Nominees, President's Cup, Picnic and Tribute. So Read It All Folks!!!!

 

Our ASGA year and season are coming to an exciting finish. Hang on for a lot of fun. Sam Mihalik, our current Treasurer, will set up shop at the Annual Meeting October 26 to collect your $10 renewal memberships for 2022. Make it easy on Sam and yourself. You can also renew online beginning at the same time, but in person is easy.

The Election

The Board of Directors under the management of Lino Oballo, Vice President and his committee have brought forth the following slate of officers that are recommended and will be put into nomination at the meeting following the picnic. Other nominations may be made from the floor.

Nominees

President                                    Sam Mihalik 
Vice President                            Lewis Howell
Secretary/Treasurer                    David Brader 
Event Chair                                Shawn Higgins
Handicap Chair                          Bill Burke
PARD City Board Rep               Jack Scruggs
Website Chair                             Bruce Jones
Immediate Past President          Travis McWhorter (Automatic per bylaws) 
General Membership Delegate  Greg Marshall       (Will be nominated from the floor per bylaws but is recommended by the Board) 

The voting will NOT take place in the lobby as Sam Mihalik mentioned in his advance notice of the meeting. The shotgun start will not make that voting feasible.  All voting, including the vote on expanding ASGA eligibility to age 60, will be handled by Travis McWhorter, current ASGA President, at the general annual meeting following the golf event and picnic. We will be meeting in the Clay/Kizer pavilions.

The President's Cup

The Captains and Assistant Captains have been selected and each person who signs up for golf for October 26th will be drafted by one of the teams to play match play. Super Fun!! You will know your team in advance. Your hole number for the shotgun start and your team and your foursome will be posted on our website Sunday the 24th.

The defending champion RED TEAM will be captained once again by Travis McWhorter with his new Assistant Captain Sam Mihalik. The challenger BLUE TEAM will be headed up by one of the ASGA's most interesting golfing stories, Maury Miller with Assistant Captain John Hirsch. 

All of us will be paying close attention to your golfing skills and desire to win the last couple of events as well as your history before meeting to draft the teams the Saturday before the annual picnic. The next News story to be released later this week will feature the history and comments from team leaders. The President's Cup is almost here.

The Picnic/Annual Meeting

You will need a ticket to get your meal at the picnic and to be eligible for the door prizes. The next 2 events will end the selling of the tickets as we will then place our food order. Look at the schedule of each event and you will see *** to the right of each board member's name that is playing golf that day. Find them and buy your super valued ticket for $12 each.

Tribute

Now that you have read all the latest NEWS  please scroll down and read a tribute to one of our iconic past ASGA members.

This News has been brought to you on behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and The Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter, President

President's Message -- May 12, 2021

	Inside Your President's Mind.  It Is Half Gone.  Followed by Note From Bruce. Recently I saw a tee shirt that read, "Sometimes I Talk To Myself And Afterwards We Both Laugh And Laugh." That statement is easy for me to understand and maybe some of you can relate to it as well. In fact the headline for this update could both be the same subject, my mind, but in fact I plan to discuss two different items. Last week at Kizer was one of the few times as president I was faced with a tough decision about our event play. Generally Shawn and I or in the past other event chairs, when I was previously president, make them very routine, with the event chair going it alone most of the time. The decisions usually take on the personality of the event chair. The goal is always play as often as we can and only cancel when either the course closes for weather or other issues that come up that is deemed the best for our members as to fairness and safety. The best call is one that can be made the night before, but that is often very hard to do. Shawn has proven to be pretty good at reading the tea leaves and weather. I saw my first weather forecast at 4:30 AM and all looked good to me. It did look like there could be brief shower in the early going as a front from the north came through and  it would last only a few minutes. I personally don't love wind and rain together, but was determined to play when I got to the course and it was beginning to look more threatening than planned for our 8:10 tee time. Several foursomes were in front of us on the course and in fact they called us to the tee a few minutes early. I was the only walker in our group and each of the others had a cart. As the wind freshened and rain started to fall I rushed to take the first tee shot so I could get my umbrella employed. With the aid of a 30 mile per hour gust I hit one of my best drives ever from hole one, turned for praise only to discover all three of my foursome were wheeling to cover. Lightning and thunder accompanied the front and I saw many coming off the course. When I got to one of the covers finally I was asked by a few if we were going to cancel. Knowing that it was supposed to blow through promptly and discovering that Shawn had headed home, I said not yet. When I went inside to consult with the course management for the day, they thought it would last just a few moments. I went back out and advised to hold tight. Unfortunately it stalled and kept adding lightning and more rain and even some small hail. Many were deciding for themselves that they were not playing and several were waiting. After a rather long wait, I went back inside and witnessed many later arrivals canceling or not registering and the phone was canceling more.  I overheard the course say, if and when we resume play it will become cart path only and some time would be needed to check the course. I then conferred again and due to many cancellations and the uncertainty, I was advised to cancel the event.The thoughts that went through my head were these: I should have canceled sooner, I was aware of at least one group that was still playing and more that were waiting to see.  If we had canceled sooner at least our members would not be at risk of being injured. It felt that more that half had canceled out and who knows how many more would cancel when they came to realize that tee times they were expecting would be delayed.  I canceled and caught up quickly with Shawn by phone and he did not disagree. Now as I finally got near my car the rain picked up again and I talked to myself and we concluded. Good job. Get home and build an ark. However, before I made it home the rain was gone and I ended up mowing my perfectly dry yard just 15 miles away from the course. 20 or more players did go ahead and play on their own I was later to find out. I cannot truly second guess though as I felt like it was the best thing to do at the moment and I slept fairly good that night. I did hate to quit with a perfect shot on the course. Now here is a short point. The current board's allotted time is half gone and the election is coming in October. In the near future we will begin looking for new nominees for the next board. Please tap me on the shoulder or email me or other board members and say that you would like to be considered for nomination and what position you would enjoy serving. I am sure most of you will want the president or event chair positions. The pay is good if you like myself enjoy serving and an occasional thank you. Most of you have been very good about that and likely would make outstanding board members. New ideas and new members on the board will ensure our future. Now that you have spent some time inside my mind, we should all have a good laugh together.  See you Tuesday. Oh, of course there is a 50% chance for rain or thunderstorms in the current forecast. ______________ A Note from your Website Administrator Over the last few months, I have received five emails from coordinators (contacts) who were positive they had signed their teams up, but it didn't show up when the Event Tee Times were posted. Sadly all these emails arrived on Sunday, AFTER I've created the schedule, posted it, and copied the applicable course. We're all disappointed when that happens--and I'd like to make a suggestion to prevent it from happening to any other group. On Saturday, have someone in your group assigned to check for your team's entry. It doesn't have to be the coordinator (contact) who did the sign-up. Merely check the "View Registrations" page in the Tee Time Registration System section. If you don't see your names, send me an email. There's a selection titled "Registrations/Cancels" which will allow you to easily send that email, so I can add your missing group before Sunday morning. It is also advisable for the coordinator (contact) to check "View Registrations" immediately after registering as the registered names will be there by the time you check if all is in order.  Thanks--and hope to see you on the course, Bruce This News has been brought to you on behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and The Austin Senior Golf League, Travis McWhorter President

President's Message -- April 18, 2021

 The Two Year Wait Is Over. Practice Your High Math Counting.

It has been two years since we have had a 2-day event and full tournament play is still not back. This Tuesday and Thursday event is a great start towards earning the right to have tournaments again, possibly on or before our planned annual election in the fall. This event will help us continue to prove we are a very responsible league.

Though we have conducted no formal survey, based on many conversations over the last few weeks it is my opinion that over 80% of our membership have completed the vaccination regimen and that a few more only need a second shot to complete. There may be a small number that have not started. Even if this is accurate or the actual is even better, we need to continue to practice the protocol the city courses have asked us to follow: Show up about 30 minutes before your tee time, wear your mask in the club house while signing up and give some space to the person taking their golf shots on the course. You should use your best safety judgement when sharing a cart.

Our Upcoming Two-Day Event

The scoring on Tuesday's Best-Ball round will be computed and the results posted by Wednesday, so you will know how your team stacks up in your flight entering Thursday. The Tuesday score will be used to calculate future handicaps so you will need to enter all gross scores for each player. The system will produce each team's best ball net and that will be posted Wednesday as well. For Thursday's Select-Shot round each two person team will have only one score recorded on each hole. The total score for 18 holes will be added to Tuesday's score to produce the two-day event score and that will be posted as soon as feasible following all cards turned in for Thursday. The total score of both days will produce the final results and prize payout. This is a fun event because it is two days and ASGA will be adding funds to the normal two day pool roughly doubling the prize money. Playing is fun. Winning is more fun. Getting extra money when you win is the icing on this "fun cake."

Remember you will pay for both days on Tuesday, so there is no reason not to show up on Thursday. Also, a suggestion for deciding on the 4 clubs to use the following week in the 4-Club event. If you do well reward the clubs that helped you the most in the 2 day event and bring them with you as your 4 for the next week. If you do poorly, leave those "faulty" clubs at home.  So practice your high math by scoring accurately during the 2-day and subtracting the right clubs in the 4-club event the next week. Also, continue to practice safe and courteous play. Let's have fun the next 2 weeks.  See you Tuesday!!

This News has been brought to you on behalf of the ASGA Board of Directors and The Austin Senior Golf League,

Travis McWhorter
President

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 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