Members,

Due to weather, we are cancelling the OPC for tomorrow.  The extended weather forecast for next week looks promising for 10 Apr.  The 10 Apr OPC is open for signups if you haven’t already done so.  Thanks.

Larry Walker, President EMGA

FORE!

Two emails in one day?  Yep. Had to get this out before our first OPC.

OPC Tees

The Good News is that you get to pick’em: play the same all season or change weekly. 

You’ll declare your tees upon check in with the OPC starter and mark it on your scorecard:  Black, Blue, Green, Green/White, White, White/Gold, Gold, Gold/Silver, Silver.

The Bad News is that you can change weekly.  Say what?  The bad part of this is that if you start the hole on the wrong tee box, it’s two-stroke penalty and if not corrected, it’s a DQ.  Ouch.

For 2025 OPCs, EMGA members are eligible to use the new Blue Course Gold/Silver Combination and Silver tee sets as well as the same on the Silver Course.  We’ll have to wait a bit for an updated EGC Blue Course Scorecard and EGC App but the USGA GHIN app has been updated. 

Also, please note that the Silver Course Gold/Silver combination has a unique tee on holes #6, #8, #12, #14, and #17. They’re marked by the old round tee markers with Gold and Silver painted tops.

Tournament Tees

So, for tournaments, we all had to declared tees at season start. 

Here’s how the numbers stand for each tee:

Silver- none

Gold/Silver – 3

Gold – 78

White/Gold – 5

White – 102

Rule 6 Playing the Hole has the details but the short answer is in OPC Stroke Play, playing outside the teeing area is two penalty strokes and requires you to re-tee it, start the hole over again and you are hitting your third shot.  If you don’t catch yourself before making a stroke to start the next hole, it’s a DQ. 

Choose wisely my friends,

Tom McKernan

Rules & Handicaps

Members,

Greetings and welcome to the second Open Play Competition (OPC) of the EMGA 2025 season.  

Reminder, we are using the Golf Genius tee time system, Open Tee Time™ Registration, for making tee times for our OPC and not the Eisenhower Club Prophet System (CPS).

OPCs are open to all EMGA members, competitive, and the cost is $6.00 ($4.00 for stroke play, $1.00 for net skins, and $1 for gross skins). Correct change is appreciated.

New for 2025, Players can play from any of the teeing areas on any given Thursday and can change from week to week.  Please ensure tee selection is entered prior to your start in Golf Genius (on the scoring mobile phone) and also on the written paper score card.

We will be using the Mobile Scoring app as the primary scorecard with a paper scorecard for backup.  Also, sign, attest, and drop off the paper scorecard in the men’s locker room in the EMGA box.  Only one person is required to keep the score on the mobile scoring app.  Please make sure that the scoring on the mobile app matches that on the paper scorecard.    

OPC:  Thursday, 10 April, Silver course (first tee time at 0830).

Sign Ups start on Tuesday, 1 April 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

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!

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Hit’em straight but not too often,

Tom McKernan

Rules & Handicaps

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