Minutes of the
Senior Men’s Interclub Representatives
Semi-Annual Meeting
at
Jacksonville Golf & Country Club
August 11, 2020
The Semi-Annual Meeting of the member Club Team Representatives of the Jacksonville Senior Men’s Interclub was held August 11, 2020 at Jacksonville Golf & Country Club. Present were Ray Mantle and Bruce MacDonald (QH), Allen Witham and Barney Poston (HH), Vincent Celestino (MC), Joe Pierce (OP), Jon Peterson (OC), Alan Harmon (SJ), Dick Fruechtenicht (LP), Fred Track (EH), Glenn Dobrick (SG), Skip Lunsford (JG), Bob McBride (WGV), Mark Rutland (DC) and Ray Cabano (ML). Jim Kerr (Palencia) was not present.
The meeting started shortly after 10 AM. Dick Fruechtenicht acted as the Meeting Facilitator and Ray Mantle acted as the Secretary of the Meeting. Dick had earlier sent out the agenda. Skip Lunsford welcomed everyone to Jacksonville Golf & Country Club and hosted the meeting facilities.
The first order of business was approval of the minutes of the December 12, 2019 Annual Meeting. By resolution made and passed the minutes were approved as earlier circulated and submitted. The minutes are posted on the SMI website.
2020 Season
Dick Fruechtenicht raised for discussion the status of the 2020 season. After discussion about the Covid-19 effects, cart availability, reduced revenues to hosting clubs if smaller fields are involved, etc., upon motion duly made by Glenn Dobrick, seconded and adopted it was agreed that the balance of the 2020 season be cancelled and the 2021 season be reconsidered at the December meeting of the Club Representatives. Allen Witham passed around a tentative schedule of the host clubs for the 2021 season, subject to the Clubs’ response.
Reports
SMI Treasurer Bruce MacDonald gave a financial report as of July 31, 2020 with a balance of $1304.12 after payment of all outstanding bills. Bruce recommended the funds be retained for the 2021 season. After discussion and upon motion duly made, seconded and passed, it was agreed that the balance of the funds be retained for the 2021 season after setting aside a reserve of $500 for unanticipated expenses.
Allen Witham reported on the tentative scheduling dates for the 2021 season and recommended it be on a calendar year basis. After discussion it was agreed the 2021 season would be on a calendar year basis starting in January. The Club representatives are to check on the host Club’s acceptance and report back to Allen. Once settled the 2021 schedule will be posted on the SMI website.
Jack Garrity, SMI’s Technology Advisor, was not present. Jack’s technology report was emailed to the Club Reps. Dick Fruechtenicht discussed the status of the present scoring system and the need to consider an alternative.
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 only SMI website expense is about $20 annually for the domain name.
Appointment
Dick Fruechtenicht appointed a Nominating Committee to nominate the officers to be elected at the December 2020 meeting. The Nominating Committee Chairman is Ray Cabano, who is authorized to select others to be on the Nominating Committee. Ray invited Club Reps interested in serving to contact him.
Old Business
Skip Lunsford reported for the Study Group appointed at the December 2018 meeting 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. After discussion and upon motion duly made, seconded and passed, it was agreed that two tees would be used at the next few SMI events during the 2021 season at Clubs which can accommodate them, with each SMI player free to choose his tee for himself without any age or handicap index limitation. A player selecting the forward tees will have his handicap adjusted to reflect the difference in yardage, slope and rating. The results of such two tee events will be discussed and evaluated at the June 2021 meeting of the Club Representatives for future determination to continue with two tees or not.
Dick Fruechtenicht reported that he had worked closely with Jack Garrity on scoring at several SMI tournaments. Dick noted that Jack devotes major effort to SMI in his scoring, handicapping, statistical analysis, monthly newsletters, etc., with major benefit to SMI. Dick noted the scanning system developed by Jack is capable of handling the SMI scoring rapidly and accurately. But the difficulty is only Jack can resolve any operational problems which might occur and should SMI be looking for an outside vendor scoring system as an alternative when Jack is no longer available. Ray Mantle then reported that following the December 2018 meeting he had emailed the Golf Genius representative (Scott Johnson) proposing that SMI be awarded a limited license (at a reduced price) for those events at Clubs which did not have a Golf Genius Premier license which would cover SMI’s use of Golf Genius scoring. In a reply email Scott stated he would take it up with senior management. No further communication has been received and no follow-up by either Ray or Scott regarding SMI’s use of Golf Genius scoring. Ray also reported Leaderboard King had said it could handle the SMI scoring and handicapping at a cost of $1 per player per tournament. This system uses a cellphone input. Dick Fruechtenicht asked the Club Representatives to check if their Club had the Golf Genius Premier or base system.
Glenn Dobrick reported the Sawgrass CC clubhouse remodeling, etc. is projected to be completed by March 2021. Glenn further reported on the availability of an SMI tournament in 2021, preferably for an August date.
Joe Pierce then reported about the status of the Orange Park golf course and a pending court sale of the course property. Joe noted the Orange Park players were playing at Eagle Harbor and Eagle Landing and wished to continue playing in SMI events. Dick Fruechtenicht appointed a committee of Alan Harmon, Bob McBride and Joe Pierce to visit Eagle Landing to determine if it could become a substitute for Orange Park, but noting that Atlantic Beach CC had an earlier request to join SMI which also had to be evaluated. After discussion, by motion duly made, seconded and adopted, the Representatives agreed that Orange Park be continued as a Member Club in 2021 pending future determination regarding sale of the course, its renovation in an acceptable manner, etc. or acceptance of Eagle Landing as an SMI member in place of Orange Park. The Club Representatives will receive reports on Orange Park, Eagle Landing and Atlantic Beach CC at the December meeting for consideration and possible action.
New Business
Skip Lunsford announced he was resigning as Vice Chair for personal reasons. Dick Fruechtenicht moved that Bob McBride be elected Vice Chair to fill the vacancy until the elections at the December meeting. The motion was duly adopted by unanimous acclamation.
Dick Fruechtenicht appointed himself, Bob McBride and Barney Poston to look into webmaster and scoring proposals and report at the December meeting.
Other Notes and Adjournment
The Annual Meeting of Club Representatives will be on December 17, 2020 at Queen’s Harbour Yacht & CC at 10AM.
There being no other business raised for consideration by the meeting, it was duly adjourned about 11:50 AM. Lunch was then enjoyed by a number of the persons present, followed by golf for some of the attendees.
Respectfully submitted
/Ray A. Mantle/
Ray A. Mantle, Secretary
