VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION

Meeting:            Spring Board Meeting
Date/Time:        Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Place:                 Lake Morey Inn 

Attended By:     Tracy Sloan, Phyllis Simon, Kathy Sikora, Deb Warner, Judith Manley, Sarah Lee,

   Ellen Sheffer, Harriet Parot, Kathy Allbright, Jeanne DiBattisto, and Cindy Paquet 

Absent:             Cynthia Borck, Carolyn Barbieri, Nancy Myers, Elizabeth Walker, and Krissie Lohrman 

Recorded by:     Kathy Sikora 

President Tracy Sloan called the meeting to order 

 Approval of Minutes:    The minutes of the October 20, 2009 were accepted     

Tournaments

Tri States:  Phyllis Simon reported on the Tri-States: There were 35 applicants; we need 32 players (8 each in divisions A and C and 14 in B division) with two alternates.  The team will be announced soon. The tournament will be held June 23-24 in Waterville, ME 

NEWGA:  Kathy Allbright reported on the New England Women's Golf Association tournament which will be hosted this year by Vermont at Green Mountain National. There are a total of 108 players from the 6 New England states. Each state has a total of 16 players. The spots are chosen by lowest handicap.  The tournament is self-sustaining as far as cost. Kathy has asked the VSWGA to provide the money for the continental breakfast the first day, which should amount to about $500.  Volunteers are needed to be spotters, scorers, and workers on the registration table. 

Major Tournament Rotation:  For the 2011 season, Woodstock has expressed an interest in hosting the Senior tournament.  They are not willing to take the 3 year rotation. Other clubs interested in hosting major tournaments are Sugarbush, Quechee and Orleans. 

The Major Tournament Committee is Kathy Allbright, Sarah Lee, Kathy Sikora, Ellen Sheffer, and Jeanne Morrissey.  Tracy Sloan will take Jeanne Morrissey's slot on the committee. 

Kathy Allbright wants to step down from chair of the Tournament Committee; she feels that after 18 years it is time for new blood and ideas.  She is looking for someone to co-chair this year and then take over. A few names were mentioned as possibilities. 

State Days

GHIN Card Requirement:  After much discussion, it was decided that it is the player's responsibility to bring their GHIN cards to state days when required.  It can be produced in an electronic form, i.e., I-Phone. This will be addressed again during the annual meeting in October 2010. 

Club Representative Forum:  The first club representative forum for 2010 was held on Thursday, April 29 at CC of VT and there were 17 club representatives present.  The second meeting will be held on May 6th at Manchester CC with an expected 8 club reps attending.  Krissie has moved the VSWGA office to an electronic reporting method for state days. 

The membership in the VSWGA stands at 396 as of May 3rd, which is fewer than previous years.  Harriet Parot is looking into advertising the VSWGA to all GHIN card-holding women, approximately 4,000 in the state of Vermont, via the E revision on the twice monthly GHIN report that goes to all women who hold GHIN cards.  Also discussed were other ways to keep in contact with members, the web site, the bulletin board on the site, a newsletter to be sent to all members, and face book.  For now we will promote the web site and the bulletin board, both of which Cindy does an excellent job of maintaining. 

Also discussed: 

·         Were women manipulating the Chelsea system to get the course and time they want?

·         The importance of calling ahead to courses that Chelsea says "carts are limited" was also discussed.

·         The difference between NC and DQ is going to be posted on the web. With an NC there is a penalty; a DQ does not have one.

·         The courses set the parameters of the tee times and what they choose to charge for carts. 

Office Update

Krissie was unable to attend, but did prepare a spring office report update.  There are 396 participants in the VSWGA, 325 of who took advantage of the early discount.  A new vendor was used to print the state day books at a total cost of $745, which was a significant savings over last year.  The TTP and Chelsea systems started operating April 15, 2010.  There will be two club rep forums held, one at CC of VT and one at Manchester CC.  There are new club pros at some clubs and some clubs are without pros.  There are new club reps at Richford (Megan Seline), Rocky Ridge (Cecile Provost) and St J (Judy Kurtz).  There are no reps at Arrowhead, Killington, and Prospect Point.  Krissie is looking into two programs for remote access for the VSWGA: they are Go2MyPC and LogMeInPro.  

80th Anniversary

Ball Markers: The 80th Anniversary committee of Phyllis Simon, Sarah Lee, Nancy Myers, and Kathy Sikora decided on a design for a ball maker to celebrate the VSWGA's 80th anniversary.  These ball markers were included with each state day book that was mailed. There are extras which will be for sale during the year at various events for $2.00 each.  Pat Roelants has designed an 80th anniversary ornament which we are hoping to have available for order on the website or at tournaments. 

Tournaments:  There are women who would like to come from the NH State Golf Association to help us celebrate at our 80th tournaments.  These tournaments will be held at Okemo and CC of VT.  It was decided that we would like them to attend and limit the number to two groups of two. Acceptance into the two tournaments will be determined by postmark.  Handicaps will be determined by 90% of score. Foursomes will be determined by handicap.  Board members and committee chairs are encouraged to attend and participate in both tourneys.  If you want to play both and play Okemo you may be wait listed for CC of VT. 

The tee gift for these tournaments will be pins made similar to the ball markers. 

Final State Day

The final State Day on September 21, 2010 at Quechee/Woodstock will celebrate the history of the VSWGA.  We will recognize women who have an importance in the history.  There will be corsages for those honorees. We will invite special invitees, such as the VT head of the USGA, VGA, and the VT PGA. 

Financial Update

Deb Warner reported on the state of the VSWGA's finances.  In the year 2009, we ran an $8,500 deficit.  The VSWGA income last year was $43,514 from GHIN, $65,653 from state days and tournaments, $19,520 from membership, $5,687 from closest to the pin and $968 from interest. Our expenses for 2009 were $71,279 for tournaments and state days, $26,092 for salaries, $17,549 for office expense, $7,977 to GHIN, $3,484 for depreciation, $2,511 for travel and meals, $7,669 for conferences, and $7,351 for grants made. 

The amount of money given out per point for state day will be determined later in the year. 

There was much discussion about forming our own organization, similar to "Lakeside" so that members of the VSWGA do not need to belong to a real estate club.  This would generate more income for the VSWGA.                       

Other Business

First Tee:  It costs less than $800 to support a first tee program at one school. The VSWGA donates $5,000 to this program. Vermont is the fastest growing state for this program. 

Course Ratings:  Carolyn Barbieri was not at the meeting to report on progress of courses to be rated.  There will be a course rating seminar in Concord, NH on May 27th. There will be a TTP seminar at Rutland CC on May13th. 

New Business:

Sarah Lee is asking members for any unwanted golf equipment for use by the Vermont Special Olympics. 

Ellen Sheffer reported on the Vermont PGA spring meeting.   

Jeanne DiBattisto suggested revitalizing the courtesy card that allowed board members and committee chairs to play Vermont courses gratis, which will be issued. 

Jeanne also suggested that board members and committee chairs should be allowed one major tournament at no cost to them for all the work they do.  No action was taken at this time. 

 Meeting adjourned at 1:30PM 

Submitted by Kathy Sikora

Completed May 19^th, 2010 

Next Meeting:    Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at Rutland CC