LA GOLF News and Announcements

At our tournament at Brookside Golf Course on Saturday, October 27, L A Golf Singles held its third annual Arnie's Army Battles Prostate Cancer fund-raiser. Arnie's Army supports the Prostate Cancer Foundation, which has become the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. Our contributions this year totalled $2,087, our highest level yet!

The Arnie's Army event was a Closest to the Pin Contest on the 15th hole at Brookside’s #2 course. The winning tee shot was made by Tom Fisher! Tom was awarded an Arnold Palmer Signature putter by Callaway for his great effort. Congratulations to Tom!

This year, we were able to hold a raffle for additional gifts - rounds of golf, a Roger Dunn gift card (contributed by Fred Simon and Ellen Sato) and golf balls (balls contributed by Northrop Grumman, through Kitty Curley).

Winners were:
Foursome at Crystalaire: Mike Nielson
Twosome at Ojai Valley Inn: Doug Gates
Twosome at Robinson Ranch: Chuck Salgado
Twosome at Black Gold: Sherwin Ng
Twosome at Sierra Lakes: Judy Davin
Twosome at Trilogy: Joyce Boling
Twosomes at Oak Quarry: Susan Blake, Ed Miyashiro
Twosome at River Ridge: Angela Eastman
Twosome at Lakewood: Raeone Prince
$50 Roger Dunn Gift Card*: Angela Eastman
One Dozen Titleist NXT Tour Golf Balls**: Fred Simon, Sherwin Ng (2 times), Peggy San Filipo, Jay Gormley (2 times)
Sleeve of Nike Juice 312 Golf Balls: Sherwin Ng

* Donation made by Fred Simon and Ellen Sato
** Donation made by Northrop Grumman/Kitty Curley

A big Thank You! to all those who participated. Your support and generosity for such a great cause are greatly appreciated.

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At our tournament at Lakewood Golf Course on Saturday, September 29, 2007, L A Golf Singles held its twelfth annual Rally for a Cure, contributing to Komen For the Cure and its support of breast cancer research and educational programs. Our contributions this year totaled a club record $2977, besting last year's record by over $1,000!!!. A huge thank you to all our contributors!

The Rally event was a Closest to the Pin Contest on the 3rd hole at Lakewood. The winning tee shot was made by Venetia Lewis, who was awarded a $65 gift card from eBags.com for her great effort. Congratulations to Venetia! Eleven players reached the green on their tee shots and were awarded Titleist golf balls with the Rally logo.

This year, we were able to hold a raffle for additional gifts - rounds of golf, golf balls, great gifts contributed by Rick Wohlberg (a T-Mobile Side Kick cell phone), and Ellen Sato and Fred Simon (a $50 gift card for Roger Dunn), and other great gifts.

Winners were:
T-Mobile Side Kick Cell Phone*: Dick Kaatz
$50 Roger Dunn Gift Card**: Joyce Boling
Twosome at Ojai Valley Inn: Candy Tobias
Twosome at Robinson Ranch: Ellen Sato
Twosome at Sierra Lakes: Dori Augustine
Twosome at Trilogy: Michael O'Brien
Twosome at River Ridge: Jim Pinola
Foursome at Crystalaire: Leslie Lentz
Twosomes at Oak Quarry: Paul Fieri and Peggy Mc Cormick
15 Pinnacle Pink Ribbon Golf Balls: Krista Clark
Two Sleeves of Pearlescent Golf Balls: Ed Miyashiro and Carla Johnson
Pink Ribbon Visor/Glove Set: Joyce Boling

* Donation made by Rick Wohlberg
** Donation made by Ellen Sato and Fred Simon

We are grateful for all those who participated. Your generosity is one of the things that makes our group so great!

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Here Come the Rains!

We're getting into the rainy season, so here's an explanation of what happens when there's rain on one of our golf days.
To a large extent, we are at the mercy of the golf course we are playing. Most courses stipulate that if the course remains open, there are no refunds available. On the other hand, most courses don’t want to alienate customers and will work with us.
If we are able to cancel the event and receive a refund, we will do so. And if we are able to do so before reaching the course, we'll cancel early and call all the players (so be sure we have a good phone number for you!).
In many cases, it may be raining in one area but not in others. Don't assume that because it's raining at your house, it's raining at the course! Unless you hear from us, assume that the tournament is on.
If you suspect that there is a cancellation but have not received official word, you can call the course and ask. If you decide that you will not play, regardless of whether the tournament is canceled, be polite and let us know you won't be there!

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Post the Correct Adjusted Score!

I was really surprised when I reviewed the posting sheets for one of our tournaments and found that nearly a quarter of our members adjusted their scores incorrectly! And these weren’t new members who might not know all the procedures!

As a reminder, to adjust your score, you look at your handicap on the course you are playing, NOT your handicap index! So you may have a handicap index of 9, for example, but you will very RARELY have a single digit handicap on a Southern California course.

To adjust your score, you compute your handicap for the tees you are playing (always shown on the scorecards for our tournaments). If your handicap is under 10, you may only post a double bogey on each hole. If your handicap is 10-19, you can post up to a 7 on any hole; for handicaps from 20-29, you can post up to an eight; for handicaps from 30-39, your maximum is 9 strokes, and a course handicap of 40 or more means you adjust anything over a 10.

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As you know, every member of LAGS has a membership in the Southern California Golf Association, which uses the scores you post to calculate your handicap index. According to their rules, you should post all your scores - good and bad - and even post scores where you finished at least 13 holes (by calculating scores on unplayed holes at your adjusted par). So always play by USGA rules and always post your scores.

When you post the scores for LAGS tournament play, post them as regular games NOT as tournaments. Our events do not meet the SCGA's definition of a tournament, which would be something like a club championship tournament. Tournament scores are kept separately in the SCGA database, and if you happen to play extremely well on a tournament round, the SCGA could deduct several strokes from your index as an indication that you may be a sandbagger. This penalty can last a year. So answer the computer's question "Tournament - yes/no" with a NO!

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Most of you know that we are very diligent in our attempts to maintain a good pace of play on the golf course. Not only is it the rule at most golf courses, it is a much more pleasant experience for everyone when each foursome moves from hole to hole without delays. We use a system of “monitoring and motivating” to keep play moving.

Normally on two holes of the 18, we have signs where foursomes write down the time at which they arrived at the tee. Players can look up the times of the earlier foursomes and identify if any foursome ahead has been playing slowly. If there are slow group(s), it’s a good indication that the pace may pick up, as the slow group(s) start to catch up.

The “motivating” part of our program is that we time the completion of the round. If any foursome is more than 15 minutes behind the group ahead of them after the eighteenth hole, all the members of the foursome are disqualified from the LAGS contests (team, closest to the pin and longest putt) and receive a two-stroke penalty on all bets.

We’ve written suggestions about speed of play in the past, but they bear repeating. Here are some of our suggestions on how to maintain a speedy but pleasant pace.

• The key to keeping up is to never get too far behind. Always keep an eye on the group ahead. If you’ve fallen behind on one hole, it isn’t too difficult to catch up on the next hole if you make the effort early.

• Let shorter hitters tee off first. This often means NOT giving honors at the tee, but it can save several minutes when the longer hitters have to wait for the group ahead. This guideline applies on the fairway, too.

• When you and a partner share a cart, leave the cart between your two balls if your shots are relatively close together. Alternatively, where it is safe, you can drop off the first hitter and move the cart to a safe area near the second ball in order to save time.

• Track your errant shots; if you think your ball may be hard to find or may be out of bounds, hit a provisional ball. Don’t search longer than 3 minutes for lost balls. If you didn’t hit a provisional ball, DO NOT return to the previous shot site - drop a ball where your ball went OB or where you thought you would find your lost ball and take a 2 stroke penalty.

• Continue to putt once you have started, unless you are “mentally unprepared” to continue (we all have those moments, don’t we?). When you have putted out, collect clubs and the flag so that everyone can make a quick departure from the green. Record scores at the next tee box rather than taking the time at the green.

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When we put together the pairing sheets for our events, we do our best to “mix things up” - having you play with a different partner each time you play. Sometimes it involves quite a bit of gymnastics to accomplish that, particularly on weekends, when we make sure you don’t have ‘repeats” within your foursome, as well as for your partner.

Often, the pairings sheet must be sent to the courses well in advance of our play, and score cards are prepared in advance as well. So while it may not seem like much to make a last minute request for a pairing, or for golfing at a particular time, it can add substantially to the work.

If you would like to request a particular playing partner, please follow these guidelines:
• If possible, make your request in writing when you send in your check.
• For single day events, you must make your request at least 10 days prior to the event.
• For weekend/multi-day events, requests must be made at least 14 days in advance.
Thank you for considering this when you sign up for golf.

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We've been surprised several times this year with the popularity of some of our events. On occasion, members have sent in their sign-ups before or at the deadline and still missed out.

Getting your sign-up in before the reservation deadline does not guarantee that you will have a spot in the tournament. The deadline is generally the date on which we have to return unused tee times, rooms, etc. to the host facility and pay for the spaces we will be using.

We do our best to estimate demand and prebook as many rooms and tee times as we will need. If we experience a shortfall, we try to add space. Sometimes increasing the space isn't possible due to other reservations at the course or hotel, daylight considerations, etc. That can cause space to be limited and your name to go on a waiting list.

The best advise we have is to sign up as early as possible. Remember that you can write separate checks for each event; your check isn't deposited until after the event, so you won't have an immediate hit to your bank account by signing up early. Early sign-ups also give us more opportunity to meet extra demand by adding spaces before courses are booked up with other early bookings.

We want to accommodate as many people as possible. You can help us succeed by signing up early for the events you'd like to play.

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No more emailed tee times! Check our website for our tee time messages-when you play, with whom, and other relevant details. Click on Info, then on Next Tee Times and you're there! Times will be posted by Wednesday of the week of the event. Bookmark the page, while you're at it!

Need to sign up for a tournament? Want to see who scored well at last week's event? You'll find all this and more at www.lagolfsingles.org!

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When we have a two - or more - day tournament, remember that members who sign up for the entire weekend of play have priority. That way we are assured of a more balanced weekend and don't end up turning away players who would have filled by the weekend more evenly.

As tournaments fill up, people who signed up for less that the entire weekend could get moved onto the waiting list. You will be notified if this happens to you. So if you really want to play a course on a weekend tournament, clear your calendar and sign up for the whole weekend. We know you'll enjoy it!

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We are doing more and more of our correspondence on the Internet rather than by phone call or letter. We are using email to look for golfers where we have openings at tournaments, give corrections, directions and special instructions.

Don't miss out. Make sure we have your email address so you'll be in the loop, too!

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