Members,
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egc-2025emga.golfgenius.com
Larry Walker
Link for the OP – 20 March 2025
Category Archives: News & Announcements
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
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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
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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.
Prize: It’s All in the Hips Lesson
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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:
EMGA – OP Sign Up Process – 20 March 2025
Members,
Greetings and welcome to the start 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.
Attached is the OP/OPC Terms of Competition.
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, 20 March, Blue course (first tee time at 0830).
Sign Ups start on Tuesday, 11 March exactly at 1900 (7PM).
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 with your username and password: https://egc-
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
Attachments:
EMGA 2025 Schedule
Dear Members,
As expected, we did have a couple of updates to our schedule and we believe this is final – for now. Barry has been able to finalize the Home and Away schedule and that was the biggest change. You will see only the HOME event for the Broadmoor CC on the schedule for this season. The AWAY event at the Broadmoor will be held during the 2026 season. As we have stated before, the members who sign up for the HOME event will automatically be playing in the AWAY event as well.
Please let me know if you have any questions or talk with any of our Board members.
Many thanks,
Sam BryantEMGA SecretarySent by Eisenhower Golf Club. Unsubscribe
Attachments:2025_EMGA_Schedule_4_March_2025.pdf
2025_EMGA_Schedule_4_March_2025.xlsx
EMGA Rules Refresher #7
FORE!
It was a treat to finally play the Silver Back 9 on Tuesday but now I know why it’s taken this long. For example, Hole #12 (w/temp green) was a bit squishy with still plenty of melting snow on the fairway hillside and the entire green had water over your shoe soles. So, today’s rule topic and quiz question (easy!) are timely.
Oh, and I hit a few irons like this: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UBhX2aHDPNE
Rule 16.3 Embedded BallThe Rules of Golf have two guiding principles: Play the ball as it lies and Play the course as you find it.BUTWhat happens when you get an Embedded Ball?
First the definition. An Embedded Ball is when a player’s ball is in its own pitch-mark made as a result of the player’s previous stroke and where part of the ball is below the level of the ground.
When you have an Embedded Ball in the General Area, which is everywhere except the tee and green on the hole you are on, and any bunker or penalty area, you get free relief if you want. For an embedded ball on the green, you get to mark it, lift, repair the pitch mark, and replace your ball.
Here’s a 30 second video about it:
*******************Rules Refresher Quiz #7Q7. 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.
Prize: Golf is My Retirement Plan*******************Rules Refresher Quiz #6Q6. Which is correct regarding a player who decides to take unplayable ball relief? (Ref# 215)a. The player may drop back-on-the-line outside the penalty area for two strokes if their ball is in a penalty area.b. The player may drop a ball in a penalty area, if the original ball lies in the general area.c. The player may decide to take unplayable ball relief when their ball lies anywhere on the course.
Correct Answer: “b”. Rule 19 Unplayable Ball, specifically states that for both Back-on-the-Line Relief (Rule 19.2b) and Lateral Relief (Rule 19.2b), that the relief area “may be in any area of the course…”The other two answers are wrong because using the Back-on-the-Line option is only a one stroke penalty and you can’t take unplayable ball relief in a penalty area.And the winner of Q6 is… Patrick Burke!Prize: Let’s Par-Tee
Hit’em straight and not too often,Tom McKernanRules and HandicapsSent by Eisenhower Golf Club. Unsubscribe
Attachments:
2025 EMGA Rules Refresher #6
FORE!
It’s 15 deg today. Handicap posting season starts in just 24 days.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n3bBagw2TFo
We had seven more members join in with a quiz reply. Thank you!
Now, as to the rest of you, I will continue to entice you with more clickbait.
This next refresher is all about abnormal stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Pw0xX4DXI
This tells us how to get relief from snow, ice and hoof prints. You know, normal Eisenhower course conditions in March.
Rule 16. Relief from Abnormal Course Conditions
First, the definitions.
Abnormal Course Condition includes any of these four defined conditions:
1. Animal Hole
2. Ground Under Repair
3. Immovable Obstruction
4. Temporary Water
Under our EGC Local Rules, “Areas of damage caused by bears, deer, elk or the like are treated as Ground Under Repair…” Like hoof prints in the bunkers.
A special case of Temporary Water is “Snow and Natural Ice (Other than frost), are either loose impediments or, when on the ground, temporary water, at the player’s option.”
Okay, let’s go through this one step at a time:
16.1a When Relief is Allowed
16.1a (1) Meaning of Interference by Abnormal Course Condition.
1. When the ball touches or is in the Abnormal Course Condition.
2. Physical interferes with intended stance or swing
3. Or when it exists on the green, the intended line of play
16.1a (2) Relief Allowed Anywhere on Course Except When Ball is in Penalty Area. Self-explanatory.
16.1a (3) No Relief When Clearly Unreasonable. This means if your ball is in some snow but it is also in a bush or up against a tree trunk, you don’t get free relief from the snow.
16.1b Relief for Ball in General Area (i.e. Rough, fairway, and wrong tee boxes and greens)
Find the nearest point of complete relief for lie, stance and swing, mark it as your reference point, create a half circle drop area using one club length as its radius and no nearer the hole. Ball dropped must stay within the half circle and stay in the general area.
16.1c Relief for Ball in Bunker.
Two choices here, one free (yay!) and one with a penalty (boo!).
1. Free Relief. Same procedure as above but you must stay in the bunker. There is one caveat. Let’s say the entire bunker is filled with snow or hoof prints. You can use a “point of maximum available relief in the bunker as a reference point.” This allows you to drop the ball in less deep snow or take a stance in the snow/hoof prints but still drop your ball in a clear or semi-clear patch of sand.
2. Penalty Relief. In this case, you use the Back-on-the-Line Relief with one penalty stroke. (DO NOT confuse this penalty when taking this relief option for an Unplayable Ball in a bunker, that’s a two-stroke penalty, Ref Rule 19.3. Too late? Thought so.) Pick a line from the flag to where your ball is in the snow. On this line, go back as far as you want, pick a reference point on that line. Drop the ball on that reference point and as long as it stays within a one club length radius circle, and stays in the same area of the course, you’ve got a good drop.
16.1d Relief for Ball on Putting Green.
Now, if your ball is on the green, you also get relief for your Line-of-Play in addition to the lie, stance and swing from the temporary water. Same rules apply here: nearest spot of complete relief no closer to the hole but that spot can be on the green OR the general area. AND you get to place the ball, not drop it. And you still have the option of using the point of maximum available relief too.
16.1e Relief for Ball Not Found but in or on Abnormal Course Condition.
Okay, you’re a purest, and you only play white balls that are the same color as the snow on a hole with a snow bank running down the fairway for 150 yards. You hit the ball and you think you might be in the snow but you can’t find it. IF it is “known or virtually certain” that the ball came to rest in the snow, then you’re allowed to take the free relief options as outlined above using the estimated point where the ball crossed the edge into the snow for the purpose of finding the nearest point of complete relief. You don’t have to take the stroke and distance penalty for a lost ball.
This is the price we pay when playing springtime golf in Colorado. Click on the link below for a short demonstration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFKVq4HmMjY
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Rules Refresher Quiz #6
Q6. Which is correct regarding a player who decides to take unplayable ball relief? (Ref# 215)
a. The player may drop back-on-the-line outside the penalty area for two strokes if their ball is in a penalty area.
b. The player may drop a ball in a penalty area, if the original ball lies in the general area.
c. The player may decide to take unplayable ball relief when their ball lies anywhere on the course.
Prize: Let’s Par-Tee
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Rules Refresher Quiz #5.
Q5. A player’s ball lies off but near the putting green; the player is allowed relief from temporary water that exists on the putting green if it is on their line of play.
Answer: FALSE Ball has to be on the green to get relief in this scenario.
And the winner of Q5 is….Rick Horn!
Prize: He Shoots, He Scores
Unfortunately, no one solved the Bonus problem in the second link.
No one observed that our training aid, Paige, teed up outside the tee markers.
Hit’em straight and not too often,
Tom McKernan
Rules and Handicaps
Attachments:
EMGA Board Meeting – February 20, 2025
Just a friendly reminder to all from Larry’s e-mail below: we will be having our first Board meeting of the season this Thursday, February 20th starting 0900 in upstairs in the EGC Clubhouse.
This meeting is open to all members and you are free to comment and ask questions. However, only Board members, or their representative, can vote on formal motions (if any).
One item on the agenda is a potential EMGA Code of Conduct. Rule 1.2 encourages Committees to have one if they are going to use it to apply penalties for inappropriate conduct. The only penalties we apply now are for Pace of Play, which is a current EMGA policy. The attached draft Code of Conduct incorporates that policy along with other conduct we expect of EMGA members. There are no penalties associated with these other expectations though. The question for the Board meetings is do we need such a document or just keep Pace of Play as its own policy?
Also attached is a draft copy of our 2025 Constitution to be voted on by the Members at our Springs meeting. Other than a few grammatical corrections, there are two changes from last season:
- Removes the requirement for a nominating committee for officer positions. The VP will just solicit nominees as he does now.
- Specifies the Distinguished Service Award can only be won once but the Significant Contribution can be won multiple times
Don Knight
EMGA VP
From:
To:
Subject:
EMGA – Board Meeting – 20 February 2025
Sent at:
February 3, 2025 11:13 AM
Message:
Members,
Hope you’re getting excited for the new season. The first EMGA Board meeting of the year will be held on Thursday, 20 February, 0900, at the EGC Clubhouse. All members are encouraged to attend but not mandatory. In addition to Board meetings held throughout the year, we will have three General Membership meetings in 2025 (22 May, 31 July, 18 September).
The agenda for the Board meeting is below. If you’re not attending but want to comment, please send them to me at [email protected].
Are you ready for the new season? Have you paid your annual fees, due 1 March 2025, and any other optional fees for the season-long tournaments (Match Play, Ringers, or Ike Cup)? If you haven’t you can pay for them by mail or drop your check into the EMGA box in the men’s locker room.
Annual Dues: $80
Optional fees:
Match Play: $10
Blue Ringers: $5
Silver Ringers: $5
Ike Cup: $5
Mail To:
John Hayes
5190 Farmingdale Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80917
Proposed Agenda for 20 February 2025 EMGA Board Meeting for 2025 Season
1. Policies review
a. Constitution
b. Code of Conduct Policy
c. Pace of Play Policy
d. Terms of Competition
2. Calendar review
a. Schedule of competition events (tournaments, OPCs, H/As, etc)
b. General Membership meetings
c. Meals
d. Junior Golf
3. Financials
4. Rules and Handicap updates
5. Website update
6. Any other business
Thanks, and looking forward to seeing everyone. Take care.
Larry Walker, President
EMGA
Attachments:
2025_EMGA_Draft_Constitution.pdf
2025_EMGA_Draft_Code_of_Conduct.pdf
2025 EMGA Rules Refresher #5
FORE!
Okay, gentlemen. Responses to these rules refreshers haven’t been as much (~10%) as I hoped. I get that. Who wants to take a quiz, especially about golf rules? But what’s really disheartening is only a few more are clicking on the Youtube links to watch the rule demonstration.
So, desperate times call for desperate measures.
I’ve added another link. And a bonus prize: Let’s Par-Tee.
Show your appreciation by taking a shot at the quiz.
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Rule 6.1b
When you tee up your ball outside the teeing area and take a swing, you better hope you’re playing Match Play.
In Match Play, your opponent can let the stroke count or he can make you re-hit from within the tee box. With either option, there is no penalty.
In Stroke Play, you’re not so lucky, It’s a two stroke penalty that must be rectified before you tee off from the next hole, otherwise you’re disqualified. Ouch!
One of the links below explains it further, the other, you tell me.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9w26c5bnU10
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xvdJXnse7F4
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Rules Refresher Quiz #4
Q4. In stroke play, a player searches for their ball for three minutes and does not find it. The player looks for another minute, finds the ball and plays it. What is the ruling?
a. There is no penalty.
b. The player gets the general penalty for playing a wrong ball, as well as the stroke-and-distance penalty for a lost ball.
c. The player gets the general penalty for unreasonable delay.
The answer is “b”. This is one of the rare scenarios you get penalized twice. The ball is lost after three minutes and without a Local Rule E-5 in effect (which the EMGA doesn’t do), the player must hit from the previous spot under stroke-and-distance penalty relief. Thus, his original, newly found ball becomes a wrong ball when he plays it.
Explanation Definition Wrong Ball; Rule 6.3c(1); Rule 18.2b
And the winner of Q4 is….Tim Marburger!
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Rules Refresher Quiz #5.
Q5. A player’s ball lies off but near the putting green; the player is allowed relief from temporary water that exists on the putting green if it is on their line of play.
TRUE or FALSE
Prize: He Shoots, He Scores
Hit’em straight and not too often,
Tom McKernan
Rules and Handicaps
Attachments:
