More Pace of Play, and Two Course Event Scheduled

Pace of Play

So why are we talking about pace of play again?  Because lately as more than 40% of groups rounds were over 4 hours and 45 minutes.  Golf should be enjoyable.  For some of our players, an enjoyable round takes less than 4 rounds while others enjoy a slower pace.  While we will continue to strive to help all our members rounds go more quickly, at the very least, our goal is to make rounds more enjoyable by allowing all players to play at the pace that works for them.  One of the most important ways to do that is to have faster players tee off first.  We will continue to enforce our current POP policy with one key change:  All groups that have been flagged as not keeping pace will receive the last tee times of the day.  Please refer to our Pace of Play policy  on the website to understand what keeping pace means. To help everyone see how they are doing, we have upgraded the Pace of Play Detail item at the bottom of the Results page.  Each week you will be able to see your start/finish times, the length of your round,  how far you finished behind the group in front of you, and  whether your group was flagged as not being on pace.

Two Courses--Coming

One of the contributors to longer rounds is the size of our events.  Over the past 3 years, the average field has grown from 90 to 135 players.  The classic good news/bad news situation!! We had great success last summer by splitting our event into 2 events with around 60 players in each event.  The latest tee times were around 9:00a.  Perfect for the summer heat.  Unfortunately, GolfATX is not allowing us to use two courses this year despite our pleas.  For this upcoming summer, we will be testing the use of Riverside GC as a 2nd event site.  Since we used this process last summer, we know this will work logistically.  However, members that have GolfATX Annual Memberships will have a price differential.  We've asked Riverside about lowering their rates, but that is not in the cards.  We're betting that having earlier, faster rounds will be worth the price difference for our members playing Riverside that have GolfATX Annual memberships.  And here's a bonus. We're playing Riverside at least FOUR times this season. So payments for Riverside winnings this year will be IN CASH (actually a check) sent to each winning member at the end of the season. The 1st Riverside Two Course playdate is June 23rd.  On that date, you'll have the choice of registering for one of the two course offerings for the day.  In this case, the choices will be Riverside or Morris Williams.  We'll do our best to honor everyone's preferences, but will re-assign players if needed.  If the event goes well, we have already reserved 5 additional summer dates at Riverside. 

We are also scheduling our modified Pinehurst events more in the hotter months.  Alternate shot events like this generally take 45 - 60 minutes less than other events...making them perfect our hot summer days.

One final thing....it would be helpful if each group that plays together regularly, designate a timekeeper.  Ensuring that we have accurate start/finish times filled in every week makes a big difference.  Every week, at least 3 or 4 groups' cards have to be adjusted due to missing or incorrect times.  Your accurate time is always better than our best guess.  Also.....neatness counts!!!!!!  Please and thank you.

Rule Modifications

Event Modification - 5 club challenge at Lions

Several events may be modified by club usage restrictions.  Examples include but are not limited to using a certain number or type of clubs.  The first of these will on March 31st at Lions. The event will be a 2 person scramble but with each player limited to  5 clubs.  All existing event rules remain the same with the exception that each player can only carry and use a maximum of 5 clubs. Putters are considered a club.  Players are not allowed to share or use each others' clubs.  Minor Event mods for an upcoming event will be communicated to the members via the website and/or email at least 3 days prior to the beginning of that event's registration period. 

Recording Your Scores

When recording your scores...you should only write down your gross scores....no matter what the tournament format is.  Writing and signing anything different from the gross scores will be considered an incorrect scorecard and subject to disqualification.

Last Item--10 Minute Separation

Each week as we've tried to maximize the number of players with the minimum amount of time, we're encountering continuing reports of slow play. When we play Lions Muny (with forced 10 min. tee times), our overall pace has been notably faster, so in an effort to reduce our average pace of play, this week we will be implementing 10 minute separation. Hopefully this will speed up play and make our rounds more enjoyable for everyone.

President's March Newsletter and More

Dear ASGA members, 

A Past Winter!

The seasons and life are  going by so quickly. Have you noticed? On November 6, 2025, your current board transitioned into being the newest board of directors. The next election is scheduled for 10-6-2026 That is only 7 months away. 

 At the minimum, we need one member to come forward to express an interest in joining the board at the next election. That person should likely have been a member for 1or 2 years. Longer could certainly be an advantage. The position is General Membership Delegate. Our Bylaws requires that this position is new each year as they become the conduit for members to communicate with the board and to help new members get the most out of ASGA.  Often they then run for another position on the board the next year. If you have interest please contact any of the board and especially me as the current president or Ric Chapa as the current General Membership Delegate. We will keep it confidential and keep you posted as the time grows nearer for the election.

Another set of seasons can be a bit confusing. On March 1, 2026 we began what is referred to as meteorological spring. This will be followed on March 20 by astronomical spring and all of that is trumped by March the 8th giving us the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. So regardless of which season you prefer to start your spring plans for golf, extra one hour of sunlight, which means heat, will be added to each golfing day until the saving time ends. 

February was the hottest on record in Austin and with that in mind, unless the weather gods decide to give is back the cooler weather we did not get it seems like the best thing for all of us to do is sign up to play, accept the tee times our group gets even if they are near the end of the tee times and play as fast as you can to beat the "heat" and stir up a breeze that might help to keep us all cooler. The positive thing in doing this now is that you can enjoy this "cooler" weather fully knowing that following the current season will be some days that the heat will really be hot later in the day and it could be really hot. However, it is possible that the summer season comes that finally the often mentioned  "that could be like a cool day in hell" could finally happen and both those spending their time in hell and us seniors trying to find cool time to play, would all enjoy.  

Enjoy the seasons we have at hand as time, Seasons do pass faster and faster and the most current ones are the only ones we can for sure count on. 

I hope you will consider the board and for sure play and have fun while you can

 

Travis McWhorter
ASGA President

Other Items of Note

Spring Event Reminder:

Since we have so many new members since last summer, we wanted to remind everyone that the Annual Spring event will be held on Tuesday & Thursday, April 14 & 16. More to come.

Rules Updates:

Effective Tuesday March 10th, we have made a couple of changes:

1.   Mulched areas around trees and shrubs will be treated under the same rules currently in place for rocks and tree roots:

1H.Lateral Tree Roots-Rocky Areas--Mulched Trees and Shrubs:  Ball may be moved to the nearest point of relief (off the rocks and/or roots and/or mulch)  but no closer to the hole. - No penalty

2. Special event club limitations:

1C. Club Limit:  You may have more than 14 clubs in your bag at one time except in a special format tournament where the number of clubs is specifically limited.  For special format events where the number of clubs is limited, players may only have that exact number of clubs or less in their golf bags.  Players are not allowed to share clubs with one another.

 

Honors Policy: 

We have finalized the new Honors Violation Policy that we previewed in December's newsletter.  The new policy is effective immediately.  Here's a quick refresher:

If you suspect a rule is being violated, it's up to you and the players in the affected group to point it out to the offending player or team immediately.  One of two things will happen:

1)The player agrees with you, and they rectify the situation in real time. This avoids that player or team from being disqualified for posting an incorrect score.  Or;

2)if the player disagrees with you, you should let that player as well as the rest of your group know that you will be contacting the Event Chair regarding this situation.  Everyone in the group must understand why you feel there is a violation and why the other player does not.  The point of this is not to determine who is right, but simply to make sure everyone understands what happened. Without your group's on the spot understanding of the situation, any accusations after the fact are essentially hearsay.  We want to do better than that.  You should contact the Event Chair, Greg Marshall within 24 hours and advise him of the situation in writing.  Greg will take it from there and make a ruling as soon as possible.

The full policy can be read on the website under the Golf Information tab.  Questions....contact Greg Marshall, Events Chair 

--

Latest Happenings

From your President 

During the month of December, 2025 ASGA lost 2 past Members.

One of our current members, Jim Abercrombie advised me of our losses. The two gentlemen may be remembered by some of our longer members but reading the obit of these two reminds me of our diverse membership and I am always amazed at some of the accomplishments of our golfer friends. I wished that we published a history of our golfing buddies while they are still with us as we would find many of us have more in common than golf. Though we do love our golf and golf friends.

Bruce Jones came up with the following information about these two and each played a lot of golf with ASGA. They were members beginning prior to 2006 until 2018/2019.

Understanding ASGA’s participation records began in 2006, Joe Lipsky participated in over 370 events. His last tournament was July, 2018. 

Tommy Warner played in over 430 events. His last round was in February, 2019. 

I have attached a link to each of their obituaries following:

Joseph Lipsky—Obituary

Tommy Warner--Obituary

And by coincidence, Bob Chapa, another long-time member, passed away in January, 2026. Bob  too began before 2006, and played in over 425 events. 

It turns out Bob and Tommy were ASGA partners in over 110 events from 2007-2018.

Bob Chapa—Obituary

Tommy Warner(left) and Bob Chapa

For those who knew these gentlemen I trust the thoughts to your time with them was refreshing. We wish their families and friends the greatest memories as well.

     Sincerely,

        

    Travis McWhorter 
    President 

Some Signup Info to Help Out Your Webmaster

Many of you long-time members probably remember those early morning Wednesdays when you waited at the course so you could sign up and get that ideal tee time for next Tuesday’s ASGA tournament. Fortunately all that ended in September, 2020 when we began our on-line signups. 

For some of our new members, here are a few details on how this works.  Once the schedule is published each Sunday (around 11AM), the listing is sent to the appropriate course for the upcoming Tuesday and ASGA has no further input to the schedule. Nor can we see or alter the schedule once it is sent to GolfATX. Changes before publishing can be sent to the Webmaster.

If you need to cancel after the schedule is published, or perhaps wish to add your name to an open position, you need to contact the course. Only they can assist you at that point. We do ask that you wait until Sunday afternoon before you call, so the course manager can load the names into the Tuesday schedule.

Thanks for your support in this matter.

On behalf of your ASGA board,

Bruce Jones
Web Admin

January News

 Hitting Into Blind Areas

Just a reminder to check ahead of you and make sure your landing area is clear before you hit your shot..  This is especially true for even semi-blind shots.  If you can't see the landing area, have someone in your group head up and take a peek.  Just remember to be courteous and cautious.  This applies to maintenance workers as well as your fellow golfers.  

While everyone wants you to hit a monster drive.....no one wants to get hit by it!!! 

Greg Marshall
Events Director

Note: For issues of etiquette on the course, Greg is your contact.

Signups Info

We're continuing to experience very high signup numbers. Please be aware of the current situation.

• We are not accepting new or rejoining members at this time. There is a waitlist of 20+ people wishing to join. The waitlist is closed. We may add three or four from the waitlist in the coming weeks.
• When threesomes overwhelm the signup list, we reserve the right to split the signups into a twosome and a single. The third person in the signup will be the single in these situations. The split will typically be made to best accommodate requested tee times.
• Clay/Kizer is currently working with us to provide eight minute separation on tee times. Lions indicates they do not have enough carts to rent if we do eight minute separation. 
• 10 minute separation means if we have 148 players, the last tee time will be 6 hours after the first tee time. So if you receive 10:30 or earlier, you're in the first half of the tee times!
• A reminder--if you have an add/change/cancel request to a signup, send an email to the webmaster if it is PRIOR to the schedule being published. If it is after the schedule is published, you need to contact the course.
  A no-show is when you don't bother to let the course know you're unable to attend. You hurt our reputation with GolfATX when you no-show.

Thanks as always for your support--on behalf of the Board,

Bruce Jones

Admin/Webmaster

(Almost) Winter News

 Proposed Honors Violation Policy

"We have had a number of concerns regarding rules violations in the past few months, so we are establishing a formal Honors Violation policy that will be presented to the Board soon to move towards including in our By-Laws.  As part of the responsibilities as Event Chair, I am leading a program implementation in order to have a standard way to deal with alleged violations that arise. Here is a quick overview of the policy:

If you suspect a rule is being violated, it's up to you and the players in the affected group to point it out to the offending player or team immediately.  One of two things will happen:
1)The player agrees with you, and they rectify the situation in real time. This avoids that player or team from being disqualified for posting an incorrect score.  Or;

2)if the player disagrees with you, you should let that player as well as the rest of your group know that you will be contacting the Event Chair regarding this situation.  Everyone in the group must understand why you feel there is a violation and why the other player does not.  The point of this is not to determine who is right, but simply to make sure everyone understands what happened. Without your group's on the spot understanding of the situation , any accusations after the fact are essentially hearsay.  We want to do better than that.  You should contact the Event Chair, Greg Marshall within 24 hours and advise him of the situation in writing.  Greg will take it from there and make a ruling as soon as possible.  Simple as that.  Please contact Greg with any questions or concerns."

Greg Marshall

Event Chair

Golf Carts Course Abuse

It has been noticed by GolfATX management that some cart drivers are: 

1) not using their handicap placards when authorized, and; 

2) getting very close, in fact too close to the greens. When it is allowed for handicap golfers to drive on the fairways, please use your placards so ASGA is not penalized for those who need to drive in Cart Path Only areas. Remember too for all drivers when approaching greens, you MUST remain AT LEAST 30 FEET from the greens. A request from one of the Golf ATX Professionals:

"(W)e are having an issue with some senior golfers with Handicap placards, and some without, getting way to close to the green during their rounds...What I would ask is if you could let your group know our concerns. The placard can get them to 30ft(10 yards). Any closer can compromise not only the soil but there are irrigation systems underground that can be damaged by the weight of the cart. Thank you in advance."

 Please take care when using this driving privilege. Thank you.

Pace of Play Update

There have been some more minor tweaks to the Pace of Play program. While we are enjoying some faster rounds, some played events still have room for improvement. 

Keeping Pace Policy

1st hour tee time groups not finishing in 4 hours or less will not receive 1st hour tee times for the following 4 weeks.

Groups taking longer than 4:15 **and** finishing 15 minutes or more behind the group in front of them will be flagged as slow. The exception is for 2-person Modified Pinehurst events, where groups finishing more than 15 minutes behind will be deemed as slow......regardless of the length of their round.

Groups flagged as slow will not receive tee times earlier than 10:30 a.m. for their next four events. If that group is flagged again during the following four events, those players will no longer receive tee times earlier than 10:30am on a permanent basis.

Remember to keep up with the group in front of you!

A quick note on teeing off. If your group is ready to tee off and the group in front of you is missing a player, if they decide to wait, have your group go ahead.

Pace of Play is not a recent topic for this group.👀

Dues Renewal for 2026

There are currently 90 members who have not yet renewed for 2026. If your dues is not received by January 1, 2026, you will be ineligible to play in events, and if paid promptly, may miss the first event of the new year.  If not received by January 15, you will be added to the waiting list of new seniors who wish to join our group. We are in process of trimming down our membership roster considerably to avoid overloaded event subscriptions. Thank you for your consideration.

Currently, there is a link on the home page to view a list of those who have not renewed. After January 1, you can determine if you are current by viewing the Handicap Listing. If your name does not appear, we did not receive your dues payment.

Playing an Event After the Schedule is Posted?

For some of our newer members, a reminder. Schedules are published Sunday morning, but there will always be members who need to cancel. If you wish to play that event but weren't on the schedule, you can always check with the course and ask if there are any openings in the schedule.. 

On behalf of the ASGA Board,

Bruce Jones
ASGA Admin

More on November 12

 

Chester Burks Passes

Chester Burks

With sadness we report that long-time member Chester Burks passed away October 28^th. 

Not many of our current active members were playing before 2006. Chester was one of the few. He participated in over 740 total events, with 20 of those happening this year! Our heartfelt sympathy to his friends and family. 

Here is a link to an on-line tribute to Chester.

 

 

Event Sign-Ups—What’s the Deal?

We are experiencing both our largest membership ever as well as our largest fields ever, which is impacting our ability to effectively manage our events. As you read above in the President’s letter, we have capped our membership at current level until we can reduce the size of our event signups. GolfATX is not allowing any further expansion, be it dual-courses or alternate days or additional single course tee times. 

This will be the current signup methodology going forward. All signups will be closed at 148 maximum. For any event where less than 148 will be allowed by GolfATX to play, removal will begin at last entry and work backwards as needed. It is our understanding Lions Muny will be most impacted.
Hopefully we can quickly reduce our event size as we go forward. 

Renewals Re-emphasized

It is important to re-emphasize another of the President’s messages.

If you fail to renew by Jan. 15, you will:
a)become inactive and therefore not be able to compete in events; and
b)will have to re-activate via the waitlist, after those already waiting to join.

 

Finances

A big thank you to our Secretary/Treasurer David Brader, who has been in this role since fall of 2021, and has signed up to help us once again for 2025-2026. The annual financial report to members created each year by David is available in the “Minutes and Reports” section under the “Our Organization” tab. 

On behalf of the Board, 

Bruce Jones
Admin/Webmaster

 

President's Letter and More...

President's Letter November 2025 

2026 ASGA Board Launched November 6, 2025 In the Harvey Penick Room at Lions.

Members,

The Transitional Meeting that closes out the previous board and brings on the new one often is fairly limited as to activity.

This Board is a very experienced and with so many action items on the agenda, I set out to get them done.

1. The board led in discussion by our new Vice President, Dan Roberts, decided that The 2-Person Grand Prix should be modified slightly to allow more members a chance to win as the season progresses. The scores that will count toward your team's  final score will be reduced from 11 to 9. Your  best 9 at season end will count. In the event you do not play in 9 events it will be your total score from all events your team played. In addition to this improvement Greg Marshall has added 2  2-person events to this year's schedule.  The Individual All-In Grand Prix will not be changed. The vote for this update was unanimous.

2. A few general members and a couple of board members pointed out that perhaps our 60 and up membership was too wide a span of ages.  They made the observation that by starting at some other age like 65 would be of value and curtail our membership. Bruce Jones provided some analysis of members from each age bracket from 60 and up and all of them have current members including 90 and up having 4 members. The review of the reasons why ASGA changed to 60 and up a few years back revealed that ATX offers annual memberships for Seniors 60 and up. The board unanimously decided to leave our age groups as they are.  We plan to continue to solve our growing membership another way. We believe we can solve it early next year  before daylight saving comes back and shortens our good morning tee times. In  the short run we have capped the membership and created a waiting list on our website. We really want to serve as many golfers in our area as possible, but we strive to make our rounds fun for all that are members now.

3.  Renewing your membership is very important, even more so when we have people on the waiting list.  At our annual membership meeting David Brader our Secretary/Treasurer sets up a booth and stays as long as you want to renew you annual membership. We also have a very convenient way to renew on  our website. They all should be done, but they are not. You need to get it done before the end of December to avoid paying a higher fee in January 2026. You board unanimously voted this year to say if you do not renew by the end of January 31 2026 you will be making a mistake. If you plan on playing with us in 2026 renew now. If you wait until February, or other months later in the year you will sign up as a new member and should we be still on the waiting list for membership you will be added to that list. So, please come on, get it done. On February first we will adjust our membership based on all signed up or renewed. It is only fair. Help us out.  Renew now!!!

4, Our newest board member is Ric Chapa. He serves the general membership with a focus on new members. He also is the perfect person to communicate with should you have an idea you think has merit. Ric will hear you out and get the proper hearing for your idea at the next board meeting. All of our board members are here to serve.

I am very honored to be your president this year. It will be my goal to see that we have a great year. The Board is one of the best I  have seen.

Sincerely,

Travis McWhorter
ASGA President 

2025 Annual Meeting, President's Cup, and Luncheon Info

This year’s President’s Cup, Annual Meeting and Luncheon will be held at Morris Williams Pavilion on October 21st. Here are some details of the event.

PRESIDENT'S CUP (MATCH PLAY)

The President's Cup

As we do each year, today’s event will be match play, with a shotgun start at 8:00AM. All players must be in carts by 7:45. You MUST rent a cart for this event. (You do not have to use it—if you don’t, please advise your opponent IN ADVANCE of heading to your starting tee.)

Past President Greg Marshall will lead Team Blue along with his Assistant Captain Jim Sallade, our current Handicap Chairman. 

Lewis Howell, a former ASGA president, last year led the 45-person RED team to a close 24-21 victory over Team Blue rival leaders Sam Mihalik, a former president, and Jim Sallade.

This year current President Allan Myers will captain Team Red, along with Bruce Jones as Assistant Captain.

The four leaders plus Shawn Higgins, Event Chair, will meet Saturday morning the 18^th to draft this year’s teams.

How do you get to be selected to play Oct 21? It is simple. Sign up or have your usual person sign you up to play in the event. The sign up will be open Wednesday the 15^th until 4 o'clock Friday the 17th. No need to select a time as the event is a shotgun start (appx. 8:00). You must sign up by Noon Friday. Maximum number of signups 144, first-come-first-served. Friday afternoon Bruce Jones will compile the list of signups and forward it to the Captains and Event Chair so they will have time to prepare for Saturday morning's draft. You will see on Sunday the 19th at the usual time which team you are on and who you will compete against in net match play.  

If for some reason you need to cancel after signing up, send an email to Bruce Jones so another opponent can take the missing place.

On Tuesday morning you will pay your usual fees at the course. A special scorecard will be handed out for each pair of matches, showing stroke differences, if any. The winning President Cup team members will win $14 whether they won, lost, or tied their individual match.

THE ANNUAL MEETING

At the meeting we will elect Association Officers for the upcoming 2025-2026 season. In addition, door prizes will be provided for those with luncheon banquet tickets, along with announcements of the Grand Prix winners, and of course the President's Cup. There will also be members recognized for special awards.

MOST IMPORTANTLY YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
Travis McWhorter led a nominating committee that is recommending, with Board approval, the following members for 2025-2026 board positions. Any member is also allowed to nominate a member from the floor during the election process.

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS:

President:  Travis McWhorter
Vice President: Dan Roberts
Secretary/Treasurer: David Brader
Event Chair: Greg Marshall
Handicap Chair: Jim Sallade
PARD City Board Rep: Maury Miller
General Membership: (nomination from the floor per bylaws)
Website/Admin Chair: Bruce Jones
Past President: Allan Myers (automatic per bylaws)

THE BANQUET/LUNCHEON

Tickets for the banquet are now on sale on our website. The cost is $15, including fees. Allan Myers and Dan Roberts will oversee the banquet this year. After you vanquish your opponent 4 and 3, just head to the pavilion.  You’ll see Shawn (in his last official act as Event Chair) scoring the event in real-time. Pick up your banquet ticket from Allan/Dan. Keep your banquet ticket stub as it will be used for the door prize drawings.

RENEW YOUR ASGA MEMBERSHIP

In the banquet area you will have your first opportunity to renew your ASGA membership for 2026. We will have a table set up (look for David Brader, our excellent Treasurer) where you can easily renew your membership. Online renewals for 2026 begin November 1^st.

Renewal dues remain at $15 for next year. The main renewal period begins with the date of the Annual Banquet event and continues through December 31st. After December 31st if you fail to renew, your fee will increase to the new member rate of $20.00 to reactivate your membership.

Hope to see you at the Annual Meeting, President’s Cup competition and luncheon/banquet.

Any questions, contact Dan Roberts, Member Delegate.

On behalf of your 2024-2025 Board,

Bruce Jones
Admin/Webmaster

Another Successful Championship & One Other Item

 The Championship

We had a nice turnout for this year's championship, 125 players competing in 12 flights. Our new ASGA Champions are Hal Johnson, who posted a nice gross score of 136 over two days, and Terence Donovan, who claimed Net Champion with a score of 125! Their names are of course inscribed for history on our website, adding to our list of ASGA Champions. In addition to our course leaders, we had special events of Long Drive and Closest to the Pin. Here are those results:

Attendance was significantly higher than previous years, exceeding our previous high of 108 players in 2024.

Our next up significant event on the schedule will be our Annual Meeting and Banquet (liberal use of that word!) so stay tuned for that. 

Testing, Testing!

Some of you may have noticed a new tee time format this week. Golf ATX has graciously allowed us to test simultaneous #1 and #10 tee times.  If this works well, we may be allowed to continue this for other events in October. Currently we have a limitation of 128 entries this week, so we still have some work to do to figure out what we do if we exceed 120+ players. 

I cannot urge you strongly enough this week--if you wish this tee time setup to continue, you need to stay up with the group in front of you.

Link here to our video for tips to keep pace.

That's all for now. Hope your scores exceed your expectations!

On behalf of the Board,

Bruce Jones

ASGA Admin

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!

----

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”. 

----

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

---

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

December News

Mo Willie at Dawn

Have you renewed for 2025? If you’re late (after 12/31) it’s $5 extra and frankly causes headaches to manually insert you back into current status, unless you’d like to wait a week to become current once again. See the notice on our home page where you can check to see if you’ve renewed. Your webmaster thanks you.

Using our Tee Times as a guideline (PLEASE READ)

We continue to have conflict where players roll in according to the “Pace of Play” initiative, and their fourth drops in 10 minutes before published Tee Time with disappointment for all.

Most of us wish to play early rather than late, and teeing off ahead of our tee times, allows a 10 a.m. player to tee off up to 30 minutes or more earlier, avoiding summer heat and drive-home Austin traffic. This information is posted in our “Pace of Play” item at the top of the home page of our website. If you show up 15 minutes before your 9am tee time, and check in for the event, you may find the rest of your group has already left, thinking you are a “no-show” (which actually occurs every week). If you plan your arrival and Tee Time using the Pace of Play initiative, it will make for a better day for all of us.

Show up early, tee off early. 

Member Passing

Stacy

Many of us knew Stacy Holt, who joined us in 2021. Typically in a group with Karen Walsh, Joe Noon, and usual partner Grady Morris, Stacy actively participated in over 80 events with us, enjoying the golf and the fellowship. Thanks to Mike Dodson for letting us know.

 A link to Stacy’s obituary.

 

Please Don’t Abuse The Cart Privilege

Please keep carts on path in and around tees & greens.  Avoid any puddles or wet areas within fairways & roughs.  As a rule of thumb, use the 90 degree rule when entering and exiting fairways.  Allow maintenance & beverage carts to pass on cart path if possible.  During the winter months, grass is slow to grow, and we’ve all seen the “paths” taking off from the pavement to cut a corner. Don’t take the short cut. Use the cart path. 

And a note to those who have handicap signs for our carts. Remember to stay 30 ft. from the greens AT A MINIMUM. If it’s Cart Path Only due to winter weather, you too need to stay on the cart path. Thanks.

Remember your correct position on the course is immediately behind the group in front of you, not immediately in front of the group behind you.

 

And lastly, a bit of humor…

Golfer's dilemma (stolen from Bob Anderson) 

You're playing a match for the club championship. After 17 holes, it's all even.  You have the honor and hit a perfect drive 250 yds down the middle.  Your opponent hits his ball dead right into the woods.  You help him look for the ball and finally he says "Why don't you go hit your ball and I'll keep looking for mine for a couple of minutes.  If I don't find it, I'll head back to the tee and hit my 3rd shot.  You head back to the fairway and hit your 2nd shot.  It's perfect!  Lands 10 feet from the pin.  Just as your ball lands on the green, you hear...."Found it!!!"  A minute later....the ball comes flying out of the woods.  It hits the green and nestles 5 inches from the cup for a gimme. 

Here's the dilemma...do you take the cheating SOB's ball out of your pocket and confront him with it...or do you just keep your mouth shut???😀

 

Happy Holidays!