VERMONT STATE WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION  

Meeting:            Annual Meeting  
Date/Time:        October 4, 2011 / 9:00AM  
Place:                 Country Club of Barre – Barre, Vermont  

The President asked the roll call to be taken and recorded:  

Attended by: Alburg 1,  Blush Hill 1, Bradford 2, Brattleboro 2, Burlington 2, CC of Barre 2, CC of Vermont 2, Cedar Knoll 3, Champlain 2, Copley 2, Crown Point 2, Enosburg Falls 1, Equinox 1, Essex 2, Haystack 2, Jay Peak 2, Killington 1, Lake Morey 2, Lake St Catherine 1, Links at Lang Farm 1, Manchester 2, Montague 2, Montpelier Elks 2,  Mount Anthony 1, Neshobe 2,  Newport  2, Northfield 2, Okemo Valley 2, Orleans 3, Proctor-Pittsford  1, Quechee 2, Ralph Myhre 1, Rutland 2, St Johnsbury 2, Stowe  4, Sugarbush  1, Tater Hill 1, Vermont National 5, West Bolton 2, Williston 2, Woodstock 1.  

President Phyllis Simon called the meeting to order at 9:15AM followed by thanking everyone for attending the annual VSWGA rep meeting held at the CC of Barre. Extra packets of reports were passed out for those who did not print their own.  

Secretary’s Report:  Phyllis Simon asked if the club representatives received and reviewed copies of the 2010 VSWGA Annual Meeting minutes. Since there were no questions or amendments she called to suspend reading of these Minutes. The Minutes were approved as written.  

Election of Three New Board Members: Vice President Ellen Sheffer and Chair of the Nominating Committee introduced the candidates. The candidates were Incumbent Ellen Sheffer – Neshobe, Sarah Lee – The Golf Club at Equinox, Nancy Murphy – Proctor Pittsford, Tracy Sloan – Brattleboro, and Barbara Tiffany – Sugarbush with no nominees from the floor. Ballots were distributed to the voting members. Each nominee had written something about herself which was included in the packet presented to the club reps before the meeting. Each club has two votes. One of the new members voted on had to be a Director – South to replace July Manley who choose not to run for a second term. The ballots were counted by Cynthia Borck, Cindy Paquet and Pam Shover. The votes were tallied and Phyllis Simon welcomed the new Board members:  

Ellen Sheffer – Neshobe -- Director at Large  
Nancy Murphy – Proctor-Pittsford – Director at Large  
Tracy Sloan - Brattleboro – Director – South  

Treasurer’s Report: The 2011 Treasurer’s Report consisted of a Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2011 and two Profit and Loss Statements (one from October 2010 through September 2011 and one from January through September 2011). The report also included pie charts showing the Income and Expense summary from October 2010 to September 2011. A spreadsheet reflecting the Income and Expense for all major tournaments was also included.  Deb Warner stated that the financial picture of the VSWGA is great.  In 2011 the USGA presented the VSWGA with a gift of $5,000.  This money was used to purchase two new computers for the office and some course rating equipment.  

Comments on the Treasurer’s Reports:  

·        Lindy McMahon would like to see more of the $18,000 in the Junior Golf Fund spent. One half of the entry fee for a junior golfer at the State Amateur tournament comes from the Junior Golf Fund. Kathy Allbright proposed that the VSWGA give $10,000 per year to the VGA scholarship fund, the amount given now is $5000.

·        The Executive Board expenses now include the salary for the Administrative Assistant / Bookkeeper. This was previously listed as a State Day expense.

·        Interest Income is down because the CD’s matured and the new rates are lower.

·        State day expenses are lower because there was no final state day in 2011.

·        Harriet Parot stated that there are still clubs that owe money to GHIN, which is understandable due to Hurricane Irene. The revenue is down as much as 40% at some clubs this year.

·        Gwen Blankenheim asked why the expenses were so much more for the Seniors than the other two tournaments. Judy Kurtz explained that the food service personal at St Johnsbury CC quit a few weeks before the tournament and the food was catered by an outside source.

·        Judy Kurtz suggested that one way to keep tournament expenses down was to pay according to the number of players in the field and not the top 10 gross and net.

·        The Tri State tournament players are responsible for purchasing their own shirts.  The VSWGA has an inventory of shirts.

·        The VSWGA is on a Cash Basis; Phyllis Simon would like to see the VSWGA move to a Cash Basis for taxes and an Accrual Basis for bookkeeping.

·        Line items on Balance Sheet need to be consolidated and cleaned up.  

A motion was made to approve the Treasurer’s reports and seconded. The Treasurer’s reports were approved as written.  

COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS:  

Course Rating:

Co-Chairs of the Course Rating Committee spoke of the accomplishments of this committee during the 2011 season. By mid-October 15 courses will have been rated. The co-chairs have developed a system that has Harriet Parot scheduling the course ratings and Ellen Sheffer organizing the teams and providing the rating sheets to the assigned raters, and inputting and returning the data to Harriet Parot. The ideal rating year is having 6 courses per year to rate. Harriet Parot has a tentative rating schedule through 2021.

Course raters, Mary Corey, Donna Ebbett, Nancy Murphy, Harriet Parot, Ellen Sheffer, Cynthia Borck, Kathy Sikora and Josie Herrera were surprised and grateful for the gift of official course rating shirts with the VSWGA logo. Ellen Sheffer explained that there are 22 raters on her list with not all being available at all times.  

Harriet Parot and Ellen Sheffer encouraged all women who think that they might want to take on line course rating seminar to contact Harriet. The VSWGA services 60 courses in the state of Vermont. Each course needs to be rated every 10 years and new courses need to be rated every 3 years until they reach 10 years. In addition if a course makes radical changes then those changes need to be re-rated. In 2012 there will be rating to do on some courses because of the damage incurred during Hurricane Irene.

Handicap:

Harriet Parot reported that we have 2,853 women golfers utilizing the GHIN handicap system in Vermont. This is an increase of approximately 150 golfers over 2011. The VSWGA had billed $45,487 in GHIN handicap fees to member clubs.  

All VSWGA member clubs need to re-visit the club licensing process again prior to December 31, 2011 before we begin the next licensing period. This is vital for all clubs to ensure that all clubs are conforming to the USGA handicap guidelines. At the present, only 11 clubs have completed both requirements of the licensing process with the VSWGA.  

Pace of Play:

The pace of play committee consists of Nancy Myers, Carolyn Barbieri and Mickey Potwin. The committee gave out 24 slow play warnings compared to 42 in 2010. There were no turtle designations for 2011 compared to one during 2010.  

We still need to work on the concept that at the conclusion of their play, players report to the scoring table – and their time should be recorded then. They can then add up and verify their scorecards. This is now the policy for our major tournaments and is the best way to keep and accurate time.  

State Day Chair:

Fifty-five clubs were scheduled to host a State Day Tournament and 51 State Days were held. All cancellations were weather related.  There were 434 participants with 44 new participants to the VSWGA in 2011.  In 2010 there were 467 state day players and 33 new participants. A total of 6,964 points were awarded totaling a dollar amount of $20,892.  

·        There are club rep openings at Arrowhead, Jay Peak and Prospect Point.

·        When there is a reasonable reason why a course cannot host a state day (Hurricane Irene), the VSWGA members from that club can still play state days.

·        Approximately 20 members did not ensure their GHIN cards were activated at their club prior to playing their 1^st State Day of the season.

·        Clubs reps need to post and/or e-mail all information to the VSWGA members of their clubs; for example, results and invitational flyers.

·        Club reps will continue electronic filing of the state day results.

·        The closest to the pin competition was a tie between A and B division each with 35 wins.  

Rules Committee:

Kathy Allbright and Ellen Sheffer are co-chairs of the Rules Committee. The Spring Rules Seminar scheduled was cancelled due to lack of participation. There were two rules clinic held before the beginning of the Senior and Amateur Championships. These were held at the host clubs and the rules questions were relevant to the course being played.  

This year the Vermont Men’s Golf Association supported the VSWGA Rules Committee at two VSWGA major tournaments.  Richard Mihlrad assisted with the Rules Seminar and as an official during tournament play at the Senior Amateur Championship at the St. Johnsbury CC.  Carl Anderson assisted at the Rules Seminar at the State Amateur Championship held at the Rutland CC.  

In 2012 the USGA will announce changes to the USGA Rules and Decisions book.  Members of the VSWGA Rules Committee will attend the Rules Seminar in February and review/update the changes with the VSWGA at the Club Representative Forums in April and May.  

This year the VGA hosted throughout the state a web class which included basic rule decisions. The cost of the class was $10.00 which included a rule book.  

The following women were added to the Rules Committee: Nancy Murphy, Cathy Neff, Elizabeth Walker, and Deb Warner.  

Tournament Procedures Chair:

Senior Championship - July 13 & 14, 2011 - St Johnsbury Country Club

Tournament chairs Judy Kurtz and Sue Ming ran a wonderful organized tournament. 82 senior women golfers participated.  

The tournament was won for the 5th time by Reggie Parker of Ekwanok CC with a score of 153. Low net winner was Phyllis Simon of Vermont National CC with a net score of 130. Kathy Kemp of CC of Barre won the award for lowest putts. Supper Senior was won by Reggie Parker and Ann Goodrich of Burlington CC won the Legends award. Winner of the Pat Job Cup was St Johnsbury CC.  

2012 Seniors:  Manchester Country Club - July 18 & 19, 2012  

Amateur Championship - August 16-18, 2011 - Rutland Country Club

Tournament chairs were Stacie Eaton and Kristin Mahoney who experienced difficult weather conditions on the first day of the tournament. This forced the second day to be a 27-hole tournament. The grounds crew at Rutland CC did an outstanding job getting the course ready for play. There were 49 participants competing in this tournament.  

The State Amateur was won by Kimberly Wong of Montpelier Elks Club with a score of 230. Low net winner was Diane Ewald, Rutland CC with a net score of 221. Junior winner was Madison Corley of Links at Lang Farm. The newly named Paquet Cup went to Rutland CC. The first ever recipient of the Allbright Ringer Cup went to Kimberly Wong of Montpelier Elks Club.  

2012 State Amateurs: St Johnsbury Country Club - August 14-16, 2012  

Mid-Amateur Championship - September 17 & 18, 2011 - Neshobe Golf Club

Tournament chairs were Ellen Sheffer and Andy Raymond. There were 85 participants at a course that had seen damage from Hurricane Irene. The entire staff and volunteers at Neshobe spent many hours getting the course playable. Two of the par four holes were changed to par three’s due to the damage. Harriet Parot and Ellen Sheffer re-rated these two holes prior to the start of the tournament.  

The gross and net prizes were created by a local artist.  The BBQ was held at the conclusion of play followed by the Awards Presentation.  This change in format will be discussed as to whether to continue for future tournaments.  

The Mid-Am Championship was won by Andrea Brown from Champlain CC with a total score of 144. Net winner was Tracy Sloan of Brattleboro CC with a net score of 140. Rutland CC won the Margaret Dick Cup by one stroke.  

2012 Mid Amateurs: Sugarbush Golf Course - September 15 & 16, 2012 (Note: Date changed from Tournament Chair Report.)  

Rhonda Colvard mailed letters to all eligible clubs to see who is interested in  hosting major tournaments, this is to make long range plans to host tournaments.  Lindy McMahon would like letters also sent to the club reps of these clubs.  

Comments on Tournament Chair Report

·        Laura Edwards asked what the requirements are to host a major tournament. Rhonda Colvard stated the course needed to be 18 holes, have a food service that would support a major tournament, have lodging in the area, be willing to have the three-year rotation, and fit in with the north, central, south concept.  

New England Women’s Golf Association Championship Report

Shuttle Meadow CC, Kensington, Connecticut - July 18-20, 2011

The NEWGA Championship was held in Maine this year with competitors from the six New England States. The winner was Pam Kuong from Wellesley, MA with a three day score of 221. The team from Connecticut won the Fanchon Cartin Trophy which combines the best gross and two net scores from each state for each day of the event. Vermont’s Reggie Parker won the Sidney Arnold Donated Trophy for her score of 237 and low score as the Legend Champion.  

Tri-State Committee:

The Tri-State Committee consists of Phyllis Simon, Pam Shover and Mickey Potwin. This year’s Tri-State Tournament was held at Green Mountain National Golf Course in Vermont June 22-23, 2011. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine each send a team consisting of 30 players to the tournament.  

After the alternate shot format on the first day of play, Vermont took an 8 point lead over New Hampshire and a 10 point lead over Maine. On the second day the weather deteriorated to the point that the course became unplayable. The rest of the tournament was cancelled and the results of the first day stood with Vermont declared winner.  

Next year the tournament will be held at Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. The criteria for player selection will be on the VSWGA web site.  

Web Site Administrator:

Cindy Paquet is our very capable website administrator.  Her position requires her to update the VSWGA website throughout the year, send out press releases for major tournaments, and get the website ready for the upcoming year.  

Since there was very little activity on the message board, it will be removed and the subscription will be cancelled in May of 2012.  

Comments on Website  

·        Sandy Carpenter from Woodstock would like access to a list of all VSWGA members through the website. This is something that the Board will discuss at the Board meeting on October 11, 2011.

·        Announcements are sent to all club reps of tournaments and it is their responsibility to get this information to their members.  

Awards:

Due to Hurricane Irene, the Final State Day and Awards luncheon was cancelled for 2011. The awards were presented during the Annual Meeting.  Unfortunately, most of the winners were unable to be present due to this format change.  

President Phyllis Simon presented awards to the following:  

Carol Armstrong of Green Mountain National for a hole in one at Sugarbush on July 26, 2011.  She received a hat clip and a chit for $100.  

Most improved according to divisions. They received embroidered tote bags. Players must play in at least 8 events including major tournaments.  

·        Division A: Nancy Devaux, West Bolton                         13.7 to 10.6                -3.1

·        Division B: Patty Foltz, CC of Vermont                            19.1 to 15.4                -3.7

·        Division C: Gloria Lyford, Champlain                               21.8 to 17.1                -4.7

·        Division D: Kathy Dube, Williston                                    26.3 to 17.7                -8.6

·        Division E: Susan Duncan, Williston                                 33.1 to 26.1                -7.0  

Genevieve Babbitt Smith Memorial Trophy ~ Most Improved Overall: Kathy Dube, Williston            8.6  

Mae Murray Jones Trophy:

Clubs with the most points by divisions. Divisions are determined by members playing in state days. Trophy presentation for each clubs was as follows:  

·        Division 1:            Burlington                  81 points

·        Division 2:            West Bolton              50 points

·        Division 3:            Neshobe                    29 points            

Janet Lang Trophy and top 10 point winners:  

1.      Helene Poulin, Rocky Ridge            (Janet Lang Trophy - most points - 84)

2.      Cecile Sayah, Montague

3.      Andrea Brown, Champlain

4.      Gail Davis, Williston

5.      Suzanne Neville, Equinox

6.      Delina Gilroy, West Bolton

Jill Jenkins, Quechee

Kathy Martel, St Johnsbury

7.      Dayle Burditt, Neshobe

8.      Nancy Devaux, West Bolton

Rosemary Rusin, Neshobe

9.      Kathy Dube, Williston

Diane Jones, St. Johnsbury

             Sarah Lee, Equinox

             Tracy Sloan, Brattleboro

10. Mary Corey, Cedar Knoll

            Susan Dula, Basin Harbor           

Chits for winners were paid at the rate of $3 per point. All of 2011 points were included in 2011 chits. There will be no carryover as in previous years. Beginning in 2012 all chits will be paid on a yearly basis.  

Lakeside Committee:

The Lakeside committee was formed last fall to investigate the issue if the female members of Lakeside, a non-real estate golf club, should be permitted to play in VSWGA State Days. Presently only women who belong to clubs that host a State Day are permitted to participate in State Days. The committee members were Lindy McMahon, chair, Storme Odell, Mickey Potwin, Kathy Sikora, Tracy Sloan, Kathy Allbright, Barbara Tiffany, Jane Bissonette, Linda Maney, and Laura Edwards.  

The committee developed and sent out a survey to the female members of Lakeside. There are only 12 female members with only 7 responding to the survey. Two of the women had recently joined real estate clubs and two others had handicaps too high to play state days under the current guidelines.  

There were two compromise ideas suggested by the committee but neither received majority support. Members of the smaller, public and less expensive clubs were afraid of loss of membership to Lakeside. The members of the more expensive, private clubs did not have this same fear. Some Committee members felt that since it is the mission of the VSWGA to promote golf for all Vermont women that the Lakeside women should be allowed to participate in State Days. Most committee members felt that surveying our current members on the issue might be prudent. The main question is how many VSWGA members would leave their current club for membership at Lakeside.  

Comments on Lakeside:

·        Support for Lakeside was expressed by Harriet Parot, Deb Warner, and Judy Kurtz.

·        Gwen Blankenheim felt that a survey might encourage women to leave their real estate club.

·        Elizabeth Walker made the motion not to allow Lakeside to play in VSWGA state days. Dee Rollins moved the motion.

·        Elizabeth Walker suggested that if we are afraid of not promoting golf for all Vermont women then we should eliminate the 36.0 handicap regulation.

·        Kathy Allbright spoke of her concern that we would lose clubs will to host state days.

·        Nancy Myers made the motion to stop the Lakeside discussion      .

·        Elizabeth Walker restated her original motion to have a policy to keep Lakeside excluded from State Day competition.Kathy Allbright seconded. Motion was moved and voted on. Lakeside committee has been disbanded.

·        Nancy Myers made the motion that the former Lakeside committee should explore ways to promote golf opportunities for Vermont women.

·        Cathy Neff commented on the club representative’s responsibility to promote the VSWGA.

·        Polly Manosh spoke of the ways to promote golf for women; for example, ladies’ leagues at individual clubs.

·        The Committee for the Promotion of golf for women will be: Lindy McMahon, Dee Rollins, Storme Odell, Laura Edwards, Sandy Carpenter, and Kathy Sikora.  

Rep/Concerns /Issues/Comments

·        Sissy Capeless from Vermont National suggested the expiration date on the chits be explored by the Board. Since the chits are not purchased for money, the VSWGA Award Certificates do not qualify under the Vermont State Law concerning gift certificates.  In a typical year approximately $2,000 worth of chits are not redeemed and the money then stays in the VSWGA’s general fund.

·        Lisa Patton of Middlebury asked when the information needed to be received by the office to be printed in the State Day Book.  The date is December 1^st of the preceding year*.

·        Storm Odell wanted to recognize and all members agreed what a fantastic job Krissie Lohrman does as our Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper.

·        Phyllis Simon reminded all club representatives to file their reports electronically.

·        Suzanne Neville commented on the VGA scholarship fund and that the VGA donates $40,000 per year to Vermont boys and girls for help with college.  The VSWGA sponsors two teams to the VGA tournament each.  She asked if the Board would consider sponsoring more teams and increasing the $5,000 per year contribution to the fund.

·        Suzanne Neville would like the state map that uses to be in the State Day book returned.  The Board will take this up during their discussion of the State Day book.

·        Dee Rollins thanked all clubs who have opened their courses up after the damage caused by Hurricane Irene.

·        Ruth Ayers made the motion to adjourn.  Motion passed.  

*This date has been checked with the office, and the December 1^st deadline applies to the Committee Chairs.  The Club Representative 2012 State Day forms went out in two mailings and therefore varied with either an October 1^st or October 30^th deadline.  

Annual Board Meeting adjourned at 12:15PM.

Next Meeting: October 2, 2012, 9AM: Place to be determined. 

Minutes Recorded by: Kathy Sikora 

Minutes completed October 24, 2011