DEAR ME IT IS SO FRUSTRATING WAITING FOR THOSE GOLFERS AHEAD OF US. PLAY IS SO SLOW, I WISH THEY WOULD PICK UP THE PACE

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1 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 THE SCORECARD Game Improvement Posting Scores. 7 Golf Humor The Board and Committee Chairs.11 Patronizing Our Sponsors.13 Remember Our Sponsors.. 14 Mark Your Calendar.14 DEAR ME IT IS SO FRUSTRATING WAITING FOR THOSE GOLFERS AHEAD OF US. PLAY IS SO SLOW, I WISH THEY WOULD PICK UP THE PACE 1

2 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 Steve Thomson is one of the lower handicap players at the Ranch. Additionally he is really a nice guy. I recently asked him to write an article offering suggestions about how to play better and just as importantly how to increase your enjoyment when playing. I highly suggest that you read this article. GAME IMPROVEMENT Whether you just shot 75 or 95, most likely you think you could have done better. That s one of the universal truths of the game - we re rarely satisfied with how we played. We tend to forget that improbable 35 foot putt we made but clearly remember the 3 footer we missed. Golf is a game of give and takes. There are days when you strike the ball very well but score poorly and vice versa - days when you hit it all over the course but score as well if not better than normal. For me personally, I m more content with hitting the ball well than scoring well. Perhaps because I don t practice much, I value the solid shot more than the solid score. I think that one follows the other even though years of playing have taught me otherwise. The point is, improving your game can take on many dimensions. For most of us, I suspect the first attempt at improvement takes us to the driving range or putting green, 2

3 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 for others it may be to the garage to tinker, still others will seek out professional help from their club pro or favorite book of instruction. And almost all of us at some point will head to our local retailer for the latest in golf ball or club head technology. There s no one approach that s a magic solution to whatever ails us! However, one truth of the game is that being consistent is a fundamental tenet that will lead to improvement. Whether it s consistently lining up your shot, or consistently taking the club back, or consistently delivering the club to the ball. The fact is, doing any one of these things in the same repeatable manner will help our game. Unfortunately, there are a lot of different things involved in the golf swing that we need to do consistently in order to excel. So let s make sure we understand our motivation and objective when we start down the game improvement road. Often, I think we confuse the objective of improving with excelling. I suspect it s partly because what we see on TV are elite athlete s excelling at the game. We wonder how we might play a little more like them. They make the game look so darn easy shooting 3 or 4 under par every day. On the other hand, we have to test our memory bank for the last time we hit a shot right where we wanted and exactly the right distance. Excelling requires that virtually all things are done consistently. Improving requires we do at least one thing consistently. So let s be realistic. This is a game 3

4 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 we ve taken up because we enjoy it! Either that, or there are a lot more of us in therapy than we ll admit. I like to think that we enjoy our round of golf! Sure, it s easier to enjoy when you are playing well, but even on those off days, it s the same game though I ve often been reminded on these occasions that G-O-L-F is a four-letter word! For me, having fun is essential to playing well and improving. And that s why I would encourage you to approach your game improvement in whatever method works best for you (read: FUN). If that s pounding balls for an hour, do it because you enjoy it. If it s reading or re-reading Hogan s Modern Fundamentals, do it. If it s holing that putt to win the U.S. open on the putting green, do it. Have fun with your practice. If you do, you ll spend more time doing it and in the process, whether it is deliberate or totally subconscious, you ll bring some consistency to your game. Other than practicing what you enjoy or learning to enjoy what you want to practice, if our objective is to score better, then I d strongly suggest you work on the short game. I suspect that for most of us, nearly 60% of our strokes are made on the green and within 100 yards of the green. We all have the ability to hit a ball 100 yards or less so this is an area where we can approach the game with some confidence we no longer need to be elite athletes to hit it that far. While we may not duplicate the precision of getting it up and down like most of the PGA tour, we can start to shave some pesky strokes off our scores on a very routine basis. I think one of the more subtle and not well understood dimensions of improvement relates to our mental approach 4

5 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 and attitude. The golfing mind is much more fragile than we d like to admit. We can be playing very well for fourteen holes when all of a sudden, the wheels come off. Our confidence leaves us so fast that we have no idea where the ball is going to go! How does this happen when just 15 minutes before, we hit it right where we were looking. I think we can all relate to this on-and-off phenomenon on any given day. So, how do we cope or fix this problem when our brain is telling us we don t have a clue? Too often, our efforts are to try to NOT hit a bad shot. Don t hit it in the desert to the right don t go into the bunker on the left! Unfortunately, that doesn t tend to work because our brains aren t wired to execute a negative thought. Rather, we should try to hit it down the left side or, hit it at the tree on the right side. The more we can focus on a positive thought, particularly when we re struggling, the quicker we ll heal our bruised psyche in those times of doubt. One of the aspects I like about participating in the Men s club is the opportunity to play with golfers of all capabilities and styles on any given day. Thursdays for me is a day of fun, social interaction with others on the golf course. I enjoy fist bumping that great shot, drained putt, sweet swing, career low round or other feat of the day. That s the real joy of the game for me to see someone celebrate even a brief moment of unrivaled success and accomplishment. Of course, Thursdays also involves some friendly competition which just adds a little frosting to the cake! 5

6 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 If you re stuck in a rut and just can t seem to improve your score, try playing a few rounds with better players. You ll more than likely pick up tips on course management, or swing tempo, or some other aspect of the game that will resonate with you. During my freshman year in college, I had the pleasure of playing against some future PGA Tour golfers. Some have won Majors or multiple Majors and one is now a popular analyst on TV. Now I didn t say I won any matches. Quite the contrary, I never won a match and most frequently was beaten like a drum. But I did improve over the course of that season. Watching high-quality golf played by very talented guys was humbling and for me, motivating. Golf is a game that is forever challenging and infrequently conquered. Many people say they are addicted to it. I think they re really addicted to that feeling of hitting a shot on the sweet spot. Why else would we spend so much time doing the same thing with less than encouraging results? No, that s not the definition of insanity but it does reside very close to it! So, enjoy yourselves. Have fun. Play with a positive attitude and celebrate this time in our lives where every day is Saturday. (P.S. If you re looking for a quick read on how to improve your game, I highly recommend Harvey Penick s Little Red Book. It s filled with wisdom, wit, a healthy dose of humility and has something for everyone, whatever level of golf you play.) STEVE 6

7 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 POSTING SCORES As the new season begins, there are few items that should be brought to your attention. After the first event, we will be returning to the original tee boxes. Even though hole #9 tee box was redesigned, the slope/rating of all tee boxes did not change. When you post your scores, either on GHIN or AGA site, the slope/rating for each set of tees, both for 9 or 18, are correct and there will be no need for you to do any manual adjustments. If you post your score on the SBRMGA web site, you will have to manually put in the slope/rating from the set of tees you played. You can get these values off the back of our score cards. When posting a 9 hole score, listed below are the slope/rating: TEE BOX FRONT 9 BACK 9 BLACK 128/ /36.3 PINE 121/ /35.2 PINE/RUST 115/ /34.2 RUST 108/ /33.3 You are also allowed to post your score up to 2 days after you played your round. When you post, make sure the date of your posting is the day you played your round. Otherwise you will be tagged as not posting a score on the day you were assigned to play and a penalty score may be applied. All sites where you post your score are set up so that you can edit the date played. Mike Jahaske is in the process of ordering new score cards. These cards will now have Hole #12 shaded on the 7

8 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 PINE/RUST tees and marked with a 156. Hole #15 will now have a handicap of 9 and hole #17 will have a handicap of 11. Mike has also purchased new hazard stakes and we are currently replacing the old RED stakes. We hope that within the next week all stakes (RED/WHITE) are up and visible defining the hazard areas. It has been agreed upon by both the Men s and Women s golf league that on hole #9, a new Out of Bounds has been defined. Using the cart path, starting from the BLACK TEES and ending by the washroom, a ball hit to the right side of the path will be Out of Bounds. A white line will be painted on the cart path to indicate the Out of Bounds. If your ball comes to rest on this White Line, it s in play and you may take relief. Where the cart part ends by the washroom all the way to the lake, WHITE stakes will be in place to indicate Out of Bounds. You will notice that the white stakes are closer to the fairway and not along the construction fence. Our intention is to force players to use the left side of the fairway and take the short cut over the bunker out of play. Once construction has been s completed and the area is open to the public, we hope players realize the safety issue and totally avoid the right side. Most residents have put up either a wall or a fence at their property line, which makes it easy to determine the Out of Bounds. Those that do not have a barrier should have white stakes along their property line. If you do locate your ball and it s on someone s property, please do not go on the property to retrieve it. Just go back and hit another ball and respect our neighbors. If you see the owner, take a few seconds, go over and apologize. I m sure they will 8

9 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 understand it wasn t intentional, just an errant shot. There will also be a WHITE Line painted on the cart part behind Hole #14, that will be extended across the bridge and continue around behind the 15 TH Tee Box to where the new washroom building will be located. Just a reminder to all, some of the procedures we put into effect a few months ago: 1) use the 3 minute rules when looking for your ball, 2) play your shot when you are ready, whether you are on the fairway or on the green. No need to wait for your opponent to play their shot even if it s their turn, 3) no penalty for hitting a non-attended flagstick, 4) always play your shot before helping others within your group look for their missing ball, 5) if you are not sure your ball is in bounds always hit a provisional before looking for your original ball. I know that each member anticipates a fast and steady game and to play their round in the least amount of time as possible, where a four hour round of golf would be great. But with the type of events we play, the total number of members who participate in these events, some members play quickly and others do not, that goal is hard to reach. If we all try and follow the above procedures the best we can, this should help in keeping our events moving smoothly and at a nice steady pace. The main focus is to make our events fun and enjoyable for all members here at the Ranch. Thanks and Good Golfing Rob Nemecek Rules and Handicap Chairman 9

10 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 GOLF HUMOR 10

11 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 THE BOARD and COMMITTEE CHAIRS President: Mark Klicker Vice President: Sam Rossi 11

12 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 Secretary: Bruce Deverman The Scorecard: communications@sbrmga.org Membership: Tim McCauley membership@sbrga.org Webmaster: Doug Strueber Treasurer: Bob Christianson Weekly Events: Jack Gressingh Handicap and Rules: Rob Nemecek 12

13 Saddlebrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 AGA Delegate: Mark Martin SPima Cup: Paul Lapatosky Sponsorship Chairmen: Guy Shelton PATRONIZING OUR SPONSORS You are probably aware that the various sponsors who have generously given money to the Saddlebrooke Ranch MGA has resulted in an increase in the prize money that is available to the members who play on the various Thursday events. This money is a form of advertising on the part of the sponsors who believe that the membership of our MGA will patronize their establishments and consider using their services. Whenever you can try to show our appreciation by considering using their services whenever you can 13

14 Saddlebrooke Men s Golf Association Oct 2017 REMEMBER OUR SPONSORS For 2016, we are pleased to have three Platinum sponsors and ten Premier sponsors. The Platinum sponsors are Coyote Golf Cars, Golf Cars of Arizona, and Kim Tucker MD The Premier sponsors are Gerry Hause Long Realty, Community Church at Saddlebrooke, Robson Resort Communities, Oracle Ford, Outdoor Creations, Brakemax, Concierge Cooling Sonoran Design Landscape Bubb s Grub and DDS Patrick Shaffer MARK YOUR CALENDER Tentative Future Events for 2018 Ryder Cup- Feb 8, 15 and 16. Match Play- March 14, 15 and 22. President s Cup- April 18 & 19. Founder s Cup- November 28 and