Golf Genius – 
Members,
We had 70 players for today’s Open Play on the Silver course. Scores from today were posted in GHIN. Hopefully everyone was able to knock off the rust. We worked through some technical issues, but everything seems to be working OK.
Next week, 3 Apr is an Open Play Competition (OPC) on the Blue course. There are currently 95 players signed up and the weather is currently forecasted for the mid-50s.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Your OPC Committee
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Corrected and Updated EMGA 2025 Schedule dated 26 March 2025
EMGA Rules Refresher #10
FORE!
Ahhh…Spring!
We’re down to our last question in our Rules Refresher contest and it has my favorite prize. A few of you have been perfect thus far. Our last question concerns taking relief from temporary water. Did you know that Snow and Natural Ice (other than frost), are either loose impediments or, when on the ground, temporary water, at the player’s option?
What rules should you know? The simple answer is “All of them.”
However, knowing just a few common ones like those addressed in this Rules Refresher series, will handle most situations.
The EMGA expects all our members to conduct themselves according to the Rules of Golf whether playing in a league competition, or a round outside the league (Rule 1). We ask each of our members to have a basic knowledge of the most common Rules of Golf, i.e. know how to take Relief from a Penalty Area (Rule 17), to handle a lost ball (Rule 18) or an Unplayable Ball (Rule 19), for accurate scoring and to keep up pace of play.
When unsure of a rule, you can always ask for help within your group but they can’t give you nor can you ask, for advice on what to do like, “Which of the penalty relief options should I choose?” That’s a rules breach. You can take the time to quickly reference the USGA Rule Book or App but please don’t cause an undo delay. If you’re still unsure on how to proceed, you can play two balls. It’s all explained in great detail under Rule 20.1c Rules Issues in Stroke Play, but basically it’s this:
- Play on with your original ball with your best guess on how to proceed, and at the end of the round report the possible rules infraction to the Competition Committee for adjudication.
- Put a second ball in play, play both it and the original until both are holed out, note the scores for each ball, and at the end of the round report the situation to the Competition Committee for adjudication.
Did you know that we have a responsibility to prevent a rule breach by another player? It’s addressed under Rule 20.1c.(2) Players should protect other players in the Competition. We want all members to enjoy themselves but there may come a time that you may have to call out a fellow member for a possible rules infraction. Please do this delicately. Approach the individual and say something to the effect, “I think you are about to commit (or have committed) a rules infraction under Rule so-and-so. Do you agree?” If the member doesn’t agree with you, don’t argue, but say, “Let’s report this to the committee to make sure one of us is correct.”
There’s no need to feel intimidated if this is your first experience of a league that prides itself in playing golf on how it should be played. Our members and the league leadership are more than willing to help you play your best game and have fun doing it.
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Rules Refresher Quiz #9
Q9. The original ball is no longer in play if a player has played a provisional ball from a spot nearer the hole than where the original ball is estimated to be.
True or False?
The answer is TRUE and the winner is…Don Becker!
Prize: I’m Retired, Ask Somebody Else
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Rules Refresher Quiz #10.
Q10. In stroke play, a player substitutes a ball when dropping to take relief from temporary water. The original ball was immediately recoverable. What is the ruling if they have not yet made a stroke at the dropped ball?
a. The player must mark the substituted ball, lift it and place the original ball on the spot where the substituted ball lay.
b. The player must lift the substituted ball and drop the original ball.
c. The player must play the substituted ball as it lies.
Prize: The Price is Wrong!
*******************
Hit’em straight but not too often,
Tom McKernan
Rules & Handicaps
Attachments:
OP Sign Up Process – 27 March 2025
Members,
Greetings and welcome to the second OP of the EMGA 2025 season. The first two weeks of EMGA play will only be Open Play without any competition. However, the process for signing up and the steps we go through will be the same when the Open Play Competition (OPC) starts. As always with early season play the weather can be a big factor. We will always let the members know what’s going on with play when we encounter weather.
Reminder, we are using the Golf Genius tee time system, Open Tee Time™ Registration, for making tee times for our Open Play/Open Play Competition (OP/OPC) and not the Eisenhower Club Prophet System (CPS).
Next OP: Thursday, 27 March, Silver course (first tee time at 0830).
Sign Ups start on Tuesday, 18 March exactly at 1900 (7PM).
VOLUNTEER Opportunity for OPCs. Looking for members who can assist with starter duties for 2025. See John or Ron to sign up. Thank You!
Instructions:
1. Tee Time reservations will open on Tuesday night at 7PM (1900), 9-days prior to the OP/OPC.
2. Sign in to the EMGA Portal page (egc-2025emga.golfgenius.com) with your username and password. The tee sheet will open up exactly at 7:00 PM. If you enter the site sooner, you may need to refresh your browser before seeing the tee sheet.
3. On the portal page, go to the Tee Sheet section, and then select “Open Tee Time Registration.”
4. Select the time you want to play.
5. You’ll be able to sign up as a single, twosome, threesome or foursome.
6. If signing up for more than just yourself, you’ll need to know the names of the other players in advance of making the tee time. Once a name is added, no other player can select that same person (his name will be grayed out). When finished signing up, please hit “Done” to save your tee time. You’ll receive a confirmation email (it’s not immediate, but it does come).
7. After hitting the “Done” button, if you did not sign up for all four slots, the remaining slots will be open for others.
8. If you are the initiator of the tee time and have added other players, those players are now “coupled” to you and tied to your reservation. For a player to “decouple” themselves from the initiator, they need to first Cancel their name from the reservation before selecting any other tee time. Do not just try to move yourself, you’ll still be coupled to the initiator.
9. When signups have not yet been closed, members can return to the Open Tee Time Registration page to cancel their registration.
10. Signups close at 6PM on Tuesday night prior to the OPC. After that time, if you need to make any changes, please text either Ron Black (303) 918-8702, John Henninger (719) 237-1700, or Larry Walker (719) 661-2496.
Your OPC Committee
EMGA – Missing Table
Members,
Sorry about the missing table. Here it is. Thanks.
Larry Walker
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Course (teeing area)
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Player A (6.0)
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Player B (16.0)
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Player C (24.0)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blue – Black
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10
|
22
|
32
|
|
Blue – Blue
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7
|
19
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29
|
|
Blue – Green
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5
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17
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26
|
|
Blue – Green/White
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4
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15
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25
|
|
Blue – White
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2
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14
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23
|
|
Blue – White/Gold
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0
|
11
|
20
|
|
Blue – Gold
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+1
|
9
|
17
|
|
Blue – Gold/Silver
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+3
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7
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15
|
|
Blue – Silver
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+4
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5
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13
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Silver – Green
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5
|
17
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26
|
|
Silver – Green/White
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4
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15
|
24
|
|
Silver – White
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3
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14
|
23
|
|
Silver – White/Gold
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1
|
12
|
21
|
|
Silver – Gold
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0
|
10
|
19
|
|
Silver – Gold/Silver
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+1
|
9
|
17
|
|
Silver – Silver
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+5
|
4
|
11
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EMGA – Teeing Areas
Members,
Good news! The Blue Course Silver teeing areas are approved for play. Thank you to the EGC Staff.
If you have declared Silver or the Gold/Silver combo, you can now play them on both courses. The tee boxes for the Blue Course Silver teeing areas are not built-up but will be maintained and on the same mowing schedule as the other teeing areas. There are plans, most likely not this year, to develop the Silver teeing areas. The Silver teeing areas are in front of the Gold tees and marked with two paint dots. They may not be ideal but are very usable and meet many of the member’s needs who may want to play it forward.
A word of caution for members playing the combo tees. Please look at the scorecard to make sure you’re teeing from the correct teeing area for each hole. The Gold/Silver combo on the Silver course uses Gold, Silver or some unique specific Gold/Silver teeing areas. They are marked on the scorecard, just be aware. It’s a 2-stroke penalty from hitting from the Wrong Place (rule 14.7), and if not corrected before teeing off on the next hole it turns into a disqualification.
If you are playing the Gold/Silver combo tees on the Blue course, here’s the holes and which teeing area will be used. Attached is a screenshot for highlighting which teeing area to use for the Gold/Silver combo. Please print to help keep track of which tees to use on which holes. An official scorecard from the course is not yet in the works. Golf Genius and GHIN will reflect the right Course Rating and Slope.
Gold Holes: 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17
Silver Holes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18
The table below shows three players, Player A with a 6 Handicap Index, Player B with a 16 Handicap Index, and Player C with a 24 Handicap Index and their corresponding strokes for each of the teeing areas.
Larry Walker, President EMGA
PS. For OPCs you are allowed to play from any of the teeing areas and not required to declare, other than the day of. Additionally, you can change from week to week which set of tees you want to play from.
P.S.S. Make sure you let Ron Schilling ([email protected]) be aware of your declared tees for tournaments.
Attachments:
Link for the OP – 20 March 2025
Members,
Just type the following into your address bar on your browser. The link in the email appears to not be working.
egc-2025emga.golfgenius.com
Larry Walker
EMGA Rules Refresher #9
FORE!
Pace of Play continues to be an EMGA priority and to that end, we’ll be emphasizing the use of hitting a Provisional Ball.
Now, one would think that when you see your ball slicing into oblivion that you can say it’s Lost.
It’s not that simple.
Rule 18 Stroke-and-Distance Relief; Ball Lost or Out of Bound; Provisional Ball
The USGA defines a ball is Lost only when the ball is not found within three minutes after the player or their caddie (and their partner & caddie) begins to search for it. A ball does not become lost as a result of the player declaring it to be lost.
Now, as you’ll see in the linked video below, if you think your ball is lost, hit a provisional. Search for 3 minutes, and if you can’t find it, play your provisional.
Now, interesting enough, “A player may ask others not to search for the original ball when the player would prefer to continue play with the provisional ball, but there is no obligation for them to comply.” Rule 18.3c(3)
If you find it in a playable lie, hit it, play on and pick up your provisional that is no longer in play.
If you find it in an unplayable lie, your provisional ball is no longer an option since you have to take relief under the Unplayable Ball Rule #19 (see Rules Refresher 3).
Here’s a very short video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MMrJ0yMa_nM
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Rules Refresher Quiz #8
Q8. In stroke play, a player returns their scorecard with a total score that is correct but with a score missing for one hole. What is the ruling?
a. The Committee should allow the player to enter the missing score.
b. The Committee should enter the missing score.
c. The player is disqualified.
The answer is “c”. Ouch!
And the winner of Q8 is… Sam Bryant!
Prize: It’s All in the Hips Lesson
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Rules Refresher Quiz #9.
Q9. The original ball is no longer in play if a player has played a provisional ball from a spot nearer the hole than where the original ball is estimated to be.
True or False?
Prize: I’m Retired, Ask Somebody Else
*******************
Hit’em straight and not too often,
Tom McKernan
Rules and Handicaps
Attachments:
EMGA Rules Refresher #8
FORE!
A short survey question before we start.
Which of our starters is most like this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GMmWVY5BcSs
Rule 15.1 and 15.2
What’s a Loose Impediment? Moveable Obstruction? Do I get free relief from both? I thought you never asked.
A Loose Impediment is any unattached natural object such as stones, loose grass, dead animals, scat, worms, aeration plugs, etc.
What’s not? Anything that’s attached or growing, something embedded in the ground and can’t be easily picked up, or stuff sticking to your ball. Also, Sand and Loose Soil, Dew, Frost and Water are not Loose Impediments.
The USGA defines a Moveable Obstruction is something that can be moved with reasonable effort and without damaging the obstruction or the course.
What can you do about them when they affect your ball?
Here’s a very short video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nGlis9KQ1p8
****************
Rules Refresher Quiz #8
Q8. In stroke play, a player returns their scorecard with a total score that is correct but with a score missing for one hole. What is the ruling?
a. The Committee should allow the player to enter the missing score.
b. The Committee should enter the missing score.
c. The player is disqualified.
Prize: It’s All in the Hips Lesson
**************
Rules Refresher Quiz #7
Q7. Which is correct regarding temporary water in the general area?
a. Overflow from a red penalty area filled with water is not temporary water.
b. Soft, mushy earth with water visible on the surface is not temporary water.
c. A ball lying in a pitch-mark filled with water is in temporary water.
The answer is “c”. And the winner is Rosario Nici!
Prize: Golf is My Retirement Plan
Hit’em straight and not too often,
Tom McKernan
Rules and Handicaps
Attachments:
EMGA Conduct Expectations
Welcome everyone to EMGA’s 2025 season. The big day is next Saturday, March 15th when we can start posting our Colorado scores to GHIN. We see some of us have already gotten tee times this morning for next Saturday.
While our games may still be rusty, we should be posting all our valid scores throughout the season, both good and bad. This also includes the ones over this winter for those of your snowbirding in a southern state.
As we say in our Constitution, we are a social golf organization established to enhance our members’ golf experience and promote proper course care, golf etiquette and good sportsmanship. Attached is a friendly reminder, not a governing document, of some of the conduct we’ve come to hope for in each other in enhancing one another’s golf experiences. Such as posting all our scores as covered in the last paragraph of this attachment.
The document also includes some decent tips on how to keep up pace of play so we can get all our rounds complete in 4.5 hours or less. One of these we will be constantly stressing is playing a provisional ball ANYTIME your ball is in the trees or tall grass that is not a penalty area. A member asked if we should adopt the Alternate Lost Ball Option to help save time, but as the USGA says, this is for casual golf and not tournaments. So if you hit your drive through the fairway and across the road on #2 Silver, please play a provisional. While we all think we can easily find it in that “open” area, the golf gods are seldom that kind.
For questions, comments, or proposed additions, please do not hesitate to reach out. My email is [email protected]
Don Knight
EMGA VP
Attachments:
