Metro Plus membership applications started with an email to Metro Seniors members who had responded to previous emails.

We have now added the Metro Plus application information to the website.

CLICK HERE for Metro Plus Application information and links

Credit Card transactions are now reopened for Membership Renewals and New Membership Applications effective immediately. 1-7-2019. Special Events and Metro Plus will open January 9, 2019 by 9 AM.

The problem that developed with our PayPal account was completely resolved within a few days during the holiday period. We decided all close credit card transactions for an abundance of caution until we were completely satisfied that our account and issues were completely clear.

The actual incident involved only the Metro Senior account. It was very short and security procedures locked our account access immediately. Along with PayPal security procedures, we have strengthened our own security rules and education to prevent this in the future.

No member information or credit transactions were involved.

Membership Renewals have been extended to January 31, 2019 to accommodate members who may have waited until late December to renew. Paper form renewals remained open during the credit card outage.

As announced, we decided to delay Special Events registrations opening to Wednesday, January 9, 2019. This allowed time to make sure our credit card transactions were secure. Plus for fairness, all members had fair notice for the opening.

Links for the Special Events and Metro Seniors registration will open by 9:00 AM on January 9, 2019.

2019 Rules Roundtable

Well 2019 is bringing a lot of new rules changes and I’m going to try to highlight some of them from time to time. We play by the rules to keep it fair for everyone as we are all competing each week for a spot in our championship.

Last year I had more questions about the Provisional Ball rule than anything else. Most of the questions came from a competitor’s playing partners. Trying to determine if they had played the provisional ball correctly. So, one thing you’ll notice that’s different this year is we don’t have an exception for the Provisional Ball Rule in our “Metro Seniors rules exceptions”. The USGA plays the Provisional Ball Rule with a stroke and distance penalty and can only be played with the parameters described below in the USDA rule.
The Metro Seniors removed our exception this year to try and clear up some confusion.
We took away the distance penalty for a Lost or Out of Bounds shot a couple years ago. When a ball is determined lost or out of bounds, it may be dropped within 2 club lengths (your driver) from where it went out or is determined lost, no closer to the hole. Since Metro Seniors has dropped the distance penalty it has also eliminated your need to go back to play your next shot. Your only options are to assess a 1 stroke penalty and play from within your 2 club drop area or assess a 1 stroke penalty and play your next shot from the same place, before moving forward to search.

In my opinion with the metro seniors removing the distance penalty it is rarely to your advantage to play a provisional ball. There are some exceptions that can only be determined on the course during play. Please familiarize yourself with the USGA rule, so you can use this rule to your advantage by making an informed decision on the course.

 A provisional ball may still be played according to the USGA rule 27-1 & 27-2.

Author: Gary Brown 

27-1. Stroke and Distance; Ball Out of Bounds; Ball Not Found Within Three Minutes

a. Proceeding Under Stroke and Distance

At any time, a player may, under penalty of one stroke, play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5), i.e., proceed under penalty of stroke and distance.

Except as otherwise provided in the Rules, if a player makes a stroke at a ball from the spot at which the original ball was last played, he is deemed to have proceeded under penalty of stroke and distance.

b. Ball Out of Bounds

If a ball is out of bounds, the player must play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5).

c. Ball Not Found Within Three Minutes

If a ball is lost as a result of not being found or identified as his by the player within three minutes after the player’s side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it, the player must play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5).

Exception: If it is known or virtually certain that the original ball, that has not been found, has been moved by an outside agency (Rule 18-1), is in an obstruction (Rule 24-3), is in an abnormal ground condition (Rule 25-1) or is in a water hazard (Rule 26-1), the player may proceed under the applicable Rule.

Penalty for Breach of Rule 27-1:

Match play – Loss of hole; Stroke play – Two strokes.

27-2. Provisional Ball

a. Procedure

If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play another ball provisionally in accordance with Rule 27-1. The player must:

(i)

announce to his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play that he intends to play a provisional ball; and

(ii)

play the provisional ball before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball.

If a player fails to meet the above requirements prior to playing another ball, that ball is not a provisional ball and becomes the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 27-1); the original ball is lost.

Registration start for Special Events and Metro Plus are being delayed to January 9, 2019. This includes online/credit card and paper/check signup systems. This is to allow fair notification to all members for the date changes.

We temporarily halted all credit card transactions effective 12-28-2018 due to a communications problem with PayPal. All links to the CC forms and process were removed. The issue is being resolved now. We are delaying restart of credit card transactions until January 9, 2019 to allow confirmation problem resolution.

Membership Renewals, New Member Applications can continue but will require using the paper forms, check payment, and postal mail. Membership Renewals deadline will be extended to January 31, 2019 to allow for this change. Credit card payments for Member Renewals and New Member applications will also restart on January 9, 2019

Registration for Membership Renewals and New Memberships are still open with paper forms, check payments and postal mail delivery.

We regret this, but are working to get all issues resolved ASAP. We will update the membership when more detailed information is available.

We have temporarily halted our credit card transactions effective 12-28-2018. All links to the CC forms and process have been removed.

Membership Renewals, New Member Applications can continue but will require using the paper forms, check payment, and postal mail. Membership Renewals deadline will be extended to January 31, 2019 to allow for this change.

The Credit Card issue appears to be in communicating transactions. It also appears to affect only a few membership transactions over the last 1 to 2 days. We are working with the CC system now to resolve any outstanding issues, but may require a few days to get this resolved.

Registration for Membership Renewals and New Memberships are still open with paper forms, check payments and postal mail delivery.

Special Events registrations using Online/Credit Card and Paper Form/Checks have been delayed to January 9.

We regret this, but are working to get all issues resolved ASAP. We will update the membership when more detailed information is available.

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
  

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”