C O T E N T S The SCORECARD M THE TEEING GROUND A R C H 2 0 1 8 AMAZING WEBSITE FIRST TEE JITTERS GOOD TO KNOW PURPLE HEART GOLF CLASSIC THE SHAG BAG COMING AT- TRACTIONS OUTREACH OUTREACH PARTNERS THE TEEING GROUND It s the end of the first quarter a time to take stock of our golf games and of course whether the SCORECARD is meeting our needs. This month we ll look at some our own great thinkers and some of their contributions. We ll look ahead to coming attractions and see what the SHAG BAG has to offer. We still have a key special event upcoming in April, the Club Championship. It s our last until November. Sign up and take a swing with our membership. WEEKLY EVENTS FIRST QUARTER Our weekly games provided the perfect backdrop to the golfing stage. Raising the curtain each week with an individually flighted competition or a team competition be it two man, four man or best ball, or a scramble, or a rotating scramble and of course a Stableford scoring event have been our theater. Unique events such as four clubs and a putter, fuggetaboutit individual competition and the always pretty in pink Paula Creamer Open with our golfers resplendent in pink brought the house down inspiring greater fellowship and interest within our membership. (There s a PIC in the SCORECARD) It has truly been a quarter with something for everyone. Top this off with two special events, Ryder Cup and Match Play, plus multiple PIMA Cup events and we have had a golf quarter to remember.
P A G E 2 THE SBRMGA AMAZING WEBSITE By the time our SBRMGA entered its third year in 2012, it became obvious that we needed a website to help us function better. The Board laid out a vision for what the website should be and recruited George Kramer to make it happen. And a powerful website was the result! The vision was that, for the public, the website should say who we are, why we re here, what our golf course is, and how to join. For the members, the website should provide one stop shopping for men s golf at SBR: communications, a link to Chelsea, a link to the AGA for score posting, handicap status, member directory information, bulletins such as Pace of Play, event scorecards, archives of past events, capabilities for group emails, special event tools, for sale and need a player bulletin boards, golf course conditions, weather conditions, etc. For the administrators, the website should provide centralized and simplified recordkeeping, a filing cabinet, and configuration control of email distributions. And, last but not least, for the association the website should provide a vehicle to generate revenue through advertising and sponsorship. Our website now does all of these things and much more. George recruited Mike Wilson to help establish the website. They evaluated many alternatives and selected one originally offered by the Arizona Golf Association, named Golf Fusion. Golf Fusion offered George and Mike a wide variety of options from which they could customize the features we needed. They successfully integrated Golf Fusion with the local Chelsea signup system, with the Arizona Golf Association (AGA), with the ETS emoney system, and with the Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN). Mike wrote code to connect and automate many of these processes. The website is now maintained by Doug Streuber, with George and Mike serving as consultants. So, these are a lot of words, but what does the actual website do for the member user? Hopefully, you use portions of the site regularly and know the answer. Without getting too detailed, we ll do a brief tour of the website www.sbrmga.org. The site is open to the public but members have access to much more. When the member logs in, he sees something like the following screen. Most of the items are self-explanatory. Continued on page 3.
P A G E 3 SBRMGA AMAZING WEBSITE, CONTINUED The Club Information tab leads to course information and scorecards for SaddleBrooke Ranch, current and past Board members, a calendar of upcoming golf and nongolf events, the member directory, a suggestion box, tips on pace of play, local rules, equitable stroke control, and links to other SaddleBrooke Ranch clubs. The Tournament tab leads to details on upcoming golf and nongolf events, results of golf events, and your personal history of results. The Communications tab leads to the current newsletter and archives, Board and membership meeting minutes and association Bylaws. The Review Scores / Stats / Index tab provides links for posting scores, more history, and a link to the Arizona Golf Association. The Membership tab provides links for membership information. The Outreach tab shows our current community sponsors. The Bulletin Board tab leads to multiple bulletin boards. Go ahead and explore the website. Try using features and decide what works for you. Look at your member profile and be sure to keep it up to date. Experiment! For further information or for help, contact Doug Streuber at mgawebbiz@gmail.com. Contributor: Doug Streuber
P A G E 4 FIRST TEE JITTERS How about some advice from others that have experience? Let s start with Butch Harmon and his thoughts: One of the things that Butch Harmon teaches is to practice the drive you want to hit off the first tee as his last swing before leaving the range. Build in enough time to make a few swings on the range before you tee off. Harmon says to grab three balls at the end of your warm up and go through your full driver routine with each. Start behind the ball, visualize the fairway, walk into the shot, Harmon says. If you usually take a practice swing, go for it. Then line up and let it rip. Rehearsing what you want that first shot to look like and what you want it to feel like will make you more confident when you step up to your ball on the first tee. Next up on the tee Annika Sorenstam Annika Sorenstam told us that when you re feeling some pressure, check your tempo. She said for herself, she d think: Swing 6. This means that if 10 is the hardest you can possibly swing, swing at a 6. Or think of it as swinging 60% instead of 100%. Trying to swing 100% is going to make your tempo faster and ruin any chance at hitting it solid. If you think about swinging 60%, your tempo is going to slow down and you ve got a lot better chance of hitting the middle of the club face -- and the middle of the fairway. Contributor: Mike Koen
P A G E 5 GOOD TO KNOW How about a BIG HOORAH for our Handicap and Rules committee. They work to help all of us understand the rules of golf as well as pertinent local rules. Additionally, during weekly play the committee helps maintain pace of play thus improving the overall enjoyment of our game. The members are Chairman Rob Nemecek and committee members Steve Schneck, Bill Mihal, Matt Nelson, Mark Johnson and Mick Burkart. Another very important task is the monitoring of posted scores and handicaps. Of course none of us members wish to be monitored but monitoring makes certain our weekly games and special events remain fair to all. Member weekly game scores are posted on their behalf. When golfing other than in the weekly events please remember to post your score whether its for 9 holes or 18 holes. If needing to post for a date other than the current date please adjust the date as you post. Also, if golfing a course other than our SBR home course please post as an A (away). Next month we ll return GOOD TO KNOW to a selection of rules and clarifications. PURPLE HEART GOLF CLASSIC Twelve members will be participating in the Purple Heart Golf Classic April 14, 2018. This event provides funds for the many veterans in need in Southern Arizona. It is special to the veteran community as 100% of the funds raised go directly to support those in need. We are grateful for the interest expressed by our members necessitating a lottery drawing for participants. The lottery winning members include Mick Burkart, Bob Christianson, Mike Chonle, Mark Klicker Paul Lapotosky, Don Lawson, Tim McCauley, Alan Ness, Richard Osterlund, Ed Robertson, Steve Schneck and Guy Shelton. We appreciate the support of our members for this special event.
P A G E 6 THE SHAG BAG SPECIAL EDITION It s a special time of the year for golf. Weather is turning better than ever and the Masters is but a week away. We ll practice a bit of decorum this month. After all, the SHAG BAG must observe the proper etiquette just as members observe the rules of golf. The question of the day is what hole is this picture from? Or Maybe the lyrics Hey Hey Paula... Gotta luv the laces If our Shag Bag is ever O.B. we ll tee it up and hit it again. Contributions are always appreciated, thanks to all. No need to come up with a unique comment just rely on your playing partners listening closely to that being said valiantly or perhaps in vain. Send to communications@sbrmga.org
P A G E 7 COMING ATTRACTIONS PRO S CORNER returns in April. Practical Putting CELEBRATIONS A FULL PAGE Time to recognize our Ryder Cup winning team, Match Play Champions, Club Championship results and of course those special moments of hole in one, career achievements, etc. MARIA PALOZOLA First Tee Thoughts CONTRIBUTING MEMBER ARTICLES OUTREACH Our Outreach Committee together with other members work to maintain relationships within our local business community. The successes to date have included strengthening historical relationships and building new relationships. Guy Shelton, Chairman, seeks those local businesses and other organizations that our members patronize and that find SaddleBrooke Ranch residents valuable community members. Together we make a difference.
OUTREACH PARTNERS Newest Outreach Partner Morris Hall PLLC OUTREACH PARTNERS ARE IMPORTANT Whenever possible please patronize our partners. We are an important part of their businesses and they an important part of our success. Congratulations to each on their business success. We look forward to many years in partnership as our community and the SBRMGA continues to grow.