Monthly Newsletter

Highlights
Best winning score:      290 points, Magnolia Point
Best winning margin:   +21 points, Marsh Landing

Top honors
Best gross score:    70 strokes, Mike Lopriore (HH)
Best Stableford:       52 points, Arch Copeland (DC)

Brady Cup
Champion:      St. Johns G&CC          $583, Trophy
Runners-up    Jacksonville G&CC    $238
                           Marsh Creek CC          $238
                           San Jose CC                $238

2010 Final Team Standings are here.

SEASON 2011 OPENS

When:      9:00 a.m., Monday, January 10
Where:     Hidden Hills Country Club
What:       6,237 yards, 70.3/128
Who:        Designed by Arnold Palmer (1986)

SHOTGUN START

Rookies are assigned to ride shotgun in the sixty carts lined up at the front of the club house where Ponte Vedra Inn furnishes the best danged PA system ever heard at an MSIS event. Everyone in the pack can hear clearly and are poised to follow Barney's detailed instructions, which he delivers in a voice of steady authority.

Barney issues the clarion call, "Head for the starting hole!" Everyone starts and finishes at the same time. Well, not quite, but it seldom gets better than today when the Top Four teams went head to head.

TODAY'S ACTION

St. Johns Golf & Country Club

San Jose Country Club

Scoring 428 points, San Jose hurtled past six other teams to share a tie for second place. Although it was a team effort, San Jose was led by Steve Vining with 39 points (2:1 odds) in his 25th MSIS event. Great effort, Steve!

Jacksonville Golf & Country Club

With 402 points, Jacksonville jumped one place to become one of our Top Four clubs, 35 points out of first place. Skip Lunsford helped his team with a 38-point performance (21:1 odds) in his 3rd MSIS event since returning from shoulder surgery.

Marsh Creek Country Club

With 420 points, Marsh Creek clawed its way up five rungs on the season's ladder to become one of our Top Four clubs. Marsh Creek was led by Bob Marshall with 38 points (2:1 odds) in his 60th MSIS event.

LEADERS

Birdies:        26      Two by Rich Galloway (EH)
                                 Two by George Halvorsen (ML)
                                 Two by Charlie Jenks (SJ)
                                 Two by Skip Lunsford (JG)
                                 Six birdies on hole 14
                                 No birdies on holes 4, 6, 8, 11, 12
Strokes:       77      Skip Lunsford (JG)
                       98      MSIS Average; 2010 average: 91
Points:         43      Tom O'Brien (OP); 7:1 odds
                       27      MSIS Average; 2010 average: 34

HOLE PRIZES

Longest Drive
Hole 7:        Walt Staheli (QH)

Closest to Flagstick
Hole 5:        Walt Staheli (QH)
Hole 9:        Steve Vining (SN)
Hole 12:      Cedric Jordan (HH)
Hole 16:      Murray Ruffell (PV)
 

DIFFICULTY RELATIVE TO PAR

The course won today: 225 holes recorded a pickup, that is, a score of zero. You expect to get strokes on holes where you most need them but those are not necessarily the most difficult holes, witness the following tables with today's data.

27 pickups occurred on hole 4; 21 on hole 15, and 19 each on holes 3 and 6.

No one picked up on hole 2; 11 players picked up on hole 14. Go figure! On this day, Ponte Vedra Inn's allocations and our performance were fairly well-correlated, as measured by a 0.4 coefficient.

Contrast this result with the -0.3 coefficient at one of the courses on the MSIS rotation. Its allocation table is anti correlated with MSIS skill levels. Our Tournament Committee has discretion under the USGA Handicap System to use its own table.

SCORING AREA

When you dropped your scorecard into the box on the scorer's table, it was deftly handled by the following volunteers. Barney says, "Good job!"

Readers:    Mike Cooper (SN), Larry Dismore (HH)
Scorers:     Mark Good (DC), Joe Power (EH)
Tally:           Jack Garrity (EH)
Runner:      Glen Dobrick (SG)
Poster:       Bruce Mohler, PGA, Head Professional
Sorter:        Tex Blinn (HH)
Whip:          Barney Poston (HH)

Second-hand story
I don't know the guy or what team he was with, but he said he was with a team in contention and wanted to look at his card. He did and he said, "Oh no! I wrote the wrong score down." I butted in and reminded him he had signed his card already. Then I said "Do you mean to say you signed an incorrect scorecard in which case you'll be disqualified?" I went back to my computer and didn't hear another word.

Whatever happened to the homely virtue requiring a golfer to disqualify himself?

HOW TO CONDUCT A RANDOM DRAWING

We're all familiar with a raffle system when each ticket has its own number and is matched to another ticket with the same number. One ticket goes in your pocket, the other goes in the drawing bowl. Alternatively, the bowl can be filled by slips of paper with the names of ticket holders. We take it on faith that all matching tickets or all qualified slips are in the bowl. Duh! Remember the Florida Election Recount of 2000?

At this year's Brady Cup, we switched to an electronic system to conduct a random drawing for door prizes. As the screen shot below indicates, the database was populated with one electronic ticket for each round played during the MSIS season. Our "virtual" drawing bowl held 1,411 tickets. Nobody's ticket "went missing."

WIKILINKS EXPOSES SCORECARD

Lurking in the MSIS scoring area, a WikiLinks agent nailed a copy of a score card that caused official scorers to draw their breathes and drool. The handiwork of Tom Joseph (JG), reputed to be a crossword-puzzle fanatic who works in ink, the score card received a series of salutes as it was passed from the input end to the output end of the scorer's table. Here's a slightly redacted copy.  A thing of beauty! Thanks Tom!

MSIS ARITHMETIC

The MSIS is doing something right!

·       In 2010, 330 different golfers completed 1,411 rounds in 12 MSIS competitions.

·       Since July 2006, 677 different golfers completed 6,143 rounds in 54 MSIS competitions.

From this baseline, we know the odds that a golfer belonging in one of five flights is likely to score better than his handicap index (HI) predicts.

Net Differential      =   Handicap Differential - Handicap Index
                           =   (ESC - CH - CR) * 113 / SR

MSIS HISTORY

[This is the second installment in a series based on a paper written by Roy Gulick and amended by input from firsthand witnesses such as Barney Poston and Toby Riley. At the end of this series, the history will be posted on our website.]

GROWTH

In 1999, the league decided to expand. Invitations were extended to Jacksonville Golf & Country Club, Oakbridge Country Club, and Windsor Parke Golf Club and the league grew to nine members.

In 2000, Eagle Harbor Golf Club and Osprey Cove Golf Club joined the league and the MSIS now consisted of eleven members.

In 2001, the league decided to create a season-ending tournament to honor its founding father, John Brady. The MSIS Championship was to be recognized annually by the award of the John Brady Cup to the member club scoring the most points in the Brady Cup match.

In 2001, the first John Brady Cup tournament was held on the King and Bear course at the World Golf Village. Mia Brady, John's widow, presented the cup to the winner: Windsor Parke Golf Club.

By this time, the cost to play had increased to $35 and the organization was still informal, without dues or bylaws, but with a tournament chairman and team representatives.

In July 2002, the league adopted a handicap system based on scores recorded during MSIS matches. Windsor Parke decided to withdraw, preferring to use USGA handicaps instead of MSIS handicaps. The MSIS now consisted of ten members. Later that year, the MSIS launched a website and posted a set of Rules.

During 2004-2005, in consecutive order, Marsh Landing Country Club, St. Johns Golf & Country Club, Palencia Golf Club, the World Golf Village, San Jose Country Club, and Sawgrass Country Club joined the league. The Senior Interclub had now expanded to a full complement of 16 clubs and was fielding 128 golfers at each event.

In 2007, the Palencia Golf Club, unable to field an eight-man team at each competition, elected to drop out. They will be replaced in the coming season (2011) by the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

LOCAL RULES

Go to the MSIS Rules page to ensure your knowledge of the game is up to date.

Do you take advantage of MSIS Rule 5.4? This local rule is from Appendix I in the Rules of Golf which says you can play a provisional ball if your first ball is possibly lost in a water hazard.

Do you comply with MSIS Rules 7.2 and 7.3? If not, you risk disqualification and a loss of team points. Never put an X on an MSIS score card: "If you pick up on a hole, record a zero on the scorecard. If you complete a hole, record your actual score no matter how high. It's that simple. Enter your gross score or enter zero."

Why do we do this? A surprising number of players don't know how to stroke control, figure Stableford points, or simply add. Too often in the past, we paid the wrong winners based on scorecard errors. The solution was to implement a computer-based system to control strokes, figure Stableford points, and do all the arithmetic. Your input should look something like this.

See a full sized version here.

NEW TEAM

Look for our new team from Ponte Vedra Inn and Club.  Their members will be sprinkled amongst our ranks starting this month.  Seek them out and welcome them to the Men's Senior Interclub.

FINANCIAL NEWS

Our AdSense account has earned $54.40 since the last check was issued to us. The latest check, $102.72, was deposited on 08-13-2010. Google has paid us $408.99 since our account with Citibank was opened in January 2007. Our account balance at Citi Bank is $222.70 with all bills paid. Click here to see our latest financial accounting.

WEB SITE

Please support these fellow-competitors who help to sponsor our web pages. Notice the advertisements posted by Tex Blinn (HH) on our Home Page and Jock Ochiltree (WG) on our latest Results Page.

Tex (below), a top-notch contractor since 1973, can serve your construction and remodeling needs. Give him a try.

Jock (below), a licensed Realtor and distressed property expert, reviews market statistics and lists selections near our tournament site.

ARTICLES SOLICITED

Come on! Submit material for an article that might interest your fellow-competitors. Surely you've seen or heard something interesting during an MSIS outing. Stories about things that happened on the course are a staple. Everyone loves a chuckle although a groan is sometimes more instructive.

Your story needn't be the absolute truth! Why not brag about a tricky hole or a great shot? Stretch the facts or share the pain?

Also, please feel free to submit an opinion or suggestion for improving MSIS events. Whatever you submit needn't be related to golf. All we need is a rough draft or a slim outline.

Jack Garrity (aka Mr. Smooth)