Hello Summit Seniors golfers and welcome to the start of the
2023 season. There is much information to share so please read this in its
entirety as 2023 & 2024 will be transitional years for our organization!
The 2023 Membership Form, Tournament schedule,
tournament sign-up sheets and 2023 starting quotas are now on the website
(www.ssgoa.org) under “Membership”. Please help us by mailing in your $50
membership registration check as soon as possible. Also, enclose a
self-addressed stamped envelope if you would like your card mailed back to you.
Otherwise, you will pick it up at your first tournament.
You will notice the cost for entering
tournaments has increased to $55 per person and $110/team. The new tournament
entry fee of $55 covers the increase in green fees/cart fees that our courses
have passed onto us. This increase will also benefit members by increasing the
prize fund for each tournament. Fees are still payable IN ADVANCE by cash,
check or credit card.
Please note your beginning quota and that of
your partners. For 2023, Point Quota cutoffs for two divisions have changed to
better balance the number of players for tournaments in each division:
A Division: 25+ (same as last year, average was
100+ players)
B Division: 21-24 (previous cutoff was 20,
average was 120+ players)
C Division: 20 and below (previous cutoff was 19
and below, average was only 70+ players)
FOR THE 2023 SEASON, you can move up and play in any division if your partner is
already in that higher division. Once you designate what Division you are
playing in at the start of the year, that’s where you’ll be for the remainder
of the season. You cannot go back and forth between divisions even as your
quotas go up or down. If two players are in the same division, they cannot move
up. For example, if two players are in the B Division with quotas of 23, they
cannot move up to the A Division. One of the two players must already be in the
A Division for the other to move up.
We have FINALLY been able to upgrade our golf
scoring software which now allows us to generate an iCap, which is an
index/handicap system similar to GHIN based on course slope and course rating.
The benefit of this is a truer picture of each player’s ability and which
division they should play in. To further get a truer handicap, we will now
include triple bogey at a -1 value on all point quota events. Overall, this
should help lessen players jumping back and forth between divisions each year
as they play longer and/or shorter courses.
One additional note is how quotas are
calculated. Your starting quota is based on your end of 2022 quota and is being
used for division assignments only. It was made up of the average of your last
8 out of 8 quota scores. Now, it will be 10 of your last 12 scores with your
two high scores being tossed out. The resultant point quota changes will be
used for the first point quota tournament with point quota being recalculated
after every point quota event. This new system will also accommodate
members with less than 12 scores.
You should only notice a slight change to your
point quota and possibly no change at all. The resultant change in point quotas
will NOT change your division assignment this year as stated earlier. You will
simply continue playing in your assigned division with the new point quota/iCap.
An email from our Administrative Mgr, Kevin
Tucker, will be forthcoming explaining how these handicap/indexes are arrived
at. Any questions you may have regarding this can and should be directed to
Kevin at [email protected]
In the upcoming two years, we are doing everything we can to level
off the number of players in each division and enforcing rules that will be
established once we get a year’s worth of data using our new software.
It is very important for us to better equalize the divisional
play. As we work to grow the organization, we must be able to have space for
more players. We had B tournaments last year with nearly 130 players while we
had 75-80 in the C tournaments. We don’t want to turn anyone away and we have
to get the divisions more even. We still strongly suggest, for competitive
reasons, that you play in the division your beginning quota puts you in and not
move up if possible.
For this year as before, if you choose to move up, the player with
the lower quota who is moving up, must play to the minimum of the higher one.
For ex, a player with a quota of 23 must play to a 25 in quota events in the A
Division. In non-quota events your team’s actual quota is used to determine your
tournament flight. The option to move up will likely be more restrictive
in 2024 if we cannot get more even fields.
Regarding the schedule for this upcoming season, we have
substituted Windmill Lakes in Ravenna for Seven Hills. Also, we now have 6
quota events of which 4 scores will still count towards the end of year
championship. This will allow players a chance to qualify even if they miss up
to 2 quota events. We’ve eliminated the Jumble and replaced it with a Best Ball
event. Every year the Jumble drew our lowest number of players and the most
complaints.
The banquet following our last scramble will be on Sept 14th (site to be determined) and the End of Year Championship at
Prestwick has been moved up one week to Sept 18th in hopes of having better weather.
As we grow, we all must protect the integrity of the game and the
results in our tournaments. We have posted a new policy statement on cheating and rules violations
under the “Tournaments” tab on the website. Please take the time to read and understand
it. We take this very seriously and last season we received way too
many complaints. For fair competitions, it is incumbent on each golfer to know
most of these rules and to ask when unsure. It also requires players to state
infractions they observe AS THEY HAPPEN You need to be a part of policing these
rules. Most things that come up are innocent stupid mistakes, but are part of
the game and incur some kind of penalty. If you’re calling a penalty on
yourself, that’s exactly the standard we would like everyone to follow which
basically eliminates any controversy. At the same time, if an infraction is
called on you, stay professional as the situation will be cleared up one way or
another based on the rules outline.
SSGOA has always depended on volunteers to run
our tournaments and all operations associated with the organization. It
takes over 30 volunteer hours per tournament to do the job right. Tasks
include tournament rangers, markers, scoring, check-in assistance, back-ups for
starters, etc.
We have not had anyone come forward to be the C
Tournament Manager. It is roughly a 16-hour commitment the week of the
tournament. We have now broken this down into three jobs that take 4-5 hours
each. The first is done in your home and requires setting up the tournaments
and getting all documentation ready. You do not have to deliver it anywhere as
it will be picked up at your house. The second job involves 4-5 hours and
requires you to get the tournaments kicked off by passing out the score cards
and signing people in. The third job is also 4-5 hours and requires you to post
scores in the computer, sign up players to the next tournament and pack up at the
end of tournament. We have a couple of people that have come forward but we
need a couple more. If you would like to volunteer, please send us an email and
let us know where you would like to help.
Regarding the Summit Seniors Board, the “About
Us” tab at the top of our website lists all the
Board members and the positions they now
hold. The “Contact” tab lists our mailing address and new phone number (216-438-3337).
In addition, there are now separate email addresses for you to use if you need
to contact your Division’s Tournament Manager or overall Tournament
Director.
All handicap and course set up questions should
be directed to the Administrative Mgr.
They are as follows:
[email protected] (Chuck Maroon)
[email protected] (Steve Piesciuk)
[email protected] (Kevin Tucker)
[email protected] (John Foss)
[email protected] (Ros Harris)
[email protected] (Not Known yet)
In addition to those emails listed above, we
will also be sending mass emails from the new software. It will be from
golfsoftware or golf club.net. You will need to make sure you look in junk mail
and change this to acceptable email.
As you can see, we are working hard to improve our organization.
We want to see this continue for many more years and want to make appropriate
changes. Your input is always appreciated!! On behalf of the entire SSGOA Board
of Directors, we look forward to seeing you at the tournaments this year.
Chuck Maroon
President, SSGOA
