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