January

The Holidays are winding down and we are getting ready for the 2008 season at El Dorado Park Men’s Club. As your new president, I would like to welcome back our returning members and say hello to our new members for 2008.

Your 2008 Board of Directors is busy getting everything set for another year at El Dorado. We have secured our site for the weekender in the fall and our away trips are set. Team play is set to start the first part of January and we wish both our Saturday and Thursday teams the best of luck and I’m sure they will represent us very well in their matches.

The January Scramble is set and make sure to contact Dennis Tramer is you would like to get on the stand -by list. There usually are a few spots that open up if you want to play.

Make sure to come to the January 8th General Meeting to sign up for the February Select Drive. Starting Times will go quickly .The first few months we have limited daylight to work with so please be patient if your do not get into the tournament. Times will open up after the first few months.

At the meeting, you may also sign up for our first drive trip. Contact Nick Zamora if you are interested.

Again, welcome back and I am looking forward to a great 2008 at El Dorado Men’s Club.

The monthly meeting was held December 11, 2007 in the El Dorado Park Golf Course tent area. The restaurant provided a dinner selection for your nominal donation of $7. President Rich Dennison called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and led the membership in allegiance to our flag.

Past Presidents in attendance: Richard Scoville Steve Shure, Don Marmion, Mike Montgomery, Greg O’Brien, and Bob Livingstone.

Pres. Dennison made comment to the floor that if you used to have Comcast as your Internet Service Provider you need to notify Mike Vaughn or Mark Miller of the change as emails to those addresses are being returned undeliverable.

Bob Livingstone – SCGA Delegate; Bob covered the Rules Chair position as Mel was not able to be at tonight’s meeting. He noted that there are going to be several Rules changes made for 2008 and covered Ball in Hazard, if your ball hits your equipment, giving information on distance, and changes to the long standing rules concerning the flagstick. Lastly Bob advised that our Club Champion, Steve Friend, played the Tournament of Champions and finished in the top half. Way to go Steve.

GOM and Team Play: Terry Fulford, Saturday captain: There were several cards submitted for Gross GOM this month of 73 and less. Scott Paul was the winner with a 71 winning on card off with 35 on the back side. There were also several cards of Net 69 and below. Don Russell was the winner with a Net 61 (83 – 22). Don shot a Net 63 that same week. Mike Vaughn thanked Terry and Larry Lipman for ensuring their prospective Team Play members for this year’s teams have their 2008 Renewal paid so they are on the January SCGA roster. This is a condition of eligibility with SCGA to participate in team Play events.

Dennis Tramer – Director: Home tourney fees are being increased next year to $50. Flights tourneys have been completed. Dennis handed out the prizes, cash for Runner Up, and cash plus a nice trophy for the winners. Results are posted in the usual places.

Mike Montgomery – Communications: Mike wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Mike requested the membership to give the Board a big hand for all that they do for the Club.

Bret Holloway – Special Events: Buy tickets for tonight’s raffle. We have a lot of good stuff to give away. On Saturday each flight will have a Par 3 “In the Circle” and “A” and “B” Flight “In the Circle” on a Par 4 while “C” flight will be “On the Green”. 15-16-17-18 will be the “Down the Stretch “.

Nick Zamora – Entertainment: March 2 we’ll be going to Brookside in Pasadena. Cost will be $85 per player. We will play a 4-man 2-best ball format from the White tees. Rio Hondo, San Clemente, and our Weekender at a course in the Escondido area that used to be Carmel Highlands will all be new courses for us.

Jerry Leininger – Tournaments: This Saturday is the Christmas tournament. We’ll play a Shotgun start at 7:30. Sign in starts at 6:15 in the bar area. Your name can be found both alphabetically and by the hole you are starting on. One person from each team will get your official scorecard. Jason donated range balls for the tournament. Price is $65 to walk and $80 to ride includes Special Events. The restaurant will be ready to serve at 6:00 but no buffet, order off of the menu. Format will be 3-some 2-best ball. If you paid to ride we’ll do our best to accommodate. They only have 80 carts.

Pres. Dennison thanked everyone for the last two years and not causing too much grief. The Board did a great job for him both years.

New Business: Pres. Dennison introduced our 2008 President, Jerry Leininger. Bob Livingstone took a picture of Jerry accepting the gavel from Pres. Dennison. Jerry announced the 2008 Board of Directors and the persons serving in the appointed positions. These will be noted elsewhere in the Newsletter. Newly appointed President Leininger made motion that the Club provide President Dennison with paid dues from here on. Motion approved and unanimously approved.

Raffle tickets continued to be sold. Mike Montgomery called the numbers and Jon Monat and Dan Ahearn handed out the prizes.

50/50 Drawing was for $32. The winner was Eric Sasaki. Since it is Christmas we split it to $20 for Eric and $12 for Jr. Golf.

The Membership drawing tonight was for $70. As we always give the Membership drawing balance away at the Christmas meeting 30 numbers we drawn to help speed up the process (ready golf drawing). The first member’s number drawn that was at the meeting was Rich Gilmore. Rich collected a check from our Treasurer, Al Ostberg. It will start at $50 again at the January meeting.

Our 2007 Christmas tournament started out a little cold and you needed the hand warmers provided. In a couple of hours the weather warmed up and we have a beautiful day for golf. The course was in as good a condition as I’ve seen in some time. Thanks goes to Jerry Hall, our superintendent, and his crew for their hard work in getting the course in such good shape.

The combination of a good golf course and great weather led to some very good scores for the tournament.

Gross winners at 144 were Mel Collins, Doug Jones and Kevin Orr. A flight was won by Jim Byers, Scotty Brown and Jerry Johnson in a card off at 134. In B flight, Mark Harrison, Jerry Hodge, and Don Pichovich shot a 132 for the win. Jim McDavid, Matt Palma and Ken Rademacher turned in a smooth 130 for low score in the C flight. The complete results list is in the newsletter for your reference. I hope everyone had a good time and enjoyed the day.

Beginning Balance Checking Account			$ 34,128.58

DEPOSITS
DUES '08	$ 1,355.00
C.D.	$ 10,464.66
NOV. TOURN	$ 4,183.00
X-MAS TOURN	$ 6,895.00
CKING INT	$ 2.15
FLIGHTS	$ 190.00
RAFFLE	$ 936.00

TOTAL CASH RECEIPTS	$ 24,025.81

SUBTOTAL			$ 58,154.39

DEBITS
LOS ALTOS TROPHY		$ 62.50
THURS TEAM PLAY		$ 550.00
X-MAS RAFFLE		$ 632.46
CLUB CHAMP TOURN ENTRY		$ 100.00
PHONE SUBSIDY		$ 100.00
OCT TOURN		$ 45.00
MENIFEE LAKES		$ 2,235.00
SEASIDE		$ 610.52
NOV TOURN		$ 7,556.00
FLIGHTS		$ 190.00
MEM DRAWING		$ 60.00
MISC EXP		$ 54.25

TOTAL CASH DISBURSEMENTS		$ 12,195.73
CHECKING ACCOUNT BALANCE			$ 45,958.66


		TOTAL FUNDS	$ 45,958.66

Welcome to the “Quadrennial”, or major changes to the USGA Rules of Golf that occur every 4 years. While I mentioned some key changes to The Rules in December, and will talk a little more in depth at the January meeting, there are some distinct changes that took effect on New Years Day.

The biggest change is that you are no longer allowed to get away with hitting a wrong ball from a hazard. If your ball comes to rest within the margin of a hazard (water or bunker) you must now find your ball within 5 minutes. In the past, if you found a ball you could play it and if it wasn’t yours, you got a freebie, and were allowed to start looking for you ball again…NOT ANY MORE! If your ball lay in a bunker, you are allowed to find the ball, using whatever means are necessary, including gently searching within the sand (this is not considered testing the surface, so long as you are truly looking for the ball, and not consciously testing the sand). Once you find your ball, you must recreate the lie – allowing yourself to see just a part of the ball, and then hit it.

Another change is that a flagstick – even if unattended – may be moved if it is likely to influence the movement of a ball in motion. That used to be a “2 shotter” on the guy who moved the flag, now he get’s a thank you from his fellow competitor for saving him some shots.

Giving someone a yardage from your ball or from where you are standing or sitting is no longer considered “advice”, so there is no penalty for asking or answering that question (one of the great changes in the last 28 years if you ask me!).

As Team Play begins, hopefully you remember that EVERY two stroke penalty in Stroke Play is loss of hole in Match Play (OB is stroke and distance, not a two shot penalty!). Some “two-shotters” or loss of hole penalties have changed to “one-shotters” in 2008. They include a ball striking yourself, your partner or either of your equipment, which is now just a one shot penalty.

The final biggie is the elimination of a Rules Official’s biggest enemy “reasonable evidence”. In the past if a ball where hit to an area with a water hazard or gopher mounds, or something similar, there was a question about whether the ball was lost, was in the hazard, was in a burrowing animal hole, whatever…obviously the player would prefer a ball in a hazard (a 1 stroke penalty, and no loss of distance) or a free relief situation. Now, to take the water hazard or free relief option instead of playing a lost ball, it must be a “virtual certainty” that the ball is in the hazard (that is it must by found in the hazard or a witness must verify that it came to rest in the hazard…and that means not just a splash!) or in a gopher hole, etc. This one is confusing so I will cover it in January as well as taking questions. If you want specifics on the changes to the Rules, visit www.usga.org.