South Island Golfers

Season of 2009-2010

Last updated: Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:00 AM

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March 19, 2010 - Gator Trace Mixed Scramble

Congratulations to the team of Bing Bortle, Lois Bortle, Bill Allen, and Lorie Gourlay for their winning "51" net score in the Gator Trace Scramble.

Click HERE to see the pictures from the day.

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Congratulations to the team of Mike Mazur, Bob Hannon, Marge McConnell, and Marilyn Schwander for their winning "56" net score in the Hammock Creek Scramble.

Click HERE to see the pictures from the February 13, 2010 Hammock Creek Scramble.

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2009-2010 Rates

Hammock Creek

April 2010 +- Tuesdays:

$46 includes greens fee, carts, bag boy tips and tax.

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Gator Trace - Fridays:

Current rate is $TBD (afternoon rate), includes greens fee, carts, prize fund, bag boy tips and tax.

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Click below to get the Golf Handicaps as of 4/18/2010 (.pdf format) for the 2010 season.

Golf League Handicaps

At long last I found a golf league handicap program and have entered all the scores in for the year so far. It is usually a challenge to see who "Bill, or Joe, or Bob" is a few days after we play, but making sense of first names many weeks later proved to be a challenge and I may have missed a few. In the future, it would make life easier if you will enter first and last names, or minimally last name initial. Also, make sure you date the cards because handicaps can vary based on dates over time.

During the regular season, the handicaps will be updated weekly after the Hammock Creek rounds, usually by Wednesday night.

Bert McConnell (golphinut@comcast.net)

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Driving:

To set expectations, you should plan on driving approximately once every three times you play. We tracked the drivers last season and the average was 30%. Some people have drive as much as 40-50% of the time and frankly step up more than they should. Others are below, and in some cases significantly below the average. Please keep this in mind, and sign up to drive when you can. It sure can take an uncomfortable task off of the coordinators. Thanks.

Click HERE to see the driving record for the 2010 season as of 4/18/2010.

To review/print the Men's signup sheet with player telephone numbers

To review/print the Women's signup sheet with player numbers

Click HERE for General Rules and Contacts

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Click Here to see wildlife pictures from the golf course during the season. Don't miss the final pictures of the biggest alligator we've seen all year, earning Gator Trace its name!

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Click Here to see the pictures from the 2009 SIG Year End Party. Click on "slideshow for best viewing.

Click HERE for an interesting article from the WSJ 3/29/2008 on selecting golf equipment

Cut-off times for golf reservations:
Both Hammock Creek and Gator Trace have requested that we notify them earlier about how many starting times we need to reserve each week. We will be calling in the reservation on Sunday afternoons for Hammock Creek and on Wednesday afternoons for Gator Trace. The sign up sheets will come down around noon on those days. If you can’t get to the sign up sheet in the Islandia I mailroom, call one of the coordinators before the cutoff.

*The Art of Golf* Courtesy of Dave Bigler Old men play golf differently than the rest of us. Some play it well and some play it poorly but, as a class, their journey from the first tee to the last is worth studying. You can both improve your score and deepen the game's pleasures by paying attention when the elders lace up their spikes. My own education began in a foursome that included three artificial joints: two hips and a knee. The orthopedic hardware was bolted to the bones of three men in their eighties, all residents of a gated community in South Carolina. I joined them for a round during an annual visit. They eyed me warily as I walked toward them with the starter. I learned later that my own age was almost a deal breaker. As a reasonably fit "kid" of fifty, they feared I might disrupt the octogenarian rhythms of their round. We exchanged greetings, handicaps, picked teams and teed off. What followed was a post-graduate education in good manners, good fellowship and, in the end, what's so good about the game.Like many retirees, they drove flamboyant golf carts: custom paint jobs, sound systems, flashy hood ornaments. There was the unmistakable echo of the Chryslers and Cadillac's they drove fifty years ago. One, apparently the group's quartermaster, had a year's supply of pencils and scorecards at the ready, wrapped in rubber bands and meticulously arranged in what, otherwise, appeared to be a medicine cabinet: Advil, prescription meds, band-aids, tubes of mentholated muscle cream, disinfectant and multiple grades of sun block. Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Everest with fewer provisions. Clearly, this would be no ordinary round of golf. This was a pilgrimage and the lessons unfolded on every fairway. Golf Cartography -- Old guys frequently have an encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. After all, they've spent seven or eight decades walking around in it. If you're lucky, they'll map out the golf course for you, its landmarks, landscape and wildlife. Learning that your ball has come to rest under a "bougainvillea" and not a generic "bush" may be small consolation but it will better connect you to the golf course and, as the details accumulate, sharpen your appreciation of its architecture. Knowing that the bird cart-wheeling overhead is an American kestrel can turn an out-of-bounds tee shot into an occasion of wonder. Stop counting strokes and give more thought to the canvas you are playing on. There's No Swing Like An Old Swing -- Their swings are miraculously constructed. In the best of them, there's a hint of the 50's Ben Hogan; in the worst, homage to the same decade's Bob Hope. In all of them, you'll see ingenious compensations for body parts that don't work quite as well as they used to. Their swings aren't uniformly pretty but they're predictably consistent and give new meaning to the term "muscle memory". And remember, they've been tutoring their neuromuscular junctions since Ike was in the White House. Because their testosterone is taking flight, they worship at the altar of timing and tempo more than young Turks do. During your next round, genuflect with them and watch your score improve. Splendor in the Grass -- Because they grew up during America's first mass exodus to the suburbs, these guys love to landscape. They repair divots and rake bunkers unfailingly. They minister to ball marks on the green as if they were bruises on a granddaughter's arm.   They know, from the hard-won experience of guarding their own health, that living things need looking after. Whether you play at a private club or a pockmarked muni, leave every golf hole in better shape than you found it. Take a Lesson -- Remember, you're in the presence of men who have stopped punching the clock and can still afford a tee time. They have more or less successfully retired. They may not be able to lead you to the next Google, but any elder foursome can be full of sage advice on money, marriage and generally managing your life. Ask them about their lives and careers, turning points and blunders. Take notes. The Wonders of the Wager -- With their business careers behind them, a golf wager awakens a slumbering will to win. It is a kind of business deal, isn't it? Strokes are ferociously negotiated and the stakes, typically small, are agreed upon. They started playing golf when Byron Nelson ruled the sport and a buck was still a buck. It's not about the cash, it's about the contest and the unspeakable pleasure of extracting another ten spot from the flinty, New Englander they've been playing with since 1975. Bet smart, bet small, and play fiercely down the stretch. The Killer Short Game - Every golfer has had a $5 Nassau slip from his grasp as some old guy gets up and down on a crucial hole. This is their wheelhouse, where they swallow the indignity of being out-driven by seventy yards, offer a sly wink and go one-up on the match. Because they're on life's final lap, they know that how you start matters less than how you finish. Inside 20 yards, this wisdom is decisive. It doesn't hurt, of course, to have memorized every subtle swale on the golf course and they have! If you are lucky enough to meet one of these masters of the short game, share a beer with him after the round and pick up a tip or two. Enjoy the Journey -- When you tee it up with a man in his eighties, you might well be witness to his final round. As fit a fellow as he seems, the basic laws of probability insist that next week's foursome may be a man short and he knows it. I thought more than once when one of my foursome made his way to the bottom of a bunker that he may never come out. And that he might not mind that at all. This must explain, in some measure, the simple joy they take in the journey. They generally play without anger or angst and, in an age of ball caps worn backwards and brawling basketball teams, they'll connect you to a gentler time. They are the game's true historians and the keepers of its enduring civility. That golf remains such a grand, old game is largely thanks to the grand, old men who continue to play it. AMEN! Author unknown.

 

Send your e-mail address to Bert McConnell (golphinut@comcast.net) for improved golf communications.

Click on the lines below to read Consumer reports rating of golf balls

Description of the Ratings

Summary ratings

Detailed Ratings

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Click HERE for new revised golf rules for seniors

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Golf Handicap FAQ: What is Equitable Stroke Control?

From Brent Kelley,Your Guide to Golf

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is the system put in place by the USGA to eliminate the effect of "disaster holes." You know, that one hole per round where you put three balls in the water and then 5-putt. It's also a way to combat those pernicious sandbaggers who intentionally blow up on a hole in order to raise their handicaps.

Equitable Stroke Control puts a limit on the number of strokes you can write down on the scorecard for any one hole, based on your course handicap. For example, on that one disaster hole you might have taken 14 strokes (get to the practice range, buddy!) to get the ball in the cup. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a "7" on the scorecard you turn in. Taking the "14" might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it's meant to reflect your best potential.

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you've determined your course handicap, you can check the chart down below (which should also be available at golf courses) to determine the ESC limits.

Of course, if you have not yet established a handicap index, then you can't determine a course handicap. And without a course handicap, you can't determine ESC. But in order to establish a handicap index, you must turn in adjusted gross scores, which requires knowing a course handicap. What gives?

Don't worry, the USGA knows what to do. If you do not yet have a handicap index, then use the maximum allowable handicaps to determine course handicap and ESC. For men, that means using 36.4 as a handicap index, and for women, 40.4.

Here is the chart that shows Equitable Stroke Control limits:

Equitable Stroke Control Chart
Course Handicap Maximum Score

Note: The maximums apply to all holes, including par threes.

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General Rules and Contacts:

Click HERE to print the rules

South Island Golfers is open for membership to all men and women in the Jensen Beach/Stuart area. The annual membership fee is $10 per person payable to South Island Golfers.  Dave Bigler (229-3558) will collect.
 
Reduced rates have been arranged with Hammock Creek Golf Club, for play on Tuesdays, and Gator Trace Golf Club for play on Fridays. First tee times for both days will be approximately 10:00 am. You should plan to meet in the Islandia I parking lot by 8:45. At that time, people will be assigned to threesomes and/or foursomes, and will depart by group at 9:00 am. People willing to drive for a given week should note that on the sign up sheet.  The coordinator will contact you the evening before play to verify if you are needed to drive. If we do not have enough drivers for a given week, you may be asked to volunteer by the coordinator.

There is both a men’s and a women’s league. To sign up to play, you must either check off your name on the sign up sheet or call a coordinator BEFORE NOON OF THE DAY BEFORE PLAY. The sheets are posted in the mailroom of Islandia I. Payments should be paid in advance to South Island Golfers and given to Sandy Cardenas in the Islandia I office, no later than close of business on the day before the play. Rates this year are $XX for Hammock Creek and $XX for Gator Trace.  Note that these rates include $2.00 for the bag boys and tax.  Reduced rates will come back into effect after April 1.

Guests: You may bring guests, however, they must be registered on the sign up sheet where you may specify the number of players. Guests may play twice during the season. If a guest wishes to play more than twice, he/she will be asked to join the league and pay the $10.00 membership fee.

Weekly Contests: There are contests each week for the man and the woman who are closest to the pin and have the longest putt. A sleeve of golf balls will be awarded to each winner. If the same person wins both closest to the pin and longest putt, only one sleeve will be awarded that week. Guests will not be eligible for these awards. Dave Bigler (229-3558) is the coordinator for the contests for the men, and Eileen McLaughlin (229-5846) for the women. The first group of men and first group of women will place the marker flags at the appropriate holes. The last group of men and women is asked to bring the markers back to the Islandia I office at the end of the day. Dave and Eileen will award the prizes the following week.
All scores will be recorded to establish a league handicap. Scorecards must be left in the Islandia I mailroom folder immediately following each round. Each card must have the player’s first and last names, and the date of the round to be entered into the handicap system. If you would like to post non-league scores into the handicap system, leave your scorecards in the mailroom folder.

Mixed Scrambles: Handicaps will be used to establish balanced teams for the mixed scrambles. This year there will be two mixed scramble events, one on February X th and the other on March X th, to be held at Hammock Creek Golf Course. To qualify for these events players must have an established handicap, or have submitted at least three rounds into the Islandia handicap system since October 1, 2005.

Year End Gathering: We are planning to have a year-end party for all South Ocean Golfers members and spouses in the Islandia I Social room (or alternative location if the renovations are not complete) on Wednesday, March XX th.

News about the golf league and current handicaps will be posted on the bulletin board in the mailroom at Islandia I, as well as on the web site, www.islandiai.com under the “Golf” category. New handicaps will be posted following each Tuesday round of play.

Contacts for both leagues:

Click here to return to Islandia Home Page

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