Even as the diehard golfers up here in Vermont enjoy the last bits of fall golf (you know, that golf where you wear your ski hat and can’t find your ball in a pile of leaves in the middle of the fairway), even as courses start to close down, the VSWGA has been busy.
Earlier in October, there was the Fall Classic at the Country Club of Barre where trophies were presented, the Club Rep meeting at Lake Morey, and then the Board meeting at Quechee. Here are some key updates from those meetings as well as a few other news items. So brew yourself a warm cuppa and read on.
FALL CLASSIC
On a beautiful fall day, 110 players came together to play a 2-person Shamble and celebrate another year of competition. End-of-season trophies were awarded:
- Janet Lang Trophy to Jeanne Morrissey for most state day points (90)
- Genevieve Babbit Smith Memorial Trophy to Deborah McCanna from Lakeside Golf Club for greatest percentage handicap improvement (32.43%!)
- Mae Murray Jones Trophies for club with most points in each of three divisions
- Division 1 – Williston Golf Club (127 points)
- Division 2 – Stowe Golf Club (57 points)
- Division 3 – Montague Golf Club (43 points)
So many shiny trophies!
CLUB REP MEETING
- Bylaws were updated to create more flexibility as to when the Club Rep meeting is held each year. It will still be in October but no longer has to be locked in to a Tuesday. Date will be set 2 months in advance.
- New board members Kate Mitchell and Nathalie Lascelles were elected while current board member Jayne Magnant was re-elected to a 2nd term.
- Complete minutes from the meeting will be available on the VSWGA website soon.
BOARD MEETING
Officers were elected, as follows:
President: Linda Jane Parson
Vice President: Amy Butcher
Secretary: Kate Mitchell
Treasurer: Jayne Magnant
Director North: Fran McCune
Director Central: Ellen Grimes
Director South: Sarah Lee
Director at Large: Dana Cassidy-State Day Chair
Director at Large: Nathalie Lascelles
NW Liaison : Amy Butcher
NE Liaison : Fran McCune
Central W Liaison: Ellen Grimes
Central E Liaison: Nathalie Lascelles
South Liaison: Sarah Lee
- The board said goodbye, with gratitude, to Jen Farrington and Jo Allsopp who completed their terms.
- Lakeside Members will now have ‘club’ rep too. Susan Gregory has volunteered to be the point of contact for this course-less crew.
- After listening to the feedback and taking in all the creative thoughts provided through the survey, the board had a long discussion about different ways of handling the very popular State Days (i.e., VNCC, Dorset, Burlington). We are excited and still exploring a variety of options. Stay tuned.
- We’re still looking for a Club Rep for St. Johnsbury Country Club. If you might be interested, reach out to the North East Liaison Fran McCune.
MEMBERSHIP
VSWGA Membership will open Jan 1, 2024 for renewal and/or new membership (yes, invite your golfing friends to join!). New members will be $30 while renewals will be $40. Membership Renewal for 2024 will be through Golf Genius only (we decided last year to do away with the paper registration) and will be open in Golf Genius as of 1/1/24. Renewing online helps facilitate training for our new Administrator Karen Bowser. We are also looking to get help with renewals: a Membership Registrar. Thanks for your patience and continued support!
And while you are there, don’t forget to update your mailing address if it’s different from your regular address. VSWGA Handbooks will be mailed out in February/March and you won’t want to miss it, especially if it includes a little something extra (bag tag anyone?).
To update mailing address login to your GolfGenius account, click on “Edit Profile” on the left side, then make sure the Handbook Address is updated if it is something different than your regular address. If they are the same, you can leave it blank. Note that if you want to go paperless and get a PDF copy instead, you can click the PDF button under “Handbook Paper/PDF”.
And remember that while we may email you to invite you to rejoin, the VSWGA and Linda Jane will never email you asking for money. If that happens it is spam and just delete it.
STATE DAYS
Thanks to the hard work of Dana Cassidy, State Day Chair, as well as club reps and liaisons, we have a full state day calendar in place. Now just keep your fingers crossed for a less rainy summer with fewer rescheduled events.
New this year: we’ve eliminated the fee for late registrations. Back in the dark days, when the Admin had to set up all the tee times, it was burdensome to have registrations trickle in at the last minute. Now that we are all picking our own tee times, that’s no longer an issue. So no late fee. There will still be a soft close of the event on Thursday/Friday to publish the preliminary tee sheet. This helps the clubs prepare for our arrival.
Here are some fun stats from this year’s state days:
- 52 State Days scheduled
- 14 rained out or cancelled due to flooding
- 11 rescheduled
- 2 rained out again and 1 cancelled
- Total of 2738 state day plays
- 6660 points awarded at $3.50 for total of $23,310
- 302 members earned award points from State days!
- One hole-in-one in a state day: Susie Bremner at Fox Run
- Closest to pin: $3,022 paid out and $3,022 toward junior golf
MAJOR TOURNAMENTS
Mark you calendars for the 2024 Major Tournaments.
- Amateur @ Champlain Country Club August 5, 6, 7
- Mid-Amateur (25+) @ Haystack Golf Course, Sept 14-15
- Senior (50+) @ Country Club of Barre, July 9-10
- Tri-States @ Brattleboro Country Club June 11-12
We have updated the entry requirements for our majors this year.
Vermont Resident* – Any amateur golfer, as of the day of the tournament, who is a legal resident of Vermont and is a member in good standing of a member club** of the Vermont State Women’s Golf Association, has an active GHIN handicap issued by a VSWGA member club and has posted a minimum of 10 rounds of golf in the last 12 months at any VSWGA member club.
OR
Non-Vermont Resident – Any amateur golfer, as of the first day of the tournament, who is not a legal resident of the State of Vermont, but has been a member in good standing of a Vermont State Women’s Golf Association member club** for at least three years, has an active GHIN handicap issued by a VSWGA member club and has posted a minimum of 10 rounds of golf in the last 12 months at any VSWGA member club.
*Legal residency is defined as the place of primary residence. Often this is determined by where the person is registered to vote or what State is listed on their Driver’s License.
**A list of the VSWGA member clubs, which includes Lakeside Golf Club, can be found on the VSWGA website.
It takes a village to put on Major tournaments. If you’d like to pitch in and lend Jen Steck a hand, please email Fran McCune who will be coordinating volunteers.
TRAININGS
Keep your eye out for springtime online trainings for club reps and new members orientation. Dates TBD.
COURSE RATINGS
Ever wonder why a golf course designer put a trap here or a dogleg there? Curious how that tricky sloped green affects play? These are some of the many things that are considered when a course is rated (meaning given that number that indicates how challenging it is). If this peaks your curiosity, we are looking for volunteers to be trained to rate courses. If you are interested, please contact John Goodchild or Linda Jane Parsons.
RULES
We continue to educate ourselves on the Rules of Golf. You can check out the basics at the USGA rules site.
Also we encourage everyone to download the USGA Rules App for your phone. It’s a great resource for those moments of doubt while on the course.
END OF SEASON CLEANING
For those who stay here in the winter climes, don’t forget to clean your clubs before tucking them in the back of the closet. This guy is way too serious but this young college player seems to take a more reasonable approach. Get out your brush and get those grooves all clean, wipe down your grips to remove the grime, give those gloves a little scrub, and make sure you haven’t left any snacks somewhere in a bottom pocket for the winter mice. With that, Pamela, you’ll be ready to go for our first State Day on April 30, 2024, just 183 days away!