Saticoy Senior Men's Golf Club

Greetings fellow golfers,

I hope everyone is staying healthy during these trying times.  Earl Clark just informed me that we’re going to start having tournaments again beginning next Thursday, 06-25-20.  There will many changes to our normal routine in order comply with Saticoy’s social distancing rules.

Jack Fenelon sent me the following new rules and guidelines:

1. Only one golfer will be allowed per cart.  There are only 20 carts, so it will be first come, first served.  Once the carts are gone, you will have to walk.
2. The course management does not allow shotgun starts at this time, so everyone will start on the #1 tee box between 6:30 am and 7:30 am.  Players will have to form up into foursomes.  The groups will not be assigned since Jack will not be bringing the club computer and printer to the tournament.
3. If the office is closed to foot traffic, you will need to pay your green fees at the window that faces the chipping area.  The $ 5.00 club fee (plus $2.00 if you play skins) needs to be placed in an envelope and turned in at the end the round at the office, along with the scorecards.  There will be a box available.
4. There will also be envelopes in the box in which to place the tournament fees.  Please indicate on the envelope who has paid for what.
5. Please keep your scores on the regular course scorecard.
6. The holes on the greens have inserts which keep balls from falling to the bottom of the cup.  If you miss a put because the insert interfered with the ball’s ability to stay in the hole, and your fellow golfers agree that this was the case, the ball can be considered holed.
7. Flags are not be removed or touched.
8. The bunkers do not have rakes.  It’s difficult enough to rake all of your footprints with a rake.  Without one, using your feet, probably won’t be very effective, especially if you’ve created a dozen footprints to get to your  ball.  Also, the public will be allowed on the course after our last group tees off, so there could be a lot of footprints in the bunkers on the back nine.  I spoke to Earl about this and he agreed that if a ball ends up in a footprint that makes hitting the ball difficult, we can move the ball out of the footprint, no closer to the hole, but still inside bunker (without a penalty).  Golfers will still have the option of dropping outside of the bunker and accepting a two-stroke penalty.
9. Masks are not required on the course, but they are required whenever you can’t maintain the minimum six-foot distance from others around the office area.  I plan to wear mine until I get out on the course or on the driving range.  For those of you have not been to Saticoy since the closure, every other hitting station at the range has been eliminated to create distance between golfers.

We may only have two flights, depending on the turnout.  Jack will try to get the results to me on Thursday, or by Friday afternoon at the latest.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Regards,

Bob Escobedo

Greetings fellow golfers,

Some of you may have already heard; the Saticoy Regional Golf Course is now open.  Here are the current rules according to Jack Fenelon:

• Walking only!  No riding carts.
• No cash payments.  Credit or debit cards only.
• Players must stay at least six feet apart at all times.
• Foursomes will start every ten minutes.
• The cups on the greens are inverted so the ball won’t fall in.  This is so you don’t have to reach down into the cup.
• The pins (flags), rakes, and ball washers are gone.
• The course will be open from 6 AM to 6 PM.
• The driving range will be open, but the putting green will be closed.

Jack Fenelon also informed me of the following:  The biggest obstacle for our club members will be having to walk the course under these temporary rules.  We have very few members that chose to walk.  So, until driving carts can be rented again, we will NOT be having our weekly tournaments.  We will have informal play for anyone who wants to show up on Thursday mornings on a first-come, first-play basis.  Because of the inverted cups, we will not be posting scores.  I will let you know when the course starts renting carts again so we can then resume our tournaments.

The Presidents cup for May is cancelled as well as the luncheon (general  meeting) scheduled for May  14th.

Lets be extra, extra careful out there, what with all these cootie bugs floating around out  there.

Regards,

Robert Escobedo

Greetings fellow golfers,

It looks like this virus thing is going to be with us for a while.  By the time the golf courses open back up, I’m not going to remember which end of the club goes down.  I was going to have a green installed in the living room, but the wife suggested I install it out back in the dog house since that’s where I’m going to be spending most of my time.

Anyway, Phil Youker sent me a long list of golf laws-of-the-universe.  Here are the first three:

Law #1:

No matter how bad your last shot was, you should have inner peace knowing that a worse one is yet to come.  This law does not expire on the 18th hole, since it has the supernatural tendency to extend over the course of a tournament, a summer, and, eventually, a lifetime.

Law #2:

Your best round of golf will be followed almost immediately by your worst round ever.  The probability of the latter increases with the number of people you tell about the former.

Law #3:

Brand new golf balls are water-magnetic.  Though this cannot be proven in the lab, it is a known fact that the more expensive the golf ball, the greater its attraction to water.  Expensive clubs have been known to be partly made with this most unusual natural alloy.

Regards,

Robert Escobedo

Greetings fellow golfers,

Jack Fenelon emailed me advising that the club is still on hiatus.  American Golf, which runs the Saticoy Regional Golf Course, as well as many other clubs, closed all their courses on March 20th.  There is no planned re-open date.

I’ve seen news reports indicating that the Coronavirus may not peak until May.  This is just speculation, but health experts are saying “Nobody can set the timeline for when this thing will be over.  The virus sets the timeline.

Stay healthy out there,

Bob Escobedo

Greetings fellow golfers,

Due to the recent Coronavirus developments and the directive to practice social distancing, we will not have any SSMGC tournaments until at least April 9th, although this is subject to change.  Also, the Elkin’s Ranch away tournament that was scheduled for April 20th has been postponed.  We will post updates on the website.  The latest prediction regarding the chances of contracting the virus is at about 60% and rising.  I hope everyone stays healthy through these trying times.

Regards,

Robert Escobedo