Call to Order: President John Coyle called the meeting to order at 9:00am.
Pledge of Allegiance was led by: Tom Hess
Roll Call by Secretary John Whitney
Absent: Chris Marshall, Jim Pollard, Dan Cameron, Dave Levandowski
OFFICERS:
President: John Coyle, Vice Pres: Ron Hagedorn, Secretary: John Whitney, Treasurer: Clarke Sharar, Club Liaison: Richard Warburton, Member at Large: Bob Shakespeare, Member at Large: Dale Erickson.
Committee Chairmen:
Handicap/SCGA: Stephen Warren, Membership: Doug Hodson, Tournaments: Chris Marshall/Bob Shakespeare, Publicity: Dan Cameron, Hearts and Flowers: Dave Levandowski, Hole-in One: Ken Gordon, Social: Vacant, Rules: Byron Harvie, AM Sweeps: Ken Gordon, PM Representative: Rich Davidson, Webmaster: Jim Pollard.
GUEST SPEAKER:
Our Golf Course Superintendent, Andy Diaz was our Guest Speaker this morning.
Minutes: Without objection, the minutes of the General Membership meeting of November 19, 2019, as posted on the Men’s Club Website, will be approved by unanimous consent. Approved.
Treasure’s Report: Deposits: $8808, Beginning Balance: $20,896.86, Total Expenses: $6475.11, Ending Bank Balance: $23,229.75
Officers Comments/Reports:
President, John Coyle:
George Gamble will chair a Nominating Committee for “Termed Out” Board members, with the help of Tom Hess and John Schwankl.
Sandy Lounsbury from the First Tee will be our guest speaker at the January, 2020 General Membership meeting.
The MGC Board is updating the By-Laws to eliminate unnecessary items and update others.
We will not have Sweeps on December25th or January 1st (2020). There will be open play for those who wish to play on Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Women will not have organized play on the 24th of December.
VP, Ron Hagedorn:
Ron reminded us that the days will be getting longer for our golfing outings.
Secretary, John Whitney: N/R
Treasurer, Clarke Sharar: See Financials above
Clarke asked members to only use one staple when sending a check in with an entry form.
Club Liaison, Richard Warburton:
Andy Diaz and his crew will be treating some of the greens to eliminate a fungus growing deep in the ground. This will require “Punching” the greens in affected areas. Please be patient with this treatment and play around it.
There will be a “divot party”, as we had last year. It will be conducted on January 2, 2020 and we are inviting everyone who can make it to help fill divots with our new sand. It was fun last year, complete with Coffee and Doughnuts. Please come out and help police the many divots in the fairways.
Richard mentioned that we have 24 people who are fixing ball marks on the greens. These are volunteers who give their time to keep our putting surfaces top notch. We encourage more people to volunteer for this very important activity.
Please remind other players you golf with to fill divots with sand and repair ball marks.
We also ask players to knock sand off their shoes after you blast out of the traps. We have been seeing a lot of sand deposited on the greens from shoes that retain sand after a shot. If your playing partners forget to remove the sand, please remind them to do so.
Member -at-Large, Bob Shakespeare: N/R
Member -at-Large, Dale Erickson: N/R
Dale asked members to look for a Frost Delay on Wednesday. He also mentioned that the early start time (7:30 am) will end in January, 2020.
Handicap, Stephen Warren:
The New Handicap System begins on January 1. The Pro Shop computer will be “down” from January 1st to the 5th. Save your scorecards and post them on the 6th or thereafter.
Our individual Index will change on January 1st to coincide with the new Hcp system.
Steve appealed to all members to write their name on scorecards before leaving them for him to post. Obviously, it is impossible to know who the card belongs to without a name.
Membership, Doug Hodson:
We have 290 members so far. This number includes 25 new members. 43 members did not renew.
Tournaments, Chris Marshall/Bob Shakespeare:
Under the new handicap system, our handicaps as of the Sunday prior to a tournament will be used for that event. If the tournament is for 3 days, the handicap for the first day will be used throughout the tournament.
The Individual Eclectic tournament began in the rain (108 players) and ended in better weather on Sunday. We welcomed 112 golfers for this two-day event, beginning on December 4th and ending on December 8th. The rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those who played on Wednesday and as usual everyone had a great time. The popular 50/50 drawing, Blackout Boards, Hit the Green on 4 and 14 and KP’s on 7 and 17 added to the fun. The theme is having fun, meeting some wonderful people and supporting our community. All three were accomplished. To cap things off, the luncheon featured a delicious Pork Tenderloin meal.
Our next tournament is the Member/Member, scheduled for January 8th and 11th, 2020. Entry Forms are available in the Golf Room (Pro Shop). Entry deadline is Saturday, January 4th at 5 PM. The format will be the same as last year, 2-person Scramble on Wednesday and 2 Person Pinehurst/Chapman on Saturday. A full description of the formats is posted in the Pro Shop (Golf Room).
Initial preparations are in motion for the Member/Guest on February 7, 8 and 9. There will be a format change to the M/G. We will play a 2 Person Pinehurst/Chapman game on Saturday and Individual play on Sunday (gross and net). Orest Kruhlak will run the popular “Horse Race” again this year. He will be stepping down from these duties next year and we are looking for a volunteer to take over this event in 2021 (training provided). If you have not ever participated in this event, give it a try. You won’t regret playing.
George Gamble has stepped forward to help find volunteers who will fill open positions on the MGC Board. There will be numerous Chair positions to be filled and we encourage Members to step forward and help inject new ideas and enthusiasm into our Organization. All positions come with training!!
Please check in at least 30 minutes prior to tournaments and Sweeps events so our hard working helpers have time to warm up a little.
Publicity, Dan Cameron: N/R
Hearts & Flowers, Dave Levandowski: N/R
Hole-in-One, Ken Gordon: N/R
SCGA, Stephen Warren: N/R
Rules, Byron Harvie: N/R
AM Sweeps, Ken Gordon: N/R
PM Sweeps, (Vacant Position): See AM Sweeps.
Past President, Doug Hodson: N/R
Parliamentarian, Dale Erickson: N/R
Canadian Representative, Rich Davidson: N/R
Webmaster, Jim Pollard: N/R
OLD BUSINESS:
The PDG Board members voted to give Jim Pollard a $100 Visa Card in thanks for saving the Club over $200 per year in expenses for Website administrative services.
A suggestion was made to expand the capabilities of the Website. Some examples are paying member dues and payments for tournaments. John Coyle agreed and said we would consider other possibilities.
NEW BUSINESS:
The Board received a request from a member to consider forming a 9 Hole group, like the Lady Road Runners.
The Road Runners are separate from the Ladies Club and function as their own organization. It is unclear how many Men we have who are interested in forming a group to only play 9 holes. Finding a day to accommodate a nine-hole group will be difficult. Much more information needs to be collected before considering whether we can accomplish this type of thing.
CLOSING REMARKS (PRESIDENT): None
ADJOURNMENT. President John Coyle adjourned the meeting at: 10:07 am