Vol. 1 No. 8 ThMe etropolitan - udly Presente Pro d B PLAYER OF THE YEAR y AWARDS TO CARAVIA AND GARDNER HIGHLIGHT Exclusive Corporate Partner THEIR OUTSTANDING SEASONS PGA S UMMIT TACKLES PAGE 6 ISSUES IMPACTING THE GAME WITH BROAD Josh Riley ROWD UNDING C F APPROACH Executive Director Gateway PGA PAGE 7 USGA’s O’Toole and PGA’s MAGA W INNERS Bevacqua share the podium PAGE 8 with local golf leaders UALIFIERS USGA Q The brainchild of Persimmon PAGE 9 Woods’ Ben Kent, the PGA Summit, held on November 10 at Forest Hills CC, brought together The 2015 Schedule for industry leaders, local golf groups, Ali Wells MAGA and USGA events professionals, golfers and interested Gateway PGA Foundation is nearly complete. parties to listen to a “State of the Game” discussion, with ample A new venue opportunity to share their views on - The Bogey Club - where the game is headed. will host MAGA Junior. With the Gateway PGA Section’s Director Josh Riley leading the Old Warson, Fox Run, charge, along with Ali Wells, head of St. Albans, Boone Valley the Gateway Section Foundation, and Whitmoor set to the group of over 120 heard from host MAGA USGA President Tom O’Toole, Ben Kent Pete Bevacqua, CEO of the PGA of General Manager championships. Persimmon Woods PAGE 11 America, Tony D’Errico, Vice President of the Club Managers (Continued on page 4) Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association • 11777 Clayton Rd. • St. Louis, Missouri 63131 314.567.MAGA • Fax: 314.261.9250 • [email protected] The Metropolitan November - December 2014 STAFF CURT ’S COMMENTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Happy New Year! It has Curt Rohe - [email protected] been a great first year for The P.J. B OATWRIGHT INTERNS - 2015 Metropolitan, from our TBD contributors to our Rules Article [email protected] by our MAGA Rules Committee METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS to our Publisher/Editor Jim Amateur Championship Healey I can not thank each of Match Play Championship Curt Rohe you enough for your time in Open Championship Executive Director Women’s Amateur Championship putting this endeavor together. Junior Amateur Championship MAGA has received plenty of positive feedback on the Senior Amateur Championship newsletter. Metropolitan Cup Matches Four-Ball Championship Mid-America Junior Cup Wow, another season came and went, they seem to go by faster and faster each year. This time of year the number one USGA QUALIFYING ROUNDS question people ask me is “What do you do in the winter?” US Open Qualifying (Local and Sectional) Well, my 2015 season started about 4 months ago by starting US Senior Open Qualifying US Amateur Qualifying to line up our 2015 schedule of events. With essentially three US Mid-Amateur Qualifying (3) separate schedules to prepare for, it takes time. MAGA US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships, MAGA Amateur Series and USGA US Junior Amateur Qualifying Qualifying Rounds take up approximately 46 days in the US Amateur Public Links Qualifying US Senior Amateur Qualifying summer…lot of days and lot of clubs/courses to secure. US Women’s Open Qualifying Fortunately, MAGA Member Clubs are some of the most US Amateur Four-Ball supportive clubs in the country! The 2015 schedule is in the US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball newsletter and will be online early next week. EXECUTIVE BOARD Stanford S. Grossman – President Emeritus We are working on a couple new projects for 2015 as Thomas J. O’Toole, Jr. – Vice-President well, look for more details in the next couple months. Thomas O. Sobbe Jr. – Vice-President MAGA will once again be a presenting sponsor of the St. M. Ray McCraine – Secretary G. Scott Engelbrecht – Treasurer Louis Golf Expo, February 13-15 at the St. Charles G.F. (Rick) Meyer Jr. – At-Large Member Convention Center. We give away numerous passes to the H. Mick Wellington – At-Large Member show via our Facebook and Twitter pages, be sure to find ADVISORY COMMITTEE those and follow along for a chance to pick up some free Scott Thomas, Chairman passes to the show. Dustin Ashby Tom Barry Again, Happy New Year and thank you for taking a few Skip Berkmeyer minutes to read The Metropolitan. Jim Dunn David Rhoads Curt Rohe As always, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] . 2 The Metropolitan November - December 2014 Decision 13-2/0.5 tells us that “improve” means to (physically) change for the better so that the player RULES OF GOLF CORNER gains a potential advantage with respect to the posi - tion or lie of his ball, the area of his intended stance Rules Incident from the 2014 U.S. or swing, his line of play or a reasonable extension of Women’s Mid-Amateur that line beyond the hole, or the area in which he is to drop or place a ball. It goes on to state that, “merely In the first round of match play at the 2014 U.S. changing an area protected by Rule 13-2 will not be a Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, a player’s ball breach of Rule 13-2 unless it creates such a potential came to rest under a tree. The player took her stance advantage for the player in his play.” and slowly drew her club back to ensure that she would not hit the lowest branch of the tree during her back - Since no penalty had been incurred, I decided to swing. She did this several times, making minor adjust - wait until after the round to discuss it with the player. ments to her grip, stance and direction of play until As we walked back to the clubhouse, I explained Rule she was finally satisfied. She addressed the ball and 13-2 - all of the things you can’t improve/allow to be began her backswing in earnest. At the top of her back - improved, all of the prohibited actions, and all of the swing, her club solidly hit a mid-sized branch and she exceptions that allow you to ‘get out of jail free.’ She discontinued her swing. She immediately re-addressed was not aware that continuing her stroke (after im - the ball and played it. What is the ruling? proving her lie with the backswing/stroke) would ab - solve her from penalty. I showed her the notation I Like many rules incidents on the golf course, this have in my Decisions Book next to that bullet – “Keep happened so quickly I was still trying to process what going.” She laughed and said she would remember I had seen as the player started walking off toward her that but thought she might be better served by keep - ball. Rule 13-2 states that, “A player must not improve ing her ball in the fairway and out from underneath or allow to be improved… the area of his intended trees! stance or swing by… moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed. However, the player incurs Contributed by Holly Little, MAGA Rules no penalty if the action occurs… in making a stroke or Committee. The Rules of Golf Corner will feature a the backward movement of his club for a stroke and member of our Rules Committee. the stroke is made.” Clearly, she was not going to be absolved from penalty since she had discontinued her Decision 13-2/0.5 Meaning of “Improve” in Rule 13-2 swing, but had she actually incurred any penalty? Decision 13-2/14.5 Branch Broken on Backswing and I replayed the scene in my mind… I heard her club hit the branch. It was a solid hit to a portion of the Swing Discontinued branch that was roughly 3” in diameter. Did it break? No. Did it move? Perhaps. Did any leaves fall from the Decision 13-2/24 Area of Intended Swing Improved by tree? Yes, several small leaves fell to the ground. Did Breaking Branch; Area of Swing Finally Used Not she improve the area of her swing? In my opinion, no. Affected by Branch The branch that she hit was solid enough that if it did move, it returned to its original position and the tree Decision 14/1 Club Stopped on Downswing by Agency was fully leafed out such that the loss of a few leaves Other Than Player was not going to make any difference with respect to the area of her swing. 3 PGA S UMMIT Association and CEO of Westwood CC and Bill courses will continue to be off-limits to many golfers, Maynard of St. Albans, representing the Golf Course in today’s environment, the bounty of quality public Superintendent’s Association of America, open the facilities has never been better. In addition, the advent discussion with how each group views where golf is of on-line golf tee times, while still a subject for debate, headed in today’s environment. has provided benefits to those courses which elect to The USGA and PGA of America are very concerned use these services. about how the regional Allied golf associations, such as In addition, many facilities are making their courses the Metropolitan Golf Association, the St. Louis Men’s available to juniors, seniors and veterans groups for a and Women’s District and the Missouri Golf number of programs, often at little or no charge. Still Association, view their role in assisting the growth of other clubs - some private - are opening their courses the game. While each of these groups comes at the during special PGA events to non-golfing women in an issue from a slightly different effort to help them learn and enjoy perspective, there was much the game in a non-threatening common ground on the need to "The Gateway Golf Summit environment.