VSWGA NEWSLETTER
Volume 2 Issue 1 May 14, 2003
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In this Issue:
v Corrections, Changes, Additions to 2003 State Day Book
v State Day Cancellations on May 13, 2003
v Explanation of Scoring Record from GHIN
v Activation of Handicaps in Chelsea
v Junior Program
v Course Raters Needed!
v CC of Vermont State Day
v Pilot courses needed to do TPP Score Entry at State Days
v CHELSEA TIPS and HINTS !!!!!!!
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WELCOME NEW PLAYERS and WELCOME BACK
“VETERAN” PLAYERS!!
It’s
finally golf season!! After a long,
cold winter, golf season and State Days are finally here!! How do we know this for a fact? Because it rained on our second State
Day and two sites had to cancel!!
It’s official - if it’s raining, it must be Tuesday and a State
Day!!
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their patience this
spring - it’s been quite a hectic spring moving all of the Chelsea equipment
over to my house, getting acclimated to it, figuring out all of the quirks and
glitches and getting comfortable with the placement process. This has been, and will continue to be a
learning situation for all of us!
Then there was the issue of the damaged State Day Books - let’s not go
there - over and done with!! And
then last week, just as I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, my personal
computer with all non-Chelsea stuff (all the other State Day stuff!) on it
decided it needed to take a little vacation!! AAAUUGGGHHH! I cannot emphasize the importance
of backing up your important files FREQUENTLY!!! Actually, what bogged the whole thing
down was a program called Turbo Tax ...I installed it to do my taxes this year
and I was aware at the time that the Turbo Tax program installs a legitimate
piece of “spyware” on your computer
when you install the Turbo Tax Program.
It’s called C-dilla and it stays on your hard drive even if you delete
the Turbo Tax Program - it’s designed to communicate with the Intuit people (and
who knows who else)!! Anyway, I
read an article about the problems it can cause and the Intuit people are aware
of these issues and have provided a way to delete this nasty little
spyware. Once I deleted it,
everything was working as good as new.
So, if anyone out there has this program and is experiencing frequent
hang-ups and freezing of your computer, you might want to check out www.intuit.com and
get rid of that program!! (Back up
your tax file first!)
We have SEVERAL new players to State Days this year - 69
new players to date!! This figure
does include some people who played State Days in the past but not in
2002.
Also, another bit of trivia - 46% of all State Day
Participation applications received came from the
website!
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Corrections, Changes and Additions to the
State Day Book
v
Page 4 Jeanne DiBattisto’s email address
is: jgdibattisto@juno.com
v
Page 8 Interim Hdcp Rep at Enosburg
Falls: Mary Sue Ewins
v
Page 12
Official Club Rep at Montpelier Elks: Anne
Candon
122 Batchelder Street
#24
Barre, VT 05641
(802)
476-0821
eacandon@aol.com
v
Page 18
Correct email for Gail Canedy: canedydg@surfglobal.net
v
Page 20
#3 - Enter six digits for the date: 080503
v
Page 22
#1 - The State Handicap Chair has a Master Sheet, not the Club
Hdcp Rep
v
Page 80
Official Blue Tee rating at Arrowhead: 57.8/86
v
Page 80
Temporary Red Tee rating at Kwiniaska: 70.6/115
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State Day Cancellations on May 13,
2003
Well, it
wouldn’t be summer if we didn’t have State Days cancelled due to weather! As most of you are aware, two State Days
on May 13, 2003 were cancelled, not just because of the rain, but also because
both courses, Prospect Bay and Bellows Falls were extremely wet and soggy. As you all know, we play rain or shine
when at all possible, but both Club Reps felt that the experience wouldn’t be
pleasant, that the courses were borderline playable and made the decision to
postpone. We are looking into
rescheduling both of these State Days, and as soon as we confirm the dates, they
will be posted to the website and sent to your Club Rep to be posted at your
club.
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New for 2003, we are now accepting a current copy of your GHIN
scoring record downloaded from www.ghin.com if you have not been able to obtain
your handicap sticker at the club.
This is an either/or situation.
You don’t need to have both!
However, the scoring record that you download from www.ghin.com
must have the same revision date as the current handicap stickers.
If you
cannot obtain your GHIN sticker at your club, you have two
options:
1.
Call the State Day Chair, or State Handicap Chair or
the President - all of whom have Master handicap sheets and can call to verify
your index
OR
2.
Print a copy of your scoring record from www.ghin.com. You must bring this with you! The golf course in not allowed to download a copy for you or look it
up for you!
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Activation of Handicaps in
Chelsea
Sending in your 2003 State Day
Participation fee does not automatically mean that you will be activated in the
Chelsea computer. One of the other
requirements for playing in State Days is that you must have a current (i.e. active) GHIN handicap from a Vermont
club. If you are listed as inactive
in your club’s handicap computer, then your membership number will not be
activated in the Chelsea computer.
It is the players’ responsibility to make sure that her
membership/handicap fee has been paid and activated in the club’s computer.
You do not need to present a “participation” sticker at
the State Day registration desk.
Since the only way you can use the Chelsea system is to have paid your
fee and have a current active GHIN handicap, there is no need for a sticker this
year. The club reps will all be
receiving a list of current paid State Day players on the Sunday immediately
prior to their particular State Day so that they can check the validity of any
subs or late callers that show up to
play.
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Junior
Program
The Junior
Program is taking off with a vengeance.
We are having our first Junior State Match Play Championship this year in
July. An application for this event
can be found on our website.
There will
also be a series of clinics offered to girls of all ages. These are still in the planning stages
but right now we have plans to host clinics in the South, Central and Northern
sections of the state. The Practice
Tee, Rutland Country Club and Orleans or Champlain are the tentative sites. More information will be posted to the
website as the dates, times and locations are confirmed. Information will also be sent to the
club reps to be posted at each
course.
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Course Raters
Needed!
The VSWGA is looking for more women to add to their
Course Rating Team. We have several
courses that need to be re-rated and we need help to get them all done. Rating is a fun, interesting way to look
at a golf course - it might even change the way you think about playing certain
holes. I can tell you from
experience that it actually helped my game! It does take time to rate a course; you
need the better part of a day to do a thorough job. However, there are some fringe benefits
- after rating a course, you get a chance to play the course gratis to make sure
that you haven’t missed anything!
For more information on how to join the team, contact Margaret Dick,
Marilyn Patton or Ethelyn Bartlett.
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CC of Vermont State
Day
We have been working hard to keep the Country Club of
Vermont on our State Day schedule.
We just want to make sure that everyone is aware of what it will cost to
play CC of Vermont in this year’s State Day. The fee will be $35.00 for
everyone. This includes the State
Day fee of $15.00 and a cart fee of $20.00. However, you don’t have to take a cart -
you will be allowed to walk but you will still have to pay the fee of
$35.00. There is a good chance that
this will be the last year that the CC of Vermont is on our schedule, so keep
that in mind when putting in your requests for that date (June
3rd).
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Pilot Program entering State Day
Scores
Those of you who played the Okemo State Day on May 6th were greeted with
signs asking you not to post your State Day score for that event. Harriet Parot, one of directors on the
VSWGA Board as well as the club rep for Okemo, volunteered to start a pilot
program this year by entering all the State Day players into TPP (Tournament
Pairing Program) and posting everyone’s hole-by-hole scores for them at the
Okemo State Day. It was an
overwhelming success - we received lots of positive feedback on this. If any of the other club reps would like
to try this at their State Day, please let Harriet know. We have all the current State Day
players already loaded into a generic TPP program and Harriet has volunteered to
help you get it set up.
There are several advantages for doing
this:
¨
It doesn’t take any extra time - the scores can be entered as the
scorecards come in while waiting for groups to
finish.
¨
Since the club rep no longer has to get up early to take State Day calls
at her home two weeks prior to her State Day (and listen to everyone complain
about how come the course filled up so fast!), we felt this might help her to
feel more involved in the State Day!
(Editor’s note - this last comment was “tongue-in-cheek” and not
intended to offend
anyone!)
¨
All the scores are entered uniformly - i.e., adjusted for
ESC, noted as a tournament scores and posted in a timely manner - this insures
fairness for all players!
So, if you’re interested in being a
part of the Pilot Program, please contact Harriet (this is not a requirement for hosting a State
Day).
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Chelsea Tips and
Hints
After two weeks of the operation, the Chelsea system appears to be
working rather well. There have
been surprisingly few phone calls!
However, with each phone call we learn something new and so now is the
time to share some tidbits on how to ensure that the Chelsea system works
smoothly for you!
¨
Listen carefully to all the prompts! Listen carefully to all the
prompts!
¨
Did I mention, listen carefully to all the
prompts!
¨
It will help immensely if you have your State Day Book open to page 20
the first couple of times that you use the Chelsea system and follow along in
the book while listening carefully to all of the
prompts.
¨
The Chelsea people have made it very clear not to use a cell phone
or a phone with the number pad in the
handset.
o
It is very easy to miss some of what the greeter is saying when you have
to move the phone to and from your ear.
o
It is very easy to accidentally hit an incorrect number or key when
moving the phone to and from your ear.
o
You also can’t delay too long in entering the information - if you do,
you will hear that dreaded message “You have entered an invalid input”. This can happen very easily if using a
cell phone or phone with the number pad in the
handset.
¨
Enter your membership number (Ghin number) without the
hyphens.
¨
Give yourself a larger window within which to play if you want to be
insured of placement. In other
words, if you are only willing to play between 9:00 am and 11:00 am, chances are
you will get bumped out of some State Days, especially if the course is a
popular one. (Everyone wants to
play between 9:00 and 11:00!!)
¨
Enter afternoon times in military time - i.e. 1:00 pm is entered
as 1300.
¨
Placement will be run sometime after 5:00 pm on Tuesdays (for the most
part!) for the State Day the very next week. The phone system is shut down when
placement is run, so please be patient and plan on not calling the Chelsea
system until after 7:30 pm on Tuesday
evening.
¨
Once placement is run, you can no longer make a request for that State
Day. If you haven’t made a request,
check the website to see what times are available and then use the Chelsea
system with option #5 to book one of those open times. If you don’t have access to a computer,
call the Chelsea system and use item #5 to book a tee time and give the system
the time that you would like to play.
If that time is available, the system will book that time for you. If that time is not available the system
will give you the next available time on either side of the time you wish to
play. Make your choice from
those.
¨
Please, do not
call the pro shop or club rep between Wednesday and Friday at 2:00 pm to try to
book a time for the very next State Day.
You must use the Chelsea system.
If the person answering the phone gives you a tee time, you could end up
out of luck, because someone else may have already booked that open time using
the Chelsea system properly. The
tee time booked with Chelsea will be the one that is
honored!!
¨
On Friday at 12:00 noon, the Chelsea system closes with respect to the
State Day on the following Tuesday.
The “official” tee sheet will be emailed or faxed to the contact person
listed in the State Day Book for that particular State Day and from that point
on, Friday at 2:00 pm, any changes, cancellations or additions now
must be made by calling the contact person listed in the State Day
Book.
¨
If you call the Chelsea system to see what time was assigned to your
group and you are told that there is no record of your booking (or you don’t see
your name on the tee sheet on the website) it means that your group was placed
on “Standby” - your requested time was not available. Either you didn’t give yourself a large
enough booking window or you limited your choice to only one course. At this point, you can go to the website
to see what times are available and try to book one of those times using the
Chelsea system and option #5, or you can just call the Chelsea system using
option #5 and give “a time” that you would like to play. The system will advise you to the
closest available time on either side of that
time.
¨
The website is not updated automatically with every
booking. So even if you see an
available time listed on the tee sheet, it may have already been booked by the
time you call to grab it. We will
try to refresh the tee sheet at least daily between Tuesday evening and Friday
noon.
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FINI!
Happy
Golfing!
And remember - the only DUMB question is the one that wasn’t asked!