Club NewsDecember 2019 SUGARMILL WOODS • SOUTHERN WOODS• OAK VILLAGE NEWSLETTER What’s New Message From the General Manager............................3 Hit & Giggles Event ...................................................15 The Pro’s Corner...........................................................4 Prime Rib Buffet.........................................................15 Message From The Membership Director....................5 Singles Night ..............................................................15 Message From Robin Frick ..........................................9 Calendar.............................................................18 & 19 Message From Chef Joe Coonse...................................9 Sugarmill Woods Men’s Golf Association..................21 Cookie Sale...................................................................9 Sugarmill Woods MGA Championship Sugarmill Woods Holiday Dinner Party .....................10 Dinner Dance .....................................................22 & 23 Oak Village .................................................................12 Southern Woods Men’s Golf Association...................24 November Tennis Play Day Pictures ..........................12 Sugarmill Woods Ladies’ Golf Association................25 Drop Shots ..................................................................13 Fun and Games ..................................................26 & 28 Bridge Club.................................................................13 Southern Woods Ladies’ Golf Association .................27 Cocktail Cuties............................................................13 Special Interest Groups......................................32 & 33 2 Message From The General Manager By Rick Kelso, General Manager • Limit search for lost balls to under 5 minutes, also hit the provisional ball before searching (Rule 27). I want to take this moment to say thank you • Consider other options for unplayable lie besides to all the entire staff for all their hard work returning to the spot of the previous stroke (rule 28). and endless hours put in during the 2019 Men's Member Guest. The event was a huge Remember, it only takes ONE person to make everyone's success! Great job! During meetings all day at the golf course less than enjoyable. We need summer, the Member-Guest Committee made sure to everyone's help so that everyone can enjoy these excellent come up with all the activities for the participants and facilities to the fullest. made sure all details were covered. They went out to all the With 2019 coming to a close, I would like to take this local businesses to make sure that we had enough opportunity to thank every member for your support and sponsorships to make this event all it is. Thank you! Your participation in all we attempt to do at the clubs to make it efforts did not go unnoticed, as this was the best Member better. Guest! Finally, I would like to thank all the members and THANK YOU! their guests for participating in this great event! It is you During the next New Year club promotion will be critical to and your guest that makes putting this event on so special! increase the membership. From the social restaurant Thank you for your participation. members to full family golf memberships and all the With the busy season in full swing and the membership memberships in between - it is our goal to grow them all. growing, there are a few items we need to cover to help us The best form of promotion, going forward, would be to make sure everyone's day at the club is enjoyable. First word-of-mouth within the community. We rely on our of all, we ask that all those who are in charge of their games current members to invite new residents of our community that they make only the tee-times they are going to need. out to dine, play golf, play tennis or talk about all the fun We understand that sometimes people get called out of things we do at the Clubs. Community involvement and town, get sick, or can't play that day, but please call and word of mouth are fantastic ways of promotion for the cancel the extra tee-time as early as possible, so the pro club. All of the members have been extremely involved in shop staff will be able to fill that time. Your cooperation in promoting our clubs in the past; we know that will not this matter is much appreciated and needed. Secondly, as change because all of you love these clubs as much as we we continue to grow and get busier, the pace of play will do. We are just asking all of you to keep up the great and continue to be a topic of conversation. Here are a few POSITIVE promotions of our clubs. THANK YOU for all things you and your group can do to help with the pace-of- you do!!!! play. The Sugarmill Woods Golf Shop will be open till noon on Members and their guests should play READY GOLF, to December 24th and will be CLOSED ALL DAY ensure everyone's day at the club is enjoyable. Here are a December 25th. few helpful hints: The Southern Woods Golf Shop will be open till noon on • Be at the ball, ready to hit when it's your turn. December 24th and will be CLOSED ALL DAY on • Set time target for the round: four hours or less at both December 25th. Sugarmill Woods and Southern Woods. The Hangover Open will be at Southern Woods on January • Mark the flight of the ball with a background object 1st, 2020. For additional information, please check the like a tree or trap. bulletin board at Southern Woods or the Pro Shop. It has • Note distance, yardage, wind, and obstructions become a popular annual event for everyone to enjoy and BEFORE reaching the ball. get rid of their hangovers. Thank you for all you do to make the club a fun place for all members and their guests. • Think over your club selection BEFORE reaching the ball. January 1st, 2020, Sugarmill Woods will be closed all day. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!! • Bring two or three clubs to your ball so that you don't have to go back to the cart. • Limit your practice swings to odd lies, or let one practice swing do. • Start moving toward your ball immediately after the other golfer hits. • Study the line of your putt WHILE OTHERS ARE PREPARING TO PUTT. 3 The Pro’s Corner By David Knighton, Head Golf pointed way out right. Professional Quick Drills Swaying on the golf swing is never Once you've mastered the setup and ball positioning, you good. Any good golfer or teaching can head out to the range and work on improving your ball professional will tell you that too much striking. A great way to do this is to push a tee all the way movement of the body towards or away into the ground about one inch behind your golf ball, and to from the target on the back-swing is a recipe make a full swing as you normally would. Now compare for inconsistent ball striking. What swaying does is shift where the divot is in relation to the tee in the ground. A the arc of your swing so that the low point is either in front good strike should result in the space between divot and tee of or behind your ball, thus when you complete the being just more than one inch and fatter strike will result in downswing you either end up thinning the ball or hitting a shorter and shorter space. Sometimes it even helps to straight behind it. Another common cause of fat shots is pick out a specific point or even dimple on the back of the setting up too low. This is typically seen when your left arm ball and aim to hit that little dimple so that you force (for right hand players) remains too bent through the back- yourself to hit the ball first and play through the ball. swing, so that when you initiate the downswing and the Give some of these tips a try and see if your ball striking weight of club straightens out your arm, the club bottoms improves. If not, please feel free to ask me for any help. See out well before the ball. It's not uncommon to see begin- you next month on the practice tee. ners compensate for this movement by 'standing up' at impact, but this response tends to enhance the problem, as it leads to even more movement in the swing and is guaranteed to result in more inconsistent ball striking. Following on from the issue at setup, very new golfers tend to think that they need to bend their legs a lot when hitting the ball. We've all seen someone at the driving range who is basically squatting because they are bending their knees too much. In truth, a correct setup should have very little bend in the knees – just enough to be visible – as it does help to create some power and allow the body to rotate. The final beginners blunder that results in hitting the ball fat is incorrect positioning of the feet. If your right foot is pointing to the right, when you make your back-swing your weight will naturally shift towards your right-hand side and it suddenly becomes hard for you to shift it back to the left on the downswing, resulting in hitting the ground before the ball. Quick Fixes Fortunately for all, most of the causes of fat shots revolve around the setup, so fixing them involves changing your static position when addressing the ball and not necessarily your swing itself. A good setup will have the ball placed somewhere between the inside of your left heel and the midpoint between your two feet, but the exact position will always depend on the club you are hitting. Take some time to experiment with varying ball positions for your different clubs and try to keep these positions constant when you're out on the course. A quick fix for when you're hitting it fat during a round is to shift your ball back slightly in your stance so that you are more likely to strike it before the ground.