to reduced greens fees, and we can also accommodate a larger field due to available daylight so more members and their guests can partici-pate. Having the Champion-ship in April will also allow more members to get two qualifying events so as to qualify for the Summer Siz-zler. Hopefully this change will meet with your ap-proval.

By the way, participation in all of our events has been great in 2006. Did you know that every event this year had a least 100 mem-bers participate. I can’t re-member the last time this happened.

All news is however not good, it never is. Suffice to say, the club has over the years become a little lax in observing one critical AGA and DRGA requirement concerning our tournament procedures, that being the signing of your scorecard at the conclusion of a tourna-ment. This became crystal clear at the conclusion of a recent tournament where we had far too many un-

(Continued on Page 2)

DRGA NEWSLETTER

Loyal Members of the DRGA:

The Club Championship was once again a great event with a very competitive field of 144 players, one of our largest in recent mem-ory. I don’t know if you noticed but we had 14 play-ers in the tournament that were scratch or less and if you were a single digit handicap you may have found yourself at the bot-tom of the third flight, a very strong field indeed.

I would therefore like to congratulate long time members Chick Huffman and Troy Batt for capturing their first Club Champion-ships and Presidents Cups and for overcoming this great field of players. They both played great and these accomplishments were truly well deserved.

The Horse Race also saw increased participation and for a change was actually profitable for yours truly. I would therefore like to per-sonally thank Mr. Bramlett, Mr. Montplaisir, Mr. Hori-han and Mr. Batt for adding a small amount to my son’s

college fund.

Times are however chang-ing as nothing ever stays the same. Many years ago be-fore over seeding began in earnest at The Ranch, the Club Championship was played in April with three qualifying tournaments needed to qualify, which is the same as what we re-quired this year. At that time conditions in April were not really that good so the Championship was moved to September to take advantage of the well estab-lished Bermuda. Now how-ever the conditions are by all accounts better in April due to the great work of Don Flavell and his staff, so next year the Championship will return to the April slot and the Member-Guest to September. This will also allow us to charge much less for the Member Guest due

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

NOVEMBER 2006

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:

• Club Championship Putting Contest Results (pg. 3)

• The Good, the Bad, The Ugly (pg. 2)

• Upcoming Events (pg. 7)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

SECRETARY’S REPORT

3

SOCIAL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

4

TREASURER’S REPORT

5

HANDICAP CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

5

WEBMASTER’S REPORT

RULES OF GOLF

TOUNAMENT CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

6

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY U PLAY, U COUNT, U SIGN, U ATTEST

signed scorecards. In one case we had a player sign, a scorer attest, and the third member fail to sign. Later that same day a question arose concerning the score of the player who signed the card. In the end the player was sure of his score, one thought there was an error, and one was not com-pletely sure. The bottom line was that we had an attested score card and the player with the score in question had also signed the card so no action was taken. I am sure the Tournament Chairman will have more to say on this subject later in this newsletter, but be aware of the following updates and clarifications to our operating procedures.

Scorecards will be signed by an opponent and attested by the player. Not doing so will be grounds for disqualification. (We will be going back to two score cards per foursome.)

The Pro Shop Professional on duty during a DRGA tournament will be responsible for all decisions concerning the rules of golf.

The Tournament Chairman shall arbitrate all scoring and rules disputes in conjunction with the Board of Directors.

All tournament results are final at 8:00 am on the Wednesday following the tournament.

The Handicap Chairperson will serve as the only official liaison between the AGA and the DRGA.board

In conclusion, and on behalf of the entire membership, I would like to express my sincere condo-lences to our Web Master Steve Ching on the passing of his mother during the first round of the Club Championship. It is my understanding that she lived a full and active life to the very last and that is all anyone can hope.

See you soon once the grass comes back.

Tom

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT (Continued from Page 1)

PAGE 2 DRGA NEWSLETTER

Dear Gentlemen and Women,

Welcome to the final two months of golf at Dobson National. Do not forget that the two December tournaments count towards 2007 major tournament qualifying.

Each and every player has the responsibility of confirming his or her score by signing the scorecard before turning it in to the scorer. All scorecards must have the score keeper’s signature and an attesting signature by the player. An improperly signed scorecard is grounds for disqualification. Signing an incor-rect scorecard is also grounds for disqualification.

Good playing, great health, Ricardo

(Continued on Page 3)

By Ricardo Orrantia

Friday’s Putting Contest Results:

1st Place: Brad Bryant

2nd, 3rd, 4th Kerry Maroney, Tim McKalko

Steve Lynch and Brett Moeller

Thanks to Board Members Jim Snyder, Larry Boyles and Ricardo Orrantia for their help with the Putting Contest.

By Ricardo Orrantia

PAGE 3 DRGA NEWSLETTER

SECRETARY’S REPORT

Sign up for 2007 Annual Mem-berships opens November 15. Forms may be filled out at the Pro Shop. Returning members dues for 2007 are $90 if paid before December 31. New membership dues are $100. After the first of the year, re-turning members dues are $100, so remember to sign up early. Also, the pocket sched-ules will be available in the Pro Shop on November 15.

By Jim Dowell

If you are receiving this Newsletter by “snail” mail, we do not have your e-mail address in our roster. We are making an effort to minimize mailing costs (now $0.39 per letter). Please forward your e-mail address to me at james.dowell@wilsonco.com so I can add your address to the roster.

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP PUTTING CONTEST

RESULTS

BOARD POSITION ON DISTANCE DEVICES

DRGA NEWSLETTER PAGE 4

By Ricardo Orrantia and Jim Snyder

Comments heard in the Lounge:

“If it speeds up play, go for it.”

“…makes no difference, still need to hit the shot.”

“Here at Dobson Ranch, we are blessed to have yardage markers with distances to the front, back and middle of the greens as well as red, white and blue flags to indi-cate pin locations.”

“…using range finders will break from the old historic part of the game.”

Yes, the subject is rangefinders and other electronic distance measuring de-vices. Here’s the official USGA word. The use of a laser rangefinder is a breach of Rule 14-3, which states that during a stipulated round, the player shall not use any artificial device or unusual equip-ment for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions which might affect his play (Rule 14-3).

However, under Decision 14-3/0.5, the Committee may by local rule, permit the use of distance-measuring devices. Devices that measure other conditions that might affect a player’s play such as wind speed, temperature and ground slope are specifically prohibited.

So what’s this mean for DRGA spon-sored tournaments? To date, the DRGA Board (the Committee) has passed no local rule permitting rangefinders. Therefore, Rule 14-3 applies and

SOCIAL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT By Bob Simonis

Here we go again. This time of year things happen fast. We will be doing a membership survey during the next couple of events. The idea behind the survey is to hear from our membership. If you happen not to be playing during the month of November, I will have some blank surveys in the Pro Shop if you would like to be heard.

With our last major tournament of the year quickly approaching there is a lot to do. We will be having the Fall Classic Chili Cook off Friday, November 17, the night of the Calcutta and putting contest. We will also be doing out self funded raffle. We will start selling raffle tickets the night of the Calcutta as well. Last but not least the Awards Banquet tickets will go on sale that night as well. The price on the tickets for this year’s event will be $35.00 per person, by far the best value in town. We will have room rates at the Dobson Ranch Inn for those who will stay over night. Remember this event includes two different bands and the best dinner spread that I have ever seen. So make your reserva-tions early and join us in celebrating another great year as a member of the DRGA.

Here is a list of the events for 2006.

Fall Classic Chile Cook off (4) Nov 17th

Fall Classic Putting Contest (2) Nov17th

Fall Classic Sale of Raffle tickets (2) Nov 17th

Fall Classic Calcutta Buy – In (6) Nov 17th

Fall Classic Morning Buy – In (1) Nov 18th

Awards Banquet Ticket Sales (1) Nov 17th & 18th

Awards Banquet Check In Table (1) Dec 8th

Awards Banquet Raffle Ticket Sales (1) Dec 8th

PAGE 5 DRGA NEWSLETTER

HANDICAP CHAIRMAN’S REPORT By Larry Blackshear

Members, it’s been a long but expedient year thus far with many exciting events. Now as we wind down to year’s end and we get ready for next season there’s just a few things I’d like to go over. First of all, registration for 2007 opens on November 15. Renewing members can save $10 on their registration if submitted prior to January 1st 2007. New members may play in our December tournaments. All De-cember tournaments count toward major tournament quali-fication. During the last two weeks of December all mem-bers AGA handicap activity will be inactive due to the year to year transition logistics. Renewing and new member AGA system updating will be available on January 1st 2007. And finally an incident recently came up that I would like to make clear to the membership in regards to major qualifying rounds; the first day of both the Summer Sizzler and the Fall Classic do not count as qualifying rounds due to the format of best ball where a player does not have to complete every hole. Well that’s about it for now and we’re all looking for-ward to an exciting new year of golf in 2007.

Everyone have a great holiday season.

Larry Blackshear

DRGA Handicap Chairman

By Peach Latsch

TREASURER’S REPORT

I’m happy to report that the DRGA finances are in good shape. I project a positive bank balance by the end of 2006.

2007 dues for returning members are $90 if paid before December 31. After December 31 re-turning members dues are $100.

Don’t forget, I can’t win with six three putt greens. Peach

PAGE 6 DRGA NEWSLETTER

By Brad Evans

TOURNAMENT CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

2007 Tournament Schedule

Entry Opens Entry Closes Jan 6 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Dec 9 Dec 29 Jan 21 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Dec 30 Jan 12 Feb 3 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Jan 13 Jan 26 Feb 18 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Jan 27 Feb 9 Mar 3 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Feb 10 Feb 23 Mar 18 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Feb 24 Mar 9 Apr 7 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Mar 10 Mar 30 Apr 21 Saturday Club Championship Mar 31 Apr 13 Apr 22 Sunday Club Championship May 5 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Apr 14 Apr 27 May 20 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Apr 28 May 11 June 9 Saturday Individual Net/Gross May 19 Jun 1 June 23 Saturday Summer Sizzler June 2 June 15 June 24 Sunday Summer Sizzler July 8 Sunday Individual Net/Gross June 16 June 29 July 21 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Jun 30 J uly 13 Aug 5 Sunday Individual Net/Gross July 14 July 27 Aug 25 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Jul 28 Aug 17 Sept 9 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Aug 18 Aug 31 Sept 22 Saturday Member Guest Sept 1 Sept 14 Sept 23 Sunday Member Guest Nov 4 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Sept 15 Oct 26 Nov 17 Saturday Fall Classic Oct 27 Nov 9 Nov 18 Sunday Fall Classic Dec 2 Sunday Individual Net/Gross Nov 10 Nov 23 Dec 8 Friday Awards Banquet Dec 15 Saturday Individual Net/Gross Nov 24 Dec 7

DRGA 9633 South 48th Street

Suite #290 Phoenix, Arizona 85044

Mail To:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Fall Classic November 18, 19

Sign up for December 3 Net/Gross November 11

Sign up for December 16 Net/Gross November 25

Awards Banquet December 8

Remember December tournaments played count to-wards 2007 Major Tournament qualifying.

Do you wish to receive this newsletter by

e-mail? Contact Steve Ching at:

mydrga@cox.net.

Visit us at our website for tournament re-sults and DRGA news.

http://www.golffussion.com/

dobsonranchgc/start_page.php

New users will need to register to enter the site.

PAGE 7

Don’t forget, sign up for Annual Membership opens on 15 November.