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28 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | NOVEMBER 2024 | Golf Club From the President, Mike Caldwell: An exerpt from Golf Monthly titled: How far did Old Tom Morris Drive the golf ball? Old Tom's professional career began in St. Andrews as a young apprentice to the great Allan Robertson. e pair were a formidable partnership in challenge matches from the 1840s when Tom was in his 20s. Robertson was a "featherie" ball maker and Old Tom was trained in that discipline. A featherie was a leather ball stued with "a hat" full of feathers. "e featherie ball could travel around 175-180 yards in standard conditions, but conditions on the links were seldom standard. With a vicious Northeast Fife wind at his back, Old Tom would have been able propel a drive well over 200 yards. "Old Tom would have increased his distance quite signicantly when he made the transition from the featherie ball to the guttqa perdha or "guttie" ball. When Allan Robertson spied Old Tom playing a guttie on the links of St Andrews, a threat to the featherie business, Old Tom was red on the spot. "Made from the dried resin of a Malaysian tree, gutties performed better than a featherie. "Playing the guttie, Old Tom would have been able to hit the ball somewhere around the 200 yard mark." From the Secretary, Mike McLaughlin: At the September meeting, the membership approved the minutes for their June meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 12 at 1 pm. From the Tournament Chair, Elliot Yaeger: The November schedule for the Hemet Four Seasons Golf Club is: • Nov. 5 at 8 am: Partners: Front 9 = Scramble Back 9 = Low Net • Nov. 12 at 8 am: Team: Best TWO net scores per hole (Veterans' Day recognition) • Nov. 19 at 8 am: Low Net by Flight • Nov. 26 at 8 am: Turkey Shoot: Stableford Team Scramble. From the Membership Chair, Blair Becker: A reminder that, as soon as you join, you can enjoy the other benefits of membership in our club: banquets, barbecues, and, of course, golf. All members can compete against other members due to the club having different flights, based on skill level, and through the handicap system. Many of our games have a variety of member skill levels on the same team. From Handicap Chair, Debbie James: The Club has established a biannual award for the "Most Improved Golfer" (for both men and women). The winners will be determined by the net difference of the golfers' indexes beginning at the onset of the six-month period to the end of the six-month period, currently July 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2024. From the Social Committee Chair, Meredith Becker: Keep Nov. 23 open for a fun evening of Bar Room Trivia! Bar foods will be served and Trivia will played! You don't have to study up because it's played like you probably never played before! Tickets go on sale Oct. 22 at $5 per person. Our banquet will be either the end of January or beginning of February… more to follow. The Beckers and the Jameses looking for the Conga line (at left). Photo by Blair Becker (no, not that Becker!) From the Rules Chair, Bill Swinney: Did you know? Rule 18 Provisional Ball: If your ball might be lost outside a penalty area, or be out of bounds, to save time you may play another ball provisionally under penalty of stroke and distance. This means that on our course here at Hemet Golf Club you are not allowed to hit a provisional ball on, for example, hole #6, hole #13 and hole #17. If you think you may not have cleared the reeds, as all three of those holes are either in a penalty area or a no play zone (5, 11, 13 & 15), you must proceed to the other side of the reeded area to determine your fate. If you do play a provisional ball, prior to the stroke you must announce that you are hitting a provisional ball. You may continue to play the provisional ball without losing its status as a provisional ball so long as it is played from a spot that is the same distance or farther from the hole than where your original ball is estimated to be. From the "Just When I thought that Golf Was Getting Easy" Chair, Mike McLaughlin: I got my first hole-in-one on my fifth round of golf! I thought "How tough could this game be? I will probably get three or four more within the year." Of course, I have not come close over the following 13 years. However, it provided the motivation for this first stab at highlighting members' noteworthy golf during the last month. Bill Swinney has a handicap of FOUR, how is that possible? That was my handicap for the first four holes. He shot gross rounds of 76 and 79 during the current Club Championship Tournament. Very close to some of my outings for the front nine! But knowing Bill, he would be the last person that would think that the game was too easy. Bill is also the Board's Rules chair. Why Bill Swinney has a four handicap. Photo by Blair Becker

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