A Very Busy May!

Hi Fellow Pinseekers,

May will be our busiest month so far, with the Clyne Soley Tournament on Saturday May 11th, the Swingers/Pinseekers Spring Mixer Tournament on Tuesday May 14th, and our Annual Membership meeting on Tuesday May 21st.  Be sure and mark your calendars!!
Clyne Soley Tournament – Saturday, May 11th
The Ironmen have challenged both the Pinseekers and the Men’s Golf Club to come out and find who is better at the short game on our Par 3 course.  Saturday, May 11th with two shotgun flights at 9am and 11am.  Pick three of your friends (or as many as you have for the socially challenged) and sign up at the Pro Shop to compete.  Cost is $35 which includes greens fees. a Hawaiian themed lunch, and the chance to win hundreds of dollars in prizes.  There will be a long drive contest, 4 closest to the pin contests, a bulls-eye drive accuracy contest, flight winners, and an overall Villages Short Course Champion award.  More information in the attached flyer.
 
Swingers/Pinseekers Spring Mixer – Tuesday, May 14th
One of our two annual Mixers with the Ladies.  Mixed foursomes, competition, and lunch at the Gazebo following.  Always a lot of fun!  Please sign up for the event and make your lunch selection on the signup sheet in the Posting Room.  Sweeps will be awarded that day only to those playing in the Mixer.
Annual Membership Meeting – Tuesday, May 21st, Clubhouse
Our mandatory annual membership meeting will be in the Clubhouse at 11:00 am sharp.  Please sign up with Martin Hoek or the Posting Room and make your lunch selection.  The price of lunch is only $13, since the cost is subsidized from the club treasury.  We will have Officer Elections, club business, recognition of our Player of the Year, lunch, and a guest speaker – Scott Steele talking about some of the benefits of the new rules.  The Nominating Committee met on April 23rd and proposes the following slate of Officers for 2019-2020:  President – David Cook, Vice President – Leighton Horio, Joint Secretaries – Jack Bindon and Tim Short, Treasurer – John Eige, and Activities Chairman – Dick Frey.  Additional nominations will be accepted at the meeting before the vote.
So mark your calendars and prepare for some fun and socializing this month!
Best regards,
David Cook, President

New Local Rules

Scott Steele has updated the Villages Golf Local Rules.

I especially like the Rule about losing a ball in the Italian Cypress Tress – I’ve already had an opportunity to use it.  Also note the new option for the Lost or Out of Bounds balls – it can save a lot of time and effort not have to go back and tee up a replacement ball.

Balls Lost or Out of Bounds
A player may still take a Stroke and Distance Penalty (Rule 18.2) and re-hit from the original spot if he so chooses.
Option 2 for balls lost or out of bounds (OB)…A player may now take the spot where the ball was lost or crossed the OB line and go directly across from this spot to the edge of the fairway and drop within 2 club lengths, no nearer the hole, and will incur a 2-stroke penalty.

150 Yard Italian Cypress Trees
Any ball stuck or lost in a 150 Yard Italian Cypress Tree may be dropped at the nearest point of relief, plus one club-length, no nearer the hole, with NO PENALTY.

The complete list of Local Rules is attached and on the Pinseekers web site.  VGCC Local Rules

Maximum Number of Strokes per Hole

The Pinseekers has a club rule (Pinseekers Rules of Play, rule 8) that the maximum number of strokes per hole is 10, and that any player picking up without holing out shall record 10 strokes.

And, if you pick up without holing out, you must mark a “10X” for that hole, signifying that you have withdrawn from the Sweeps competition that day.

Goose Poop, Gophers, and Sprinkler Heads

Recently, I faced all three of these situations in one game with the Pinseekers…
Goose Poop

For some time now the Geese have provided some additional “challenges” on the course.  I have heard that the adult goose produces almost its own body weight in waste every day!  Don’t know if that’s true, but there certainly is a lot to avoid on the tee boxes, fairway, and greens.  I asked Scott Steele how the rules apply to goose “gifts”.  If your ball in on the fairway and lands in goose poop – tough luck, its the “rub of the green” and no lift and clean.  On the green? Then you can mark, lift, and clean.  Poop in the way of your swing or stance?  It is a “loose impediment” and can be moved (you may want to bring a rag to clean you clubs afterwards).

Gophers

My tee shot went way left on Hole 3 and end out in the rough in the middle of lots of disturbed ground with gopher holes and fresh mounds of dirt.  This rule helped me get a better lie.

Abnormal Ground Conditions (USGA Definition)
An “abnormal ground condition” is any casual water, ground under repair or hole, cast or runway on the course made by a burrowing animal, a reptile or a bird.

25-1. Abnormal Ground Conditions (see the USGA Rules for the complete rule)
a. Interference
Interference by an abnormal ground condition occurs when a ball lies in or touches the condition or when the condition interferes with the player's stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player's ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an abnormal ground condition on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt. Otherwise, intervention on the line of play is not, of itself, interference under this Rule.
Note: The Committee may make a Local Rule stating that interference by an abnormal ground condition with a player's stance is deemed not to be, of itself, interference under this Rule.
b. Relief
Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an abnormal ground condition as follows:
(i)Through the Green: If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the condition and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.   ……….
Sprinkler Heads near the Green – one of my favorite Local Rules – you can get relief!  
Sprinkler Heads on Fringe
If a fixed sprinkler head within two club-lengths of the putting green and two club-lengths of the ball interferes with the intended line of play between the ball and the hole, the player may take relief as follows: the ball must be lifted and dropped at the nearest point to where the ball lay that (a) is not nearer the hole, (b) avoids interference and (c) is not in a hazard or on the putting green.
Future Topics:  
Pace of Play examples, relief from flower beds and staked trees.  
Please send me your requests and I’ll post the rules and rulings from Scott Steele

PINSEEKERS – RULES REMINDER (Updated per Pinseekers Rules of Play, rule 8)

Please remember and observe the Pinseekers Club rule of “no gimmees” on putts and putt every hole out (per USGA Rule 3-2):

3-2. Failure to Hole Out

If a competitor fails to hole out at any hole and does not correct his mistake before he makes a stroke on the next teeing ground or, in the case of the last hole of the round, before he leaves the putting green, he is disqualified

For our Pinseekers competitions, disqualified means from the Sweeps competition, but you still turn in your scorecard for handicap calculation. If you pick up your ball before holing out, you write down you write down ten strokes (per Pinseekers rule 8)  and mark that hole with an “X”.

I am going to produce a series of emails and posts on the website over the next few months with Q&A for common questions about the rules and golf etiquette in general. I welcome your suggestions or requests. Hopefully, we will all learn something new about golf in general and some of our local course rules that we can use to our advantage.

I encourage all club members to refer back as needed to the Pinseekers Rules of Play which are posted on our website at: https://pinseekers.vgcc.club/rules-of-play/

 

The Latest News

Hi Fellow Pinseekers,

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join you tomorrow for golf, but the weather looks terrific and I hope you all have a great game!

Alan will be playing in the Men’s Club Tournament tomorrow, so he won’t be able to post our scores and send out the Sweep Results until Wednesday.

I still missing photos of a lot of members for our website, so if you have a favorite photo please send it to me at dcook2345@att.net.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had some issues with pace of play. As Scott Steele mentioned at the Annual Meeting we should be looking to finish 9-holes around 2 hours 15 minutes or better. I’ve asked him to put suggested times on our scorecards beginning this week to provide a guide as to whether you are on-time or behind the standard pace of play. For each hole there will be the expected Finishing time. If you get behind, please consider strategies for speeding up – like continuous putting, limiting time looking for lost balls to 3 minutes or less, hitting shots down the fairway (if safe) at the same time or without waiting for others in your foursome, and moving on to the next tee without waiting for all four golfers to putt out.

Last of all, we’re all out there to have fun and enjoy each others company. I’ll be putting out some golf etiquette tips over the next few weeks – maybe will call it “Mr. Manners” or something suitably humorous. I’m taking suggestions for a name for the articles.

Good luck everyone, and have fun!

Regards,
David Cook