UPDATES....

--- The Annual Stock Holders Meeting was held last Monday, January 16 in the evening. Brad Gilbert and Jeff Rule, were reelected to their seats, while Rusty Wilson was elected to replace Debbie Smoot on the Board of Directors. Everyone is thankful to Debbie for her collaboration and hard work for Elk City Golf & Country Club. For more particulars about the meeting, click here.

--- Our season has started with reasonable good weather during the early months, but we all know winter is not over yet. Nonetheless, I suggest to those who have not been coming during the cold months, that you take your clubs our of "hibernation" and start playing a little! If you need re-gripping, call the shop!

--- We will continue the practice of selling range memberships: $150 (individual), $200 (for two) and $250 (for 3+). Multiple players memberships are for family members living in the same household. Non members pay $50 more per membership.

--- April 17 has been set as the "Demo Day" started by Cory Smith a few years back. That will also be the first day of the Tuesday's Men's Scramble for 2012. So far, Titleist, Cleveland Golf, Adams, Ping and Tour Edge have agreed to demo their products.

--- New scorecards will be available before the end of the month. These have been redesigned and Legacy Bank will continue to be the sponsor.

--- DON'T FORGET!! We offer tee times for weekends. This has been a practice that only a few members have taken advantage of, but well worth the time of a phone call.

--- Courtesy of local businesses, Elk City Golf & Country Club will offer colored "course guide - yardage book" booklets. These books will be printed by Benchcraft Co. The booklets will also have local golf information such as present officers' names, tournament calendar, club information, club champions, course records, etc.

--- If you like what we offer in the pro-shop, tell others, if you don't, please tell us how we can improve our services and help you.

--- PGA Season started with a win by Steve Stricker in the Tournament of Champions, and then continued in Hawaii by rookie Johnson Wagner. It continues today with the start of the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Bill Clinton Foundation. Tiger Woods is still MIA here. The late Bob Hope (he did more for golf than Tiger ever did or will do) invited Tiger to play here and Tiger never did. Bob Hope will forever be linked to Southern California Golf  (and golf everywhere as well) through this event and through the $50+ million the tournament raised for local charities, virtually funding the Eisenhower Medical Center. Phil Mickelson, a two time champion, is returning since his last appearance in 2004. President Bill Clinton is the new host and we hope that he carries on as good or better than Bob Hope did, and do so apolitically. The best fivesome ever to play here was paired with touring pro Scott Hoch, he played with presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and of course, Bob Hope! How good was that! Turn your T.V.'s on!

FRIDAY 13 RULES CHANGES (OR, CLARIFICATION)...

I don't know the history of why "Friday the 13th" should be a bad day. In fact, I always expect good things, I am not superstitious (I was once told that it is bad luck to be superstitious, so there). If I hit a bad shot on the course, I always yell, "get lucky!" instead of "go ahead, go in the water!" If I had a cat, it would be a black cat. And I don't walk under a ladder only because it is not very smart, not because it is bad luck (maybe it is bad luck not to be smart when you need to be smart).

Anyway, since the last few weeks have been slow, I've taken time to play a little golf without worrying about the shop so much, and have enjoyed the company of different golfing members, one of whom I cost money to because he chose me in the last two holes of a "Wolf Game", and I three putted 17th, and failed to make a 7 footer on 18 (I guess that is why he calls me "Sergio"... sometimes "Julio"). Sorry, I'll try better next time... but the truth is that I blame my bad putting on the greens, and that is why I am writing this:

Let me say that Ed Hughes and his staff are not at fault here. My bad putting happened because there seems to be the understanding that there was an old law that read as follows: "In the interest of fast play, members and visiting golfers are strictly forbidden of wasting time in fixing ball marks" The next line read: "do not rake bunkers either, for the same reason as above".  I am here to say such law never existed, and if it ever did, it has been abolished from the books the way old laws have that do not apply any more. This is effective the first Friday 13th of 2012, which means today.

I don't know about you, but I hate putting on greens that are peppered with ball marks, especially on the course I work for and which by nature, I am really proud of. Here is another law that seems to be in effect, for which, as the first one, I haven't found anything to support its enaction: It reads, "Speed Limit on the course: Groups must play at their own pace, unless there is a slower group in front, then, your luck just changed and you must now play at their pace for the rest of the round".

Now, wouldn't this very rule go against the previous one?  Where do you think golfers get these ideas? Really, I haven't seen anything in writing. Here is an example you'll understand: you are in a hurry to go to Oklahoma City and drive east on I-40 on a beautiful day, and hardly any traffic on the road... that is until you catch this car that is driving at the same speed as the 18 wheeler on its right (60mph) and you can't go anywhere! (By the way, it seems that the slow car is usually driven by someone who can barely see over the dashboard, or on their cellphone and are driving without paying attention to anything or anyone else). You feel like yelling, "GET OFF THE CELLPHONE YOU TWIRK, PUT A THICK TELEPHONE BOOK UNDER YOUR REAR END, PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD AND GET OUT OF THE WAY SO FASTER CARS CAN GET GOING."

In a golf course, there is nothing illegal about going faster than other groups, there aren't any speed limits. The only time, and I mean THE ONLY TIME when slow play is understandable, is when the golf course is so busy that there is no way to play faster.

So here are the three golden laws that the Board of Directors will most likely approve unanimously:

1.- LEAVE THE COURSE BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT. This means it is perfectly legal to take time to fix ball marks, rake bunkers and fix divots while the rest of your group is hitting their shots.  In fact, BY LAW, not leaving the course better than you found it will earn you a place in our "Black Book".

2.- Speed limit abolished unless course is busy. Always play as quickly as you can, while enjoying yourselves. When Walter Hagen said, "take time to smell the roses" (there are no roses on Elk City Golf & Country Club anyway), he was not speaking literally, he was speaking figuratively about life.

3.- If you are teaching someone to play golf, do it on the practice areas!

To close, it all boils down to two golden words in golf: COURTESY & ETIQUETTE! If you are one of the 300+ members, this is your course, be a gracious host and "keep your house clean". And if you are a guest, make it easy to be invited again! 

ENJOY YOUR "FRIDAY THE 13th", SOMETHING GOOD IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ALL OF YOU TODAY!

OLD 2011 AND NEW 2012 COME TOGETHER....

The "old" year came to an end in Elk City with a very nice New Year's party at the club, and just a few hours after repeating "happy new year" over and over, we had our first customers of 2012: member Patrick Meche Jr. with brother Adam friends Tyler Petersen and smiley Kortney.

For some reason, I didn't even have time to do any "new year's resolutions", not that I would have followed any, as has been my lifestyle the last 20 years.

Let's face it, I know that to follow through, you need understanding, conviction and will power. When it comes to "new year's" resolutions, I seem to lack one or two of these all the time. I really speak by personal experience, the only life changing "resolution" I've ever followed (quit smoking, "cold turkey"), was not a "new year's" thing, but something that just happened, overnight, through divine intervention and not by personal will power.

I think everything is going
well, don't you?

Anyway, the old year began coming to an end on Friday the 30th, when we had great golf weather as evidenced by about 70 people, members and non members, using the course that day. On Saturday, I knew things would be "new" (for 2012) pretty soon, when I saw one of our members using his recently purchased "push cart" and walking a full nine holes instead of riding his cart while listening to soft rock music ( I would have really wanted to go take pictures that day, but the pro-shop was always full of people wishing us a happy new year).

Relax Lady! All is going to
turn out very well!

Though the weather on this last day of the month and of the year, was not as nice as the day before, play was almost as high, and by the time we attended the party, we had been so busy in the afternoon, that I was only about 30 minutes from having removed myself from my desk when I walked into the party: time to relax!

See? There you go!

First member I saw at the party was "dancing" and "Texas Hold'm" legend, Calvin Adkisson (by all accounts, he has enough energy to go dancing every week, and then uses the rest of his time playing golf), who had brought two young guests to the party and ended up being seated right next to our table. Then, as you would expect, those members of the board who had anything to do with the party and who considered themselves "hosts", Joe Wynn, Brad Gilbert and Ann Cowan (as you might be used to by now, she was there before anyone else), began coming early as well. In all, over 150 people attended the party.

Despite the club having been shorthanded that night, the party went great, and the music by Trader Price was downright inviting to the dance floor. I even danced a few songs!

At 12:00 a.m. sharp, we all raised our champagne glasses and wished everyone around a "happy new year", with plenty of people to sincerely wish this thought to. Cell phones rang everywhere, including ours, from friends and family members wishing a great new year to come as well. At that moment, I began thinking of changing my habit of not making "new year's resolutions" (that I didn't seem to be able to keep anyway), into changing certain things that I know I can change, so here are the "TOP TEN" that I came up with, even if start a few days late:

10. Be on time every day (I was more on time when we lived in Sayre than now that we live 3 miles away)
9. Be sure to make everyone know that fixing ball marks is actually legal (it seems that most people think it is illegal!)
8. Be more strict in not allowing smaller groups on busy days and pairing them up into larger groups. OK, let's rephrase: include more "meet a friend" days so play is in foursomes and not twosomes.
7. Walk at least 18 holes every week and practice more (I hate playing bad golf)
6. Learn to stay out of people's way when taking pictures (hint, hint Mona: I may need to spend some money in buying another lens that I can use from farther away).
5. Take more pictures.
4. Write this newsletter more often and sooner when there has been an event.
3. Re-arrange the pro-shop and stock it with things beyond golf equipment...
2. Never, ever wear a cowboy hat again. Somehow it doesn't look good (My God! I drank only one beer all night!)

Did you see that one Sergio?

and my number one goal for 2012 is....................

1. Try harder to understand what newly  turned "Six-Oh" and friend Tony Turnbull talks about so I don't have to pretend to comprehend. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

(Click on our Facebook link for more pictures)