Blue Heron Ryder Cup, July 9

Just a reminder that there are only four days left to sign up for the Ryder Cup at Blue Heron Pines. Here is the link to the tournament application:

http://justgolftournaments.blogspot.com/2013/06/blue-heron-ryder-cup-application-updated.html

Vineyard application for new competitors only

Mixed Modified Scramble, Vineyard Golf at Renault, Tuesday, July 23

(You may sign up without a partner, and I will keep you posted on my efforts to find one for you.)

Male Player: ______________________         Female Partner: ____________________

Home course: _____________________         Home course: _____________________

Handicap Index: ___ . __                                  Handicap Index: ___ . __

Circle preferred time:         10:30-11:20                  11:30-12:20                    after 12:20

MEN’S TEES – CIRCLE YOUR TEE CHOICE:

Choose the STANDARD tees (White: 68.9/120; 6077 yards) to compete for both gross and net prizes.

Choose the FORWARD tees (Green: 67.6/116; 5748 yards) to compete for net prizes ONLY. Handicap reduction approximately 2 strokes.

It is recommended that men who can hit a drive 200 yards choose the STANDARD tees. 

STANDARD              FORWARD                (circle choice)

Total cost: $50 per player. You will pay $30 per player at the course and you will mail $20 per player to me in advance.  Please mail one check for $40, together with this application, payable to:

     Linda Miller

     48 Cherry Street

     Mount Holly, NJ 08060

Direct any questions to Linda:

     E-mail: LLMillerGolf@gmail.com

     Home phone: 609-267-8630

     Cell phone: 609-784-2550

Tournament opens today

Last date to mail application: July 9

Additional tournament information

• Course fee: $30 per player

• Team Course Handicap: 35% low Course Handicap + 15% high CH

• Must use 7 tee shots from each player

• Practice putting green; no driving range

Special considerations (traveling with someone, etc.)

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Vineyard tournament rescheduled for July 23

The Mixed Modified Scramble at Vineyard Golf at Renault has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 23. If you did not sign up for this tournament and would like to play on the rescheduled date, please mail your application by July 9. I will post a new application this week.

For those of you who were at the Vineyard today…

• If you told me you are available to play on July 23, please remember to bring your rain check. Your cost on July 23 will be the rain check plus $20.

• If you told me you were unsure of your availability, please let me know as soon as possible whether you plan to compete on July 23.

• If you told me you are not available, JustGolf owes you $10 (the portion of your tournament fee that is used for prizes). I will mail your refund this week.

Please look over the following lists and let me know if there is a mistake.

Players who will not be available to play on July 23:

Jan Daniels

Ineke Daniels

Cindy Junker

Ayako Loder

Hal Wilson

Players who are unsure of their availability on July 23:

Bruce Burdick

Debbie Donahue

Ron Amey

Joy Seamon

Ray Brown

Lina Cao

Bruce Schaffer

Barbara Doherty

If your name does not appear on either of the above lists, I was informed at the Vineyard that you will play in the re-scheduled tournament on July 23.

Last-minute notices

If I ever have to cancel a tournament prior to leaving my house, I will post a notice on the website. In order to check for such a notice, you will have to visit the website: http://justgolftournaments.blogspot.com. 

Don’t wait for an e-mail – the e-mails that you receive from the website have a lag time of approximately 15 hours.

If there is no notice on the website, please call the course for updated information on the status of the tournament.

Linda

Vineyard Rules and Course Information

Please print and bring to the tournament.

Scramble Rules

1. You must use 7 tee shots from each player (Par 3 holes included).

2. Each player tees off on each hole. Select one tee shot and both players play their second shots from that spot, and so on, until the ball is holed. Once the ball is holed, the score for that hole is final.

3. Once you select the shot to be used, place a marker on the ground. The next shot by both players must be hit from within 12 inches of that marker, no closer to the hole. You may not use the 12 inches to improve your condition. Once the ball is on the green, both players must putt from the exact same spot.

4. Record one score for each hole.

5. There are no “gimmies;” hole every ball.

• Return completed scorecard in person to the official scorer.

• Women play Red tees; Men play White tees (Standard) or Green (forward)

• Tipping: Please tip the cart boys.

Course Information:

• Out of Bounds: Marked by white stakes and boundary fence posts.

• Do not enter the vineyards or other environmentally protected areas.

• Environmentally sensitive areas: Red stakes with white tops indicate environmentally sensitive areas where entry is not permitted. A ball coming to rest in these areas may not be searched for and must be abandoned. Relief options are the same as for a lateral water hazard.

• Dirt cart paths: There is no free relief from dirt cart paths.

• Drop areas: You may use the drop areas on holes #3 and #13.

• Bathrooms: Portables near holes 3, 6, 14, 15, and behind halfway house.

• Hole location: chart on cart.

• Yardage markers (to center of green): sprinkler heads; red, white, and blue disks (100, 150, 200)

• Carts: drive onto fairways, remain on fairways, exit fairways at signs. Do not drive or park in rough.

• Repair divots with divot mix on cart. Rake bunkers.

• Best advice: Greens are quick – stay below the hole.

• Ground under repair (GUR): Roped off areas. Play ball as it lies, or free drop (stance plus one club-length) at nearest point of relief no closer to hole.

• Practice putting green; no driving range.

Specific hole information:

Distances are in order from White/Green/Red

#1: To bunker in fairway: 217/146/116. To carry bunker: 239/168/139.

#2: To bunker on right: 187/170/137. Distance to water: 264/247/213. High grass surrounding bunker) ends 30 yards from the green.

#3: Par 3. May use Drop Area for balls hit into the water hazard.

#4: Bunker on left squeezes fairway at 150-yard marker.

#6: To bunker on right: 252/230/180. Note pond on left starting 110 from green. Bunker on left 150 yards from green abuts pond.

#7: Dogleg left. To end of fairway at center bunker on the right: 248/175/167.

To carry all bunkers on left: 333/260/252.

#8: To carry bunker: 241/195/176.

#9: Slight dogleg left. To end of bunkers on right: 190/153/106. To bunker in middle of fairway: 294/255/208. This middle bunker is 40 yards short of the green.

#10: To end of last bunker on left: 210/187/117.

#11: To end of last bunker on right: 199/174/142.

#12: To end of last bunker on right: 196/147/113. To bunker on left: 200/152/115.

#13: Par 3. May use Drop Area.

#14: Dogleg right. To end of last bunker on left: 242/206/149.

#15: OB on left – stakes and fence. Public road is OB. To end of last bunker on right: 230/195/156; on left: 246/211/168.

#17: If you’re thinking of trying to drive the green, beware of the quarry fescue area on the right.

#18: Slight dogleg. To end of left bunker: 209/154/142.

Posting scores

Several JustGolf members have expressed their concern about players failing to post scores following every round. This is disturbing news to me. Please understand that your handicap is not accurate if you do not post each time you play. If your handicap is not accurate, the tournaments cannot be fair to all competitors. May I remind you that each of you signed your name on the JustGolf membership application declaring that you post scores following all acceptable rounds.

Let’s take a look at what scores should be posted, and how to post those scores. First, we need to define three essential terms: ESC Score, Most Likely Score, and Par Plus Handicap Score.

• ESC Score

“ESC” stands for Equitable Stroke Control. If you have an unusually bad hole, you may be required to lower that hole’s score before you total your 18-hole score and post it.

Here are the ESC reductions:

If your Course Handicap (CH) is 9 or less, the maximum score you may post for any given hole is double bogey.

If your CH is 10-19, your maximum is 7.

If your CH is 20-29, your maximum is 8.

Please remember that if you are playing a round and you shoot 92, 92 is the number that will count for the day’s competition. However, when you post that score in your handicap record, you will apply the ESC adjustments to any holes where you exceeded your maximum score. So if your CH is 15, and you scored 8 on three holes, your competitive score would still be 92, but you would post 89 in your handicap record (the maximum score you are permitted to post on any hole is 7 if your CH is 15).

• Most Likely Score

When a player does not complete a hole, as often happens in match play and better ball competitions, he must record his “most likely score” on that hole for handicap purposes. The score would be the number of strokes already taken plus the number of strokes the player believes necessary to finish the hole. This is a judgment call. Ordinarily, if your ball is on the green but not in “gimme” range you would add 2 strokes to your score; if you’re within pitching distance, you would add 3 strokes (the pitch plus two putts).

• Par Plus Handicap Score

Perhaps the hour is growing late, so you and your friends decide to call it a day and not play the last 2 holes. The score you record for the holes you do not play is par plus any additional strokes you would receive based on your Course Handicap. Let’s say your Course Handicap is 13. The 17th hole (par 5) is the #3 handicap hole, and the 18th hole (par 4) is the #14 handicap hole. For handicap purposes, you would record a 6 on the 17th hole (par plus 1, according to your Course Handicap of 13, which would entitle you to a stroke on the #3 handicap hole), and a 4 on the 18th hole (with a Course Handicap of 13 you would not be entitled to a stroke on the #14 handicap hole).

Now let’s take a look at what scores the USGA requires that we post, and what scores we are not permitted to post. The source of these rules is The USGA Handicap System manual, Section 5–Scores. You can access the manual online via the following link: http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Handicap-System-Manual/Handicap-Manual.

POST THESE SCORES

1. If you play 13 or more holes, post an 18-hole score. For the holes that are not played, record your Par Plus Handicap score.

2. If you play between 7 and 12 holes, post a 9-hole score.

3. Post all scores from every course that has a USGA Course Rating and Slope Rating®, both home and away, during the active season. Don’t forget to record the correct course rating and slope rating when you post “away” scores.

4. Scores made in match play must be posted, even though you pick up when a putt or a hole is conceded. Record your Most Likely Score in those situations.

5. Scores in stroke play competitions must be posted, even though you may have picked up on several holes because your partner had a better score. Each time you pick up, record your Most Likely Score.

6. Record all scores when you are playing under the Rules of Golf (see #3 and #4 below under “Do not post these scores”).

7. If you have been disqualified from a tournament, but you have an acceptable score (“acceptable” means it meets all the above requirements), you must post it. One example might be a player who has been disqualified for not signing his scorecard.

DO NOT POST THESE SCORES

1. You play less than 7 holes.

2. You play during the inactive season.

3. You don’t play your own ball (e.g., scramble, alternate shot, Scotch Chapman).

4. You don’t play according to the Rules of Golf (e.g., you play two balls). Note that if you are playing preferred lies (“winter rules”), you are playing by the Rules and you must post that score.

5. You play an 18-hole course that is less than 3,000 yards, or a 9-hole course that is less than 1,500 yards.

6. You play in a tournament where the number of clubs permitted is less than 14, or the type of club is limited (e.g., irons only).

7. You play on a course that does not have a USGA Course Rating or Slope Rating.

8. You play with a non-conforming club (e.g., a driver longer than 48”), a non-conforming ball (e.g., weighs more than 1.62 ounces), or a non-conforming tee (e.g., longer than 4”).

9. You use an artificial device or unusual equipment to help you make a stroke (e.g., placing a bottle of water on the green to gauge the slope).

The USGA has provided a handicap system that allows golfers of different abilities to have an even competition. The system works properly when every player posts every acceptable score immediately after the round or as soon as possible.