Orlando Chapter - American Singles Golf Association November 2004

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1 CELEBRATING 12 YEARS OF SINGLES GOLF IN AMERICA Orlando Chapter - American Singles Golf Association November 2004 From the Chairman of the Board I would like to thank everyone for the cards and well wishes during the recovery from my fall. I am doing much better and look forward to getting out there and playing some golf. - Paul Thompson The VP s Corner Hi everyone, wow, an entire month without a hurricane! I am glad things are back to normal. It seems everyone is back in the swing of things. The weather is becoming cooler and it s a great time to be out golfing. We have plenty of golf lined up for the month of November, so come out and join us. Our 9 and Dine is switching to the Links at 434 under the lights at 798 West Town Parkway, Altamonte Springs, Telephone: (407) We are also switching the day to Tuesday nights with tee times beginning at 5:30. We will be starting up lessons with Kerry Kerr, come December. Please come and join us for golf, dinner, good company, and lots of fun. I would like to thank Paul Thompson and Brenda Fisher for heading the nominating committee, and the rest of the nominating committee for all their help. Please join us at our November meeting when we will be nominating and voting for our officers for Speaking of Paul Thompson, he was at our Board and General meetings and looks like he has recuperated very well from his fall. We are glad to have you back Paul. I see Leon Stelling was one of the winners at Legend s. I have played with Leon a few times in the last few months and he has made amazing progress in the short time he has been golfing. Speaking of improved golfers, I see that Alicia Duncan was one of the winners at Walkabout. Her progress over the last year has been incredible. It seems most times I am playing with her she is in the 90 s. Keep up the great work you two! I hope everyone keeps in mind our Christmas party is coming up on December 17 at the Deer Run Country Club. I hope to see you all there. - Have a great 24 -Al News from the Golf Chairperson Finally some cool weather, which makes for good golf. I hope to see a lot more members and guests out playing and enjoying the weather and the friendship. Our attendance has been a little low the past two months. We are having a great time!! Come out and join us. November 30, Saturday is our combined outing with Outdoors and Active at Mayfair CC in Sanford. We have a lot signed up for this outing. Hope you were one of them. Will let you know the results in the December newsletter. October 2, Saturday, we played at the Legends of Clermont. We had 15 players. We played our own ball with a two man team best net score. A lot of players said they enjoyed the format. The winners were: First place Bill Flood and Leon Stelling with a 57. Second place was Rick Hill and Rosina Huber with a 59. Third place was John Stelling and Dot Templeton with a 63. The Stelling Brothers ruled. Closest to pin for the ladies went to Rosina Huber and for the men it was Jim Stillie. We had lunch at the clubhouse after golf. October 10, Sunday, we played at Rock Springs, Apopka. We had 15 players and played a Shamble. Prizes were awarded to the individual net scores. First place NEXT MEETING Tues., November 9th - 7 p.m. Happy Hour begins at 6 pm - Mark your Calendar The Orlando chapter American Single Golf Association meets on the second Tuesday of the month the Best Western/Mt. Vernon Inn, 110 So. Orlando Ave., Winter Park. Located directly across from Houston s. Happy Hour is at 6 p.m. and Meeting at 7 p.m. Dinner TBA. Invite your friends. Visit our chapter s website at:

2 ORLANDO Chapter of the American Singles Golf Association For further information, contact: Chairman of the Board Paul Thompson President Don Moore Vice-President Al Amore Secretary Elizabeth Boldt Treasurer Norm Bottum Golf Chairperson Sue Walther TM Membership Chairperson Terri Godsell Communications Chairperson Diane Weinzierl Social Co-Chairsperson Katie O Neal koneil1@cfl.rr.com Sunshine Chairperson Priscilla Warner mwarner@netzero.com Membership News Hi Fellow Golfers, We welcomed three guests to the October meeting. Suzie Metzgar from Leesburg, Ronald Carpenter from The Villages, and Joanne Stetter a former member now returning to us. I hope you will get to know these golfers and invite them to join in our activities. Prizes were given at the meeting and John Stelling who won the 50/50 raffle, a total of $ Sue Walther, Carol Dempsey and Joe Bellino all won rounds of golf at 16 different golf courses within the greater Orlando area. You are misswent to Bruce Wood at 65, Second place went to Joe Bellino at 66 and Third place to Barbara Chapman with a 66. Joe and Barbara also won closest to the pin. We had one guest Helen Bracey. Helen we hope to see you out again. October 24, Sunday, we played at Walkabout, Mims. We had 16 players. We played First six holes we played our own ball, second six holes we played a shamble and the last six holes we played a scramble. It was a team competition. First place team was John Moore, Alicia Duncan and two guests, Vern Simmons and Pat Brickner with a team score of 97. Second place went to Bruce Woods, Barbara Chapman, Leon Stelling and Sue Walther with a team score of 106. Third place went to Norm Bottum, Ada Laguardia, Joe Beiro and a guest, Pat Moseley with a team score of 114. Closest to the pin for ladies was Alicia Duncan and for the men was John Moore. Pat Quinlan was up from West Palm. It was great to see her out playing with us. After golf we went to Dixie Crossroads for lunch/dinner. We hope our quests will join us again. October 15-17, Weekend outing at Plantation, Crystal River. Orlando had 9 members attend. We played ElDiablo, Plantation Inn Golf Course and Pine Barrens at World Woods all great courses. Tampa did a great job organizing this weekend and everyone had a good time. A lot of Orlando members were winners in the tournaments or the raffle drawing. I will mention that Ada LaGuardia and Norm Bottum won the putting contest for the ladies and men. Congratulations to them and all the winners for the weekend. Upcoming Scheduled Events November 6, Saturday, Sweetwater Country Club, Tee Times starting at 8:38, Price is $29. Contact Brenda Fisher to sign up. November 14, Sunday, Timacuan Country Club, Tee Times starting at 10:15, Price is $35. Contact Sue Walther to sign up. Dates of events not yet scheduled are November 21- Sunday, November 27 - Saturday, December 4 - Saturday, December 12 - Sunday (club championship). If you have not yet signed up with National for the New Years Eve weekend, hurry up because this will close out early and I do not want you to miss out. We will have the weekend outings again next year. People attend from all over Florida and a lot of other states. We have scheduled one per quarter. I hope to see a lot of Orlando members attend next year. Have a great Halloween and Thanksgiving. Hope to see you all on the links and at our Christmas Dinner Dance on December 17th. - Sue Walther

3 ing out on great prizes when you don t join us for the membership meetings. Donna Baldi and Diane Flader renewed their membership this month. Thank you for your loyal support. Remember to bring your favorite golf joke to the next meeting. Each month there will be a joke contest. Share your Orlando ASGA Golf Tips Become An Expert Green Reader Use the basic principles of land survey and never be fooled again By Andy Walters, PE Photos By Tim Conway A good putting stroke can work wonders for your game, but it's useless if you can't read greens. Score-savvy golfers will spend hours a month honing their putting techniques on the practice green, in their offices or across their living room floors, yet very few of these players spend time practicing green reading. That's why a beautifully struck putt that travels in the opposite direction of where it was meant to go will always be a beautifully struck miss. Admittedly, I'm that rare breed of golfer who actually finds time to practice green reading. However, as I never left my day job, it's obvious that this practice never paid its full dividends. On my home course in Augusta, Ga., I was as guilty of misreading putts as the other members of my regular foursome, who spent far less time fine-tuning their ability to read slope. This was especially discouraging to me considering my professional training. As a civil engineer, I've spent a lifetime surveying slope and studying topography. For a time, I concluded that green reading acuity was meant only for those with God-given talent that is, until I realized that judging slope was nothing more than eliminating optical illusions. Eventually, by applying the basic rules of land survey and simple geometric principles, I developed a routine to accurately read greens time and again. I still may miss a putt, but it's never because I've misjudged slope. I've become an expert green reader using this technique, and so can you. Here's how it works. THE BASIC SURVEYING PRINCIPLE We've all seen players crouch behind their golf balls or the flag to read a putt. Some even go as far as to stare at the putt from the low side of the hole. I've known players who, when faced with a putt to win a meager Nassau three ways, will flop down on their bellies in a desperate attempt to get the read BEST jokes winner of contest wins 2 raffle tickets. You also receive 3 raffle tickets for each new person that your bring to a meeting for the first time. See you on the courses. - Hit m straight! Terri right. While these techniques have been used ever since a greens keeper decided to cut a hole on the most severely sloped portion of a green, they fail to eliminate optical illusions. The only way to accurately gauge the slope of a given putt is to apply the rules of the Basic Surveying Principle (BSP). All professional land surveyors use the BSP to determine the lay of the land. Recreating the BSP on the portion of the green over which your putt will travel is the key to expert green reading. It involves three steps: 1) standing in the right spot; 2) standing correctly; and 3) holding the putter in such a manner that it becomes a true plumb. All three steps must be performed correctly or you won't eliminate optical illusions there's no partial credit when it comes to green reading. Standing in the right spot. It's possible to determine slope only on the ground area on which you're standing, with an approximate radius of 12 feet. The bottom line is that you need to stand where you want to know the break. Standing correctly. The BSP dictates that your spine act likes a range pole, an axis that lies perpendicular to the ground. Many golfers instinctually adjust to the slope of the ground on which they're standing by tilting their spines. This is one of the biggest causes of optical illusions. Instead, spread both feet to about shoulder width and lock both knees (see photo at top, right). Hold your torso straight, being careful not to make any bend or tilt corrections for obvious slopes. Creating a plumb. In the BSP, your putter serves as a plumb that eventually makes apparent any tilt to the ground. To do so, you must hold your putter in such a way that it becomes a true vertical. Sounds easy, but it's not. Modern putters are designed with different degrees of face balancing, with varying hosel connections and unique shaft bends that can move the putter shaft off its vertical plane if it's not held correctly. To find your putter's plumb line position, hold it against a doorjamb and rotate it until the shaft and the jamb lines run parallel. READING THE GREEN Once you perfect the requirements of the BSP, you're ready to read your putt. To do so correctly, you'll need to focus on two objects. The first object is the cup. While in your BSP stance, visually run a straight ground line from the hole to your spine. As you do so, locate a point on the ground line that's approximately half the distance from your spine to the cup a spike mark, a blade of grass, a discoloration, etc. Once you've pinpointed this second object, position the lower 1 wrong stance Golfers assume a variety of positions when reading greens. Two popular theories are that you have to crouch near to the ground and/or use your dominant eye to get the read right. Wrong. Creating the BSP is the only way to accurately judge the slope over which your putt will travel. 2 plumb right & wrong Sure, you've used your putter as a plumb to read greens, but did you use it correctly? Most putters are weighted in such a way that they act as a true plumb only when held in a certain position. The heel-toe-weighted model pictured above creates a true plumb only when it's held with the face angled slightly away from the golfer (above, right). If the putter is held in any other position, it won't create a true plumb line, a must to eliminate optical illusions. 3 creating the BSP The key to expert green reading is to eliminate optical illusions, which run rampant on sloping surfaces. The only way to erase false impressions is to apply the rules of the BSP. Stand with both legs apart, lock your knees and allow your spine to tilt naturally in relation to the slope. Hold the putter away from your body with very light finger pressure to create a true plumb line.

4 part of your putter shaft so that it crosses that point. Now, simply run your eyes up the shaft and analyze the position of the cup. If part or all of the cup lies to the left of the shaft, then you know the putt is going to break to the left. If any or all of the cup lies to the right of the shaft, then the putt will turn to the right. Easy! If the shaft bisects the cup, then you've got a straight no-brainer. Obviously, the distance between the shaft and the cup dictates how much the putt will break. As more of the cup appears to the left or right of the shaft, the more the putt will break in that direction. But how much? Unfortunately, due to different types of grasses, the condition of the green and the absence or presence of grain, there's no telltale way to gauge exactly how much a putt will break. The BSP reveals only the direction in which the putt will travel. Knowing how much a putt will break to the left or right can only be determined through calibration, a difficultsounding task that's actually quite easy and takes but a few minutes before each round. THE MATH The key to my expert green reading is believing that the angle created between your putter shaft and the straight line between your ball and the cup is the angle of the slope on which you're putting. Luckily, this isn't the leap of faith it appears to be. Proving that the angle of the slope is the same as what you see when you plumb with the BSP can be explained by 10th-grade geometry. Given: A=angle of the ground slope; your spine is perpendicular (90 ) to the ground; your putter is a true vertical. Prove: Angle (distance) you see between your putter shaft and the cup (C) is the same as the angle of the slope of the ground, or that A=C. Solution: Per congruent triangles, A=B; per supplementary angles, B=C; therefore, A=C. CALIBRATION On the practice putting green, size up a putt using the BSP. If the cup lies two inches to the left of the shaft, then the putt will break to the left. However, in order to know whether the putt will break 10 inches to the left, one inch to the left or 20 inches to the left, you'll have to experiment with different targets. Putt the ball and see how much it breaks. If the greens are slow and shaggy, the putt may break only an inch or so. But if you're playing on slick bent grass, the putt may break three feet! After a few attempts, you'll soon dial in how far out to the left or right you should play a breaking putt on that day. Also, be aware that the harder you stroke a putt, the less it will be affected by slope. Conversely, putts that are struck with less force tend to be affected more by slope. SLOW PLAY When people learn about my greenreading technique, they often assume that it will add to the problem of slow play. On the contrary, green reading using my technique will actually speed up play. Compare the time it takes for a golfer to crouch down behind the ball, get a read, confirm the read from either behind the hole or from the low point of the green, then go back to behind the ball for a final look. No one can read a putt in this manner in less than 60 seconds. With the expert green-reading method, you only need one read, and after a few practice sessions, you'll find that creating the BSP and observing to which side of your putter shaft the hole sits takes but a few seconds. Better yet, it provides you with the confidence of knowing exactly how the putt will break. Standard green reading fails to completely erase any doubt concerning how your putt will react once it gets rolling, and that can only add to the amount of time you spend over the ball and, worse yet, can invite tension into your stroke. PARTING THOUGHTS Topography is my business. Golf is my love. My green reading theories are an equal combination of both, and I'm certain they'll help you rid your game of optical illusions and take your putting to new heights. Best of all, green-reading like an expert is easy and requires little time. Once you master the BSP setup, it only takes a second to see how your putt will break. You'll never be fooled by a putt that looks like it should break right but instead goes left. Andy Walters is a professional engineer and surveyor in Augusta, Ga. An active amateur golfer, he has competed in numerous USGA-sanctioned events. fact vs. fiction Fiction: You must use your dominant eye to judge slope. Fact: It makes no difference whether one eye or both eyes are used. What you see is what you get. Fiction: Crouch and get close to the ground to get the best read. Fact: There's only one stance that works when reading greens, and that's one where the golfer is standing erect with both legs spread to shoulder width. Fiction: Observe how the green slopes as you approach it from the fairway. Fact: Optical illusions can occur no matter how or from where you study a green. Using the BSP is the only way to eliminate these false impressions. Fiction: Grain causes a putt to break. Fact: Grain is a speed factor. Only gravity will cause a putt to break.

5 October 2004 Sunday 1 Monday Tuesday 2 Board Meeting Membership Meeting* Wednesday 3 4 Thursday Friday Saturday Sweetwater Outing Timacuan Outing TBA TBA *The Orlando chapter of the American Singles Golf Association meets on the second Tuesday of the month at the Best Western/Mt. Vernon Inn, between Lee Road and Fairbanks, directly across from Houston's. The address is 110 S. Orlando Ave., Winter Park and the phone number is Happy Hour begins at 6 pm and the meeting begins at 7 pm. ** 9&Dine I-4 East -Exit at Altamonte Springs/ west (left) on Turn left onto Laurel Street/San Sebastian Prado. - This runs into The Links. *** Dinner will follow golf at a location to be determined MEMBERSHIP DUES Dues for the Orlando chapter of the American Singles Golf Association are $70.00 per year for new members and renewals (full 12 month year). Payment can be made by check or credit card (MC or VISA 4% svc. chg.). Mail with application to: ASGA National Headquarters, Post Office Box 848, Pineville, NC JOIN BY PHONE, FAX OR THE WEB You can join the Orlando chapter over the phone by calling (toll free) GOLFMATE ( ) and give us the information on the application form, your credit card number and expiration date. You may prefer to FAX your application to (toll free) Our hours are from 8-5 (M-F). Or, go on-line at and submit your the application and payment. Your membership package will be mailed within 10 day s. American Singles Golf Association Website: Telephone: