Another cold and late start this month. The delay was not as long as January's, this one being only 1/2 hour. We teed off about 9:30am. After a few holes, it warmed up nicely.
All 15 teams and 120 players were there for this event.
It was a very nice day at Marsh Landing. We played lift, clean and place
due to wet conditions. The meal after the event was one of the best we have ever had. What more can we ask for? They treated us very well at Marsh Landing!
THE BATTLE FOR THE CUP:
Marsh Landing: Marsh Landing, like most host teams, took advantage of local knowledge and sweetened handicaps to lap the field. ML took first place with a score of 273, a full 21 points ahead of the second place team. They were led by 44 points from Gordon Knight, 43 points from Don Gould and 42 points from Ray Cabano. As a result of their large score, ML moved
up in the standings from 14th place to 3rd place.
Ponte Vedra, took second place with a score of 252. That nice score gave PV the early lead in the race for the Brady Cup as they passed JG in the standings. PV
was led by 43 points from Mike Peacock and 40 points from Jim Bryce.
Third place was taken by
Jacksonville Golf & CC with a score of 245. JG was led by 40
points from Marvin Harris and 39 points from Russell Sell.
The team from St Johns, with a score of 240 was fourth place after winning the tie-breaker over Osprey Cove. SJ had a best six score of 213 while Osprey Cove scored 209. SJ was led by 38 points from
John Cresswell and 37 points from Carl Insel.
CLOSEST TO THE PIN
Records lost. Sorry.
EAGLE: none
LOWEST GROSS SCORE: 78 Bill Hammel SN
Marvin Harris JG
Bob Hubbard OP
Gordon Knight ML MOST POINTS:
44 Gordon Knight ML
In the last newsletter, I asked for feed back on the home team advantage issue. Here is one thoughtful note I received:
I think the conclusion on home course advantage is sound but not actionable. Things even out in the long run even when you
don't always get home play within a 12 mo. window. And finishing at neutral site with double points further evens the playing field. Any home course adjustment/penalty would prob be even more arguable. I like the status quo here which you must agree seems to be a popular opinion among our MSIS constituency.
I think there can be no sound conclusion on handicap indexing without context of actual scoring results - i.e. what are actual scoring trends MSIS vs. USGA,
high handicapper vs. low, etc? My instinct here is that further analysis would be both enlightening and actionable.
Personally, and I know this may be from left field, I would like to consider the impact of capping handicaps at 18 strokes given the length of our course setups, scorekeeping, and pace of play considerations.
Submitted by: Mike McCormick St John's G&CC
In a follow up note and in response to the idea of asking the home team to sit out, Mike had this to say:
Tough to ask folks to sit out when the objective - I think - is to come out to play. I would hope we don't let the competitiveness get ahead of the enjoyment of the golf itself at varying venues, and the camaraderie of like-minded individuals. Maybe my old fart-ism is showing but I sometimes see too much focus on the gambling/gaming aspect of the sport.
Perhaps some day we can also consider: cutting back on prizes or pay-out places; reducing teams to 6 players; expanding venues/clubs either adding teams or playing non-member sites, etc. I encourage any effort to improve pace of play and shorten the scorekeeping/posting activity.
Thanks for listening and keep fighting the good fight!
Mike
Give me some feed back and we'll publish your comments here next month.
DATABASE
Thanks to the efforts of the team reps, our database of players has been reduced by 255. The handicaps page has been modified and should work a little faster now.
Use the links to your team across the top. That will save you some
scrolling. Then you may click on "Top" in the left hand column to take you back to the beginning.
Don't forget, the latest index will always be shown in the right hand (yellow background) column. You may compare the right hand column to the left to see the change from one month ago.
Also, don't forget that the latest round's ESC score is the leftmost score in the row of scores.
You will also notice that all players who did not compete in 2009, have had their MSIS indexes removed. If they play again, they will play to their USGA index until they have reestablished an MSIS index..... 3 rounds. Just like new players, they are limited to 38 points until their MSIS index is reestablished.
WHY WE PLAY GOLF
It's the way the first tee feels, alive with possibility.
It's that feeling, out of nowhere, that comes as you're lining up a putt, letting you know that all you have to do is get the ball rolling and the hole will get in the way.
It's the thump of a well-played bunker shot.
It's nine holes late in the day, when the sun is sinking and the shadows are stretching, showing every bump and roll in a golden light that makes you stop and look around.
It's calling your shot and pulling it off.
It's the eighth hole at Grandfather, the third at Linville and the 14th at Balsam Mountain, paintings with a flagstick in the middle.
It's your Saturday morning game, with a little money on the line and no haggling about the teams.
It's the guys who look like they can't play a lick then spend their days around par, not needing swing coaches, just having a knack for getting the ball in the hole.
It's calling your own penalties.
It's a kid with his bag slung over his shoulder, cap pulled low, hoofing it down a fairway.
It's nipping a wedge just right, having it bounce once and cozy up to the hole the way Sergio does it.
It's a bowl of peanuts and a cold beer at the end of the day, when stories can be embellished, if only a little.
It's the warm feel of a turtleneck in December, the first greening of the grass in March, the thrill of hitting it a club longer in July and greens as fast as the kitchen floor in October.
It's the suntan marks left by your golf socks and shoes.
It's Harbour Town in April, Quail Hollow in May and Pinehurst any time.
It's having the sun behind you and catching a tee shot square, having a moment to admire it as it's framed against the sky.
It's the small but sudden thrill of finding a new Titleist, even if you already have a bagful.
It's the clutch in your throat the first time you see St. Andrews and the never-ending thrill of Amen Corner.
It's the belief that the magic you've found in a new driver will last forever.
It's the scent of salt air, the faint taste of pine pollen on your lips and the glimpse of a gator in a low country lagoon.
It's standing over a 5-footer that doesn't matter to anyone but you and being thankful for the feeling.
It's Tiger on the tee, Mickelson with a wedge in his hand, Nicklaus on the property.
It's the little places with pickups in the parking lot, ragged grass, bumpy greens, worn-out golf carts, yellow range balls and a spirit all their own.
It's the way you practice your swing in the elevator riding down, the way you put an overlapping grip on the rake and the way you see golf holes where others just see fields along the highway.
It's the way tournament golf feels, even if it's just a little club event.
It's the feel of new grips and the shine of new irons..
It's playing with your father, your mother, your brother, or your daughter.
It's listening to David Feherty, Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo explain the game as only they can.
It's the gentle creak of aging muscles in the evening, a good tired.
It's a birdie at the 18th to win the press.
It's having people who understand what's important, whether it's renovating a course or reinventing a local tournament.
It's going for a par-5 in two, trying to cut a corner and that instant when you wonder if the shot is as good as it looks.
It's golf.
And it's why we play.
Submitted by Tex Blinn
SCORECARDS
Your scorecards were good this month although there were a few legibility problems. Remember, you are personally responsible for your card even though someone else kept your score.
We had a few cards with Xs on them and we had two cards with gross scores, a slash, and net
scores all crammed into the box that is for reserved for GROSS scores ONLY!
Always remember too
that you should NEVER pick-up on a hole until you have reached your maximum ESC score AND you can no longer score a point. For speed of play reasons, always pick-up at that point and enter a zero on the scorecard.
Also, NEVER stroke control your score. The computers will do that for you.
SCORING
We had an all rookie crew working the post-match scoring this month. They made it through the day we no errors of their own doing. The few errors that were made were due too very poor legibility of the scorecards. Their perfect day was fantastic when you consider the amount of data that they handled and all of the commotion around them as they worked.
One two point error was made at the physical scoreboard. None of the errors
affected the payouts.
All errors have been
corrected in the database and the standings are now official.
Much thanks to all of you who helped with the scoring at San Jose. Those who worked were Mike Cooper SN, Ray Cabano ML, Rich Ezequelle ML, Bob Hubbard OP, Tex Blinn HH, and Dave Lehman ML.
COMPUTERS and OPERATORS NEEDED
I mentioned that we had an all rookie group working the post-match scoring this month. That was caused when several of our regulars were unable to attend this match.
We are getting near a critical shortage of laptop owners who are willing to bring their computer to the matches and help us with the after match scoring.
If you qualify, please identify yourself to me or to your Team Rep. We offer low or no wages, a lot of pressure, on-the-job training and a nasty boss.
All kidding aside, alternatives to our computerized scoring are NOT pretty. Please come forward with your offer to help.
NEXT MATCH
St Johns Golf & CC, Monday, March 15,
2010,8:30
am shotgun start.
FINANCIAL NEWS
Our
Google AdSense account has earned $65.83 since the last check was issued to us
by Google. We didn't make much this month!
We will be paid again as soon as our account reaches $100. Google issued a check to us for $101.82 on July 23rd, 2009. We
have been paid $306.27 total by Google since we opened our account in January 2007. Clicking on those ads
and doing
Google searches
from our web site both
bring in the
CA$H.
We are paid for clicks
on any of the Google
ads on our web pages. When you are on
our web
site, look the ads over.
If you see anything of interest,
by all means check it out.
Also, when you need to do a
search of the Internet, please
go to our
home page and search
from there. See the ads at the top of the column to the right. ------------------>
Our
savings account balance at
Citi Bank is:
Last Month's Balance $616.66
Interest on savings (1-25-20) .43
Fed Income Tax for 2009 - 49.00 Dep from Marsh Landing (2-10-20) 240.00
Balance (2/12/2010) $808.09
Of the balance shown above, $240 is reserved for the top four teams of the 2010 season. 1st
gets 45% ($108), 2nd gets 25% ($60), 3rd gets 20% ($48), and 4th gets 10% ($24).
WEB SITE
All players
should sign up for MSIS
emails. There is a sign-up form
near the bottom of the home page
at
www.jaxsi.org with electronic
submittal....... very
easy.
We have
two local sponsors of these web pages.
The ad for
Lewis Blinn, Contractor on the
home page and Jock Ochiltree's ad on the February Results Page.
Lewis 'Tex' Blinn is one of our players. He is also a very good contractor ready to serve your remodeling needs. Please give him a try.
Jock is one of our continuing web page sponsors. Each month Jock
provides statistics and feature a house on the market in the community located near our tournament site. Check it out. Just click on his ad where it says "Click here”.
SUBMIT LETTERS TO THIS NEWSLETTER:
Articles of interest to MSIS
members are accepted and will be
published here. Just
email your article to me. You
must sign it.
