The ASGA Spring Event is Here!

This year the event is being played at the Morris Williams golf course April 26 and 28, Tuesday and Thursday.  This is a two-person event where we play:

Best Ball Low Net on Tuesday; and
Scramble on Thursday.  

Some event details are provided below:

• All members wishing to play will only have to sign up one time for the two-day event.  Sign up as usual anytime during Wednesday through Friday the week prior.  Be sure to group your members as 2-person teams.
• If you’re riding in a cart, ask the course how they want to handle the cart fee
• On Tuesday at the course, you will be requested to pay for both days green fees on the first day.
• Make sure you turn in your legible scorecards before leaving the course. Ensure there are two separate signatures and the card is dated. As you are keeping score, please spend a little extra effort in making sure the scores clear and complete player names are easily understood.  
• At the conclusion of play, flighting will be based on low handicap member of the twosome.
• Tuesday’s first round scores and flight information will be posted Wednesday prior to Thursday’s play beginning.

REMEMBER: IF YOU HIT YOUR TEE SHOT IN THE WATER ON HOLE #3,
THE DROP ZONE IS THE RED TEE BOX

And now for a bit of Golf Humor
Question: What did you get on your last hole?
Answer: Depressed

I’m so bad at golf that I have to get my ball retriever re-gripped more than my clubs.

If your opponent can’t remember whether he shot a six or seven on the hole, chances are he had an 8 on it.


I hope all your drives are in the direction you want them to be and all of your first putts find the bottom of the cup.

At your service,
Sand Trap

PGA Tournament Looking for Volunteers--Can You Help?

The upcoming PGA Professional Championship is looking for volunteers to assist in the running of their tournament. They asked us if we would please let our membership know of their need for volunteers.

From their website: "The field is comprised of players who advanced from the 41 PGA Section Championships, along with Past Champions. The low 20 scorers at Omni Barton Creek will earn a berth in the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma."

More information and volunteer registration link below.

 
ASGA Board of Directors 

_______________________________________________________________

 Date/Location: April 17 – 20, 2022 | Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa | Austin, Texas

Join us as we host the 2022 PGA Professional Championship at Omni Barton Creek Resort. Adults wishing to volunteer must be 18 years of age or older by April 13, 2022 to complete the application.

 The Volunteer Service Fee is $25.00. For this fee, you will receive:

• A volunteer shirt and hat

• Lunch provided

• Opportunity to participate in a volunteer appreciation day that includes golf on the courses at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa

Registration link:

Upcoming Tournaments--Good Stuff!

 Note to readers: Sand Trap is in the Building…

Spring is Here!

Redbud tree in bloom

Spring is in the air, tee times are starting earlier, we may actually get some grass on the fairways and hopefully good greens. Our ASGA Spring golf event is coming soon. This year it is being played at Morris Williams April 26 and 28.  This is a two-person event where we play Best Ball Low Net on day 1 and Scramble on day 2.  Mark your calendars and reserve those dates. The Spring golf event is one of, if not the most, enjoyable events we play during the year. More information to follow.

Fall Annual ASGA Championship

At the last board meeting, the annual ASGA championship was discussed. This year it’s being held on September 6 and September 13. Over the past several years, we have struggled to get seventy members to participate. In order to get more members participating the Board agreed to make a few changes with more to come. First, it was agreed instead of playing the tournament on Tuesday and Thursday of the same week, this year we’ll play on Tuesday of two consecutive weeks.  Playing two rounds in the September heat of the same week can be difficult; we understand some members would only like to play one ASGA round a week.

The first round of play will be at Morris Williams. The second and championship round will be held at Jimmy Clay the following Tuesday. Members will sign up for tee times in your normal groups for the first round. Hopefully playing with your regular foursome will be better and more enjoyable for members. Afterwards members will be placed into flights based on handicap, and tee times will be assigned based on your first-round scoring within your flight for the second round championship play, lower handicaps starting first.  Several other possibilities to make the event more enjoyable for you are under discussion, so I’m told. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on to a Board member. More information to come as we get closer.

 

Slow Play

Last week at Lions our slowest round was 4 hours, 30 minutes. Thanks. We're improving.

Golf Humor

Gimme gimmie…?

A “gimmie” can best be described as an agreement between two golfers…..neither of whom can putt very well.

Why do golfers always carry a spare pair of trousers with them?

In case they get a hole in one.

 

I hope all your drives are in the direction you want them to be and all your putts find the bottom of the cup.

 

At your service,

Sand Trap

 

Time to Clean Up the Scorecards!

 Sand Trap decided to take the week off, so I’m substituting for today.

Each week our handicap chair, Bill Burke, does a magnificent job keying in our scores, so we can keep an equitable handicap for our members. But errors are occurring because some scorecards are practically unreadable. This in turn causes extra work for Bill and me to re-align and re-post results. 

Our rules state that no one should keep his own scorecard. A byproduct of that would be that all scores should be legibly written, and checked and compared at the end of the round so there is no confusion as to exactly what each player’s score was, by anyone who reads it.

Here’s an example of a scorecard that failed miserably. (Players’ names are covered to prevent shaming of the culprits)… :-)

 

(click for larger image)

What’s wrong you say? Well….

1.   No scorer, no attest, no date
2.  TWO scores recorded for same player for a given hole. 
3.  Front nine total unclear (two players). 
4. No back nine total score, no total gross score, ALL players (dark black markings are Bill’s)

This also implies there was no second scorecard done to compare accuracy (given that no one bothered to total the card).

Fortunately for one player, Bill took the time to review this card again, and adjusted the score for lucky Player 3.

In the future, you should expect a DQ for the card if it looks like the one above.

How should a card look? Here’s an example:

 

what your card should look like

So spend that extra 5 minutes at the end of the round to check that your card is complete, accurate, and LEGIBLE. Use LastName, First Initial to identify a given player. Bill doesn't know everybody's last name.

Thanks in advance for helping out,

Bruce Jones
Web Administrator

Members Handicap Profile -- And a Technology Assist(huh?)

First up, don’t forget to move your clocks forward one hour Saturday night. Time change means daylight comes later. But it stays later, too.

Help with the greens

We have noticed a lot of ball marks on the greens lately.  I doubt that ASGA is responsible for all of them since we rotate around the courses and each course has a lot of customers playing every day.  With that said, if you notice an un-repaired ball mark, please take the time to repair it. One thing I do think some ASGA members are guilty of is dragging their feet around the hole.  Almost every week we notice scratches around the holes where someone was dragging their feet. Please look back after you finish and if you have accidentally left scratches on the green, take the time to tap them down. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

ASGA Handicap Profile

I have been curious for some time about our membership’s handicap profile. How many golfers we have with single digit handicaps, etc. I went to our website and printed the ASGA Handicap Listing as of March 4, 2022. Then I counted how many golfers we have in four handicap ranges. Below is what I found from the 188 handicaps listed:      

Handicap Ranges	# of Members whose Handicap falls in this range	Percent of Membership
0 – 10	30	15.9%
11 - 20	83	44.1%
21 - 30	62	32.9%
31 and higher	13	7.1%

Three suggested rule changes I have for the board

I doubt seriously the board will approve but below are three rule changes I would like our board to consider:

1.  A sliced or hooked ball into the rough shall be lifted and placed on fairway to a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough with no penalty. We seniors should not be penalized for tall grass which a groundskeeper failed to mow.
   
   
2. A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree.  This is simply bad luck. The senior player must estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there.
   
   
3. There shall be no such thing as a "lost" ball.  The missing ball is on or near the course and will eventually be found and pocketed by someone else, making it a stolen ball. No penalty will be enforced.

With the board following these recommendations many of us can improve our handicap significantly!

Technology Assist

Bruce (our webmaster) mentioned the other day about a "button" for our phones that can make it easier to find the website (so you can see how far you've slipped in Grand Prix Points!). He provided these videos for posting. So don't blame me if it doesn't work.😄😄😄

How to Add a Web Shortcut to your Android phone

(When the video starts, click on the square in the lower right-hand corner for full screen view)


How to Add a Web Shortcut to your iPhone

 

I hope your drives are long and straight and all your putts find the hole.  Most of all, we hope everyone has fun.

As always,

At your service,

Sand Trap