The 2010 SNGA Tournament Season came to a close back in November with the Clark County Amateur as the platform for the shootout to see which players would become Player of The Year in their respective Divisions. The much anticipated SNGA Awards Banquet, hosted at the Rio Secco Golf Club, officially closed out the 2010 season. The attendees were all dressed to impress and enjoyed an awesome night filled with laughter, great food, and high spirits. Story continued on page 7.

2011 Issue Jan.

In This Issue >>>

The Official Newsletter of the Southern Nevada Golf Association

1. 2010 Awards Banquet 2. Misunderstood Rules 3. Pj McGuire 4. MetLife Auto and Home® 5. Slow Play Hurts Everyone 6. Las Vegas Golf & Tennis 7. WSNGA 8. Banquet Article (cont.) 9. Banquet Photos 10. What’s on Tap

The Grind

Page 1

SNGA Home Course Specials for Palm Valley Golf Club and Highland Falls Golf Club

SNGA members receive special rates on tee times with reservations up to 7 days

in advance with no restrictions

SPECIAL RATES:

$49 Anytime $35 after 11:30

Visit www.golfsummerlin.com for more information

Call 702-254-7010 for your tee time

Hole #14 at Highland Falls Golf Club

Page 2

Come join us in 2011! For details on becoming a part of the WSNGA, contact Janet at wsngainfo@gmail.com.

Misunderstood Rules By Mike Charrie

The provisional ball is one of the greatest time savers in the game of golf. It allows you to play an “extra” ball when your original ball may be lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds. Imagine for a moment if this provision was not within the USGA’s Rules of Golf. A player would play his tee shot perhaps into a thick forest, and then would have to go forward to search for the ball for 5 minutes, not find it, and then head all the way back to the tee to play his third shot…cost him lots of extra time did it not? Let’s now take a look at the details of Rule 27-2, so the next time we have to invoke it on the golf course, we do so properly. The key first element to playing a provisional ball is where the original ball lies: it MUST BE either lost outside a water hazard or possibly out of bounds. If neither of those conditions ap-ply, you cannot play a provisional ball. Key element #2: you must verbally declare, to your opponent in match play or your maker or fellow competitor in stroke play, that you intend to play a provisional ball. Key element #3: you or your partner (if you are playing a team for-mat) must not go forward to look for the original ball before playing a provisional ball. If you breach elements 1,2, or 3 the original ball is lost under penalty of stroke and distance and the provisional becomes the ball in play. Multiple provisional balls may be played from the same spot, each new provisional will bear relationship to the previously struck provisional ball. Now what happens as we move forward on the hole after playing both our original ball and provisional ball? Key element #1: you cannot play a provisional ball from a spot where your original ball is likely to be or closer to the hole. If you do so, the original ball is lost and the provisional becomes the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance. Key element #2: If it is known or virtually certain that your original ball is in a water hazard, you must proceed in accordance with Rule 26-1 (Water Hazard Rule.) Key element #3: If you have played multiple strokes with your provisional ball before reaching your original ball, and your original ball is found: you MUST abandon all strokes and penalty strokes incurred with the provisional ball. Key element #4: If your original ball is found outside a water hazard and in bounds, you must continue play with that original ball. If you continue to play your provisional ball, you are now playing a wrong ball. The provisional ball rule is in place to help you and all others on the course better enjoy the game. The time saving aspect of Rule 27-2 is its greatest asset, just be sure the next time you invoke the rule, you follow the steps above to avoid penalty.

Q: Should I hit a Provisional? A: Rule 27-2 Provisional Ball

Page 3

“Sorry folks but the golf course Superintendent has informed us there will be a frost delay this morning.” The last thing hard core golfers want to hear when showing up for a winter tee time. If you need to put on snow pants and a beanie to play golf this morning you will run the risk of hearing those dreaded words. First and foremost it is important to understand why the golf course Superintendent will stop all traffic on the turf when this occurs. Major damage can occur, up to total turf loss from simply walking on frozen or frosty turf (pic 1) This is picture of a tee with dead turf, permanently injured to dirt from simply walking on frozen or frosty turf. There are two different physiological turf conditions, frost and a freeze. Frost can occur on turf with air temperatures of 40 degrees to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Below 32 degrees F is a freeze condition. It is important to remember that the air temp at ground level is often much colder than air temps. So while your drive into the golf club may be warmer, the turf can be exhibiting frost regardless of what the temperature gauge on your car says in the parking lot. Frost or freeze in turf is when part of the turf tissue is frozen or the entire plant. If golfers walk on the plants or the maintenance crew begins the day’s tasks we run the risk of crunching frozen plant tissue into non-frozen plant parts. This can rup-ture cell walls in both the frozen and thawed parts of the plants causing from slight damage to total death. The maintenance crew cannot start the mowing, cutting cups, or tee marker place-ment until it is safe to go on the turf, which in turn must be accomplished before golfers can be let on the course. The Superintendent is vigilant for frost in the Las Vegas area from October all the way through March. Maintenance staff is specifically trained to watch for frost so they don’t damage sensitive turf either. Remember a frost delay is not beneficial to anyone. It not only puts the maintenance staff behind in their duties but slows the tee sheet for the entire day. But the option is turf dam-age that will not heal until the spring time, and we all want a good golf course all year long. Be patient when your golf shop staff warns of frost. Don’t head to the practice putting green, or driving range until the maintenance staff clears those areas for golfers.

PJ’s Super Section Information about Golf Course Maintenance from PJ McGuire, CGCS

Nevada Golf Industry Alliance

Page 4

My staff and I have been fighting slow play for the last 3 years trying out different pace of play policies. With a small staff, the 2 check point system (after #9 & after#18) has given us the best results. I am happy to say, our average round has gone from 5 ½ hours to 4 hours and 45 minutes. This is directly attributed to the numerous slow play penalty strokes given out in 2010. Many players do not know how to tell if they are in jeopardy of receiving a penalty for slow play so I have outlined a few of the basics in regards to the slow play policy: • On the bottom of every scorecard the stated time that the flagstick must go in the

hole is clearly visible. The first group of the day must be conscious of this time because they do not have the benefit of also having the “out of position” requirement to fall back on. If you are in a group, other than the first group, and your group puts the flag stick in the hole later than the stated time on your scorecard and more than 15 minutes after (out of position) the previous group (even if there are fewer player in that group), your group is behind on time and out of out of position. Your group is in violation of the pace of play policy and will be subject to the applicable penalty.

If an SNGA representative or Rules Official comes upon a group that is clearly in jeopardy of a slow play breach, that representative or Official has the right to individually time each player in order to identify which player/s are the problem. This information will then be given to the Committee with a recommendation on which player in the group should take the penalty. Please refer to the below information to better understand how the timing works.

• A player who is first to hit has 45 seconds to do so and every other player has 40 seconds. Timing starts when it is clear for the player to hit. If it is your turn and you are sitting in the cart, grabbing a drink, cleaning your club, using your range finder, throwing grass, practice swings, etc… the clock has already started. This applies to fairway shots and putts as well. Starting your routine over or changing clubs does not stop or reset the clock.

Slow play is everyone’s responsibility and will only cease when all players in the group make a conscious effort to monitor their own group. Let’s make slow play a thing of the past so everyone can enjoy their round of golf!

Lots of Birdies,

Nicole

Page 5

Page 6

SNGA members please visit www.snga.org to review your discounts.

SGC members please visit www.southwestgolfclub.com to review your discounts.

The First Tee of Southern Nevada kids are the winners! As you all know, the SNGA challenged the WSNGA to a contest to see which association could muster up more funds to sponsor junior golfers so they could attend The First Tee of Southern Nevada’s Awards Banquet. This friendly little competition casually started in 2009 when WSNGA’s President, Janet Weber, and SNGA’s Executive Director, moi, Nicole Dutt-Roberts, had a friendly wager (bragging rights) on which Association’s members could whip the other with more sponsorship donations. It was a tight race with the WSNGA just surpassing the SNGA by a handful of sponsored kids. Of course, not one to let the chance of redemption pass by, I challenged Janet to a re-match. I was sure that this year, SNGA would come out victorious and make the match 1 to 1, but boy was I wrong! The ladies strategically called all their lady friends banning together using every platform at their disposal to spread the word – “Let’s make mince meat out of the SNGA and show which gender is stronger”, sorry guys, I’m not making this up (ok- maybe a little of it). After the dust settled and the numbers were calculated, the WSNGA once again outdid the SNGA. Bad news, SNGA took a whipping, good news, 219 boys and girls were sponsored by the generous members from the WSNGA and the SNGA. I want to thank all of you who generously sent in money to the First Tee of Southern Nevada to help bring a smile to a youngsters face and Janet, I want a re-match!

Page 7

Page 8

MetLife, the Elite Sponsor of the SNGA, had a representative joining the celebration to receive a beautifully framed and matted 2010 SNGA flag as a thank you for their partnership with the SNGA. Many other awards were given out including Player of the Year for each division; Scratch, Net, Senior Scratch, Senior Net, Super Senior Scratch and Super Senior Net, as well as the illustrious Ron Read award which is given to SNGA’s Director of the Year for outstanding service and volunteer commitments throughout the 2010 year. Chuck Buys was the well deserving

recipient of the award due to his countless hours on the golf course during SNGA’s Tournament Season as a volunteer Rules Official. His extensive knowledge of the Rules of Golf and his unselfish giving of his time made the 2010 season a success. He played a big role in helping SNGA’s P.J. Boatwright intern learn a great deal about the rules of golf as well as tips on running first-class golf tournaments. For this we say thank you Chuck. All in all, the Rio Secco staff did a tremendous job, as usual, in hosting this event. If you were not a top finisher in 2010, get out to the range and start practicing so you can receive a Player of the Year award for 2011 and join us for the festivities!

Scratch Player of the year -

Joe Sawaia Net Player of the year -

Randy Goodwill

2010 SNGA Awards Banquet Story (continued from front page)

Page 9

Additional Pictures from the 2010 SNGA Awards Banquet

Ron Read “knighting” Chuck Buys with a bow tie

Super Senior Net Player of

the year - Tom Khamis

Senior Net Player of the year -

George Yocum

SNGA Executive Director -Nicole Dutt-Roberts with USGA Director, Western

Regional Affairs - Ron Read

thoughts... final

Las Vegas National Golf Club Site of the 2009 SNGA Season Opener

What’s on Tap >>>

Page 10

2625 N. Green Valley Pkwy. Suite 100 Henderson, NV 89014

702-458-4653 www.snga.org

Columbus went around the world in 1492. That isn't a lot of strokes when you consider the course. ~Lee Trevino

Well, we hope you’ve been practicing. 2011 is finally here and it has brought with it some pretty nice weather and another exciting SNGA Tournament Season. For all of you rabid SNGA fans who have been chomping at the bit for this year’s tournament season to come, your wait is almost over. Just one more month until the kick-off of the season. This year’s schedule will get us started at the 2011 Sunrise Vista Charity Classic at Nellis Air Force Base, which benefits the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and should be as fun and exciting as it is every year. To view or register for this tournament and the rest of the SNGA schedule visit www.snga.org. We look forward to seeing you on the course!

2011 is Here...Are YOU Ready?