golfing community and in fact his son is an acquaintance. Several of you have already signed and just as I was about to conclude this it was forwarded to me by a member of the Austin Advisory Board for Golf. So they are behind it as well. it is easy to do just click on the link below.

Austin Amateur Golf. Started by Randy Reynolds


Hopefully soon we will have some good golfing news, but for now keep safe and happy.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors

Travis McWhorter

President's Message - July 28, 2020

The City of Austin Golf Courses Scheduled to Reopen Is a Start

July 28, 2020 -Golfer's gossip is the fastest form of information movement in the land so the fact that any of you are not aware of the following would be unlikely. The fact that we have a link at the bottom left of our ASGA home page makes it even more unlikely. However, just to keep you up to date as promised, here are the words.

"Course Update Effective July 24th-The City of Austin Golf ATX golf courses will reopen Saturday, August 8th under the same modified operations prior to the July Closure. All special events and golf tournaments are still currently on hold."

The best part of this announcement is that Riverside is following the open/not open guidelines of the city and this should allow our August 11th tournament to go forward. At this time I am working toward confirming that and will update when I learn.

We are still waiting to be aligned with the mayor's schedule to make our case for returning to our city courses schedule. I followed up late last week. He has been a bit busy.

Your support has been greatly appreciated. We continue to look for ways to get back on schedule and now that the city courses are about to be reopened is a start . Stay safe, mentally active and get back on the golf course each and every time you can.

On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors

Travis McWhorter

President's Message - July 15, 2020

ASGA Campaign For Mayor Adler's Mind Change

Tuesday, July 14, 2020 -The continued growing concern with cases increasing in number for Covid-19 plus developing the new budget for the city has likely occupied Mayor Adler's mind from morning until night. However, in the midst of all that activity Mayor Adler's call screener contacted me late last week regarding my voicemail involving playing safe golf in Austin that I mentioned in last week's update. She quizzed me and we had a good exchange of information that lasted 15 or so minutes.
     The end result was that she felt Mayor Adler would want to have some form of meeting with me in the next few days. She gave me the meeting scheduler information and I have requested the meeting. I am awaiting my chance to change his mind. Please have strong thoughts and wish me luck in convincing Mayor Adler that seniors playing safe golf is better for us than sheltering in place at home.
     Up until now every lockdown has lumped us in with all other activities involving city owned parks etc. All the others activities are revenue expenses. Golf is a revenue producer and can pay it own way and maintain great health among the players as a bonus. It is good for all ages and especially seniors. It is time the city recognizes one of the most important decisions it can make that has no down side. Let our people play golf. We are on a campaign to get us back on the city golf courses. We have made up our mind and we won't give up. Now the Mayor needs to change his mind on golf and get back to solving other issues. I will gladly help him out there as well should he ask.


On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors

Travis McWhorter

President's Message - July 8, 2020

ASGA Will Attempt to Launch Again Tuesday August 11 at Riverside!

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 -The City of Austin has struck again and we must cancel our next four tournaments scheduled on city courses. The increase in Covid19 cases has resulted in the closure of all city owned courses until further notice.

     Golfing has proven to be a safe way to exercise, but has been lumped in with closures throughout the Parks and Recreation systems of Austin. We continue to try and change their minds, but at this moment our next hope for a tournament will be at Riverside on August 11, 2020. Riverside had recently confirmed that they plan to welcome us with the same safe program they provided us last time and at the same fair rate. However, just as I prepared to send this update I got word from Riverside that they have followed the city and closed for now. In the event that they get reopened in time we can still have our tournament but that remains uncertain as the city has not set a date to reopen. We will update you as we get closer to the date.

     There are a lot of unknowns going forward, but Shawn Higgins and I plan to do our best to get regular golf events available again. Riverside was our last tournament and I described it as the new beginning. It turns out it could be our new beginning again. It is our hope that our schedule with the city courses can be resumed following the Riverside event. If that does not turn out to be the case, then we will try and find a few more non-city owned courses that will offer us a deal so we can play at least biweekly or monthly until the city allows us back on their courses. The main thing is that you all stay healthy. Playing golf regularly and safely can certainly help with that.

     I have been trying to find enough things to do with golf courses closed. Just before writing this update I worked through a phone maze and left an informative message for our Mayor Adler. Another worthwhile thing is to scroll down one column and read again the wonderful message about Dr. General Garwood Marshall. He was truly a great person and wonderful example of the kind of members ASGA is proud to display to the world. We love golf and are happy to serve the world as well. He was one of our best examples!


On behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors

Travis McWhorter

General Garwood Marshall Passes

A Memory of General (1936-2020)

General Marshall
(courtesy of tributearchive.com)

Dr. General Garwood Marshall was born in Austin during the great depression in 1936. He began caddying for golfers at Lions Municipal Golf Course (Muny) when he was just 10 years old which gave him the opportunity to learn the game. He was a student at old Anderson High School in 1950 when Muny became the first golf course in the south to become integrated. Dr. Marshall, who preferred to be simply called General, remained an avid golfer throughout his life. He was a staunch supporter of the Save Muny movement. He enjoyed being an active member of ASGA until health issues forced him to quit playing in 2019.

Until his illness, General and I would meet on Wednesday mornings while we waited for 7 am to get a tee time for the next ASGA tournament. We would talk about golf and reminisce about the old days. General never bragged about his own achievements, remarkable as they were. If he did brag at all, it was about the educational and professional accomplishments of his children and grandchildren.

Sam Mihalik

General Marshall obituary

General talks of his early memories of golf in Austin
(courtesy of KVUE)
General participates in effort to save Lions Golf Course (2016)
(courtesy of KVUE)

President's Update - June 23, 2020

Tuesday, June23, 2020 - Yes, there will be a test golf tournament. But it won't be us.

     This week's update will be two things. One, we will need to cancel the next two Tuesday tournaments. The tournaments canceled are 6-30 at Lions and 7-7 at Morris Williams. Unless something happens we will skip next week's update and be back with an update July 7th and posted by July 8th. 

     Two, the response from The City of Austin and my response to it included below in the entirety. This explains why both tournaments were canceled. I did not include all the email addresses involved but it was every level of management in the city government except the mayor. This answer was in response to a letter I had written to the city manager and I did not include it as this was already a long update. 

     I am somewhat hopeful that we will get to play after their test tournament. Shawn and I are working on alternatives should we not gain an approval. Please let us know whether you would prefer every other week or monthly should we be forced to play only non-city courses the balance of the year or at least for a while.
     On June 19th, Kimberly McNeeley, wrote:

Mr. McWhorter,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing in response to the email below. As I believe you may be aware, the Parks and Recreation Department was able to meet with Austin Public Health and the public health authority regarding the general subject of golf tournaments and specifically the historical Muny Golf Course Firecracker Tournament.

With careful consideration and a number of modifications, the City of Austin Golf Division will be able to host the Firecracker Tournament. Please know because Austin/Travis County is currently at a Stage 4 Risk Level, this year's Firecracker Tournament will look considerably different than years past- but the great news it will happen. Lesson's learned the Firecracker will be taken into consideration as the city evaluates the possibility of future golf tournaments during the pandemic.

The Parks and Recreation Department will continue to work collaboratively with the Austin Public Health Department and the public health authority to evaluate other tournament possibilities- considering the local characteristics of the virus and the Austin/Travis County Risk Guidelines. It is important to note, based upon the Risk Based Guidelines, the City Parks and Recreation Department is not in a position to offer golf tournaments for the senior age group while at a Stage 4 Risk. Stage 4 indicates high risk individuals (which includes people age 65 and over) avoid social gatherings great then 2. I've attached the Risk Guidelines for your convenience.

The Golf Team is diligently working to prepare for the Firecracker. Questions regarding the tournament modifications and general tournament rules can be directed to Kevin Gomillion and the golf team. Thank you for your continued advocacy for golf. I am available by email or at the number should you need to contact me.

Best Regards-

Kimberly McNeeley, CPRP
Director, Ausitn Parks and Recreation
512-974-6722

My response to Ms. McNeeley follows:

Hello Ms. McNeeley,

     Thanks so much for your nice reply. It was extremely important to us. In the future I will focus more narrowly on those most involved in golf, but did want to inform all copied of our thoughts. We are very happy that the Muny Golf Course Firecracker Tournament will be allowed to continue the tradition. It is an important part of Austin. The guidelines it will be played under are identical to how we conducted our tournament last week at a non-city course here in Austin. Our results were very pleasing as we all followed the guidelines and were invited to have our tournaments as often as we liked in the future. 

     We plan to do some more and at other non-city courses as well. The problem is most of us have prepaid cards at the City of Austin courses and the extra cost for those card holders is a financial penalty. We have a long tradition with the City of Austin courses as well and based our purchase of the extended cards on playing our weekly tournaments.
     We will be following the Firecracker with the hope that it is very successful and that our much smaller tournaments can resume on a weekly basis after it is completed. I sometimes wish we did not call ours tournaments as they are not what most picture. They are like 30 foursomes playing golf. There are no big gathering, there are no award ceremonies. The point you made that the current Stage 4 risk would make it impossible due to the limit of 2 socially at our age. Our membership is from 62 to the 90's, with the average age about 72. It is my current estimate that our group plays golf in Austin more than 2 times per week and in almost each case it is a foursome. Many of these are on city courses. When we hosted our weekly tournament we were your best customer. We did not reach these wise old ages by not being reasonably smart and somewhat able to take care of ourselves. On average our members are above average healthy, educated and live four or more years longer than non-golfers. 

     We appreciate these rules for the "vulnerable," but the recent spike in Covid19 in Austin has been caused by a much younger crowd based on the reports we are reading and hearing. I am not aware of any senior golfer who has spread the virus in Austin and am certainly not aware of one in our group. One of the safest places for us is outdoors playing golf.
     When the Firecracker is successful and we open up golf to some tournaments our style will be the model. It already is. We do not want to be treated differently since we have the advantage of wisdom and maturity. We would be happy to teach the younger how to be responsible.

Sincerely yours,
Travis McWhorter
President ASGA