VSWGA News

VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION

Meeting: Board of Directors / Committee Chairs

Date/Time: October 10, 2006 at 10:00 a.m.

Place: Quechee Country Club

Attended by: Sue Ginnett, Elizabeth Walker, Pat Job, Mary Corey, Suzanne Neville, Tracy Sloan, Jeanne DiBattisto, Phyllis Simon, Nancy Myers, Kathy Allbright

Recorded by: Mary Corey

The meeting was called to order by the President, Sue Ginnett.

Minutes for October 3, 2006 were approved by e-mail.

President’s Report: Sue Ginnett announced the Agenda format would be followed. Sue e-mailed copies of her agenda, and Kathy Allbright’s State Day division split proposal to all board members prior to the meeting.

1. Review of annual Meeting (the good, the bad, and the ugly):

The board has continued to received positive feed back on the meeting format. This was the second year of mailing the Minutes, Treasurer’s Report and all the Committee Chair reports to club Reps for their review prior to the meeting which opens the floor for any question and uses the extra time for open discussions.

a. How do we get at least one person from each club to attend the meeting in 2007.

Sue Ginnett was concerned that the attendance was down. If you include Jay Peak and Stamford Valley we have 57 State Day Courses and only 34 clubs were represented.

Phyllis Simon suggested we should encourage clubs to form a sister relationship (If the Rep cannot attend the annual meeting or find someone from her club to attend as proxy she should ask a sister club).

All clubs are welcome to come to the meeting. The golf and box lunch are optional.

The Annual Meeting & Scramble application form will be added to the State Day book. It will be noted, if you hear nothing from Suzanne Neville all players listed on the application are automatically in the tournament.

2. Financial Concerns (Tracy Sloan and Jeanne DiBattisto):

a. Budgeting for major tournaments:

Kathy Allbright reported the Tournament Budgets were close. Even with tightening up, the Seniors had run at a deficit. She recommended the board increase the tournament prices.

b. Budgeting for Final Awards & Annual Meeting:

Quechee and Woodstock prices will increase in 2007. The Final Awards and Annual Meeting Luncheon prices will be increased from $50. to $60. per person.

Due to the price increase Kathy Allbright will check into a possible relocation of the Final Meeting and Scramble. If there is a significant difference, the event will be moved.

c. Long term investment of excess funds:

Tracy Sloan made a motion, from the VSWGA long term funds of $100,000. , $50,000. should be placed into a CD with a withdrawn component. Motion carried.

d. Increase in stipend for Harriet Parot and Cindy Paquet.

The current stipend for Harriet Parot is $750. and Cindy Paquet receives $1,500. With more demands being placed on both positions a stipend review was necessary. Jeanne DiBattisto contacted both Harriet and Cindy for their estimated hours worked during the season. Harriet estimated she worked 120 hours with Cindy estimating she worked 200 hours.

Elizabeth Walker made a motion to increase Cindy Paquet’s stipend to $2,000. and Harriet Parot’s stipend to $1,500. Motion carried.

Jeanne DiBattisto wondered if these positions should fall under the salary category. Tracy Sloan reassured her they were personnel support positions because the VSWGA board does not control the place, hours or time worked. Tracy recommended both positions should receive a 1099 at years’ end.

Kathy Allbright brought it to the board’s attention. Cindy Paquet needs a new laptop for transmitting the VSWGA tournament scores. Jeanne DiBattisto said she had offered Cindy her old laptop and it had been refused. Mary Corey mentioned that Jeanne’s old laptop did not have DSL capabilities was the reason Cindy had rejected her offer. A new laptop will be purchased for Cindy’s use.

e. Change in policy concerning carts reserved for a State Day.

Mary Corey recommended under Cancellations on page 16, we should add item number three. “3. After the final pairings have been made (Friday noon 12:00 p.m. prior to State Day), cancellation of play does not cancel the cart fee obligation, participant could be held responsible for those fees.”

3. State Day Format Changes (Kathy Allbright):Kathy Allbright prepared a complete summary sheet of things to be addressed and division split options.

a.. State Day ties should be addressed.

b. Change present structure, take the field of weekly players signed up on Chelsea, divide the groups into four divisions. (For 100 players there would be 5 flights).

c. Another option was, do not divide the weekly field at all but award prizes based on a percentage of players. Awarding 3 gross and 12 net prizes.

Mary Corey sent an e-mail recommending that we go back to the old system of divisions being assigned evenly by the total number of players. Example: Take the total number of State Day players for 2006, divide equally to determine the handicap divisions for 2007. This method was not perfect but had worked successfully for many years. She had a copy of the 2004 season’s rejected proposal which recommended changing C and D divisions by .5 to equal the playing field for 2005.

Cindy Paquet sent an e-mail showing lots of statistics of how the current system is not working efficiently.

Suzanne Neville prepared two samples of State Days broken down with the State Day field being divided evenly between divisions.

Marilyn Patton sent an e-mail regarding the uneven divisions stating several participants had voiced their concerns and were unhappy with the current divisions.

The board discussed the options and comments: The option of not dividing the field but awarding prizes based on the participation percentage with the majority being net prizes was ruled out.

Kathy’s option of not having a base division but divide players evenly for each State Day was discussed. The board used Suzanne’s examples of the divisions split evenly for two State Days. The example showed there would be an even larger gap in the A division. As one of the examples, Suzanne used Neshobe (which would draw more A division players) and the split for A division was (0 - 16.5) the other course was (0 - 17.?). Suzanne raised the question of how would it be possible to give the most improved award for each division if there were no set divisions. Several board members voiced their dislike of flip flopping between divisions.

In closing the discussion Kathy Allbright commented that maybe we had fixed something that wasn’t broken. She was leaning toward going back to the old system of dividing the divisions equally. Example: Take the total number of State Day players for 2006, divide equally to determine the handicap divisions for 2007. (A division was normally 0 - 16.0).

Kathy will contact her committee by e-mail to work out the final details. The division split proposal must be completed and submitted to the board for approval prior to January 2007.

New proposal for 2007: All State Day ties for the 2007 season will be paid up to the number of prizes being awarded:

A good example of the new procedure is a division paying three low gross and three low net places:

Low Gross: 1^st low gross has three players tied. Prizes will be awarded as three 1^st low gross, receiving 8 points each. No prizes will be given to 2^nd low gross or 3^rd low gross.

Low Net: 1^st low net is individual, 2^nd low net is individual, 3^rd low net has a two way tie. Prizes will be awarded to1^st low net receiving 8 points, 2^nd low nets receiving 6 points and both 3^rd low nets will receive 4 points each.

Board members received the proposed 2007 State Day schedule. Less than half have confirmed their dates. Changes must be made to the schedule. On two different dates nine-hole courses were scheduled with prime 18 hole courses. This would not be fair to the nine hole courses.

Cheryl Hoar and Kathy Allbright will be working with Suzanne Neville. The schedule must be completed and the dates confirmed prior to the courses closing which will be a maximum of two weeks for most courses.

A recommendation was made to notify courses hosting a major tournament to let them know they would not be required to host a State Day for that season.

Any suggestions should be sent to Suzanne Neville, Kathy Allbright or Cheryl Hoar.

There should be a different requirement for nine hole courses. Currently to host a State Day tournament it is required to have a minimum of 16 players.

Tracy Sloan made a motion to honor State Days with less than 16 players but prizes would be awarded to only one low gross and two low nets for the entire field. Motion carried.

All revisions of the State Day book for 2007 should be given to Suzanne Neville.

There was a recommendation that the State Day book be made available on line and not printed. This was rejected because some members do not have online access.

Elizabeth Walker would like to be added to the State Day Book editing committee with Suzanne Neville, Cindy Paquet, Carolyn Barbieri and Cheryl Hoar.

State Day book information could be consolidated. Most of the information available on the website should be removed from the book.

Mary Corey recommended posting a no card explanation should be added. On page 17, a no card is, when the participant feels her score is too high and does not want to post the score or fails to complete the round due to anger or it starts to rain etc.

1. Disqualification: An example of a disqualification is if a participant has hit five balls into a hazard, their group is holding up the entire field and she decides to pick up and go to the other side of the hazard to continue play. This score cannot be used for the competition but should be posted with the maximum strokes allowable for that hole. The scorecard should be noted disqualified or DQ by the appropriate name. No penalty will be assessed.

2. A medical withdrawal: When a participant comes down with a medical condition which prevents her from continuing play. The scorecard should be noted medical withdrawal beside the appropriate name. No penalty will be assessed.

Change State Day Book, page 18, IN CASE OF RAIN, second and third paragraphs state if 2/3rds of the field complete/finish the tournament, it should read if 2/3rd of the base field of 100 or less complete the tournament.

The Chelsea system investigation committee of Suzanne Neville, Shari Phannenstein, Tracy Sloan and Harriet Parrot should brainstorm with the Chelsea technician seeking answers to a few questions.

a. Step by Step procedure for making online State Day choices to avoid being dropped due to human error.

c. Once the history has been established for the VSWGA members and a new participant joins the VSWGA. What should that player do? Would it be advisable to play with senior members that have a good history or can they start as a new group and get a tee time?

Woodstock generously agreed to take the 36 certificates for $35. each (from last year’s rain out) and deduct that amount from the VSWGA 2006 bill. When they produced an unpaid bill of $340. for cart rentals from their Woodstock State Day cancellations, Jeanne had no other option but pay. The fee was from Woodstock having rented outside carts to accommodate our players. The VSWGA could not justly write off these fees from the 36 certificates because it was a different event with different players. The board discussed who should collect the remaining fees. The advice of two members that held positions as Club Reps was followed, they felt it would place the Reps in an uncomfortable position and should be billed individually by the VSWGA. It was agreed that cancellations due to illness would be an acceptable excuse. Healthy participants refusing to pay will start the 2007 season in the penalty box. (See #2 item (e) for late cancellation cart notice to be added to the State Day book).

The question was asked, do we or do we not have a policy in place regarding, switching courses once your group has been assigned to their second choice. The board agreed it was in the best interest for everyone if there were no restrictions. After Friday noon participants must call Club Rep or Pro Shop to make changes.

All VSWGA State Day participants should be familiar with the USGA rules of golf. It has been brought to the board’s attention than some players are not familiar with those rules. To eliminate this problem, there will be an option of purchasing a rule’s book on the participation fee form. Another option of purchasing a rule book will be made available on the VSWGA website. The USGA “The Rules of Golf” book will be purchased in bulk by the VSWGA to be sold for this purpose.

The entrant must be a resident of the State of Vermont, must have resided in Vermont for a minimum of six months immediately preceding the tournament, and must be a member in good standing of a VSWGA golf course.

The entrant must have held a golfing membership in a Vermont State Member Golf Course for three consecutive years immediately preceding the tournament. An up-to-date GHIN handicap card is mandatory.

The entrant must be a legal Vermont resident holding a valid USGA GHIN handicap card. Proof of residents and up-to-date GHIN handicap card is mandatory.

Kathy Allbright reported the tournament prices had to be increased for 2007. It is becoming more difficult to find host courses for the three VSWGA major tournaments. Many courses seem to be interested until they are approached, then somehow their offer seems to disappear.

Nancy Myers made a motion to increase the 2007 VSWGA Tournament fees by $15.00 for each tournament: The junior fees will remain $75. with the VSWGA subsidizing the difference. Motion Carried.

Juniors will not be required to pay the Participation Fee unless they plan to play in State Days.

Participants, who are not members of the association but are members of a member course, will be required to pay a $25. fee called the Tournament Championship Administrative Fee.

Elizabeth Walker recommended that all state championships have a posting of how the prizes will be awarded.

b. An extra fee, for Vermont Residents who do not belong to a real estate club in Vermont but have a valid USGA GHIN card, to play in the three major VSWGA state-sponsored tournaments.

Any legal Vermont resident holding a valid GHIN card should have the privilege of playing in the three major VSWGA Tournaments.

Elizabeth Walker made a motion the Extra VSWGA Tournament Fees should be doubled. Motion carried.

The tournament fees for legal Vermont residents that do not belong to a real estate club in Vermont will be:

Phyllis Simon and Nancy Myers will be a committee of two who will review State Day score postings. If State Day scores are not entered within the one week time frame, a letter will be sent to Harriet Parot and further action may be taken.

Suzanne Neville sends the State Day players list to the home clubs. The club Reps should monitor their list, verify scores have been posted using (ESC) Equitable Stroke Control adjustments. ((ESC) is explained on page 24 & 25 of your State Day Book).

Penalty Letters: A recommendation was made to write penalty letters in a more passive voice. Some participants are very sensitive as to how a letter is written and the goal of the VSWGA is merely to notify players of a potential problem.

VSWGA Board Job Descriptions: Suzanne Neville handed out copies of the old VSWGA board job descriptions. She asks that everyone update their duties and e-mail her the revised copy. Suzanne is preparing a master list for the VSWGA Board Manual.

VGA Scholarship Meeting: Elizabeth Walker and Margaret Dick will attend the VGA Scholarship meeting.

Three-day Rules Workshop: Kathy Allbright asked if she could attend a three-day rules workshop in Mass. during the month of March 2007. The board approved.

USGA Regional Affairs Committee Meeting: The USGA Regional Affairs Committee Meeting will be held in Houston, TX and Kathy Allbright will be attending.

Prior to adjournment Elizabeth Walker was given a framed picture as a token of appreciation from the VSWGA for her years she served as President of the association.

a. Spring Meeting, Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Lake Morey, 10:00 a.m.
(Conference room was not available for Tuesday, May 1, 2007).

Minutes Completion Date: October 12, 2006
Minutes Revised Date: October 14, 2006