First Tee Collection / Donations at 2018 General Meeting

by
Looking for a way to make more space in your garage or basement?
Get those extra golf clubs and old but usable bags and even used (or new shoes) to the Metro Seniors Member meeting on March 13 and make a donation to First Tee.  Maybe you can even get a tax deduction for 2018 for your donation.
Past President Bob Zaruba is organizing Metro St. Louis  Seniors Golf Association collections at the General Meeting for the First Tee Charity.  Donate your excess golf gear for great use with their charity program for kids.
First Tee will be at the Kirkwood Community Center about 12:15 – 1:00 on Tuesday March 13 – right before the annual spring meeting.  Get there early, make your donation, and meet friends at your Division Table before the meeting.  Parking gets full early.
First Tee gladly accepts golf clubs that are no older than 15 years old, golf bags that are in good usable condition and golf balls.  Sorry, we cannot accept anything with alcohol advertising.
Want more information about First Tee – CLICK HERE

With the 2nd Swing Club Donation Program you can put any of your old equipment to great use and make a huge impact. The value of your used clubs and equipment is sent to generate cash donations.

Can’t make the General Meeting????  You can still make a donation that will benefit First Tee of Greater St. Louis.  The following directions will help.

HERE ARE A FEW TIPS FOR MAKING YOUR EQUIPMENT DONATION:

First Tee has an online donation form that includes a detailed valuation for lots of equipment.  If you use their form, you can get a detailed tax valuation summary for your donation.

Click here to get started.

  • When completing the donation form, fill in our chapter name to ensure the donation is directed to us (there are 165+ chapters so this is important!).
  • If you have equipment to donate that you cannot find in the system, add it to your shipping box and make a note in the “notes” section of the donation form.
  • You can also donate golf balls, apparel, golf bags, range finders, etc. 2nd Swing’s staff will process the items and contact you about their donation value.
  • When shipping your equipment to 2nd Swing, please print your FREE shipping labels and include a copy of your donation summary in each box. The donation summary can be printed directly from the website or from your email confirmation.
  • A donation receipt will be sent to you within 3-4 weeks of receiving the donation. Our chapter will receive your donation within a month.

2018 Championship Tournament Brackets

by

The Championship Tournament for Metro Seniors is split into 4 “Brackets”, each one representing 25% of the total membership in Divisions 1 through 5 as of January 31.  All Metro Seniors members are required to renew their membership for the next year by December 31.  Then, each year on January 31, after all the renewals have been processed, the handicap index (or handicap guide as it is called in OurGolfStats.com) for all members are reviewed, and the lowest 25% determine the range for Bracket 1, the next lower 25% determine Bracket 2 range, etc.

These Brackets, unlike the Flights in each Division, do not change each week.  They are set for the year.  Golfers handicap guides may change after each time that they play, but these ranges for identifying the Brackets for qualifying for the Championship Tournament, do not change during the year.

Where one stands in qualifying for the Championship Tournament can be found by accessing the Weekly Results Directory for 2018 and clicking on the Championship Qualification link.  The top 75 qualifiers in each Bracket are listed on that report.  The report is updated weekly after the results of the Division tournaments are posted.  One must play at least 10 times in the first 18 weeks of the season in order to actually qualify.

For 2018, the handicap guide ranges for the 4 Brackets are as follows:  

Download (PDF, 93KB)

Electronic Score Card Testing – 2018

by

Electronic Score Cards are moving into pilot testing for weekly tournaments at the start of 2018 season.

Want to be part of the testing?  Want to get the tournament results out faster?  Volunteer to be part of the testing team.

We need 8 to 10 (or more) volunteers who:

  • Have an internet connected smartphone (Iphone or Andriod) – most are
  • Know how to access website on their phone
  • Are willing to help others
  • Are interested in helping make our scoring process better, faster, less expensive

How to volunteer?   Email to David Wicks – David.L.Wicks@gmail.com  (or tell Rick Hines or Tom Stiern)

A couple of meetings are being planned for February (probably about 2 hours).

We initially will be organizing tests for Division 2 and Division 5.  Volunteers will be trained on the “electronic score card” (really easy).  Volunteers will also help plan the full scale data entry for specific weekly tournaments.

Volunteers may also demonstrate the score card at the General Membership meeting in March.

When the season starts, we expect that a team of volunteers (4 to 6) will run the tests.  They will also show playing members how to enter their own score cards.

Want to see a working test score card?  CLICK HERE

Only Division 1 (2017) members’ numbers and 2017 dates are set up for the test.  You can click to chose the courses, the members, and the tees.  You input numbers (1 to 9) for the hole by hole scores.  Scores are totaled automatically.

Then SUBMIT the final data.  It is easy, accurate, and once you do a few, it will be fast.

 

 

Entry List for Special Events Now Posted

by

The entry list for all of the Special Events have now been posted.  The Founder’s Day tournament has filled up quicker than last year and a waiting list has been started.  Waiting lists for the 2-Man Ryder Cup and 2-Man Pick Your Partner will be starting with the next entries for both of those tournaments due to their filling up quicker than expected.

Close to Pin Holes – Weekly Schedule

by

Revised 3-20-2018 – Yardages adjusted for a few holes per Handicap Committee review.

The Division VPs have the primary responsibility for selection of the CTP holes and positioning (Forward and Back) for each weekly tournament.  in 2017, Rick Hines, VP Division 5, pulled together a consolidated list of suggested CTP location for each weekly tournament that is included here.

We expect that most Divisions will be using these positions.  However, the VPs may make changes as they feel appropriate and will confirm via email to the Starters before a tournament.   Since most of our courses continue from year to year, we will make CTP changes as needed for new courses added to the weekly tournaments,

This will give you a peek before you get to the course.  This will be included online as an additional resource.

Selection of the holes requires some thought to make this competition fair and challenging without picking holes that are excessively long or short.  We try to have both a Forward and a Back CTP on each of the front and back nine.  However, some courses don’t have a good layout.

Forward CTP Holes

  • 110 to 115 Yards Average
  • 145 Yards Max
  • 83 Yards Min

Back CTP Holes

  • 140 to 145 Yards Average
  • 165 to 170 Yards Max
  • 100 to 105 Yards Min

Several courses will have both the Forward (Red) CTP and the Back (Yellow) CTP on the same hole.  This is to prevent having exceptionally long or short holes.  For example, the 190 yard par 3s at The Prairies or Florissant or the 225 yard 18th at Normandie would not be included.

The STARTERS can use this list instead of selecting CTP holes by themselves.  They will use the VP email instructions or pick used the suggested CTP holes and position in the spreadsheet.    However, STARTERS will still prepare the CTP Cards for the selected holes and get these to the first group or the hole assigned group.

We will simplify the Starter’s Instructions and delete the detailed description on selecting Closest To Pin locations for each weekly tournament.

Suggested CTP for 2018 Weekly Tournaments 

Download (PDF, 67KB)

Division 9 – Try It, You May Like It!

by

Pop Quiz!

  1. What is Division 9?
  2. Where and when is Division 9?
  3. Who can play in Division 9?
  4. How does Division 9 play affect you handicap in Divisions 1 – 5?
  5. What does it cost to join Division 9?
  6. What does it cost to play with Division 9?
  7. Why should you be playing in Division 9?

 

  1. Division 9 is our little secret for even more fun and fellowship.  Nine holes of competitive golf like Division 1 – 5, with many continuing to play a full 18 (final nine for fun, practice, grins, whatever)!
  2. Division 9 plays every Wednesday morning from about March 15 to about November 15 at Riverside Golf Course in Fenton, Mo.  Start time is about sunrise with about 1 1/2 hour registration.  It is a great way to extend your golf season.
  3. Any registered member of Metro St. Louis Seniors Golf can join and play in Division 9.
  4. Trick Question – It does NOT affect your handicap, qualification for championship, or eligibility for Special Events.
  5. Division 9 only members pay an annual registration fee of $28.  Division 1 – 5 members can join Division 9 for $2 the first time playing plus $1 for each round for prize payout.
  6. Fees to play in Division 9 (green and cart) are $21 for a full 18 holes to as little as $12 for 9 hole walkers.
  7. Why add Division 9 to your schedule? Easy!
    1. Fun, inexpensive, competitive golf on Wednesday morning.
    2. No commitment required, just show up and make up a foursome.
    3. Relatively close location for almost all of our Missouri members.
    4. Great way to get in some practice before Thursday or Friday events.
    5. Extend your season with a great group of golfers.
    6. Great way for new golfers to get into Metro Seniors, learn rules, forming foursomes, meeting other golfers, making new friends.
    7. Will not affect you handicap or anything else in Divisions 1 – 5.
    8. More opportunities for Hole In One (Metro Seniors pays $100 for Division 9, too)
    9. Great way for golfer with health issues or simply cutting back on golf to stay in the game.

Now that you are interested, CLICK HERE for even more information.

 

2018 Schedule now on OurGolfStats.com

by

The 2018 schedule for each of the 5 Metro Seniors 18 hole Divisions has now been entered into the OurGolfStats database. You can review (and print, if you wish) your Division’s schedule after you sign in to your Division and select menu option #5 (Schedule) on your Division specific page.

Until January 1, the Schedule will contain dates for both 2017 and 2018. The Schedule on OurGolfstats documents:

  1. which golf course you play on what date
  1. the time the tournament starts
  1. whether that tournament is a “shotgun” start – or not. For the shotgun tournaments, all golfers start at this time (but, be at the course no later than 45 minutes before the time as all golfers are checking in with the Starters at the same time). Also, for non-shotgun tournaments, checking in with the Starters ends 1 HOUR after this posted time. This 1 hour window is new this year so remember this change.
  1. which tees are the “regular”, “forward” and “ladies” tees for the day
  1. what the yardage, tee rating and slope are for each of the tees being played. All tee ratings and slopes are reviewed before the season starts by the Metro Seniors Handicap Committee. Changes will be made at that time as the Committee determines.

If you are interested in how many strokes are subtracted from your score to calculate your “Net Score”, you can find that information from menu option #2 (Course Handicap) on your Division specific page. This number may change every week since the tee rating and slope changes each week and each golfer’s handicap is updated after every round.