One of the most important skills a Board Member can have, is the ability to
say "no" to everything proposed. With that in mind, we have one of the best
Boards around! Here are the meeting notes:
- Topor was reinstated with a 5-0 vote. Welcome back, Big Fella.
However, the Board would like to see an official notarized doctors note
explaining your absence. There seemed to be a lot of Disney trips while you
were "injured."
- Marcus passed the initial Board vote 5-0. He will now move on to a
Club vote, where he needs 75% approval. Good luck to him, considering two
Board Members said: "who's Marcus?"
- Twice (due to rainouts) we shuffled the schedule around and the final event
was the Jamaican Open. The reasoning was the more expensive and "better" course
should still be used for the FBGC Masters. The Board approved 5-0 that the
final event should always be our last Major, regardless of course.
- The Board voted 4-1 to suspend the collection of Club money for the upcoming season (Reid voted to keep filling the coffers). We currently have a Club balance of $1,018... and beyond a few plates for the Moses, there are no expenses on the horizon. This means winners will receive more money next season, as only the Hole-in-One fee will be charged. Going forward we will decide before each season if we're going to collect rake.
- We spent almost a full hour debating how to handle found balls after the 3-minute hunt. This happened twice in the Rapture (once for each team), and both times the player was allowed to play the found ball, because it was way further up in an un-searched area.
Dozens of real-life scenarios were presented. Just recently, Geoff hit a ball into a tree... hunted for 3 minutes... dropped and hit from the base of the tree (with penalty)... and then we found his original ball up by the green in the middle of the fairway! All of our common sense reactions were: "of course he should play the original ball, because nobody thought to look 100+ yards ahead!"
Unfortunately, then we got into what happens in the same scenario if Geoff takes his drop (with penalty), duffs it a few times... and then finds his original ball in the rough by the tree? Does he get to un-do all those duffs? Isn't that the same as still hunting? Does it matter that the original ball was found in the general vicinity of the hunt... or are we only more lenient if it's found further up during normal advancement? We couldn't come up with a solid, easy to understand rule.
So with a 4-1 vote, lost balls not near OB will be handled like the USGA intended (Faz voted against). After your 3-minute search, you must drop and play a ball with penalty. Once that ball is dropped, that's your ball. It does not matter if you find your original ball - with the only exception of finding your original ball in the hole.
We'll see how this more strict enforcement goes for two seasons, and then revisit next Winter meeting.
- Ho wanted a free "gallery drop" if you can't find your ball, and the group is certain it is not OB. This has been addressed multiple times, most recently in the 2023 Winter meeting. The Board denied it 0-5, with someone saying: "that's just cheating."
- Melberg wants the Rapture playoff to be a 3-hole aggregate instead of sudden death. The board approved 4-1 (Chandler voted no) to do so if the course allows. If it's still tied after 3 holes, then we'll go to sudden death. If the course doesn't allow any of this... then we'll probably just call it a tie. The one thing everyone agreed was any type of chip-off etc. was super lame and nothing we're interested in.
- JW was denied 1-4 to abolish the "Pitcher Rule"
- JW was denied 1-4 to get rid of stroke limits (aka: +5 max)
- Billy wanted to buy shared apps instead of pitchers. This was denied 0-5. The feeling was the Pitcher Rule is a specific punishment - not a reward - for everyone. Even if you don't/can't drink... the rest of us are punishing ourselves very slowly with every sip of beer. Please play better so we stop damaging our bodies.
- Brendan wanted to have a 2-man best ball event. This was denied 0-5. The logistics of needing an even number of players that is divisible by 4 doesn't make sense. That's what the off-season is for. Faz was quoted "The current league exists because we tried a year of 2-man teams and it failed miserably." John was quoted: "This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
- Gorecki wanted to award money to the winner of the Skins stroke-play. He literally asked for this in Winter of 2019, and again in Winter of 2021. Both times it failed 0-5. Well... it just failed 0-5 again. John was quoted: "This is now the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The Board looks forward to Gorecki asking a 4th time for this in the near future.
- Gorecki wants people to play forward tees based on their perceived driver distance. This was rejected 0-5. The feeling is we already go above and beyond to consider forced carries for the meek and feeble among us.
Other leagues would laugh at how short our "base tees" are - an average of 6,096 in our history (ignoring Concussion set-ups). And 55/25 guys are playing around 5,800 (sometimes as short as 5,400)! We literally can't embrace the "tee-it-forward" initiative any more than we already do. Please let the Commish know if you ever feel tees are unfairly too long.
- Gorecki wants some additional penalties for WDs the day before an event. He also asked for this in the Winter 2022 meeting. This was rejected 0-5. There are already penalties in place for bailing the day of.
- Dan wants an official 3-club challenge event. It was rejected 0-5 with Faz saying: "are you kidding me?" Reid saying: "What is this, LIV golf?" and John saying: "Holy shit this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
- Dan wants to get rid of Club Credit and have cash payouts. Gorecki also asked for this in Winter 2021. This was rejected 0-5. Faz wants everyone to be reminded we used to do this and nobody would bring cash. Then in Summer 2022 (week 6) we had Dan pay the winners in cash, and he never did so again. The Board is questioning why Members are trying to make someone (who isn't them) do more work?
- Dan wants all 3-putts to incur a financial penalty. He also asked for this in Summer 2022. It was rejected 0-5.
- Dan wants closest to pin contests on all 18 holes. It was rejected 0-5.
The Board would like to point out that you people do a shit job paying the few trash bets we track.
- Dan wants beers to be owed if anyone (mainly JW) WDs during the round. This was rejected 0-5. There's already a pitcher penalty for WDs.
- JW was then denied 1-4 to abolish all WD penalties.
That's it! Enjoy the rest of the off season and we'll start back up in early January.
