2023 Winter Board Meeting Notes

Here's what was discussed in the first meeting of the new Board:

Rule 8.2

 

Per Buchert's request, we discussed (for a long time) what happened at Lake Jovita (South) between holes 2 and 3... specifically in regards to Rule 8.2.

 

Quick recap:

• Ball was "lost" in a collection of trees with overgrown grass between holes 2 and 3.
• No OB or Hazard lines anywhere near this location.
• No bushes in the area, so the ball was legitimately lost in the tall grass.

Board determination:

 
A one-stroke penalty definitely applies here, but where the drop happened was a subject of debate. We settled on letting the group deem the overgrown grass to be a "hazard," and allowing the player to drop outside of that area. The same way you would if a ball was presumably lost in a large palmetto bush. Be sure to keep your search to 3 minutes or less.

As with most rulings, it's up to the group to use common sense.

We also want to remind everyone there isn't a "free drop" rule for a lost ball. But we brought up two situations that have happened during our 12+ years as a Club:

• Ball landing in flooded fairway and getting swallowed up by the Earth.
• Ball running into a flooded bunker. The ball can't be seen but everyone knows it's in there somewhere.

In these two situations, a "free drop" would be given under the USGA's "casual water" rule. We just aren't going to make you wade into the water to identify the ball if the group is in agreement of the ball location.

I'm sure something will come up down the road that'll test our determination, but Rule 8.2 has been updated and Rule 8.3 has been added for clarity.

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Chandler asked the Board to review the path for new Membership. It currently takes well over a year for someone to join, and we want to make sure that is fair and reasonable. The Board decided not to change any of the requirements: 8 events in a two season span... followed by Board vote... followed by general vote.

We shouldn't fill spots just for the sake of filling them. But if a new person wants in, we need current Members to take an active role in the vetting process. And we definitely need sponsors to start acting like actual sponsors.

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Reid brought up mandating all Members to put a personal and unique mark on their golf balls. He thinks it would help in with any confusion while searching for lost balls. While this is true, the Board decided a mandate wasn't warranted. We do highly recommend you all start doing this.

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Finally, Chandler is tired of planning the Hangover bar night (aka: our season party) only to have elitists like Faz complain incessantly. So we're going to try something new, and break our Club into three different "brigades" based on location. Feel free to submit an official name for your group:

1 - "Tampa" - Chandler, Billy, Gary, Danny, Crum, JW, John, Faz

2 - "Westchase" - Dave, Brendan, Moostie, Buchert, Gorecki, Melberg, Casey, Troy

3 - "Lutz" - Geoff, Dan, Topor, Reid, Adam, Ho

The idea is to take turns rotating and picking the bar location. How you all do this, and to what degree you plan, is up to each group. I'm fully aware this idea is kinda lame. But the goal is to increase engagement and ownership of the social aspects of the Club.

The "Tampa" brigade will plan the upcoming season party.