Board Meeting Minutes
Posted:  10/22/08

 

VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION 

Meeting:        Board of Directors / Committee Chairs
Date/Time:     October 14, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.
Place:             Lake Morey

Attended by:            Tracy Sloan, Sue Ginnett, Mary Corey, Suzanne Neville, Jeanne DiBattisto, Nancy Myers, Kathy Allbright, Cindy Paquet, Sarah Lee, Judy Manley, Ellen Sheffer, Jeanne Morrissey, Shari Pfannenstein, Harriet Parot, Phyllis Simon, Deb Warner 

Recorded by:            Mary Corey 

President, Tracy Sloan, called the meeting to order. 

President’s Report: Tracy Sloan welcomed everyone and asked that the entire Board and Committee Chairs introduce themselves.  Tracy created a new VSWGA Board Manual that was distributed to everyone present.  She stated there was a section for job descriptions and asked that Board Members and Committee Chairs write job descriptions.  Copies of the Agenda were e-mailed prior to the meeting, Tracy announced the agenda was extensive and we should be thorough but stay focused on the topics.  

Minutes:  Minutes for May 08, 2008, Mini Meeting Minutes for May and Mini Meeting Minutes for July, August, and September were edited and approved by e-mail.   Tracy asked that the Minutes be accepted as written.  Minutes were approved.                                                

Treasurers Report/Proposed Budget for 2009: Tracy Sloan prepared the 2009 Proposed Budgets, capturing the estimated income and expenses based on historic data, expressing how difficult it was to prepare a Proposed 2009 Budget with a $9,939 deficit balance.  Adjustments and explanations are:  

a. The Final (Awards) State Day Income Notes should be changed from 80 teams to 82.   

b. The New GHIN computer was estimated at $1000 and should be $1500. 

c. State Day Rep Training should be increased from $300 to $600. 

d. A suggestion was made to move the USGA Intern Grant Expense to Administrative Office Expenses.  The USGA did not renew the $10,000 Intern Grant for 2009, so the VSWGA will have to absorb this expense and change the job title to administrative assistant. 

Tracy did an excellent job of preparing the VSWGA Proposed Budget.  A motion was made to accept the Proposed Budget with the changes.  Motion Carried.  

Course Rating:  Currently, the VSWGA has 19 courses that need to be rated.  Carolyn Barbieri agreed that she would continue as the Course Rating Chair if the Board voted in her recommendations:   

How do we get back on track: Jeanne Morrissey made a recommendation that we make this a competition by having two team leaders: One from the North and one for the South, seeing who can rate the most courses during the season with the winning team receiving VSWGA jackets or shirts. The Board agreed this was a good idea.   Nancy Myers volunteered to be the Team Captain for the north with Jeanne Morrissey as her Assistant Captain.  She recommended that we ask Nina Tasi if she would consider accepting the position of Team Captain for the South.  One of the stipulations of the competition is that they must share course raters. 

We only have seven qualified Team Leaders, Nancy Myers, Nina Tasi, Carolyn Barbieri, Marilyn Patten, Ellen Sheffer, Shari Pfannenstein and Ethelyn Bartlett.  To qualify you must have attended the Course Rating Seminar and have 3 years of rating experience. 

The VSWGA Office will send out initial contact letters but the Team Leaders will be responsible for actual scheduling.  The courses that need to be rated will receive an introduction letter from the VSWGA office stating:  The Team Captain will be contacting you to schedule a course rating date.  They should be served complimentary lunch, and receive golf vouchers. 

Motion:  A motion was made for the Board to keep the position of Rating Chair as a management position that would oversee two Team Leaders for the North and South and is responsible for data input.  The Team Leaders will have assistants and be responsible for scheduling ratings and establishing course-rating teams.  Motion Carried.      

Rutland must to be rated this year; it is the only course that is on the 3-rotation list. 

Harriet Parot stated she needs the rating information in a more timely fashion.  A reasonable turnaround time would be one week.  

Meet the USGA Course Licensing requirement:  To meet the USGA Course Licensing requirement we must send a VSWGA member to the National Calibration Seminar.  It’s always good to see how we measure up to the other states. The Board would like to send two members, Harriet Parot and Carolyn Barbieri.  

New Chair:  The Board hopes that Carolyn Barbieri will accept the position of Course Rating Chair and continue maintaining the system data. 

Tournament Operations:  Shari Pfannenstein prepared a new tournament operations proposal.   She sent surveys to 20 states similar in size to Vermont.   Of the seven responders, most have procedures much like ours but want to elevate their tournament level. New Hampshire has a policy that its Board Members must be tournament officials if they do not play. 

Review Shari’s proposal:  Shari proposed that all VSWGA Board Members be required to be a non-playing Tournament Official for one of the Major Tournaments each season.  As an official they would determine tee locations, mark the course, determine pairings, one person would act as a starter, two people on the scoring table, four members would work as Pace of Play Check Point Officials.  In addition, Board members could check hole locations and the condition of the bunkers (if they felt comfortable doing that and/or were properly trained), and make sure there is a defined Scoring Area in close proximity to the 18th green.   

Discuss Options:  

Mary Corey stated she thought this was too extensive for an Amateur Tournament, that Board members were not qualified to check pins or set tee locations, etc.  She would be uncomfortable doing these tasks without training.  She felt that our Tournament Chair, Kathy Allbright, was doing a marvelous job and preferred leaving those duties up to the professionals. 

Suzanne Neville sends out the letters, and although Kathy Allbright does not have a VSWGA Tournament Committee she does meets with the Course Tournament Chair and her Committee, ensuring that the Tournament Chair has selected someone to be responsible for each recommended Committee Chair position.  Kathy asks if they have any questions and do they understand their duties.  She makes sure the Club Pro and Course Superintendent are aware that we want a good balance of pin placements that must be fair to the participants.  She lets them know the yardage needed for the tournament, which holes should be lengthened and checks the course conditions.   

Shari Pfannenstein said that it was not good to have a Tournament Chair without a VSWGA Tournament Committee.  What would happen if Kathy got sick?  Yes, most of our tournaments run well but there are always Pace of Play issues and not everyone goes to the Scoring Table when they finish their round.  They complete their scorecards in the parking lot then drop them off.  If they were playing in the US Amateur they would be disqualified. The only suggested duties that would require prior training would be the Rules Official and whoever determines the pin locations. We should give our young players a real tournament experience.  Anyone can check a pin placement with a Break Master, if the course has a green that the Break Master reads at higher than 2 or 2.5, they should not cut the green down. 

Mary Corey thought this was asking too much from a small state like Vermont and who really cared if participants did their scoring in the parking lot.  It would be nice to have more professional tournaments but she felt the added expense did not justify the change. 

Deb Warner disagreed; she said that our State Tournaments should be taken more seriously and brought up to the next level.  She does not play in the Major Tournaments and would be willing to be on the VSWGA Tournament Committee and work as an official. 

The Board did not agree that all Board members and Committee Chairs must be non-playing official at one tournament per season.  They also felt that marking the course, setting the tees, and checking pin placements should be left to the grounds crew under the more experienced watchful eye of our VSWGA Tournament Procedures Chair.  Everyone liked the idea of using a Break Master for setting the pins and thought it was good to ask that one be used.   All officials can work and play except the Rules Official, which would be a conflict of interest, and the Gate Keepers on (1, 9 and 18) or (1, 6, 12 and 18), they would have to be at their stations during play.  The Officials that could play would be at the Starters Table, the Scorers Table, or act as directional advisors escorting groups from the 18th and 9th holes to the Scorers Table.  The ideal situation would be to have a roped off path from the 18th and 9th holes that directs all players to the Scorers Table, which should be located in close proximity to those holes. The player must check and signed her scorecard prior to turning it in.  Once she leaves the Scorers Table the card cannot be changed. 

Another option that would help to get more officials on board for this would be to bring on old Board Members or Support Staff to help. The officials would wear existing Tri-State Shirts as their uniform for the Tournaments.   

Having two different sources trying to run things would be difficult and cause conflicts.  The Tournament Chair will be in charge and all decisions must be submitted to her prior to implementation.  

Motion:  A motion was made to try a portion of Shari’s Proposal at the Senior’s Tournament in Neshobe, by asking the VSWGA Board Members and Committee Chairs to work as officials at the Starters Table, as Gate Keepers on 1, 9 and 18 or 1, 6, 12 and 18, at the Scorers Table and if qualified, and not playing, be a Rules Official.  Motion Carried 

The new procedures will be implemented at the Seniors Tournament at Neshobe.  If all goes well and the VSWGA can afford the added expense, the process will be tweaked and used at the Amateur and Mid Amateur.  

Schedule:  The State Amateur is currently scheduled for August 25 - 27, 2009. By the end of August schools and colleges have started, those dates would eliminate some of our top competitors.  Kathy Allbright has asked if Burlington Country Club would switch the tournament to August 18 -20, 2009.  

Seniors = Neshobe, July 22 - 23, 2009

State Amateur = Burlington, August 18 - 20, 2009

Mid Amateur = Haystack, September 12 - 13, 2009

Tri-State = New Hampshire, June 23-24, 2009

NEWGA = Rhode Island, Date TBD

Final State Day = Woodstock and Quechee, September 22, 2009

Fall Scramble = Lake Morey, October 6, 2009  

Expenses:  All tournaments derive from a zero base budget.  Normally projections are based on 80 players.   

New trial tournament procedures:  The VSWGA will pay lodging and mileage expenses for all non-playing VSWGA tournament officials. The non-playing officials will be asked to room together whenever possible. This proposal has the potential of increasing our deficit spending in 2009 by 1 to 2 thousand dollars per tournament. 

State Day Tournament:  

a. Calendar for next year:  Suzanne Neville distributed the proposed 2009 State Day Calendars.   

Proposed changes: 

1. Kathy Allbright asked Suzanne to try to switch Rocky Ridge with Montague; we should not have two courses in the same location scheduled on the same day.  

2. September 15, 2009 is being held open for a potential rain date.  

3.  If Burlington agrees to change the State Amateur dates to August, 18 - 20, 2009, the State Day scheduled for August 18, 2009, Jay Peak, CC of Barre and Bakersfield, should be switched with the courses scheduled for August 25, 2009, Blush Hill, Farm Resort, Prospect Bay, Bradford.  

Jeanne DiBattisto mentioned that she observed they had 119 players at Green Mountain National while Cedar Knoll only had 56 and Farm Resort had to cancel their State Day.  Initially Green Mountain National had 140 that signed up but many participants cancelled.  She felt we should have the participation levels set at 100 players.  Suzanne Neville and Kathy Allbright both said the level was 120.  This would not change because standbys do not want to play another course.   

The Board recommended that Suzanne should not be spending her time calling standbys; it should be the standbys’ responsibility to keep checking for an open slot 

b. Clubs with no Reps:  There are 7 clubs without Club Reps: 

 Jay Peak had a legitimate excuse they have one active member and she was not playing due to having scheduled surgery.   

Sugarbush was a problem, they had two members play Sugarbush and 5 members play Jay Peak.  The Course charged our ladies $30 for a cart then entered their names in skins and gave them a sleeve of balls.  They were running a $36 special for golf and cart for the public.  When asked about the tee gift and skins we were told the carts are $30 they just threw in the balls and skins at no charge. 

If the club has members, Phyllis Simon will contact the members individually, making every possible effort to get one of them to be the Club Rep.  All they have to do is run their State Day and go to the Annual Meeting. 

Motion was made: A Motion was made for all clubs that do not have Club Reps, if any members are active, Suzanne Neville will write them a letter, asking if anyone will accept the Club Rep position, if no response, then Phyllis Simon will contact the members individually making every possible effort. When all options are exhausted and we need to send a Board member to act as Club Rep, there will be a 20% fee deducted from their gross for running the tournament.  There will be a follow up phone call with club Pro prior to the State Day.  Motion carried  

c. Slow Play:  Everyone should read Shari Pfannenstein’s article “You might be a slow player if” which can be found on the VSWGA website.  Most slow players do not realize they are slow.  Please be aware, when your group thinks it was a great day with no one in front of them all day they probably should have been looking back. 

Turtle Flag:  The Pace of Play Committee will be looking at activating the Turtle Flag for 2009.   There are some glitches, which Nancy Myers’s Committee is working on.  Examples being:  If you are an individual and Chelsea places you in a slow group or if the Chelsea places a slow player in your group, how can this be handled fairly?   

Record Time System:  Each State Day group would be responsible for recording their start time on the first hole, time at the turn on the 9th hole, and time finished on the 18th hole.  Using this system, it would be mandatory for all groups to leave the 18th hole and go immediately to the Scorers Table, so that your time finished could be recorded.   The Starter should ensure all groups tee off timely, every 8 to 10 minutes depending on the course.  This is a built in spacer and sending groups out too soon can cause the course to be backed up all day.  

Jeanne Morrissey said that her group had been playing middle to late tee times this year and overall it seemed to move faster than previous years.  

Stableford:  The Executive Board Meeting voted to play the Stableford format on two of our more difficult courses on State Day during the 2009 season, with the understanding that the Stableford format point system will continue to be refined. 

Mary Corey suggested that it would more fair to the field if we used the USGA Rules Stableford scoring system of: 

More than one over fixed score …. Double Bogey ……. 0 points

One over fixed score …………...... Bogey ………….… 1 point

Fixed score …………………...….. Par …………..…… 2 points

One under fixed score ………...…. Bird ….………...… 3 points

Two under fixed score …………… Eagle ………...…... 4 points

Three under fixed score ………….. Albatross …….…... 5 points  

This system should be adjusted to receive points for Double Bogies for the D and E flights, maybe start with 1 for Double, 2 for Bogie, etc.  The 2008 net Stableford calculation would still apply. 

Kathy Allbright said she wanted to resign her position as Stableford Committee Chair, the research and trial phase have been completed and future questions should be directed to the Club Reps for the courses that want to play that format. 

Courses playing the Stableford format for 2009:  With their approval, Shari Pfannenstein and Harriet Parot from Killington and Tater Hill elected to play the Stableford format on their State Days in 2009. 

e. Committee to review equal flights vs. handicap divisions: Suzanne Neville has agreed to run some comparison charts for the Committee from her 2008 State Day data.   

f. Accuracy of results: The original results posted on the website were calculated incorrectly, flights were determined by using the combined team handicap. The Final State Day data has been recalculated using the correct format of placing the team in the flights of the lowest handicap of the team.  The results will be published on the VSWGA website.  Cindy will post a note on the home page regarding the revision of the Final State Day results. 

g.  Reporting results to media outlets:  Suzanne Neville does not get the State Day cards she only gets the summary sheets.  She has made 39 changes to State Day results, 24 errors were made from the field and 12 from the VSWGA office and 3 others.    

Phyllis Simon suggested that if we wanted to lower the error ratio, all Tournament results should be tallied by one person then double-checked by someone else, prior to mailing to the VSWGA office.  It’s difficult to catch your own mistakes

Jeanne Morrissey mentioned how the membership seemed to be more understanding of mistakes made by volunteers but got frustrated with mistakes made by the VSWGA office because it’s a paid position. 

The Board agreed that 40 errors were too many - we should get it down to 3 or 4.  For 2009 the Board is on a mission to eliminate errors.   It would help to have someone accountable at each State Day.  

Addition to the State Day Book:  There will be a note added to the State Day Book that snacks are a perk.  Several clubs will not allow their members to bring in food; everything must be purchased through their contractor. 

Points:  Each week when Chelsea selects the courses all players are weighted by their cumulative points.  Chelsea rates the players by course points; the better courses you play the fewer points you receive, and participants who play often accrue more points. 

6. Financial Report: 

a. Review budget to actual for 2008: Tracy Sloan gave a complete, line-by-line analysis of the Budget.  She explained the Memberships Outside Association is the NEWGA membership fee. 

Jeanne Morrissey asked what our Computer Technician, John Neville, did and who was he accountable to?  Suzanne replied that John was a valuable asset; any time she had system problems he was always there to help her out.  He installs new systems, upgrades, and is an overall troubleshooter.   If the VSWGA had to hire a computer geek it would cost $80 per hour.  He was accountable to the USGA and was required to complete detailed weekly time sheets.  She also asked about Joanna Taylor’s training?  Suzanne explained that the Boatwright Scholarship requires and pays for the Intern to attend the training.  This position was advertised in several newspapers in the Brattleboro area; also articles were run in southern and central Vermont publications. 

b.  Proposed Budget for 2009:  The new Tournament Policies of having Board Members and Committee Chairs work as officials at our Major Tournaments has the potential of increasing our deficit spending in 2009 by 1 to 2 thousand dollars per tournament.  

The VSWGA will not receive the funds for the Intern Position for 2009.  The $10,000 Boatwright Scholarship had been awarded to the VSWGA since 2005.  This will be difficult for the office because they have come to rely on that position.  We may need to remove some of the tasks that have ended up at the office level; maybe the volunteers should be doing more of those duties.  The Board will form an Evaluation Committee to research this issue and determine how many hours we will need to hire the administrative assistant for.  

c.  Review mileage reimbursement amount:  The Board agreed that the mileage reimbursement rate for VSWGA official travel of .50 cents per mile was adequate. 

7.  Administrative Office:  

a. Hiring assistant to replace intern position:  The Director of Administration works 24 hours per week and she is not interested in going full time.  The VSWGA office will be hiring an Administrative Assistant for 30 hours per week during the season to take care of some of the Intern’s duties.  A major problem with the office is that none of the computer systems are compatible; data must be entered in five different areas.  During the day they have to use the office computer and the laptop.  The assistant will need to work with the Chelsea System and the TPP program and must attend all major tournaments with other duties as assigned.  

b. Evaluation Committee:  The Evaluation Committee will be Tracy Sloan, Phyllis Simon, Sarah Lee, Jeanne Morrissey, Ellen Sheffer, and Dora Pealer.  They will perform an in office evaluation, determine if the administrative assistant should cover all of the Intern’s duties.  Maybe more jobs could be assigned to volunteers.  Money may be needed to pay another person’s or volunteer’s travel expenses. 

c. Developing manuals of procedures:  Suzanne Neville has started a Procedures Manual and would like all the Board Members and Committee Chairs to complete job descriptions and send them to Suzanne. 

8.  Boards and Staff Performance:  The Board would like to form a partnership between the Members and the Board to make everything run smooth.  

9.  Communications: 

a. Survey Says:  There will be surveys available on decisions made or implemented, a basic survey sent via e-mail.  Cindy will use the Survey Monkey web tool to help analyze this information. 

b. More meetings with Club Reps:  Suzanne Neville is planning to have two Club Reps’ training sessions during the 2009 season.  

10.  Junior golf: 

a. First Tee: The First Tee program is an introduction to golf program for children who are taught at schools and many of these kids have never seen a golf course.  Sometimes a local Pro will go to the school and take these children to a golf course in the area to show them what a real course looks like.  If anyone is interested in helping with these field trips please contact Suzanne Neville.  

b. Girls Junior Golf Program:  The Program keeps growing.  If anyone would like to help Mary Ann Levins please contact her. 

11.  Rules School 2009:  Kathy Allbright would like to attend the Rules Seminar again this year at her own expense.  As the RAC Rep she is entitled to go every other year but she went last year

12.  RAC meeting 2009 Report:  This was on the agenda but not discussed. 

13.  Miscellaneous: 

a. Refund policy / no shows for tournaments: Beginning in 2009, if a woman cancels for any reason, if her spot can be filled a percentage of the entry fee will be refunded.  All other cancellations are not refundable except for special circumstances that will be considered at the Fall Meeting of the Board.  Going forward we should put this on the State Day book cover page. 

b. Tri-State Shirts:  Phyllis Simon brought in her Tri State shirt, which was nice looking, but the old type fabric.  The team needs new shirts.  Last year Phyllis bought the shirts and was reimbursed, they had a colored VSWGA logo.   She would like to purchase new shirts made from the self-wicking fabric for those that want them, they would cost around $40.  The old shirts would go to the volunteer committee. 

Phyllis made a request that the Tri-State process be moved up one month.  It would give the committee time to select the team and order the shirts 

Motion:  A motion was made to move the date up one month for Tri-State Selection.  With a May 1st deadline, Postmark date by May 1st.   Motion Carried.  

Motion:  Everyone must buy a new shirt for the Tri-State team.  Motion Carried. 

 

c. Reimburse Enosburg $115 for skin error:  At Enosburg there was a computer glitch; the system registered 3 net skins at $115 each when it should have shown 4.  Rick said the Pro Shop would just absorb the cost. 

Motion:  A motion was made to reimburse Enosburg.   Motion Carried.   

d. Polly’s request for refund from Annual Meeting Scramble:   

Motion:  A motion was made to pay Polly Gadbois and her Partner a refund for Final State Day, with a letter explaining this is an exception for this year only Motion Carried.  

e. Chits:  reissues and expiration dates:  Phyllis Simon asks if the expired gift certificate funds were escheated to the State.  Jeanne DiBattisto said that had not been done in the past because the VSWGA gift certificates had expiration dates. Deb Warner is doing more research on this issue. 

Tournaments: 

USGA Team:  Jeanne Morrissey asked how the USGA Team was selected.  They start by asking the Major Tournament Champions, if they cannot attend, they asked the runners up.  The Board tries to select low handicap players that have done well in tournaments.  The teams play on courses that are 6,132 yards.  

Major Tournament Fees:  A motion was made to increase the Mid Amateur fee to $120 ($10 increase), leave the Seniors at $120, and increase the State Amateur to $150 ($20 increase).  Motion carried.  

NEWGA:  Kathy Allbright is looking for a NEWGA Tournament Chair.  Vermont will host the 2010 tournament and whoever accepts the Chair position will assume the position of NEWGA Vice President in 2009, and then become President in 2010.  Phyllis Simon declined the Chair position because of another commitment.  Kathy said that Elizabeth Walker told her if she could not find anyone that she would accept the NEWGA Vice President Chair position. 

At the VGA meeting Kathy was approached by Pros offering their courses for the NEWGA.  The courses were Jay Peak, Glen Eagles, and Green Mountain National.  The Green Mountain National was selected. 

VSWGA Tee Markers:  Suzanne Neville would like the organization to purchase VSWGA Tee Markers for our Major Tournaments.  This needs to be researched and revisited at some future date. 

14.  Other new business: 

Air Card:  Cindy Paquet needs to purchase an air card for her computer.  The expense will be offset by the cancellation of her DSL service.  

Board Mini Meeting:  We need a deadline for Mini Meeting responses.  Suggestion: when opening the session for a Mini Meeting enter a “please respond by” date in the subject line.  

Club Reps Mini Meeting:  The Club Reps only meet once a year, we need to do a survey, would they like to meet more often.  At the beginning of the year they could have a Mini Meeting by e-mail. 

Transparency:  Jeanne Morrissey has been taking comments and suggestions from the membership to bring to the board.  One of the major concerns seems to be that the Board should work for the good of the organization and be more transparent.  Apparently the concerned members must not visit the VSWGA website.  When I joined the Board, Minutes were available and read at the meetings, only historic or information of interest was posted on the website, which was still evolving at that time.  During Elizabeth Walker’s Presidency, the Board wanted the members to be more informed and asked Cindy Paquet to post the Minutes as written on the website.  When Sue Ginnett became President there were multiple issues pending with no resolution in sight without having multiple Board meetings.   Sue introduced the e-mail Mini Meetings that proved to be a big asset to the organization but a lot of work for the Board & Committee Chairs; Mini Meeting Minutes are posted on the Website.  With Sue and the Board’s approval, Mary Corey researched and prepared the “Major Decision,” a summary of all Board’s Major Decisions from 2003 through the current date, which is posted on the website.  Cindy always posts everything that affects the organization to the website. We have dedicated Board members and Committee Chairs who work hard for the organization without any compensation, feedback is good and there is always room to grow but transparency is not one of our faults.  This is an editorial written by Mary Corey. 

Jeanne Morrissey’s response to Transparency:  As Jeanne explained, “I do not think that the issue is with a failure to document what is discussed.  I think it is a greater lack of understanding of how things happen such as hiring, pay scales, oversight and things of that nature.  I think all of the progress that the Board had made in opening up communications through e-mail and the website is great and can only get better.  I have benefited greatly from the steps that have been taken.  A greater share of the information burden no doubt must fall to the Club Reps and the individuals.  I think the Board’s job is to make sure that penetrating questions are asked and answered so we are transparent in how we deal with such things.” 

Meeting Adjourned: 4:15 p.m. 

Next meeting scheduled: Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. 

Place: Lake Morey 

Minutes completed October 19, 2008
Minutes revised October 21, 2008

 

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