Operations

Division 9 – Try It, You May Like It!

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Pop Quiz!

  1. What is Division 9?
  2. Where and when is Division 9?
  3. Who can play in Division 9?
  4. How does Division 9 play affect you handicap in Divisions 1 – 5?
  5. What does it cost to join Division 9?
  6. What does it cost to play with Division 9?
  7. Why should you be playing in Division 9?

 

  1. Division 9 is our little secret for even more fun and fellowship.  Nine holes of competitive golf like Division 1 – 5, with many continuing to play a full 18 (final nine for fun, practice, grins, whatever)!
  2. Division 9 plays every Wednesday morning from about March 15 to about November 15 at Riverside Golf Course in Fenton, Mo.  Start time is about sunrise with about 1 1/2 hour registration.  It is a great way to extend your golf season.
  3. Any registered member of Metro St. Louis Seniors Golf can join and play in Division 9.
  4. Trick Question – It does NOT affect your handicap, qualification for championship, or eligibility for Special Events.
  5. Division 9 only members pay an annual registration fee of $28.  Division 1 – 5 members can join Division 9 for $2 the first time playing plus $1 for each round for prize payout.
  6. Fees to play in Division 9 (green and cart) are $21 for a full 18 holes to as little as $12 for 9 hole walkers.
  7. Why add Division 9 to your schedule? Easy!
    1. Fun, inexpensive, competitive golf on Wednesday morning.
    2. No commitment required, just show up and make up a foursome.
    3. Relatively close location for almost all of our Missouri members.
    4. Great way to get in some practice before Thursday or Friday events.
    5. Extend your season with a great group of golfers.
    6. Great way for new golfers to get into Metro Seniors, learn rules, forming foursomes, meeting other golfers, making new friends.
    7. Will not affect you handicap or anything else in Divisions 1 – 5.
    8. More opportunities for Hole In One (Metro Seniors pays $100 for Division 9, too)
    9. Great way for golfer with health issues or simply cutting back on golf to stay in the game.

Now that you are interested, CLICK HERE for even more information.

 

2018 Schedule now on OurGolfStats.com

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The 2018 schedule for each of the 5 Metro Seniors 18 hole Divisions has now been entered into the OurGolfStats database. You can review (and print, if you wish) your Division’s schedule after you sign in to your Division and select menu option #5 (Schedule) on your Division specific page.

Until January 1, the Schedule will contain dates for both 2017 and 2018. The Schedule on OurGolfstats documents:

  1. which golf course you play on what date
  1. the time the tournament starts
  1. whether that tournament is a “shotgun” start – or not. For the shotgun tournaments, all golfers start at this time (but, be at the course no later than 45 minutes before the time as all golfers are checking in with the Starters at the same time). Also, for non-shotgun tournaments, checking in with the Starters ends 1 HOUR after this posted time. This 1 hour window is new this year so remember this change.
  1. which tees are the “regular”, “forward” and “ladies” tees for the day
  1. what the yardage, tee rating and slope are for each of the tees being played. All tee ratings and slopes are reviewed before the season starts by the Metro Seniors Handicap Committee. Changes will be made at that time as the Committee determines.

If you are interested in how many strokes are subtracted from your score to calculate your “Net Score”, you can find that information from menu option #2 (Course Handicap) on your Division specific page. This number may change every week since the tee rating and slope changes each week and each golfer’s handicap is updated after every round.

New Officers for 2018

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With the new year, we have changes in officers.  The following changes were approved by the Board of Directors for the 2018 Season.

Rick Hines has completed his term as Past President and on the Executive Committee.  He is continuing as VP for Division 5.

Bob Zaruba has completed his term as President and moves to Past President and continues on the Executive Committee.

Dave Wicks, as of January 1 will be the President and will continue on the Executive Committee.

Larry Roth, currently a Director for Division 1, has been confirmed as First Vice-President and will begin serving on the Executive Committee.

Don Skitt is stepping down from the Secretary position.  Craig Carothers has been confirmed by the Board as our new Secretary.

As previously announced, Denis Carter is now our Treasurer, replacing Ed Gautier.

Finally as a special recognition, Herb Walker has stepped down from responsibilities on the Board after 18 consecutive years of service.

Please be sure to express your thanks to these folks.  They have kept this organization healthy, fun and vital for many years.

2018 Rule and Operation Changes

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2018 Rule and Operations Changes

As of November 2017 Board Meeting we  will be implementing the following changes for 2018 Rules and Regulations and Policies and Procedures.

LAST REGISTRATION – 1 Hour After Start Tee Times

The biggest change is reducing the registration cut-off time to one (1) hour after the official Start Time.  Example – the last group registration will be 7:30 AM (for a 6:30 AM first tee start).

For many outings starters are waiting 20 to 30 minutes for no registrations.  We occasionally had a 20 to 30 minute starting gap for the late groups.   A very few groups will have to show up a few minutes earlier for registration.

See all the current revisions below:

Download (PDF, 69KB)

Pace of Play Ideas

Here is a link to a video from USGA about ideas on Pace of Play.  CLICK HERE

Ideas on faster play at the Greens – CLICK HERE

How to Use Rules for Faster Play and Better Scores = CLICK HERE

 

 

New Scorecard Developments – 2018 and Beyond

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CLICK HERE  to try out test scorecard (web page based)

Our Smartphone Survey showed that most members have smartphones and know how to use them with APP and websites.

We will be exploring Mobile Data Entry to get our weekly tournament scores in faster, more accurately, with less time, and less cost.  This would eventually replace the green Universal Scorecard.  Each tee group would complete the electronic scorecard AFTER their round just like we do with the green card on an available smartphone.  Once completed, the form would be sent electronically to OurGolfStats.

Completing the electronic scorecard will take 3 to 5 minutes if you have all your player hole scores from you course scorecard.  (THE ELECTRONIC SCORECARD 0IS NOT TO BE USED FOR SCORES ON THE COURSE!)

While on the course, use course scorecards, announce all players hole score at the end of a hole and write these down.  Use these agreed hole scores for the electronic scorecard.

We will still use “course” scorecards as a backup until we have a better backup alternative.

Web Page Test Scorecard

We have a sample scorecard form for all to try out.  This version is web page based.  Anyone can open the scorecard, input data and submit to a storage on our server.

Simply click on the link, enter the information and “submit”.  No IDs, no Passwords, no sign-ups required.

Most of the form is point and click.  Easy, fast and accurate.  Nine and eighteen scores are totaled automatically.  Form in test includes only Division 1 names and numbers, but all 2018 courses and tee locations are installed.

This is a work in progress so you comments and feedback are needed.

CLICK HERE  to try out test scorecard.

APP Version for Android Smartphones

This same scorecard is also available as a APP for Android smartphones.  You must install the ODK (Open Data Kit) app from the Google Play Store.   Then I can provide the needed links to get the Scorecard Form loaded.  The form has the required information to submit the data.

If you want to try this out, please contact me – Dave Wicks, david.l.wicks@gmail.com.

 

2017 Smartphone Survey Results

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Thank you for your responses.

The evolution of smartphones has generated the opportunity and need to make communications “mobile friendly”.  As an example, our Metro Sr website automatically resizes for the smaller smartphone screen.  We also need to look for improved ways to communicate Metro Seniors news and perhaps weekly VP tournament announcements (emails?).

Over the last several years, ideas for improving our weekly tournament scoring process have bubbled up. Ideas have outrun the technology.  Our current “paper based” Universal Scorecard process is:

  • Time consuming – members and data entry
  • Time delayed – mailing, bulk data entry
  • Relatively expensive – mailing, printing, data entry
  • Error prone – input and data entry
  • Affects every member

Technology now exists. Smartphones are now in wide use. Essentially hand held wireless computers connected to the internet and central servers/systems.

Applications (APPs) that use smartphones for “Mobile Data Entry” are widespread and some are virtually free.  These allow easy point – click data entry, automatic completion, error checking and math.  They also allow immediate data transfer for use in central databases (like OurGolfStats).

We are exploring the opportunity to utilize Mobile Data Entry as a replacement for our current paper scorecard system.  Within a few years, we expect that this will be the standard everywhere.

The decision for us is should we start now or wait.  The Smartphone Survey will help in deciding when we start.

Do we have a “critical mass” of smartphones?

Do members have enough experience to use website or Mobile Data Entry APPs?

Do members understand the issues, problems, delays, costs, and time for paper scorecards?

Can we develop Mobile Data Entry that is faster, cheaper, higher quality and that members will use?

Do we see more opportunities?

  • Fast, accurate, real time course surveys or course conditions reports
  • Improved pace of play measures, real time
  • Reduced efforts and time for volunteers (Starters / Scorers and administration)
  • ???? More Ideas?????

Download (PDF, 260KB)

 

 

 

 

2017 Course Survey Results

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Thank you for all the responses to the 2017 Course Survey.  The results were discussed with the Tournament Committee.  This was used as part of the decision process to set our target courses for the 2018 season.

The responses came from 224 members (30% of total) who played almost 4000 rounds (40% of the total – averaging 18 rounds each. These folks have seen all the courses.

I would like to see more responses from members who didn’t play as much. They might help us understand how to get them out for more fun.

The short summary of the Survey follows.  For those who want to see a more detailed analysis, see the link to the full report.

Executive Summary – Member Guidance for 2018 Weekly Tournaments

  • Eliminate or Minimize “reverse” shotgun starts
  • Start Times
    • Shotgun Starts at 7:30 AM with some at 7:00 AM (mid-summer, June, July, August)
    • Tee Starts at 7:00 AM preference (6:30 AM start still OK especially for mid-summer)
  • Target Tee positions Regular (5800 to 6200 yds) and Forward(5200 to 5800 yds)
  • Schedule with 2017 courses as preference for 2018
  • Convenient distance and quality of course are valued higher than cost
  • Consider adding “quality” courses

 

CLICK HERE to see the Full Survey Results

 

 

Member Smartphone Survey

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We are looking a possible methods to improve our scorecard data collections and entry.

Mobile Data Entry (MDE) is a very promising technology.

APPs for MDE are already available is downloaded from the Google Play Store or ITunes onto members’ smartphones.

Simple as point and click on a smart phone, that would make completion of scorecards faster (than pencil), more accurate (click-on selections for Names, ID numbers, courses), hole score totals automatic, easy edit for corrections and immediate electronic transfer (no mailing and waiting for postal service).

Purpose of Survey – what type phones Apple -IOS or Android (everything but IPhone), experience with internet and APPs, knowledge and use of golf apps, and problems/issues with green cards.

Should only take a couple of minutes.

Members w/o smartphones go to scorecard, bypass rest of survey.

https://goo.gl/forms/B5DgXRbcCY2fkrNa2

Course Survey Update – Submit Problems – Fixed

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Steve Bugg reported a problem with the Survey that I think is now fixed. (Could not Submit at the “I am not a Robot”).

If you completed the form and could not SUBMIT or did not get the Form Submitted confirmation, please go back and retry the form now.

CLICK HERE to retry the form

THE PROBLEM (for those who want to know)

I am sorry for the problem.  It was not visible or obvious in form design or testing.

At the end of the Survey there was an “I am not a Robot” check button.  This was not in the original form and did not show up in testing or with the initial responses.

Apparently Google adds this at some time AFTER the form is released.  It is not visible or an option to delete in the form design.  There is a large complaint area in the Google Forms Forum.  Many people with the same problem.

Fortunately there was also a work-around that seems to work.