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Fall Meeting Minutes
Posted: 10/13/08
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Fall Meeting Minutes
Posted: 10/13/08
VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Meeting:
Annual Executive Committee Meeting
Date/Time: October 7, 2008 / 9:00 a.m.
Place: Green Mountain National
Attended
by: Alburg
Golf Links 1, Blush Hill CC 1, Brattleboro 2, Burlington CC 2, Cedar Knoll CC
4, Champlain CC 2, Crown Point 5, Dorset Field Club 3, Essex 1, Equinox 2,
Green Mountain 2, Killington 1, Lake Morey 2, Lake St. Catherine 1, Montague
1, Mt. Anthony 1, Newport CC 2, Proctor-Pittsford 2, Quechee 2, Ralph Myhre 2,
Rocky Ridge 2, Rutland 5, St. Johnsbury 4, Tater Hill 3, Vermont National 2,
West Bolton 2, Williston 2
Recorded
by:
Mary Corey
President’s Report:
The President called the meeting to order, Sue Ginnett welcomed
everyone and asked that the Board and Committee Chairs introduce themselves.
She thanked the Club Reps for a job well done.
Secretary’s
Report:
Mary Corey asked if the Club Reps had received and reviewed copies of
the 2007 Annual Executive Committee Meeting Minutes. They had reviewed their copies; there were no questions
or amendments. The Minutes were
approved as written.
Treasurer’s
Report:
Tracy Sloan reported she anticipates a surplus of $5,000 at year-end.
Due to financial cut backs the USGA will not renew the $10,000 Intern
Position grant for 2009. There is
also a question as to the $3,000 Computer Grant being renewed, it is still
pending. The Treasurer’s Report was approved as stated.
The
VGA has been approached by the Vermont State Department of Taxes for a Sales
Tax audit. The tax department is
trying to make the VGA pay a 6% amusement tax on all tournament application
fees. The VGA is fighting this claim; they are nonprofit and pay the clubs tax
on golf, carts, and meals. If the
VGA loses, the Tax Department could go back six years.
This would set precedence for taxing the VSWGA.
Director
of Administration’s Report:
Suzanne Neville did not have a report.
She has had a busy season, working with the First Tee Program,
overseeing the Chelsea System, she and Joanna Taylor are responsible for doing
all the behind the scenes work for the VSWGA Major Tournaments.
Suzanne
thanked the Club Reps for their support throughout the year and stated she
welcomed feedback and would be receptive to any suggestions.
Jim Farrell
- The New England USGA Representative was scheduled to speak but could not
attend.
Committee Chair Reports:
A.
Web Administrator:
Cindy Paquet reported that overall things went rather well for 2008.
To be completely mobile Cindy needs a wireless Internet card.
Phyllis Simon stated it could be purchased for around $60 per month and
the wireless card would give her Internet reception anywhere.
Diane
Peters, Seniors Tournament Chair,
thanked Cindy for her help on the Seniors Tournament. She never realized how much time and hard work Cindy really
does on our major tournaments. Diane
wanted to make sure everyone was aware that Cindy writes all of the articles,
prepares news clips, updates the website with tournament results and tee times
and does this for every tournament. Thank
you Cindy!
B.
Course Rating:
Carolyn Barbieri reported there were several new women who attended the Course
Rating Seminar this year. When
they were contacted with a scheduled rating date only three or four people
were available. We need a minimum of six raters to complete a rating in a
reasonable time frame. This has
been an ongoing problem, a suggestion was made, to schedule the rating dates
in the spring and notify everyone so they can schedule their appointments
around those dates.
Suggestions from
the floor:
Irma Heeter recommended dividing the state into three sections, have
team leaders for the North, Central and South, each being responsible for
coordinating their own groups. Everyone seemed to agree this was a good idea.
Kathy
Sikora suggested that we combine our rating dates with the VGA.
This was a good idea but would not work, because
courses are rated when they are open and too many officials would disrupt play.
Kathy
Allbright mentioned the courses might complain if we had large rating groups
because they are responsible for making lunch accommodations for the group.
The fact that other states charge $50 to $250 for each rating while
Vermont only asks for lunch should be mentioned if anyone complains.
Course Rating
Chair:
Caroline Barbieri has agreed to continue as the Course Rating Chair
provided the Board approves her report recommendations:
Have the VSWGA office schedule/coordinate the course ratings schedule,
divide the state into 3 sections and identify team leaders as soon as the
scheduled is firmed up.
C.
Tournament Procedures: Kathy Allbright said that Shari Pfannenstein had prepared a
new proposal for the VSWGA Tournament Procedures Manual, which will be reviewed and discussed by the Board at its October 14,
2008 Meeting.
D. Handicap:
Harriet Parot opened the floor for questions. There were none. She
asked that Club Reps tell their business offices to please enclose a note when
paying a different amount than billed. If
all nonmembers could be deleted from the GHIN System by the end of April or
the first week in May it will avoid billing adjustments.
Licensing:
Harriet wanted to make everyone aware the next three-year Licensing
requirement will begin in January 2009. Each
club must have someone attend the Licensing Seminar or take the 45-minute
online course. The next seminar
will be scheduled for the end of May in Rutland.
E.
Juniors Program: Mary
Ann Levins did not attend. The
VSWGA raised enough money from our Closest to the Pin Contest to help meet the
matching funds requirement for the Junior Grant.
F.
State Day and Points:
Suzanne Neville reported, for the Scholarship Fund Raiser, we sold 11 flags
for $150 each.
State Day Stroke
Play: When a
golfer finds it impossible to negotiate a hole, they should write
DQ on their scorecard, NOT No Card
or Withdrew. The difference
is for DQ there is no penalty, while for No Card or Withdrew there is a
penalty. It would be a good idea
for the scores table to always ask what happened to help determine the correct
verbiage.
Skins:
State Day Skins is a way for golf clubs to raise additional funds.
The funds are paid as pro shop credit (chits). For 2009 Suzanne would
like the VSWGA office to record all Skins.
A suggestion was make to post the Skins winners on the website.
After skins winners have been determined a list should be sent to the
VSWGA office. The gift certificates should be sent to the participants’ home
course or included with the winners list to the VSWGA home office.
Final State Day:
The divisions will continue (but
this hasn’t happened for the last two years) to be broken down by
putting the teams in the division with the lowest handicap of the two players.
Equal State Day
Flights:
A committee was formed to evaluate the possibility of running State Day
Tournaments based on the field divided equally into flights.
The committee consists of Rhonda Colvard as Committee Chair, Kathy
Allbright, Jeanne Morrissey, Cindy Paquet, and Mary Corey.
G.
Rules: Shari
Pfannenstein apologized for having unforeseen circumstances that kept her from
following through with spring meetings and training sessions for the new
members of the Rules Committee.
Slow Play:
Shari thought our biggest single problem is slow play.
There is no way we can effectively combat this issue given our current
structure that relies on volunteers. She
has written a new proposal to update our Tournament Procedures Manual that
replaces most of the now volunteers with Board Members.
The Board will review this procedure.
Ready Golf:
To speed up play, Ready Golf was discussed. Ready Golf should not be agreed upon at the first tee, it is
against USGA Rules. However, the
USGA has become more flexible, so if you find your group is falling behind and
it does not give anyone an advantage you can agree to play Ready Golf and
still comply with USGA Rules.
Cell Phones:
Shari commented on the use of cell phones by participants for personal
calls during play. This should be
strictly prohibited; cell phones should be turned off and only used for
emergencies. If this rule
is breached, disqualification should be the result.
H.
Others:
Seniors:
The Neshobe Golf Course has agreed to host the Seniors Tournament on
July 22 - 23, 2009. They have
accepted our three-year rotation plan.
7.
Election of New Board Members: The
Slate recommended by the Board was:
Jeanne
Morrissey from Williston
Ellen
Sheffer from Neshobe
Judy
Manley from Brattleboro
The
Board selected Deb Warner from Champlain to complete Polly Gadbois’s term.
The
floor was opened for nominations, there were none. A Motion was made to accept the slate as recommended.
The Motion passed.
8.
Other Business:
A. Stableford
System:
At the Annual Executive Committee Meeting in 2007 it was decided to use
the Stableford Format for a few State Days.
The trial courses were Woodstock CC, Tater Hill CC, Stratton Mountain,
Killington and Vermont National. Vermont
National was rained out. A
total of 170 surveys were collected.
Survey results:
1.
Was the scoring easy = 70% easy
2.
Improve the Pace of Play = 50% Yes - 50% No
3.
Liked or Disliked = 50% Yes - 50% No
4.
Fair to the field or unfair = the majority thought it was fair
5.
Would you play Stableford again = 70% Yes
Continue with the
Stableford:
With the host clubs consent, it was questioned if we should continue having
the Stableford format on some of our more difficult courses.
The Majority voted in favor.
Kathy
Allbright will be open for suggestions from the members of how to refine the
Stableford format until November 1, 2008.
B. Closest To The
Pin: In 2007
the VSWGA agreed for the 2008 season they would have Closest To The Pin
contest for the entire field on both par 3’s.
The VSWGA actually collected more revenue this year.
It seems that most people liked the idea of having two chances to win.
Every Division had winners: A-15,
B-32, C-20, D-22 and E-5.
A
motion was made to keep the Closest To The Pin Contest for the entire field on
both par 3’s. The Motion
passed.
C.
Posting of scores:
Last year at the Annual Executive Committee Meeting it was decided that
individuals would post their own State Day Scores.
To avoid duplicate postings the Club Reps would not post scores through
their TPP Program. Using this
method there is no way to verify scores are being posted.
A recommendation was made that the Club Rep should check the winner’s
postings as one of their final duties for the year.
A motion was made to continue having individuals post their own scores.
Motion passed.
Harriet
Parot wanted to make sure that all scores would be posted when participants
are playing the Stableford format. For
scoring purposes ONLY on holes not completed the player should record their
probable score.
9.
Board Topics for Discussion:
A.
Pace of Play Committee:
There is no quick resolution to Pace of Play; this topic will not be
open for discussion. Slow play
comes from bad playing habits, everyone should read Shari Pfannenstein’s
article on the VSWGA website titled “You Might be a Slow Player if.”
This article has many helpful hints and is very well written.
The Board thought a committee should be formed to research this
problem. Nancy Myers will be the Committee Chair; anyone interested in
a position please contact her.
Turtle Flag:
The Board asks that the Committee look at the Turtle Flag option; this
would mean anyone that completes their round with several holes open in front
of them would be given a Turtle Flag. Players
with this flag would get one of the last tee times for the next State Day.
B.
Clubs without Reps:
The VSWGA Board members have been asked to cover State Days on courses
without Reps. There are 7 clubs that fall into this category.
How should we address this issue?
Several recommendations were made:
1.
Ask clubs to pay fees for someone posing as their Club Rep.
2.
Deduct a predetermined amount from their State Day revenue.
3.
Charge the club’s State Day players double until someone agrees to be
Club Rep.
4.
Do not allow the club members to play State Days.
5.
Lose the course from the State Day selection.
6.
Have the Board member, Director North, Central or South contact the
club ladies and ask for a volunteer.
C.
Change in Major Tournament Chits:
An anonymous course would only accept the three year rotation
tournaments if we changed our Major Tournament chits from VSWGA chits, to host
club chits. Comments were:
1.
We should not be held hostage.
2.
Do not change the VSWGA’s policy to entice a course to join the
rotation.
3.
Not all pro shops carry enough merchandise.
4.
Ask what the economic value of chits would be to the course and try to
negotiate a deal.
A
motion was made that we leave the chit situation for our Major Tournaments as
is. The Motion passed.
D.
Change in Annual Meeting Format:
The VSWGA Board, Committee Chairs and Voting Members meet once a year,
when there is a time limit because of golf.
This does not work well for getting things accomplished.
Recommendations:
1.
Start the Meeting at 9:00 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m.
2.
Play a 9-hole scramble instead of 18-holes.
3.
Do not have a designated time to start the scramble, wait until all
issues have been resolved prior to play golf.
4.
Manage the meeting on a timeline.
5.
Have an e-mail meeting on any unresolved issues.
6.
Mail material early enabling voting members to send comments ahead of
time to the board.
Resolution:
Have the meeting start at 9:00 a.m. try to keep the meeting on a
timeline and continue with the 18-hole scramble at 12:30 p.m. or 1:00 p.m.
E.
Change in the By-Laws to recognize e-mail Board Meetings:
Mary Corey prepared a total revision of the By-Laws and Phyllis Simon
edited:
1.
Changing the revision date to 10/07/2008
2.
Changing the corporate office address to 68 Walnut Court, Arlington, Vermont
05250 (802) 375-8091.
3.
Changing Section 4. Special
Meetings: Adding, “there can be electronic (e-mail) meetings or physical
meetings.”
4.
Change Section 5. Notice:
Add,
“requiring a physical presence”
Add,
“electronic (e-mail)”
Delete,
“delivered personally or sent by mail, fax or telegram.”
Add,
“e-mail”
Delete,
“ If mailed, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in
the US mail in a sealed envelope so addressed, with postage thereon prepaid.
If notice is given by fax, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered
once the fax has been successfully transmitted. If notice is given by telegram, such notice shall be deemed
to be delivered when the telegram is delivered to the telegraph company.”
5. Change
Section 5. Powers and Duties:
Add,
“update the Major Decisions, print and file all Board and Committee Chair
e-mail correspondences, major tournament results and news letters.
The board’s paid position, Women’s Golf Association Director of
Administration, will”
Add, “or
other authorized individual”
Changes
to the By-Laws, required a minimal 10-day notice. Because this was not possible, the VSWGA decided to prepare a
Waiver of Notice that was signed by the voting members.
10.
Rep concerns/issues/comments:
There were none.
11.
Announcements/Closing:
Sue Ginnett announced that Pat Job was leaving the Board; she did not
run for a second term. Pat held the position of Handicap Chair for many years and
has been a valuable asset to the Board. She
always had a sensible answer and you could rely on her knowledge of the
organization. She will be missed!
Phyllis
Simon announced that this was Sue Ginnett’s final year.
Sue has done a marvelous job as President; she initiated the e-mail
Mini Meetings that have proven to be very efficient.
It enables Board members and Committee chairs to review documents when
it’s convenient and they can think about the issues prior to responding.
With a Mini Meetings, Sue gets everyone’s input, there is no such
excuse, as, I can’t make the meeting, plus the VSWGA has saved money on
travel expenses. Sue’s
management skills are exceptional; she has a way of keeping the Board focused
on the issues until they are resolved. We
will be happy to keep her on the Board as Past President.
Sue
Ginnett announced that following adjournment there would be a quick Executive
Board Meeting to elect new officers.
Meeting
adjourned: 12:15 p.m.
Upon
adjournment the VSWGA Executive Board met to vote on the 2009 slate of
officers. Members present were
Sue Ginnett, Mary Corey, Tracy Sloan, Phyllis Simon, Nancy Myers, Sarah Lee,
Deb Warner, Judy Manley and Jeanne Morrissey.
The
Slate of Officers approved for 2008:
President
- Tracy Sloan
Vice
President - Phyllis Simon
Secretary
- Mary Corey
Treasurer
- Tracy Sloan
Executive
Board Meeting adjourned: 12:25 p.m.
Next
Meeting: Lake Morey, October 14, 2008, 10:00 a.m.
Date
Minutes Revised: 10/11/2008
