THE SCORECARD 2015 Board Elected at Annual Membership Lunch Meeting The SBRMGA held its annual membership lunch meeting on December 3 at La Hacienda. 49 members attended. The membership voted on the Board for 2015. Those elected are shown below: Inside this issue: 2015 Board Elected 1 Mark Your Calendars 2 Golf Hole of the Month 2 Jack Gressingh (President) Mark Klicker (Vice-President) Mike White (Treasurer) Bruce Deverman (Secretary) Annual Membership Lunch Mtg 3 Two New Members 3 Course Maintenance Etiquette 4 Bill Moore (Rules & Handicap) Tim McCauley (Membership) Harley Schlachter (Weekly Events) Frank Sciannella (Special Events) Good News and 4 Bad News The Pima Cup 5 Pace of Play 5 Mike Koen (Communications) Dave Bott (Sponsorship) George Kramer will also continue to serve as Webmaster and Mark Martin will serve as AGA Delegate. Jack welcomed the new Board and thanked the outgoing Board members for their service. Remember Our 6 Sponsors Scenes 7 PAGE 1
Mark Your Calendars Dec 18 Pima Cup Competition at Oro Valley CC Jan 11 Sunday Couples Golf & Dinner Jan 15 Pima Cup Competition at The Gallery GC Jan 21 Board Meeting Feb 5 & 12 President s Cup Feb 8 Sunday Couples Golf & Dinner Mar 2 Pima Cup Competition at SaddleBrooke CC Mar 5 Return to First Tee Times at 8 a.m. Mar 11, 12, 18 Ryder Cup Mar 18 Board Meeting Mar 19 Pima Cup Competition at El Conquistador GC Apr 1 Pima Cup Competition at Mtn View / Preserve Apr 12 Community Golf Event Apr 20 Pima Cup Competition at Ventana Canyon CC May 6 Pima Cup Competition at SBR GC May 20 Board Meeting Golf Hole of the Month By popular acclaim, the world s toughest golf hole is a Par 3 at Legend Golf & Safari Resort in South Africa. The tee is set 1,410 feet above the green on Hanglip Mountain. From the base of the mountain to the back of the green is 1,312 feet. In golf terms, that s a 437-yard par-3, with a vertical drop of 470 yards. Accounting for physics, the hole plays about 260-270 yards due to the vertical drop. A round of golf at the course including lunch is $70 per player, or $280 per foursome. To play this extreme Par 3 19 th hole raises the rate to $1,060 per foursome. That extreme price does come with a few perks. Players get a helicopter ride to the tee and back down after hitting, a souvenir cap and glove, and a DVD of their play on the hole. Additionally, each player is given six balls with tracking devices, since losing sight of a ball hit from 1,410 feet up is pretty likely. There s a prize worth over $1 million for any player that makes a hole in one. The money has yet to be claimed. Eight players, however, have made birdies, and 96 pars have been recorded including many professional golfers. The highest recorded score, according to the course s website, is a 23. And there are hundreds of other players whose scores say NR or maxed out. PAGE 2
The Annual Membership Lunch Meeting After voting for the 2015 Board was completed, Jack Gressingh, SBRMGA President, spoke briefly about the association s accomplishments during 2014. These included growth from 78 to 92 members, later winter start times, participation in the Pima Cup and other annual special events, the recent vote on changing play days, and other items. Mike Jahaske, Club Pro, spoke to the club about recent course issues, reviewed the new rate sheet options, and then answered questions. George Kramer reviewed the website status. To close the meeting and the year, Rick Snowden presented awards for most improved member golfers in 2014. In the A through D flights, Bill Moore, Mark Martin, Mike Sosin, and Chuck Baker were the most improved, respectively. Mike Sosin won the award for the most improved overall. Two New Members in November We have two new members who joined us in November. Welcome to them both!l! Beler Watts Beler and his wife Cheryl moved into their home on S Egret Trail in August. Mike Oliverio We also welcome Mike Oliverio back to our SBRMGA. Mike has rejoined us for 2015 as a Handicap Only member. PAGE 3
Good Course Maintenance Etiquette Although we are fortunate to have a resident Adopt-a-Hole program, SBRMGA members practice good course maintenance etiquette as they play unless it impedes pace of play. Members are reminded of the following everyday procedures: (1) use plain sand (no seed) in the rough, (2) use sand with seed (located behind the portable toilets on holes 5 and 13) for fairway divots, (3) fill divots just to cover roots and then smooth with your shoe, (4) fix ball marks on green with a tool and by pushing toward the center of the mark, and (5) pick up broken tees on the tee boxes. From all of us who play our course, Thank You! The Good News and The Bad News When it was clear that Frank was dying, Joe visited him every day. One day Joe said, "Frank, we both loved playing golf all our lives. Please do me one favor: when you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's golf there. Frank looked up at Joe from his deathbed and said, "Joe, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you. Shortly after that, Frank died. A few weeks later, Joe was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Joe, Joe." "Who is it," asked Joe, sitting up suddenly. "Joe -- it's me, Frank." "Frank, Where are you?" "In heaven," replied Frank. "I have some really good news and a little bad news." "The good news," Frank said, is that there is golf in heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before me are here too. Even better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always summertime,it never rains and it s never windy. And best of all, we can play golf all we want, and we never get tired." "That's fantastic," said Joe. So what's the bad news?" "You're in my foursome this Saturday." PAGE 4
Our team did well in the first round of this year s Pima Cup competition at La Paloma Country Club on December 2. Tony Seales and Patrick Larkey won their C Flight match 9 1/2 to 8 1/2. John Hess and Sam Rossi tied their B Flight match 9 to 9. Steve Thomson and Harley Schlachter narrowly lost their A Flight match 10 to 8. After the first round, the standings are: La Paloma CC 31 SaddleBrooke HOA2 29 Oro Valley CC 28 1/2 SaddleBrooke Ranch GC 26 1/2 El Conquistador GC 26 1/2 The Gallery GC 26 1/2 Ventana Canyon CC 20 1/2 We re off to a good start! Here is the tentative schedule of dates, locations and times: Thursday, Dec.18 at Oro Valley 8:30 a.m. Thursday, January 15 at The Gallery (North) 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 2 at Saddlebrooke HOA1 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19 at El Conquistador 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1 at Saddlebrooke HOA2 12:30 p.m. Monday, April 20 at Ventana Canyon 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 6 at Saddlebrooke Ranch 8:30 a.m. Contact George Kramer at webmaster@sbrmga.org for more information. Pace of Play Our past and current Rules & Handicap Chairmen have compiled a series of "tips" for playing "Ready Golf". If we follow these guidelines we will greatly improve our pace of play. There are many more Pace of Play Tips on our website. Pace of play really boils down to one thing: common courtesy to the other members of the group that you are playing with and to the players stacking up behind your group. PAGE 5
Remember Our Sponsors! For 2014, we are pleased to have three Platinum sponsors and four Premier sponsors. The Platinum sponsors are Coyote Golf Cars, Golf Cars of Arizona, and Express Employment Professionals. The Premier sponsors are Arizona Proscapes, BRAKEmax Car Care Center (Catalina), Mercedes Benz of Tucson, and Outdoor Creations. Please patronize our sponsors and, when you do, let them know you appreciate their sponsorship! The Scorecard SaddleBrooke Ranch Men s Golf Association Contact Doug Streuber, Communications Chairman, at communications@sbrmga.org with any questions or suggestions about The Scorecard Photos are provided by Dom Miglionico CONTACT US Webmaster George Kramer Contact Brian Svedberg at membership@sbrmga.org for information about joining the SBR MGA SBRMGA. All rights reserved. PAGE 6
S a d d l e B ro o k e R a n ch M e n s G o l f A s s o c ia ti o n (S B RM G A) DE C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 Scenes Photography by Dom Miglionico PAGE 7