59. 1 STROKE SHORT. TRANSITION. TRAVIS 2.

ASGA Transition

Golf has been something I was interested in since I was around 12 years old. I watched it on TV. I played nearly all the other sports then, but not golf. The first round I ever played was at 19 with a friend and borrowed clubs. Amazingly I parred my first hole, a par 4, barely missing a birdie putt. I putted it out for the 4. My inner thought was, "I am a natural golfer and should have started earlier in life. Maybe this will be my career instead of law or business." However, I made 7 on the next hole and did not break 100 in a round for almost 3 years. I really never got much better until around 45 when I finally broke 90. I was playing 20 or 30 times per year by then. The most ever.

When I retired 10 years ago, I ramped up my playing time to 85 rounds per year and quickly broke the score of 80. Then I joined ASGA at the very end of 2013 and in 2014 jumped up to 115 times per year. In 2015 was able on three different courses to shoot 3 strokes over par which remains my best. It was 73 on a par 70, 74 on a par 71 and 75 on a par 72. On these three miracles for me, I was just 1 stroke over my age and in fact once was just 3 months away from my next birthday when I came up 1 stroke short again.

Now I am moving in the opposite direction, I get older and shoot higher each year. This year my best is 79.  I am a few days away from my 78th birthday and that gives me almost a year to shoot 78 when I am that age and finally shoot my age. My luck might be that I shoot a 78 this week and come up a stroke short again. When I was on that streak of lowering my score, I was dreaming of a par round and even when I was in my most imaginative time I thought "Why not 59?"  

In preparing for my last NEWS story as the President it crossed my mind to count the number of stories I have written during my last 2 years as back to back President. I decided that Obituaries would not count. I counted the other stories and was surprised to see that a magical golf number had been there all along. It was 59 postings. Maybe writing about golf is my skill over trying to shoot a low score. It is too late to apply at GOLF DIGEST, but it is not too late for me to thank you all for allowing me to serve you and for you all to put up with my stories. It was fun to do. After all I have kissed the Blarney Stone as Bill Burke likes to remind me.

Thursday the 11th, I presided over my last meeting as the current president and handed the golf club gavel over to Sam Mihalik, the newly elected President. I believe we have a great board to carry on our amazing history.  ASGA is 45 years old this year. The transition is complete. Carry on Mr. President.

I am signing off and standing down. I will continue to serve on the board as Past President.

Sincerely yours,


Travis McWhorter, Past President

Please scroll down to read about Travis Eckert. A true ASGA legend.

ASGA Life Member Travis Eckert Passed Away October 29, 2021

Travis Eckert

ASGA members Sam Mihalik and Lynn Hammer have reported that Travis Eckert, Life Member of ASGA died October 29th at age 89. His memorial service will be Nov 16th at  3:30 PM , First Methodist Church, Austin. Travis was formerly a very active member and golfer having served on the ASGA Board as  ASGA’s Voting Representative to the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department, Golf Division from 2004 through 2016.

His health had kept him from playing much the last few years. He had originally scheduled to attend the most recent Annual meeting held October 26tth at Jimmy Clay but had called and canceled due to health issues. He was so looking forward to visiting his ASGA friends and meeting new members one more time he told me on the phone when he accepted my invitation to come as my guest. Sadly, he died 3 days later.

As the official Travis 2 per my first meeting on the ASGA Board in 2015 after being elected to the board, I met Travis 1 for the first time. He with his beautiful smile said it would be easier if we used that designation. It worked well in the board meetings.  Travis also was the founder of the hole-in-one program and so many times after I introduced myself to new ASGA members they would stop listening after Travis and say "I want to join the hole-in-one pot and hand me $5. It was harder to explain that there were 2 Travis' so Travis 1 told me to take their money along with their name and he would add them after I texted him who they were. I gave him the money when I saw him next. We became good friends sharing the name. He gave me so much good advice as a new ASGA person. You can read about his life in the obituary article below. He was one of a kind and a very kind one.

On behalf of the ASGA Board the family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers. We will celebrate his great life in many ways. His memories will be a forever part of ASGA.

Travis McWhorter

 Below is a link to the obituary that appeared in The Statesman.
https://www.statesman.com/obituaries/p0161841

Annual Meeting--President's Cup is Set

The annual meeting is upon us. The schedule and agenda is as follows to help you understand the flow of the day. Also, after the golf completes you can find Sam Mihalik, Treasurer, somewhere in the pavilion area available to renew your annual membership for $10. Please make it easy on yourself and Sam by renewing.
 
President's Cup. Shawn Higgins, Tournament Chair, invited Challenging Blue Team Captain Maury Miller and his assistant Captain John Hirsch along with Defending Red Team Captain Travis McWhorter and his Assistant Captain Sam Mihalik  to meet yesterday morning at Jimmy Clay to draft the teams from the record breaking group of 88 players. Bruce Jones came to referee this highly charged event and brought the famous Round Rock donuts and Starbucks coffee to keep the Captains in check. You have now seen posted under Event Schedule your team, your opponent and the hole to start. At approximately 7:30 we will load up and Shawn and Club personnel will provide instructions. We will strive to get to the assigned holes to begin play by 7:45.

Both Captains Request That You Wear Some Red or Blue To Support Your Team.

We have exactly the right number of players. Please do all possible to show up for your team. You can begin to register in as early as 6:15 AM. We have 88 playing so please come as early as you can to avoid long lines and delays. Bring your clubs up, ask for a ride from one of the marshals or maybe borrow a cart as your carts are parked prearranged as to your partner, hole assignment etc. There will be personalized cards (provided by Bruce Jones, Website Chair), for each opposing twosome in your carts. At the end of your match, when you have a determined a winner or end in a tie please come in so we can stagger the serving of the meal to avoid long lines and to get the annual meeting started as early as possible. Make sure your card is signed by both players and given to Shawn Higgins.  He will be the one entering into his computer somewhere near the back of the Jimmy Clay pavilion. Please turn them in before you go to your car to unload your clubs.

Lino Oballo, Banquet Director, advises that the meal will be prepared and delivered to us by Catfish Parlor. It will be ready to serve about 11:45 AM when Lino starts taking tickets for the meal and  putting them in a box used later for the door prizes. Some of The Board of Directors and a few others have agreed to help serve the food. Our goal is to serve enough to avoid seconds and to be safer with one serving only. We need to space out with 4 or so to the table while eating so some of you should eat at the Kizer pavilion. The serving line will be in between. When the meeting starts we will recommend that some stand behind the tables at Clay pavilion to be able to participate and hear. Also, we can use a little help in cleaning up the pavilions after we complete the last event, the door prizes. You must be present to win!!

Menu. Catfish/chicken tenders, pinto beans, coleslaw, hush puppies, french fries, ketchup, tartar sauce and lemon. We will serve bottled water only (1 each) for safety. We are being provided warmers this year to keep the food warm even though the day has a warm forecast. We sold out the tickets this year. We have reserved some tickets for our honored guests and plan to take a plate to the 4 or 5 club house employees that have helped us so much in arranging the banquet/picnic space and preparing for the golf event.

Annual Meeting: The general meeting will be called to order by President Travis McWhorter following eating.  The order of events will be as follows:

1. The vote on changing the bylaws/constitution to change the minimum membership age to 60.
   
   
2. Election: Vice-President Lino Oballo will place names in nomination. Travis will conduct the election. Lino will make some remarks following the election.
   
   
3. President Travis McWhorter will close the Annual Meeting and then turn the meeting over to Shawn Higgins to conclude the golfing events for the year.
   
   
4. Event Chair Shawn Higgins will present the winners of the year-long Grand Prix and announce the results of The President's Cup.
   
   
5. Shawn will then call out the winners of the door prizes. We have a limited number of prizes this year for speed and safety reasons. You must be present to win. When all prizes are given away that will conclude the meeting.
   

On Behalf of the Board and those helping bring this program together,

Thanks,


Travis McWhorter
President

 

A Message to the Members from your Vice President

Members,

 

On October 26, 2021 once again we will carry out the most important activity of our ASGA membership, to elect and install our Board of Directors for 2021-2022.

We, the nominating committee submit to the membership these suggested Board of Directors for the coming year.

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 tremendous amount of time and energy that our president has devoted to the duties and responsibilities is commendable. It takes talent and dedication to balance these responsibilities and personal life. On behalf of the membership of the ASGA, Travis, we thank you and all the current board members that made up your team.

For those incoming board members we will elect it is a demonstration of their commitment and dedication to ASGA. 

For those of us, the members, we also have to demonstrate our commitment to support our leaders during the coming year.

With kindest regards,

 

Lino Oballo
Vice President 2019-21
Chairperson of the Nominating and Banquet/Picnic Committee

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

Longtime Member L.D. Washington Has Passed

L.D. Washington
(courtesy of F. Segura)

The heartfelt words below, posted on the Tribute Wall  of L. D. Washington's Obituary by Sam Mihalik are reflective of the way L.D. touched many people in his life including many friends within ASGA. Please join Sam and the rest of us in celebrating the life of such a great man. 

"I am positively heartbroken at the loss of L.D. - He was a fixture at Morris Williams Golf Course. We would meet and talk early Wednesday mornings when he and I and the rest of the Austin Senior Golf Association had to wait patiently until 7 am to get a tee time for the following Tuesday. L.D. always had a smile that would brighten up the room whenever he entered the Mo Willie pro shop. His eyes told everyone he met that he was a friend.
"We lost touch when tee time registration changed to an online process, but he would occasionally show up to help Charles Organ and Ray Harper move golf carts.
"L.D. was an exceptionally good golfer. After reading the many tributes on this site, I now know he was also a football and basketball star. It is truly sad that we know so very little about someone until they've passed on. He was truly a gentle and loving person and we will miss him and that wonderful smile of his on the golf course." --Sam Mihalik ASGA Secretary/Treasurer

Please check the obituary in the first link below and pay tribute or read other tributes on the second link. 

 

https://www.statesman.com/obituaries/p0152851

https://www.alcbf.com/obituaries/L-Washington/#!/TributeWall

The picture you see with him and a car is one that Frank Segura, past ASGA President and friend of L.D. provided for us to post. What a great picture..What a smile!!

The Board of Directors and all members of ASGA offer our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends as you celebrate his life. He made the world a much greater place and his memories will inspire others into the future.

Travis McWhorter

ASGA President