April 2019 Hours 8:00 am sunset, Saturday & Sunday 8:30 am sunset, Tuesday Friday Range closed for Maintenance Sunday 5:00 - sunset Course closed Mondays Welcome Spring! According to the calendar, winter should be winding down. We have seen very little play at the course this winter, but hope to see more of you soon! Although as I am sending this out the final days of March are planning to give us showers with a possibility of snow mixed in! We have had a long, rough winter, with lots of snow, rain, cold and not a lot of nice days for golfing. The winter cups have been removed from the greens, and we are having some timely moisture that will help the fairways and roughs begin to perk up! Just reminding everyone, until the Bermuda Grass fairways turn green, we will be CARTS IN ROUGH ONLY. That means no driving ON or ACROSS the fairways. Effective April 1 st Appropriate Golf Attire is required on the golf course. Men collared shirts and NO denim. Women: No tank or halter tops and NO denim.
Help Wanted: Full time and part time grounds crew positions available. Contact the clubhouse for more information. We are once again offering Junior Golf lessons at Metcalf Ridge. The sessions are open to kids aged 6-18. Cost is $65 for four sessions. Each session runs for four consecutive days, Tuesday Friday. All lessons will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A Junior Golf form is available at the clubhouse, on the website (Metcalfridge.com) and on the school websites. Contact the clubhouse if you have further questions. March 1 st marks the date that you may begin to enter scores to calculate your GHIN or handicap. To activate your GHIN, contact the clubhouse and we will get you set up.
New Golf Rules for 2019 It s the most major revision of the rules for more than 30 years. Here is a summary of a few of the more important changes. 1. Search time. Previously, five minutes were available for finding a lost ball. Now the maximum search time is only three minutes. 2. Ball moved during a search. Previously, the player usually incurred a penalty stroke if he moved his ball during a search. Now, a mishap such as this is without penalty. When searching in thick grass, you can use your feet and your clubs without any consequences. The ball must be put back. 3. Identifying the ball. Previously, if you wanted to pick up the ball to identify it, you had to inform a fellow-player in advance. Now, you no longer have to inform a fellow-player. 4. Provisional ball. Previously a provisional ball could only be played before the player walked down the fairway to look for his first ball. Now, you can also play a provisional ball after you have looked for the first ball for a while. 5. Club length. Previously, the player could use any of his clubs to measure out a clublength. Now, a club-length is defined as the longest club in your bag, except for the putter. 6. Dropping. Previously, the ball had to be dropped from shoulder height. Now, you have to drop from knee height. 7. Embedded ball. Previously, the player only got relief if the ball had become embedded in a closely-mown area. Now you can take a free drop from all embedded balls in the general area, including if the ball has become embedded into the ground in the rough. Balls embedded in a bunker or penalty areas still have to be played as they lie. 8. Animal holes. Previously, the player was only given relief from animal holes if they were made by burrowing animals and reptiles, or birds. Now, the restriction to certain species of animals has been lifted and you can take a free drop from holes and excavation tracks left by all animals (except for insects and worms). 9. Wrong green. If the ball lands on the wrong green, playing it from there is not allowed, as this would most likely damage the green. However, if the ball only lands near the wrong green, the player was previously permitted to stand on the wrong green to play his ball. Now, you have to take a free drop if you would have to take your stance on the wrong green. 10. Ball hits the player or equipment. Previously, a penalty stroke was incurred if the ball hit the player himself or his own equipment (including the golf cart). Now, this is without penalty, provided it happened accidentally. 11. Double hit. Previously, a penalty stroke was incurred if the club got stuck when a stroke was played and as a result, the ball was hit more than once. Now, a mishap such as this is without penalty. A double hit therefore just counts as one stroke. 12. Touching the sand in the bunker. Previously touching the sand in the bunker before the stroke was not permitted, except for very few exceptions. Now, touching the sand incidentally is allowed, i.e. you are permitted to lean on your club for example. However, before the stroke is played, you are still not allowed to test the condition of the sand, improve the line of play, touch the sand when making a practice swing, ground the club in front of or behind the ball or touch the sand on your back swing.
13. Loose impediments. Previously, touching twigs, leaves, stones and other natural objects in bunkers and water hazards was not allowed. Now, you can remove them anywhere without penalty, including in bunkers and penalty areas (new name for water hazards). 14. Unplayable ball in the bunker. Previously, the player had three dropping options each incurring one penalty stroke if he declared his ball in a bunker unplayable. Now, a fourth option is available. You can also drop the ball directly behind the bunker. However, this option costs two penalty strokes instead of just one. 15. Penalty areas. Previously, water hazards could only be marked as such if they actually contained water. Now, water hazards are called penalty areas and no longer have to contain water. 16. Dropping options for red penalty areas. Previously, with lateral water hazards, it was possible to drop on the opposite side of the entry point (where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard). Now, lateral water hazards are called red penalty areas and it is no longer possible to drop on the opposite side of the entry point. 17. Touching the ground and water in penalty areas. Previously, touching the ground or the water before a stroke from a water hazard was not allowed. Now, you are allowed to ground the club in or out of the water when you play the ball out of a penalty area. 18. Ball moves on the green after being marked and put back. Previously, the ball had to played from the new spot, if it moved either by itself or due to the wind after being marked and put back. Now, you have to put the ball back. 19. Ball on the green moved accidentally by the player. Previously, accidentally moving the ball on the green was only without penalty with certain exceptions. Now, a mishap such as this is without penalty in all cases on the green. 20. Repairing damage on the green. Previously, repairing the line of putt was not allowed, apart from pitch marks and old hole plugs. Now, you are permitted to repair nearly all damage on the green including spike marks. 21. No positioning of the club to help line up the shot. Previously laying the putter down on the green to line up you shot was permitted. Now, you are no longer allowed to position your club on the green to help you line up your stance. This applies to other objects that could help you line up the putt. 22. No help from the caddie to line up the shot. Previously, the player was allowed to get help from his caddie, for example to line up the putt. Now, the caddie is no longer permitted to stand behind the player while he is over the ball to help him line up. 23. Hitting the flagstick. Previously, the flag had to be tended or removed, as the ball was not allowed to hit it when putted. Now, hitting the flagstick is without penalty, which means you can always leave the flag in the hole. 24. Ball wedged on the flagstick. Previously, the flag had to be removed in this case to let the ball fall into the hole. Now, the ball is classed as having been holed if part of the ball is below the lip. (This rule only applies if the ball has come to rest, a putt that has lipped out is not classed as holed).
Conversations from the Clubhouse Well, most of the tree debris from the winter trimming and snow damage has been removed, and we have been working on some projects to make the course ready for the busy golfing season ahead. Andy and I are both working hard to make the golf course the best that we can, and we know that there are lots of projects that could be taken on, but we are doing what we can with what we have access to. We hope to see you soon and are anxious for the golfing season to get underway. Thank you for choosing to spend your extra time here with us. Patty and Andy