Minutes
of the
Senior Men’s Interclub Representative
Annual Meeting
at
Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club
December 4, 2018
The Annual Meeting of the member Club Team Representatives of the Jacksonville Senior Men’s Interclub was held December 4, 2018 at Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club. Present were Ray Mantle and Bruce MacDonald (QH), Allen Witham and Barney Poston (HH), Vincent Celestino (MC), Joe Pierce and Mac McKernan (OP), Jon Peterson (OC), Bill Basney and Mike Smith (SJ), Dick Fruechtenicht (LP), Jack Garrity and George Goldsmith (EH), Glenn Dobrick (SG), Skip Lunsford (JG), Bob McBride (WGV), Tony Hubbard (DC) and Ray Cabano (ML). James Kerr, the Palencia representative did not attend. Scott Johnson, the Golf Genius representative for the Southeast US, also attended.
The meeting started shortly after 9 AM. Allen Witham acted as the Meeting Facilitator and Ray Mantle acted as the Secretary of the Meeting. Allen had earlier sent out the agenda. Ray Mantle welcomed everyone to Queen’s Harbour Yacht & Country Club and hosted the meeting facilities.
The first order of business was approval of the minutes of the June 21, 2018 Semi-Annual Meeting. By resolution made and passed the minutes were approved as earlier circulated and submitted. The minutes are posted on the SMI website.
Reports
SMI Treasurer Bruce MacDonald gave a financial report as of November 30, 2018 with a balance of $791.94 after payment of all outstanding bills.
Allen Witham reported on the scheduling dates for the 2019 season and the status of contracts either signed or sent for signature by the Clubs. The 2019 schedule to date is posted on the SMI website.
Jack Garrity, SMI’s Technology Advisor, gave a technology report. See Exhibit A
Barney Poston, SMI Chairman Emeritus and Webmaster, reported that the SMI website is operating reliably and he was not aware of any issues regarding the SMI website. Barney noted the SMI website produces a small amount of income from advertisements and clicks on Google.
Old Business
None.
New Business
The Nominating Committee (Ray Cabano (Chairman), Bill Basney and Allen Witham) then reported on its nomination of SMI officers for 2019 as follows:
Chairman – Dick Fruechtenicht
Vice Chairman – Skip Lunsford
Treasurer – Bruce MacDonald
Secretary – Ray Mantle
There being no other nominations, the nominated slate of SMI Officers for 2019 was duly elected by the Representatives.
At the June meeting a committee (Ray Mantle (Chairman), Vincent Celestino, John Hannon and Barney Poston) had been appointed to investigate whether the scoring and tournament management system marketed by Golf Genius and USGA should be considered as a replacement for the in-house system developed by Jack Garrity. In furtherance of this inquiry, the committee invited Scott Johnson, the Golf Genius representative for the Southeast US to respond to some emailed questions and to appear at the Annual Meeting to make a presentation about use of Golf Genius for SMI events.
In his presentation about use of Golf Genius for SMI events Scott Johnson used Power Point slides to illustrate some of the Golf Genius attributes (See Exhibit B). Scott’s presentation prompted questions from the Representatives and some exchange of information and other dialogue. The major sticking point is that Golf Genius presently charges $2500 for a one year license to use the Premium features which are required to allow on-line live scoring and other features. Only WGV at this time has the Golf Genius Premium service, although a majority of the other SMI Member Clubs have the base Golf Genius service as part of their USGA arrangements.
Ray Mantle then made a presentation about the new Rules of Golf effective January 1, 2019. Ray used some slides to illustrate some local rule options available to the SMI and a USGA chart comparing the old and new rules on selected points. (See Exhibit C , Exhibit D and Exhibit E). Upon motion duly made, seconded and passed, effective January 1, 2019 the SMI Local Rules will include the optional relief for balls out of bounds or lost with a two stroke penalty. A sheet illustrating this Local Rule will be distributed to the players at the January tournament. Ray also noted that the Clubs could obtain copies of the Players Edition of the 2019 Rules of Golf from the USGA without charge (other than shipping) and recommended that this be done to provide golfers with a copy of the New Rules.
Mac McKernan and Joe Pierce then raised for discussion moving the April tournament scheduled for Orange Park to Eagle Landing Country Club. They explained that the Orange Park owner was experiencing some financial difficulty and the golf course is not being maintained to an acceptable level. They further explained that Eagle Landing had stated it could handle lunch for the SMI event, had sufficient carts and in general could accommodate the SMI tournament in April. The arrangement will be to have SMI contract with Eagle Landing on SMI’s usual terms, so the financial arrangements will be the same in that regards. Orange Park otherwise will remain the tournament host and will interface with Eagle Landing to insure the April tournament proceeds in good order. Upon motion duly made, seconded and passed it was agreed to have the April 2019 tournament occur at Eagle Landing Country Club, rather than at Orange Park CC, on a one year basis and subject to Eagle Landing entering into SMI’s standard contract for the event.
Bill Basney moved to have a Study Group appointed to consider the pro and cons of using two sets of tees so that more senior golfers could move up to a shorter course length, with the Study Group to report at the June Semi-Annual Meeting. The motion was seconded and passed. [After the meeting, Dick Fruechtenicht appointed Skip Lunsford to head this Study Group.]
Allen Witham circulated a schedule of monthly prize payout amounts if three teams were paid rather than four teams, noting that when four teams receive payouts the amount paid to each player is small even if a full field of 112 players is present. After discussion, upon motion duly made, seconded and passed it was agreed that commencing January 2019 the monthly payout will be limited to the top three teams. See Prizes.
In connection with Allen Witham’s report about the scheduling for 2019, upon motion duly made, seconded and passed it was agreed that the Poston Cup tournament for 2019 would be held at Deerwood Country Club at a date in November to be worked out with the Deerwood Pro Shop. Jon Peterson and Ray Cabano agreed to serve as Co-Tournament Directors again for the event.
Other Notes and Adjournment
Bill Basney noted he was ending his tenure as the San Jose Club Representative. Allen Witham expressed the thanks of the SMI for more than 10 years service by Bill.
Dick Fruechtenicht then expressed the thanks of the SMI for Allen Witham’s service as Chairman. Dick noted that Allen had been very helpful in preparing Dick to assume the Chairmanship position.
Dick Fruechtenicht suggested that after each SMI tournament the hosting Club Representative be given a report to assist the Club Representative for future events by noting what had been well done and what needed to be addressed and improved. [After the meeting Dick Fruechtenicht appointed himself, Jon Peterson and Ray Cabano to perform these post-match reviews.]
After discussion, the location and date of the 2019 Semi-Annual Meeting was confirmed for San Jose CC on a date in June 2019 to be set by the Scheduling Chairman in consultation with San Jose Club Representative.
There being no other business raised for consideration by the meeting, it was duly adjourned about 11:20 AM. A lunch was then enjoyed by a number of the persons present.
Respectfully submitted
/Ray A. Mantle/
Ray A. Mantle, Secretary
