VSWGA News

VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION

Meeting: Annual Executive Committee Meeting

Date/Time: October 3, 2006 9:30 a.m.

Place: Quechee Club

Attended by: Bellows Falls 3, Blush Hill 1, Bradford 1, Brattleboro 5, Burlington 3, Cedar Knoll 5, Champlain 2, Crown Point 3, Dorset 4, Enosburg Falls 2, Essex 1, Gleneagle 2, Green Mountain 3, Killington 2, Lake Morey 4, Manchester 1, Montague 2, Neshobe 2, Newport 3, Okemo Valley 1, Orleans 2, Proctor-Pittsford 2, Prospect Bay 1, Quechee 2, Ralph Myhre 2, Rocky Ridge 1, Rutland 2, St. Johnsbury 3, Sugarbush 2, Tater Hill 3, Vermont National 1, West Bolton 2, Williston 2, Woodstock 1

Recorded by: Mary Corey

President’s Report: The meeting was called to order by President, Elizabeth Walker. Elizabeth welcomed everyone and noted the committee chairs and secretary would not be reading their reports. This procedure complies with a request made in 2004 by Club Reps, who brought it to the board’s attention, that much time was spent reading reports with little time left for open discussions.

Secretary’s Report: Mary Corey confirmed all Club Reps had received copies of the 2005 Annual Executive Committee Meeting Minutes and opened the floor for questions or amendments. There were none. The minutes were approved as written.

Treasurer’s Report: Tracy Sloan opened the floor for questions on the Treasurer’s Report, there were none. The Treasurer’s Report was approved as stated.

Committee Chair Reports for Discussion and Approval: Sue Ginnett opened the floor for questions and discussions:

Course Rating: Carolyn Barbieri reassured Woodstock their course was on the list for 2007 and the rating committee had 14 other courses scheduled for the season.

Tournament Results:

Juniors: Catherine Shomo of Rutland Wins New England Crown, Catherine fired a 75 to capture the girls’ medalist honors by one stroke.

NEWGA: Anna Grzbien of Rhode Island and Duke University fired a record 66-66-74/206 to win the championship by 9 strokes.

Tri-State: Cancelled.

Ruth Raymond Jones Memorial Seniors Tournament hosted by Enosburg Falls was won by Kathy Allbright of Crown Point with scores of 82 and 81/163.

Vermont State Women’s Golf Association Championship hosted by Ralph Myhre Golf Club in Middlebury, VT was a tie for Molly Aronsson (Jr) of Burlington CC with rounds of 77, 76 and 76/229 and Tiffany Maurycy of Williston Golf Club with rounds of 78, 76 and 75/229. Molly Aronsson won the Championship on the first sudden death play off hole.

Mid-Amateur Championship hosted by Crown Point CC in Springfield, VT was won by Reggie Parker of Ekwanok CC with rounds of 79 and 75/154.

Sue had no comments from the floor regarding the 2006 Season Results.

Website Report. As always Cindy Paquet has done an excellent job with designing, maintaining and updating the VSWGA website.

Handicap Chair Report: Harriet Parot announced the Handicap Seminar was excellent and anyone wanting to attend would be welcome.

Junior Program Report: The 2006 season was a great success. The VSWGA would like to THANK Mary Ann Levins for her time and dedication. She has been a major factor in the huge success of this program.

State Day/Points: Suzanne Neville announced, for the 2007 season, the acquired points for any member belonging to more than one course would be awarded to the course designated on their VSWGA Participation Fee entry form. If any participant changes coursed during the season, it is their responsibility to send a written notification to the VSWGA Administrative Assistant, Suzanne Neville.

Rules: Shari Pfannenstein conducted two outdoor workshops, one for Green Mountain National Women’s Association and the other for Vermont National Women’s Association. In the future, Shari would like to provide more workshops for the women either at a statewide level or at the club level.

Others: Kathy Allbright announced, the NEWGA would be held in Amherst Mass at Hickory Ridge CC on July 10-12, 2007. Kathy wanted to encourage more participation in the hopes of filling our field for a good showing at this event. Vermont will have 18 spots guaranteed.

Topics for Discussion and Approval:

Chelsea System Update: Tracy Sloan announced the Chelsea System we have been working with has crashed several times during the 2006 season. With the help of the technical support team Suzanne and Sara Lee worked many hours getting the system up and functional. Unfortunately the technical support contract ends in 2006 and is not available for this system in 2007. Hence we need to purchase new equipment and Update the Chelsea System. The cost for both should not exceed $12,000.

The Updated Chelsea System has a web base component which is a big cost saving feature. Online access will enable the VSWGA to remove our Chelsea 800 telephone line. A phone line will be available but the call is not toll-free.

The new system has the capability of featuring up to five courses. Members will be able to make their selection online with different tee times available for each course selected for the same date.

With the new update our current Chelsea membership lottery history will be deleted. Everyone will start the 2007 season with zero lottery points. Helpful hints for acquiring lottery points. Better courses have fewer points. Example: If you select Burlington CC and only play courses of that quality you will receive only one point for each course played. Participants electing to play a few B courses and nine hole courses would acquire 2 - 5 points for each course played. This will be a major factor in your lottery history so plan accordingly.

To avoid being dropped completely from a State Day make 1^st choice course, 2^nd choice course and 3^rd choice course for each week. If only one course was chosen and the course is full your group will automatically be placed on standby for that course. You receive zero history points.

Open tee times may be selected online for courses until Friday 12:00 noon prior to the State Day. After Friday noon through Monday you may call the club Rep or the Pro Shop for any open tee time. (This would be considered a walk on and your history would be updated manually).

The club Reps requested that Suzanne talk with the programer. Find out the requirements for building a history. Check the correct procedure for making State Day selections which eliminates being dropped from the system due to participant error.

Kathy Allbright made a motion to purchase the new Equipment and the Updated Chelsea System. Motion carried.

Revisit the eligibility of legal Vermont residents to play in VSWGA Seniors, Amateur and Mid-Amateur Tournaments: Carol Lisai requested that we revisit the eligibility for players to participate in the state tournaments. She felt we should follow other states and have all residents who carry an official GHIN Handicap be eligible to play in the state tournaments (Seniors, Mid-Amateur, and Amateur).

Kathy Allbright has had several calls asking how the VSWGA could refuse to allow Vermont women with valid GHIN Handicap cards the right to play in the VSWGA Seniors, Mid-Amateur and Amateur Tournaments, when the VGA permit the men with official GHIN handicaps to play in all the Men’s VGA Tournaments?

Kathy Allbright checked with the USGA, they confirmed, this decision would have no impact on our USGA Grants’ money.

Carolyn Barbieri made a motion all legal Vermont residents who hold a valid GHIN handicap card issued through a real estate course be permitted to play in the three majors’ Vermont State Tournaments (Seniors, Mid-Amateur and Amateur).

Motion was amended to include all Vermont women legal residents holding a valid USGA GHIN card. Motion carried. It was agreed that they would be charged a higher fee than the standard member. Fees to be determined by the Board. This does NOT include State Days.

Handicap Divisions: The 2005 division split of (0 - 13.0) for the lower handicaps has not worked as we had hoped. A few courses did not have any A players and others had less than five. There were only two options brought to the floor:

2. Each course would take the total number of players and divide evenly into divisions.

Tracy Sloan, from the 2005 committee, reported they had worked out a division split based on the bell curve, paying points to divisions according to attendance. This was rejected by the board. The board agreed, this system would be prejudice against the A player, making it almost impossible for anyone in that division to receive the Janet Lang Trophy for the most points. Nothing was resolved, Elizabeth suggested another committee be formed looking into more options. Kathy Allbright will chair and committee members will be Carolyn Barbieri, Pamela Cassidy, Rhonda Colvard, Mary Corey, Wendy Drolette, Sue Ginnett, Sara Lee, Kathi Moreno, Nancy Murphy, Suzanne Neville, Cindy Paquet, Marilyn Patton, Mickey Potwin, Ellen Sheffer, Kathy Sikora, Phyllis Simon, Tracy Sloan and Deb Warner.

Ruth Raymond Jones Memorial Seniors’ Tournament: Wilmington, VT at Haystack CC, date July 18-19, 2007.

Vermont Women’s State Amateur: Enosburg Falls, VT at Enosburg Falls CC, date to be determined.

New England Women’s Golf Association: Amherst, Mass at Hickory Ridge CC on July 10-12, 2007

Vermont Women’s Mid-Amateur: Middlebury, VT at Ralph Myhre CC, date September 15 and 16, 2007.

USGA Representative: Elizabeth Walker introduced our USGA Representative, Jim Farrel. He commented on how much he enjoyed listening to the VSWGA meeting, he was happy to see everyone get so involved with the open discussions and thought we had made some good decisions. He announced the two VSWGA requested USGA Grants had been approved for the Computer Assistant and Intern positions. The dollar amounts and paperwork would be forthcoming. Jim said he had seen many web sites for different golf associations but the VSWGA site was one of the best and he praised Cindy Paquet for the outstanding job she has does. He thanked Kathy Allbright for attending the USGA meetings and commented on the growth of the game, stagnant growth and volunteerism. He encouraged networking with the USGA to learn about and promoting new programs.

Closing: There will be no official closing report. Elizabeth Walker thanked Quechee Club for hosting the Annual Executive Committee Meeting and complimented them on their beautiful new club house. Elizabeth is looking forward to relaxation, she stated what an honor it had been to have served as the VSWGA President for the past three years. In closing she reminisced over some of the trial and tribulations. The anxiety and stress in August 2005 when Marie Tucker resigned, then a ray of sun when Fran Barnhart stepped up to the plate and held everything together. In July 2006 when the Chelsea System crashed, Suzanne and Sara Lee worked all weekend with the Chelsea System Technical Staff and brought the system up again. How great it had been that through the fabulous volunteers in this organization we have somehow succeeded. In closing the VSWGA would like to thank Elizabeth for her dedication to the job, for the time and effort it took to keep this organization on track during the past three years.

Upon adjournment the VSWGA Executive Board met to vote on the 2007 slate of officers. Members present were Elizabeth Walker, Sue Ginnett, Pat Job, Mary Corey, Cheryl Hoar Tracy Sloan, Phyllis Simon, Nancy Myers, Roberta Lynch.

            President - Sue Ginnett
            Vice President - Phyllis Simon
            Secretary - Mary Corey
            Treasurers - Tracy Sloan