February 2023

News from the Chapter

We are well into winter golf, and experiencing what goes on in Florida every year: sometimes cold, sometime windy, sometimes wet, usually more expensive, ALWAYS slow! The courses are packed and play is very slow. To those who play River Club, we have had a rather hearty discussion with Tony Soletti, and we understand his plan going forward for the rest of this season and for next season. We may have later start times for a few weeks, till season starts to dissipate. He values our play there and plans to prioritize leagues with higher numbers of players and those who use the other services at the course, particularly food and beverage. He also still wants to balance price, to be able to make his two courses available for people who can’t pay the higher prices around the area during the winter. We respect what he needs to do for business and will continue to work with him to take advantage of those great courses.

If you didn’t hear about it, our own Annette Clark had a hole-in-one at River Club on Feb 7! Not only did River Club provide some finger foods to celebrate, Annette won the Hole in One Pot! If you would like to have your chance in that pot, please give $5 to any Board member. This money is held aside by our treasurer, not included in chapter funds, but kind of a “side bet”. The pool is back at zero but will now grow as people take their chance on winning. The last winning pot was over $300 and happened in the last 18 months. Winners must achieve their hole-in-one at a chapter sponsored event.

We are hearing also that Legacy will be going private. That may impact some of our members who routinely play there in leagues. It will hopefully encourage some of our members who are in leadership roles at Legacy to consider taking a leadership role with us! We still need candidates for Director positions (President, at-large x3) and officers (Events, Leagues, Membership).  Many of you who are new to the chapter may have valuable experience to share with us through participation as a Director or Officer. Don’t assume that just because you are newer to the chapter that you can’t make a difference. Also, being in one of these roles doesn’t require a low handicap! Playing a role in managing the chapter doesn’t require that you are an ace golfer, just a golfer who wants to keep this large and successful chapter functioning well and offering golf experiences that our members want. Please reach out to us to discuss these roles so you can understand what’s involved. This is an important transition year for several leaders in our chapter and we need to recruit replacements soon!

Finally, we would like to outline some changes in league structure. Recently, the LPGA Amateur Golf Association, national level, supported our practice of offering cash payouts for “friendly” golf events such as our leagues. As long as the payouts are less than about $50, we are okay to proceed. In their communication to us, however, they reminded us that we need to have offerings that are welcoming to all members. Particularly, that we need to offer non-competitive options in our golf agenda for players who may wish to play, but not compete. So, in registrations, for River Club and for Pelican Pointe, you will see a question about whether you want to be in the “game” (pay a fee that goes to the winners pot/pool). You will also see tee box options. This helps with pace of play and also allows some members to continue to play with the option to use the forward-most tees. Bobby Jones will be competition-only. The course would not continue to give us lower rates if we allowed players to opt out of the game. The winnings at that venue are pro-shop coupons, and they have a standard approach to leagues and pay-outs that we were asked to comply with or lose our lower rate.

Upcoming Events

The next chapter event is the Endangered Species event. We have 80 players signed up so this looks to be a bold year two of this newly formed match play event. The teams will be Panthers and Manatees again, with the Manatees looking for a second win!! The event is on March 16 at the Highlands Golf course (Meadows). 

Kickoff will also be coming soon, on April 4 at Tara around 5 pm! You should have seen an announcement for a “hold the date.” Michelle Goodman, our Membership Officer and her team of volunteers will put together a fun evening that is focused on meeting people, socializing, playing a few games for some great prizes and getting a short update on the state of the chapter and plans for the year. Be sure to come to this fun event that includes dinner and a chance to get back to Tara for an evening.

Speaking of Tara, yes, we will be back at Tara for summer golf, and also for a few weekend golf outings. We are so looking forward to seeing the course renovations and having the great opportunity to play at that beautiful venue! The transition back to Tara will occur for 9-hole on April 15 and for 18-hole in mid-May.
 

“State of the Chapter” – Membership Update - Welcome New Members!

Every month we have new members joining!

We are fortunate to have many new members joining our chapter every month. Our current membership is 377! 

Many new members to the chapter have prior LPGA Amateurs experience at another chapter and bring new ideas to our chapter. We also have new members with experiences at other clubs (private and public) who can give us some great insights into new options in our chapter. 

ATTENTION: We have current members who have not yet renewed for 2024. If you are one of our members who has yet to renew, please do so asap in order to participate in our various events and activities!   

To renew, go to the national website at www.lpgaamateurs.com and log into your account to pay your 2024 dues. Thank you for taking care of this action.

How do you feel about the chapter? We are looking for feedback through our annual member survey. So far we have 60 responses, but if there are 377 of you, we need way more than that!!

You should have seen an email with a link to complete the survey and if you missed it, it will be coming out again soon. Please watch for it or use the link below to fill out the survey:

https://survey.sogolytics.com/r/8GNoAM

Upcoming Weekend Golf Events:

Our new team (Ronda Powell, Janel Schuch, Donna Brown, Linda O’Brien) is doing a fantastic job finding us weekend golf!  The events calendar for the year is listed below and will be updated every month in the newsletter:

If anyone would like to help events, please contact us at: weekendgolf.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com, so.weekendgolf.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com or president.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com.

LPGA Sponsored events for Amateur Golf Association

Many of you are familiar with the options the LPGA offers to the amateur golf community. When you receive your newsletters from LPGA these events are highlighted. We are re-communicating here so we can help to keep you informed of the great options you have to play competitive golf around the country. For more info on these events, log in to the LPGA web page and look for Events (https://lpgaamateurs.com/tournament-schedule/). 

Etiquette and Rules Corner

Featured this month are two very common issues we see in league play. The information below comes from the USGA website, a great resource for golf rules and explanations of golf situations and rules. They have fantastic videos that show the conditions that lead to use of various rules.

It is important that we use the rules during usual play in the chapter, even for non-competitive events. Our members should be familiar with the rules they encounter most often and know how to apply the rule. We should hold each other accountable for this, and not just “wing it” during play.

How to Manage a Ball Hit into a Penalty Area

Penalty areas are one of the five defined areas of the course and can be marked as either red or yellow. When your ball lies in a penalty area, you can play it as it lies or take relief outside the penalty area for one penalty stroke. For either red or yellow penalty areas, you can play from where your last stroke was made (stroke and distance) or take back-on-the-line relief by going back as far as you’d like on the line between the hole/pin and where your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area. In a red penalty area, you have one additional relief option, which is to take lateral relief within two club-lengths of where your ball last crossed into the penalty area.

When playing a shot from a penalty area, you can remove any detached natural or artificial object (known as loose impediments and movable obstructions), ground your club behind the ball, or take practice swings that touch the ground. However, there are a few restrictions. You can’t deem your ball unplayable or take relief from abnormal course conditions (such as a bridge or sprinkler control box) when your ball lies in a penalty area. If you need relief, you can play under the penalty area relief options discussed above. You also are not allowed to play a provisional ball when you think your ball will be lost only in a penalty area. 

Q. How do I take relief from a yellow or red penalty area?

A. When you take relief from a penalty area, you get one penalty stroke. For yellow penalty areas, you have two relief options. For red penalty areas, you have three relief options (the same two relief options as you do for yellow, plus one additional option.)

• For a yellow penalty area, you may take relief by dropping into a relief area using (1) the spot at which your last stroke was made under stroke and distance (see Rule 17.1d(1)) or (2) the back-on-the-line relief procedure (see Rule 17.1d(2)).
• For a red penalty area, you have the two options above for a yellow penalty area, plus an additional option to take lateral relief. Lateral relief allows you to drop a ball into a relief area measured from where your ball last crossed the edge of red penalty area. From that reference point, you are allowed to drop outside the penalty area and anywhere within two club-lengths of that spot, no nearer to the hole (see Rule 17.1d(3)).

(Comment on “back-on-the-line”: This does not mean “go back as far as you like from the point the ball entered the penalty area.  Instead, you must line up the point of entry to the penalty area with the pin/hole and go back from there. Sometimes this is impossible because the new line from entry to the pin would put you in the middle of a pond or into a dense brushy area that you really can’t use. Be sure you apply this rule correctly!).

Lost Ball or Out-of-Bounds

If you hit your ball out of bounds or lose it (you have three minutes to search for your ball before it becomes lost), your only option is to go back to the spot of your previous stroke to play under stroke and distance. There are only a few exceptions to this when it is known or virtually certain what happened to your ball.

There is also an optional Local Rule which provides an alternative to stroke and distance relief when it is in effect. This Local Rule is recommended for casual play and not for competitions involving highly-skilled players. If it is in effect, for two penalty strokes, you can estimate the spot where your ball is lost or went out of bounds and then find the nearest fairway edge that is not nearer the hole than the estimated spot. You can drop a ball in the fairway within two club-lengths of that fairway edge point, or anywhere between there and the estimated spot where your ball is lost or went out of bounds.

If you think that your ball might be out bounds or that you might not find it, you can play a provisional ball to save time. You must announce that you are playing a provisional ball before doing so. If you are then unable to find your original ball, or you find it out of bounds, your provisional ball is your ball in play under stroke and distance, and you don’t have to take the time to walk all the way back to the spot of your previous stroke.

Note:  We generally use the local rule during play in the chapter (the 2 penalty stroke, drop in fairway option). This moves pace of play, but remember, it is YOUR choice. You can go back to the ball’s last position and use stroke-and-distance if you like.

Thanks for your participation in the chapter!  Have a great March!!

Current Directors and Officers:

Judy Milne, President president.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com

Annette Clark, Director and Events Officer  sponsorship.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com

Michelle Goodman, Director and Membership Officer  membership2.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com

Barbara Maechtle, Director and Leagues Officer  TEXT: 941-920-0706

Fran Vandermeer, Director and Treasurer

Bev Ibbott, Communications Officer

Pam Arfield, South Leagues Team Leader soleagues18.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com

Pat Ristuccia, South Leagues 9-hole Associate

Chris LaFarge, North Leagues Associate

Jeansie Bunnell, Central League/Bobby Jones Associate

Ronda Powell, Weekend Golf Officer  weekendgolf.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.com

Janel Schuch, “North” Weekend Associate

Linda O’Brien, “South” Weekend Associate so.weekend.lpgaamateursmanatee@gmail.ccom

Donna Brown, “South” Weekend Associate

Events “Associates”

• Brenda Barry, Linda Gilbert – Endangered Species
• Jeansie Bunnell, Laurel Adams – Summer Scramble (the “Not-Championship”)
• Lois Breneman, Cindy Casey – Halloween Bash
• Terry Henderson, Laura Moninski – JBO 2024

Many thanks to our Sponsors!!