September 2015
Birdie Bugler
Congratulations to our new Club Champions;
Club Champion Rafael Barajas
Net Club Champion Don Bales
It was a great event this year with two deserving
champions. The Senior Club, and Super Seniors;
Championships are this month; and I’m expecting just as
gr xd eat of a tournament; good luck to all participants.
There will be a general membership meeting and raffle
after the Sr. Club tournament.
I want to thank the Board Members for their
participation; Club Championship was kind of demanding
at times; but everything got done. Good Job
We have a 2 man scramble this Labor Day weekend. We
will be playing the white movables, which should be fun;
and we will use #12 as the CP hole; for our 50/50.
There was a lot of confusion after the club
championships; looking for tournament cards and
missing cards. In fairness to the membership all cards
should be immediately turned in for scoring and
announcing the winners. It will help shorten the amount
of time players are waiting around doing nothing. I know
people are using their cards for all side bets; please make
an extra card for your bets. Let us be fair for those players
that have been waiting to see if they won the tournament
or not. Thanks
September09/05 General Meeting
Tournaments
Skins Game
Tuesday and Friday8:00 A.M.
RVGA Board MembersPresident – Vince MitchellVice President – Mark GallantSecretary – Dennis WalkerTreasurer – Doug PetersonTournaments – Kriss OzolsHandicap – Scott MerrillPast President – Tim DevaneyEditor – Manny Veiga
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20055 E. Colima RoadWalnut, CAClubhouse 909-595-7441Website – www.larvga.com
09/05 2 Man Scramble
09/19 Senior Club Champ
09/26 Senior Club Champ
Mark Gallant – Vice President
Hello fellow Members,
Summer is flying by and I can’t wait until my favorite time of the year, fall.
Even though we don’t have much of a fall season in SoCal, I still enjoy the
colder evening and less hours of sunlight.
We are very lucky to have such a great golf course to play every week. They do
their very best to keep it in the best shape. As members we also need to do our
part to keep the golf course looking good. We should be making sure we are
always filling divots, repairing ball marks, and driving the golf carts in the
designed areas only. As I have been playing I have noticed a lot of members
that don’t follow the cart signs and drive the carts too close to the greens and
even very close to the tee boxes. I have even seen members drive their carts
across the tees. As the Vice President this really upsets me to see member
abusing the course. As members we should be setting examples and take care
of our course. Please make every effort to follow the course signs and park
your golf carts on the cart paths near the greens and tee boxes. Below are
some photos of areas carts should not be parked.
Doug Peterson - Treasurer
From the Treasurer--While the final tally is not in on those exorbitant “Foreign Transaction
Fees”, (no, your treasury isn’t on the hook for them) the verdict IS in on our recent trip to
Scotland and all that it could teach us about golf, wind, rain, gorse, Guinness and single malt
scotch…what a great experience! All that one with a bent for golf would want…and much more.
As mentioned last month in this space, a small smattering of Royal Vista loyalists took to the
highlands and lowlands of Scotland to actually experience what we had recently seen of links
golf on television. Yes, it does look like a cow pasture, but a very well manicured one at that.
The fairways were hard as rocks and cut tighter than most greens we play on here. The
unmowed fescue grass that lined the fairways (or sat in the middle of them) was so tall we
almost lost Tim a few times and a definite deterrent to advancing the ball towards the greens.
But the “pot bunkers”, with their sod faces and steep angles, were the biggest unseen problem.
( Ron Gross had a knack for finding them first and sometimes often.) No bigger than a poolside
spa and twice as deep, our usual choice was sideways rather than forward. And the greens,
with multiple flags…white for the “outward” holes and red for the “inward’ holes…were
sometimes 70-100 yards long with bumps and hills to test everyone’s “get it close” skills. And
the weather, we got it all, from wind, clouds, cold, rain (only at St. Andrews), sun, cold, wind,
and yes wind…all part of the Scottish golfing experience. We saw few days get to 70 degrees but
walking the 8 courses in 14 days kept us warm and made the local brews taste that much better
when we finished/survived our round. J.D. Culbertson seemed to survive better than the rest of
us and shot 77 at the “Old Course” with the locals and visiting tourists surrounding the 18th
green giving him rousing applause as he sunk his last putt. As “bucket lists” go, this hit it, find
it, and hit it again adventure was all that we expected, and more. I think our wives enjoyed it
too, if not the scotch!
Enough of the travelogue and on to golf in warmer climes…the Mojave River Valley is
calling and our Laughlin roadie is just around the corner. A flier is attached to this Birdie but
the Cliff notes version is: 2 days of golf and cart with a 8:30 shotgun start at Avi and Los Lagos,
Oct. 23 and 24, over $4K in prize money with a cost of $230. The Aquarius Hotel has 30 rooms
reserved in our name (Royal Vista Golf. Group rate code C-LAR15) 3 nights for $150 + tax.
Make your own room reservations as I know some of you have other accommodations available.
We get a lot of “out of towners” for this tourney so spread the word and get your entries in early.
We can’t pick the teams until we know who is playing. We’ve been going to Laughlin for over 30
years now so “solvency” must not be an issue…and it isn’t.
Scott Merrill - Handicap
Well, it’s End of Summer….back to School…and horrible traffic!!!
The course is in pretty good shape considering the draught. Congrats to Rafael and Don for their victories in the Club Championship!!!!!
Thanks to SCGA member comments over the summer, a new initiative will be introduced for the 2016 year.Multi-Member Rebate Program. For those of you with multi-memberships, a rebate will be available after maxing out at $50.00. So if you belong to (2) clubs, $33+$33=$66-$50=$16 Rebate!!!! If you belonged to (3) Clubs, $99-$50=$49 Rebate etc. Just another way of servicing its members!!!
See ya on the links……..Scott
Tim Devaney – Past President
Sights but no sounds of a trip to Scotland with a contingent
from Royal Vista in the summer of 2015. The golf was just
as you might expect with wind, rain, cloudy and sunshine
days. Visits to castles, eating and drinking in as many pubs
as we had nights on this trip.7 golf courses were played in a
2 week period and all were links except the last which was
at Gleneagles , the site of the 2014 Ryder Cup. It is a Jack
Nicklaus design with the most penal rough of any of the
courses we played. All 6 of the links courses were walked
and with a pull cart if you wanted .Caddies were available
at every course and we only used them once at St.Andrews.
The old course was my absolute favorite and it is just as
might be imagined. On #17 (the road hole) you hit your tee
shot over the buildings and coming in to 18 green you cross
over Swilican bridge. Thinking of all who have proceeded
you walking over this bridge is quite amazing. Wedge shots
that never hold, putting from 40 yards away and drinking
COLD BEER (not warm) a trip of a lifetime..
Manny Veiga - Editor