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26 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | APRIL 2018 | From the President – Tom Moore: Ahhh, spring has arrived! If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the melodic strains of the first movement of Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1" (Morning Mood) or perhaps the first stanza of Vivaldi's "Concerto No. 1 in E major, La primavera" (Spring), or perhaps The Beatles, Good Day Sunshine from their Revolver album is more to your liking. Whatever your musical tastes, my point is: spring is here, the days are getting longer, the birds are singing, and I can feel the warmth of the sun (hmmm, another spring song?) on my back. Spring is a time of HOPE (I hope I don't hit any more golf balls into that pond), OPTIMISM (I'm sure that I can clear the 200 yards over that pond), and RENEWAL (maybe I need a new set of clubs). Now that the weather is warming up, I hope we see more golfers on Tuesdays. We have some fun games on tap for the month. Finally, I hope that you've been reading (and following) my tips for a faster game — they are simple ideas that can help you get to the 19th hole much quicker. This month's tip: When you and your cart-mate are on opposite sides of the fairway, don't drive to one ball, take the shot, and then drive to the other ball. Park the golf cart in the middle. You both will have a short walk to your ball, and you'll be ready to take your next shot immediately after your partner has completed his or her shot. See you on the course! From the Tournament Chair – Addis Scott: Congratulations to 2018 Presidents' Cup Match Play winners: Bill Barnes (Gross Flight), Kevin Snider (Flight-A), Kelly Collier (Flight-B) and Tom Vaughn (Flight C/D). Congratulations to Wayne Stumpf for his Feb. 27 hole- in-one on hole 17. You may sign up at our prior Tuesday golf event or contact the Tournament Committee by email at hemet4sgc@gmail. com. Our April 2018 Game Schedule is: April 3 at 7:30 am: (T) – Low Net / Low Gross – Post as Tournament April 10 at 7:30 am: Partners-Same Flight: Total Net Score April 17 at 7:30 am: A/B/C/D Team: One, Two, Three Net Score(s) April 24 at 7:30 am: Individual Low Net: Odd (1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17) or Even (2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18) From the Membership Chair – Elliot Yaeger: Membership has not changed this past month. Membership stands at 148. If you are interested in joining our club applications are available at The Lodge. Complete the application and attach a check for $66 to cover member ship dues of $30 and SCGA membership of $36. Make checks payable to Hemet 4 Seasons Golf Club. Membership includes establishment of handicap from SCGA as well as participation at all club events, including golf tournaments every Tuesday as well as barbecues and banquets. For more information contact Elliot Yaeger at ey1611@gmail.com or (951) 223-3735. From the Rules Chair – Tom Johnson: Under proposed rule 11.1, if a player's ball accidentally deflects off of himself, his partner, caddy or his equipment there would be no penalty. Under rule 14.3, players would continue to drop a ball when taking relief, but the dropping procedure would be changed in several ways. The focus of the dropping procedure would be on a specific "relief area" set by the Rule under which relief is being taken and would be either 20 inches or 80 inches from a reference point or reference line (and may have certain other limitations). How a ball may be dropped is simplified, with no limitations on how the ball must be held or how high it must be dropped from; the only requirement would be that the ball be let go from any height above the ground or any growing thing or other natural or artificial object so that it falls through the air, rather than being set down or placed on these things. The ball would need only to be dropped in and come to rest in the relief area; and there would be no re-drop requirement if the dropped ball accidentally hits a person or object before coming to rest in the relief area. If the dropped ball comes to rest outside the relief area, it would be dropped again; there would be no set number of times for re-dropping, as the player would need to make all reasonable efforts to drop it in a way and place, so it stays in the relief area. In the unusual case where the ball will not come to rest in the relief area no matter how or where dropped (such as a relief area on a steep slope with short grass), the player would then place the ball anywhere in the relief area. If the placed ball will not come to rest on that spot after two attempts, the player would then place the ball on the nearest spot (not nearer the hole) where it will come to rest. From the Handicap Chair – Melody Lewis: Earlier in the year I had a request from the Board to research whether a golf handicap index can be established for a single course, i.e. our particular "home" course, to be used only when playing the clubs weekly games. It all boiled down to members that play other courses vs members that only play the Four Seasons course. Ever wonder why you to tend to shoot higher scores when playing other courses than your home course? One obvious reason, you are much more familiar with your home course than other courses you may play. Another reason is that our course is rated as a fairly easy course and, as scores tend to indicate, it is. Members that play a variety of courses tend to have a handicap index that is much more reflective of their true playing ability. I contacted the SCGA and as you will see in the response below we have the option of having the SCGA come out and re-rate the course, however, the idea of establishing a "home" handicap is not an option and will not be done. "The USGA Handicap System is set up to take into account difficulty regardless of where played. Each score is converted to a handicap differential to address that. "If you have cases where the differentials generated somewhere else are not matching up with the differentials generated when playing your club AND if they are on your handicap roster, then you have the ability to modify their Handicap Index. A committee trying to maximize equity and make sure that a golfer's Handicap Index is reflective of their potential is paramount to the success of the system. "If this is consistently a problem with those coming from somewhere else, then maybe a review of the ratings issued might be warranted. Please keep us in the loop if this problem consistently happens where differentials generated at other courses for the same individuals are frequently significantly different than those generated at your club." ~ Kevin O'Connor, Managing Director, Member Services, Southern California Golf Association

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