Newsletter

Division Challenge Tournament

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On July 5th 2019 at Deer Creek Golf Club to benefit our Military all 5 divisions will participate in a “Division Challenge”. Each Division will be represented by 28 golfers from their respective division for bragging rights and payment to all the winners. Price of $45.00 per golfer includes golf, lunch (served inside), skins, and all prize money. There will be at least 84 winners.

This event will be a 2-person scramble made up of 14 teams from each division. We will use the same handicap format as used in all Metro Senior Scramble events. Every score will count including handicap divided by 14 teams to come up with one final score for that division.

Each team must play from the same tee box. This must be decided before play starts. Included in the price will be a skins game from each tee box. There will be no CTP’s awards for this event.

Players may sign up as a 2-person team (from the same division) or as a single and be matched with other singles from their same division. Teams of 4 will consist of 2-twosomes, with each team from a different division.

Only the first 28 players from each division will be in the event. A wait list by division, if necessary, will be kept. Wait list golfers will be notified by July 1st.

Sign-up with Credit Card Online:

US Postal Mail-in W/Check Form:

Larry Roth

Metro Seniors VP

2019 Special Events Update

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There are a few updates to the Special Events for 2019:

  • The date for the Founders’ Day event at Whitmoor CC has been changed to                 20 August 2019
  • Bob Roussin will be the Event Leader for the Pick Your Partner 2-Person Scramble at Missouri Bluffs GC on 15 July 2019
  • Frank McLaughlin will be the Event Leader for the Best Ball 4-Person Scramble at Sunset Hills CC on 17 July 2019


Rules Roundtable

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Hello fellow metro senior members my name is Gary Brown I am the leagues Rules Chairman. The members of the Rules Committee and myself are going to be making regular monthly posts trying to clarify the rules that we all must play by. This will keep our league a great place to play the game we love both now and in the future. We all compete for the same thing, a spot in our championship, so it is important that we all play by the same rules and understand how the rules can be applied. Sometimes to our advantage and sometimes not so much.  I have decided to call it the “Rules Roundtable” and I will attempt to address a new rule every other week. I hope everyone finds this new segment interesting and enjoys learning more about the rules of golf.

As you all know we play by the USGA rules with some exceptions for the metro seniors. Those exceptions will be the target of my rules roundtable. We are a handicapped league to make it fair for everyone. So if you’re picking up putts or not counting all your strokes you may be unintentionally lowering your handicap and costing yourself strokes and prize money every week you play. By the way, none of our exceptions concern “gimmes” or “mulligans” and the USGA does not allow for either. Every stroke up to 9 must be counted to keep our league fair for everyone.

If you have other questions about rules you can send them to me at rules.questions@gkbrown.net. 

I recently attended a rules adherence meeting with the division VP’s, the President, other Board members and a few members of the Rules Committee. We discussed all types of rules violations and how to handle those violations. There were several solutions discussed. I must admit some were better than others and some were pretty harsh. The Executive Committee is serious about having everyone play by the same rules.

Let’s all hope for a great 2019 and a couple more rounds this year.

Author: Gary Brown

Look for our next post discussing the “Provisional Ball Rule” 

Membership Renewal – Get It Done Now!

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Time is running out! December 31 deadline!

As of Dec 10, about 2/3 of members have renewed their membership for 2019.  SMART!

Each Division 1-5 has about 50 members who have not yet renewed.  They really must renew before January 1 to :

  • Guarantee their spot in the same Division
  • Get the earliest registration for Special Events and possibly Metro Plus
  • Be able to register as a team for Special Events
  • Get new announcements for 2019

Make sure your playing partners are signed up now.  Don’t want any surprises in January. For more information on signups – CLICK HERE

Course Handicaps – Tool

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We get asked about handicaps all the time.  Always a topic of discussion.

We have several posts and pages about handicaps on this website.  The real technical explanation can be found (CLICK HERE). 

Calculating handicaps guides (similar to GHIN) is simple in concept but requires manipulation of a fair amount of data.  The data is best handled in a spreadsheet or database for the best control and computation.  Calculating a Course Handicap is simpler, but still requires course, tee and player data.

To make this easier, I have a little tool that might help.  Following spreadsheet requires only 2 data items input – a Handicap Guide (example 19.4) and the first 3 letters of the course (example – inn for INNSBROOK).  Below is a PDF file as example.

Download (PDF, 11KB)

Once input the sheet presents the course and tee data (Forward and Back) and it calculates course handicaps for each tee for the specific input Handicap Guide.

This can be downloaded to a smartphone.  If you can open and input to spreadsheets on your phone, you can run your handicap anywhere, anytime.

Please note – this uses current data for most of our 2018 courses.  It must be updated for the 2019 season  In addition I’ll be adding the Special Events courses and the Metro Plus courses.

If you are interested in getting a working copy, send me an email at

pres.metro.sr@gmail.com

Email Scam Running Now

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There is an email scam running now that appears to include Metro Seniors addresses.  We have a lot of folks that use email lists.  Any one of these individuals could have had their email lists accessed.  The “sender” may not be the source of the email list but simply on a list that was found.  

There are no attachments and no evidence of malware in the message.

WHAT TO DO?  Simply delete this message.  Don’t reply to it.  

The scam message is addresses from someone you will know or recognize.  The first message looks something like this:

URGENT REQUEST   

xxxxx yyyyyFri, Nov 16, 6:31 PM (13 hours ago)
Hi there, I need a favor from you. I’d appreciate if you could email me back asap. Thanks xxxxxx

A second message may look like this:

xxxxx  yyyyyyyNov 16, 2018, 7:22 PM (13 hours ago)

I am sorry for bothering you with this mail, I need to get an iTunes gift card for my Niece, Its her birthday but i can’t do this now because I’m currently traveling and i tried purchasing online but unfortunately no luck with that. Can you get it from any store around you? I’ll pay back as soon as i am back. Kindly let me know if you can handle this.
Await your soonest response.
Thanks,
xxxxxx

Division 3 Schedules Revised

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Change happens! The Division 3 schedule has been revised as of 11-15-2018.  2 dates have swapped from the original listings.  Now Oak Valley is played on April 18, 2019 and Columbia Bridges is scheduled for September 5, 2019.   Events Calendar has also been updated.

Division 3 VP Gary Maule has posted the latest Division 3, Starter/Scorer and Mentors schedules.  GREAT JOB GARY!  Almost all Starter/Scorer slots are filled.  

If you have not signed up yet, do so quickly, please.

CLICK HERE to see the Division 3 Schedules.

2019 Membership Renewal Now Open

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CLICK HERE for Renewal Forms

Membership Renewal for 2019 season is open from November 1 through December 31, 2018.  If you want to renew, stay in your current division, and keep you handicap history intact fr the 2019 season you must renew BEFORE Dec 31, 2018.

Why the time limit to Dec 31 for renewals?

We limit each division membership to about 160.  This puts about 90 to 120 people on our courses each week.  More people overcrowd the course giving 5 hour plus rounds.  Pace of play at or near 4:30 is important.  This stops overcrowding.

We have a number of golfers (non-members) who wish to join, but we give current members priority up to Dec 31.   After that new golfers may join with the same priority as renewing members. Our Thursday divisions (3, 4, and 5) at usually at the limit.  If you delay past Dec 31, you just might not get back into your regular division.

We open registration for Special Events and Metro-Plus events only to members properly registered (renewing or new) on Jan 1, 2019 but.  If you wait to renew later than Dec 31, you may not be able to register for Special or Plus.  These usually fill up fast.

Don’t hesitate.  Do it now.  December 31 is coming fast!

CLICK HERE for Renewal Forms

Add Division 9 for FREE

If you are a member of Division 1-5 you can join Division 9 FREE.  You can play in Division 9 (9 hole tournament at Riverside, Wednesday mornings, mid-March through mid-November.  Play is fast, cheap (as little as $12 a round), easy, and fun.  It is great warm-up or practice for Thursday or Friday tournaments.

Division 9 – Add an 18 Hole Division for only $45

Also – Division 9 only members – join one of our 18 hole divisions for only $45 more than your Division 9 membership of $20.  You play only the events you want.  20 to 30 D1-5 members already play on Wednesday too.   Join them on Thursday or Friday.  Sign up as a NEW MEMBER for Division 1-5.  If you have already renewal for Division 9 for 2019, your $20 fee will be refunded once confirmed.

Metro Seniors – Year End

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The attached PDF file at the bottom is a summary of the 2018 season for Metro Seniors.  This was presented to the Board of Governors and was used for the presentation to the General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, November 13, 2018.

We have a wonderful organization in Metro St. Louis Seniors Golf Association.  The organization has been blessed with strong leadership for many years.  We truly stand on the shoulders of giants!

The Board and Committees are staffed by members who are dedicated and driven to make the organization stronger and better every year.  

We are a volunteer organization.  Many of our current leaders have been serving you for several years.  Please be sure that you express your appreciation for each of them.  Without them you simply would not have as much fun!

Every year we have at least 4 to 8 positions on the Board, in Committees, or in our Officers that are vacated.  We are filling most roles. But, we can do more with more help.  If you have ideas for improvements, you can help drive those forward.  Don’t wait for us to ask. Tell your Board Directors. Tell your VP. Tell the President.  Help and lead us to make your suggestions become reality.

In the next 5 years, we can expect that almost every one in current leadership will be replaced.  We need some of our newer and younger members to step up NOW to be ready to lead us into the next decade.

I want a strong, viable Metro Seniors serving me and the St. Louis area in 10 and 20 years when I’m 80 and perhaps even 90.  

It has been a pleasure for me to serve on the Board and as 1st VP and now President over the last 6 years.  I look forward to the next few years.

The rewards are all personal:

  • Contributing to a exceptional organization
  • Making improvements for our collective future
  • Working with a great group of people
  • Extending friendships beyond your foursome
2018 YE SummaryDownload