ASGA Annual Championship and More...

George with his winning golf ball

Hole In One!

The HIO jackpot that grew to over $500 has been won. Congratulations to George Herlin, who made his shot at Lions #13 during last Tuesday’s event. A new jackpot will begin with next week’s Lions event. Here’s more info on Hole-In-One.

An Update on Scorecard Policy

There has been a recent wave of people forgetting to turn in their scorecards after an ASGA event, which causes extra work for our Handicap Chair and others, along with confusion for the membership. A late card causes all the winnings/flighting/Grand Prix counting to be redone

In an effort to curtail the late and/or missing cards, ASGA will be implementing the following: 

Following completion of the ASGA event round, the scorer for the group is responsible for promptly turning in the attested scorecard, placing it in the box provided in the course's pro shop. Promptly implies that the card is turned in prior to the scorer going to his car in the parking lot, the bar, the restroom, etc.

Failure to turn in a scorecard for the group will result in the group not being part of the results for that event. Photos of scorecards sent from home will no longer be accepted. The $7 entry fee will not be returned, instead it will be treated as a donation to the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

Thanks for your support on this.

Annual Championship Begins September 9th

Our 2025 ASGA Championship event is less than two weeks away. Over two Tuesdays we will determine our ASGA Champions, one based on gross scores, and one on net scores. Here's your chance to join the list of past winners--a tradition since 1976! On September 9th  we will play the first day at Jimmy Clay golf course. The second day of competition will happen the following Tuesday on September 16th at Roy Kizer.

You only sign up one time for both days. On day one at the Clay golf course, members will play with the groups they sign up with. Tee times are distributed and assigned as we normally do. The second day grouping process at Kizer will be a little different. Participants will be placed into flights based on your handicaps and grouped with competitors that shot similar day one scores.

If you have a bad day one, you may be asking why bother to play on day two?? One answer is the $450 of additional prize money you can win.  Each day of this annual event we will have closest to the pin and longest drive competitions.  Participants will be divided into three groups so you will compete against members with similar handicaps. On day one at Clay, winners of the competitions will receive $25 each. On day two, that amount doubles to $50 each. Winnings will be distributed at our Annual Banquet Meeting on October 21st after the President’s Cup Competition at Morris Williams. 

In addition to the winnings above, you also can win via the flight competitions.  Our Low Gross ASGA Champion receives $100.  We also pay $100 to the member who achieves the lowest NET score for the two-day competition. All flight payouts are doubled.  Since this is a two-day event, you will pay two event fees. Let’s say you win your flight which would normally pay $20. Being a two-day event, that amount would grow to $40. For the ASGA championship, that amount doubles to $80.

One other thing to note…while you will pay your greens/cart fees as usual on both days, your event fee for both days ($14 in total) will be collected before your first round on the 9th at Jimmy Clay.
Let us know if you have questions.  There is plenty to play for!!!  We hope to see you there!

ASGA Rules Update

The ASGA Rules Section has been updated to clarify rules for two-person events and match terms now used in USGA and World Golf.

On behalf of the ASGA Board,

Bruce Jones
ASGA Admin

September Brings the End of Two-Course Events

Members,

Just a quick reminder that starting on September 2nd, we will be going back to using a single course for our events each week.  This means about half of our members will have tee times later than 9:30 a.m., just like in the past.  

By all accounts, the dual course events were very popular.  Members got to play earlier, and rounds were 15 minutes shorter on average.  A winning combo!!  

For the moment, GolfATX has informed us that we can no longer host dual-course events for the foreseeable future.  While this is disappointing, the Board is determined to continue meeting with the GolfATX team to see if we can develop formats that allow for earlier, faster rounds.  Stay tuned!!!!

On behalf of your ASGA Board,

Bruce Jones
ASGA Web Admin

Here Comes Summer! Early Tee Times!

Next Wednesday, May 28^th, we will start our signups for our two-course events. 

Beginning the 3^rd of June and lasting through August we will hold almost all our events simultaneously on TWO courses, thanks to GolfATX. It will be a positive impact for most players (last tee time will fall around 10:00 a.m. instead of noon or later), but we will need to be attentive to signups and schedules as we get used to this new setup..

For those of you who do signups, you will find along with the usual entry fields, a choice of courses for selection. It will look similar to this:

 

We need to balance our use of courses (equal number of foursomes for each). The initial balance mechanism decider will be signup order, i.e. the later you sign up the more likely you may not get your choice of course. If you are not a full foursome at signup, you also may not get your choice of course. The schedule will be posted in the same manner as today.

Results will show up as today, by course. Event types (e.g. Scramble) will always be the same for each course. An example:

Regarding slow play, while currently slow-play groups are moved to 10:30 or later, for two-course events these groups will be assigned to the latest tee times scheduled. 

One new item that we will be trying: ONLY SELECT PERIOD ONE IF YOU WISH TO TEE OFF IN THE FIRST HOUR. Remember first-hour foursomes are expected to finish in under four hours. 

And I would be remiss if I failed to mention Paul Redden's contribution to our website modifications to accommodate the new scheduling/reporting requirements.  Paul, a twice President of ASGA, prior Board member for 11 years, and still active member, was instrumental in this process. Thanks, Paul!

For questions, just send me an email. See you on the course(s)!

Bruce Jones
ASGA Admin

 

April Notes

Fill the Divot Day!

Hopefully not Mo Willy!

First up, Morris Williams Course is planning a “Fill the Divot” Day on April 14, their monthly Monday when they are closed. Nobody likes to see multiple divots in the fairway—this is how we can help. The plan is to start about 7:30-8:00 a.m. for maybe two hours—the more the merrier.  If you have a small bucket and hand trowel, bring that so we don’t drain every last sand bottle! 

Contact Scott Stewart, one of our group who helps out at Morris Williams, to sign up. Just text him and he will follow up with you. 

He can be reached at (512) 577-4741.

Thanks!

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A couple of short notes—yesterday I saw someone hitting from a drop zone on #3 at Morris Williams—but he was across the bridge!  Our drop zone is next to the Red Tees. Please use the correct one when we play our Spring Partner Event in a couple of weeks. 

A reminder that beginning with the first Tuesday in June, we will be using two courses for the three months of summer, A big thank you to GolfATX. For details on which courses, you can find it on the Austinsga.org website under “Event Schedule”. 

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The next two events (the second one is actually a Tuesday/Thursday double event), are partner events. If you don’t have a partner but DEFINITELY want to play REGARDLESS of Tee time, sign up. At our ABCD Scramble we had 14 dropouts AFTER the schedule was posted, which left a lot of people hanging. 

Be courteous and don’t do the late dropout routine.

See you on the course,

ASGA Webmaster

Notes from the 10th Tee

 From our Pace of Play Captain (and Past President) Greg Marshall:

Unfortunately, after all the improvements in our Pace of Play, we have regressed so far in 2025.  The average round this year is now almost 10 minutes longer and a lot less players are finishing in less than 4 hours and 15 minutes. We’ve even had a few 5 hour rounds creep back in.  Not the direction I think we want to be headed.  

We have already provided tips and support and you can refer back to them in the Pace of Play section of the website.  So for now… let’s just keep it simple. 

Keep up with the group in front of you!!

If you’re doing so…. you’re good.  If you’re not keeping up, then refer back to all the tips and tools we’ve provided and use them to help you and your group catch up and stay on pace.  Our membership has grown 20% since 2022.  So a group playing slowly affects a lot more players.

If we continue on this pace, we’ll probably need to look at limiting our entries to a max number of players on a first come - first serve basis.  Not something we want to do!!!!

And finally, we need everyone to take a moment and fill in your start/finish times for your rounds.  Last week, more than ⅓ of groups did not do so.  This makes it difficult to determine our actual pace of play.  Remember…your times determine if your group is restricted to later tee times.  So give us the correct info so we don’t have to guess.

Questions?  Let us know.  We want your Tuesdays to be fun and have you home waaaayyy before dinner!!!

Greg

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And hints from your Tee Time Scheduler:

Remember when you sign up--check to see that it went through. We had another "signup" this week that had the potential to disappoint four members because the signup did not go through. How to check that it went through? Easy, just click on



which is located under Member Programs, Tee Time Registration. If you don't see your signup...you haven't signed up.

Lastly remember that if you do the Tee Time Signup, The period you choose is first priority over the optional "ideal tee time". For example, say our first tee time is 7:00.  If you pick period 2 and 9:00, and 80 other players have picked period 1, that's 20 tee times minimum before we get to yours, i.e. you just signed up for 11:20 at the EARLIEST!  Please pay attention so as not to disappoint your teammates when you get that very late tee time you didn't want.

Each week we are now having 130+ people sign up which means the last tee time will continue to be after 12:30 until we get to June when our split courses will take effect.

Regards,

Bruce Jones
ASGA Web Admin

 

Winter Weather is Coming!

Always a good lie with snow!

The upcoming week of January 19 looks to be a cold one. A very cold one--which means ASGA will be cancelling our Tuesday January 21 event. Here are some of the details regarding why--from our partners at GolfATX (edited).

"Due to the current forecast, GOLFATX will deploy putting green covers beginning Saturday the 18th at Jimmy Clay, Roy Kizer, Morris Williams and the Balander Short course.  Kizer and Morris Williams will be closed for play, we will have availability at Jimmy Clay until 10:00 AM on Saturday.  Lions, Hancock and the practice ranges will be unaffected on Saturday.  We anticipate greens covers remaining in place thru Wednesday the 22nd but the situation could change based on weather.  Lions and Hancock will be opened intermittently with the approval of our agronomy staff during this weather event.  

"We do not know exactly how long it will take to cover the greens but we know we have over 8 acres in the 64 greens we are covering and the task will be significant.  The reason for deployment early Saturday is to get in front of the north winds arriving early Saturday afternoon.  We appreciate your understanding during this necessary disruption.  The only way this plan changes from Saturday morning is a major change in the forecast.

"We have another irrigation pond project scheduled for Lions at the end of January bleeding into February.  The pipe going from the pond into the irrigation house needs to be repaired requiring some excavation work in the pond itself.  We do not know exactly what we are going to find nor the impact on play but we will do our best to communicate those disruptions and adjust fees accordingly when they occur.  

"Materials for the lighted driving range at the Clay/Kizer should be arriving next week and work will start shortly thereafter.  We look forward to having a wonderful "after-hours" spot for you to continue working on your game.  Operation hours on that driving range will be communicated at the end of the month.

"In our last communication, our par threes (and all other holes) are getting pitted with pitch marks, cleaning up your marks is a vital ingredient to the healthy future of the turf, please enjoy this short video on proper pitch mark repair.  

"An additional way to limit visible damage to the course is thru cart traffic.  When you are entering fairways from the path and see a worn spot, avoid it and take another route.  If we all take the same entrance point, we create roads.  Roads on golf courses are not good.  When around tees and greens, all 4 tires on the path will limit those nasty ruts that we all see, traveling carts can go around you.

"Steve Hammond

"GolfATX Division Manager"

Hopefully this will be the worst of the winter weather--

Bruce Jones
ASGA Admin