Important Information for 2010 U.S. Women's Open Qualifying

The USGA has announced a significant change to the Rules of Golf regarding grooves on clubs effective January 1, 2010. New specifications regarding "v" grooves have been adopted by the USGA, and players must conform to the new rule if the Committee in charge of the competition incorporates the new specifications in its Conditions.

That being said, the USGA will adopt this Condition of Competition, requiring the use of clubs with grooves that conform to the specifications in Appendix II, at each of its three Open Championships in 2010, including the U.S. Women's Open Championship. Although the USGA will not use this Condition at local qualifying, beginning in 2010, there will be NO local qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open, only sectional qualifying. The new rules regarding "v" grooves will be enforced at all U.S. Women's Open sectional qualifying.

For further information, go the the USGA website and read the
Q & A about the new club specifications for grooves.

There will be two sectional qualifying sites in Southern California in 2010. Each site will be limited to 78 competitors to accomodate the 36 holes required to determine the qualifers who will play in the U.S Women's Open (at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania on July 8-11, 2010.)

If you anticipate attempting to qualify for the 2010 U.S. Women's Open, carefully review this information and have your clubs evaluated prior to the sectional qualifying dates.

Saticoy Team Wins Net Championship

The women’s golf team from Saticoy Country Club made its first trip to the Women’s Southern California Net Team Championship one to remember.

Needing to grab five of the seven points available during the final match against Hacienda Country Club, the Saticoy women made a furious rally over the final nine holes to pull out a win and two ties.

Thanks to the late-match heroics, Saticoy secured the five points, allowing it to win the 2009 title, 7-6. The final event was played July 31 at Saticoy Country Club.

“I am so proud of all my players,” said team captain Diane Grimes. "Our team handicaps go from a 7 to a 31, and we had players from the lowest to the highest in every match."

The comeback was no surprise to Grimes. She said when playing a home-and-home match like the team did against Hacienda, a team expects to win at home and lose away. The key is getting enough points in the loss to allow your team to have a chance to win by holding serve at home.

"I went to Hacienda the first day hoping to get two points, so I was really pleased with 2," Grimes said. "Only one team all year had gotten 2 points at our course, so I knew we had a shot. Thank heaven we got the 2 because they did get two points at Saticoy."

The regular season began in April with 82 clubs in Southern California playing in four divisions. Each division had four groups that consisted of an average of five clubs. Saticoy had the top regular-season record, earning the right to host the final.

"In the 14 years I’ve been team captain, winning the WSCGA championship was beyond anything I thought we could accomplish," Grimes said. "We have won our group many times, but only advanced as far as the semifinals once. Everyone at the club has been as happy and excited as we’ve been. Our men’s team won their championship several years ago, and they all made a point of congratulating us."

The 26 members of the Saticoy team are: Grimes, Leslie Fair, co-captain, Jody Duclos, Dee Fairbanks, Vangie Butler, Debbie Hoekstra, Dyan Veseth, Joanne Riley, Kay Kurahashi, Tina Cho, Tammy Reed, Mary Karrh, Debbi Maruyama, Nancy Conant, Sharon Lutton, Patti Channer, Diane Perez, Connie Kim, Helene Dufau, Gayle Powell, Maureen Kohli, Penny Joseph, Rene Lawler, Ann Hall, Judy Warner and Leandra Matter.

Written by Bob Buttitta and published in the Ventura County Star on August 12, 2009. Reprinted with permission.

What the heck is an Open Play Day?

Open Play Days are an invitation to all members of the WSCGA (both Division I and Division II) to play casual golf at a public course. The WSCGA negotiates green fees to ensure the lowest cost and also reserves tees times with the Pro shop.

Open Play Days are different from regularly scheduled WSCGA tournaments in that there is no entry fee and no awards luncheon is held after the round. The cost to members includes the green fee, cart and range balls plus a nominal charge to purchase gift cards for the gross and net winners.

An Open Play Day is an opportunity for players to participate in a stress-free event with friendly competition among other WSCGA members. All handicap levels are encouraged to participate. It’s anticipated that higher handicap players especially will use the events as a stepping stone to regularly scheduled WSCGA tournaments.

The latest Open Play Day was held at Glen Annie Golf Course in Santa Barbara. The format was two better balls of the foursome and members were allowed to form their own team. Several teams chose to dress alike and 19 members from The Alisal came dressed in purple and white! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful, tranquil day in Santa Barbara.

The next Open Play Day will be held on September 29th at Oak Quarry Golf Club in Riverside. Oak Quarry is an interesting and challenging championship course that winds through the white- faced, jagged terrain of the historic Jensen Quarry. It’s conveniently located between the 10 and the 60 freeways. Then on December 8, 2009 members can experience the newly refurbished Babe Zaharias course at Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry, a historic gem designed by legendary golf architect William Francis Bell.

Venues for 2010 include both the North and South courses at La Costa in Carlsbad, Hunter Ranch in Paso Robles and River Ridge in Oxnard.

So ladies, get your feet wet!!! Sign up for the Open Play Days. The rates are reasonable, the camaraderie is great and before you know it you’ll want to play in all WSCGA events!

Linda Lane,WSCGA Office Manager/Executive Assistant

Life is Too Short to Hit Out of a Bunker

As a professional woman in desperate need of a fertile networking ground, I will admit that there was a "if-you-can't-beat-'em..." aspect to my decision to take up golf. The golf course was, to me, merely a satellite location for the testosterone-dominated business world in which I work, where all sorts of high-level wheels and deals were casually accomplished before the third tee.

I wanted in on the action and it did not take a rocket scientist to notice that virtually every business-related conference, retreat, or seminar took place within suspicious proximity of a golf course. Not to mention the fact that the men in my office defended the midweek wearing of a pink polo shirt and khaki pants by sniffing self-importantly, "Hey, I'm playing New Pine Hills with a client today." I suspect if I showed up at the office in a two-piece fleece sweatsuit, flip-flops, and my hair in a ponytail, and explained I was taking a client to the Supine Thrills nail and facial spa, it would not have quite the same time-honored ring to it.

So I signed up for golf lessons.

It's got everything I look for in a sport, sartorially speaking. I can pretty much sum it up in two words: no Spandex. As far as I am concerned, that is a threshold requirement for any sport; that, and the absence of the need for protective gear of any kind. It also does not involve perky white skirts with coy little lace-trimmed panties, rented shoes, tank tops, micro-shorts, sports bras, or rubber waders. In fact, it is, from the fashion standpoint alone, the perfect sport. Who doesn't look smashing in sunglasses, a visor, a natural-fiber blouse, and wide-legged bermudas? Throw in a McGann hat and, athletically speaking, it just doesn't get any better.

I can't help but note that the men have also made discernible progress on this front. Pastel shirts and gaudy pants have all but disappeared. Well, except for the late Jack Lemmon's outfits at Pebble Beach. I'm guessing that the PGA finally and wisely outlawed white belts and plaid of any kind. Once color television became commonplace, the future of the sport depended on it.

It is amazing that a sport so male-dominated is not disgustingly macho. I have now played several rounds and have yet to see anyone butt heads, slap butts, spike the ball, do anything resembling the Funky Chicken. The mere image of Arnold Palmer adjusting himself and spitting is unthinkable. It's also hard to picture golf fans with faces painted in team colors swinging a hatchet overhead.

This decorum is even reflected in golfers' names. Famous golfers have perfectly civilized monikers like Jack or Lee. There is not a Bubba or Mad-Dog in the lot. The appearance of Tiger on the scene may compromise my whole theory and portend a modern movement toward ferocity. Nonetheless, any sport willing to embrace someone named Fuzzy gets my vote.

As it turns out, the only thing on steroids in this sport is the handbag. As if my real, self-interested, capitalistic reason were not unseemly enough, I have been accused of taking up golf in order to have license to carry a five-foot purse. I admit I started salivating when I was given a golf bag as a gift and imagined the myriad uses for the numerous, odd-shaped, cleverly placed zippered sections.

Shortly thereafter, I was so excited to see on the cover of a women's golf magazine the teaser, "What's In the Pros' Bags?" I could hardly wait to confirm that my and the pros' bags were crammed with the same essentials: lip liner, Whopper wrappers, hair scrunchies, car keys, and, of course, my business cards.

Imagine my disappointment in learning that Alice Ritzman carries in her bag a "Data nine-degree driver with PRGR graphite shaft, firm flex" and Kris Tschetter carries a "Ping Eye 2 (red dot) beryllium copper 53- and 60-degree sand wedges with G. Loomis graphite shafts." I feel so betrayed.

The courses are invariably naturally arid deserts that have been transformed by unconscionable amounts of water into lovely verdant landscapes. But the game itself interferes somewhat with my desire to commune with nature and celebrate our cosmic one-ness.

I do find raking the bunker to have a certain Zen-like therapeutic effect. The actual game is, of course, impossible. As it turns out, golf clubs, unlike golf bags, are not the least bit user-friendly. The mere notion that one could, while standing upright, strike a tiny sphere on the ground with a long, skinny pole is laughable. To assume it can be done with accuracy and power is downright demented. No offense to those virtuous golfers who walk the course carrying their bags, but I'm guessing that the sport is not high on the endorphin index, either. Yes, if it weren't for the actual playing of the game, this definitely would be the perfect sport.

Despite my own lack of proficiency, gender is not much of a disadvantage in golf. A slow, careful swing and good equipment can approximate the same result that large biceps and sheer power provide. No, oddly enough, the male advantage in golf is not physical. It's mathematical. They've developed these goofy betting games that definitely favor the left-sided brain. I think I can master “skins,” but I need a laptop for “bingo, bango, bongo” — the name of which I always found mildly lewd. And when someone suggests "multiple presses or greenies, birdies and sandies on a Nassau," I just fling him my wallet and tell him to take whatever he wants.

As with so many things, my true forte turns out to be not in the substance, but in the appurtenant. I am a downright savant in aprés-golf. The clubhouse ritual of a cold beer and a fat-laden snack comes naturally to me. I was recently spotted spreading mud on my pant cuffs and scribbling on a score card, before hoisting my clubs out of my trunk and heading directly from the parking lot to the clubhouse bar, where I set up shop with a pile of my business cards directly in front of me and waited for hapless business opportunities to walk by.

One negative (aside from the unsightly little ankle-level tan line) is the unparalleled world of gag gifts that playing golf invites. I had barely hung up the phone from scheduling my first lesson when my daughter presented me with a collector's plate of a fantasy fairway featuring a waterfall, butte, ocean and alligator-infested moat. I didn't get the joke. That's how most fairways actually look to me. It was followed closely by a club-handed watch, a "I'd Rather Be Golfing" license plate frame, and a "Golfers Do it With Follow-Through" bumper sticker. I wondered where, in this classy sport, the market for such kitsch is . . . until I saw an electric coffee-mug-warming-coaster that doubles as an indoor putting cup and screams "fore" whenever you touch it. Those pink, personalized tees have got to go, though.

So far, my athleto-business plan has been met with astonishingly limited success. Golf has provided me with an activity with which to entertain clients, a venue for meeting colleagues, and a conversational topic common to many of my professional peers. It has also introduced me to contacts and friendships that seemed woefully inaccessible because of my gender. As it turns out, however, the entire benefit of such contacts is instantly eliminated whenever I explain that I would not consider keeping score, and life is just too short to hit out of a bunker.

Written by Roxanne Holmes who has been an attorney in San Francisco for 24 years. Roxanne practiced in a law firm for 13 years and now works for the California Supreme Court.

Welcome Industry Hills!

WSCGA extends a warm welcome to the Industry Hills Women’s Golf Association at Pacific Palms as they move to Division I status. The IHWGA and their golfing facility have met the WSCGA By-Law requirements for this designation.

Pacific Palms boasts LA’s only 4-star rated golf experience with 36 holes of completely refurbished championship golf on the legendary ‘Ike’ and ‘Babe’ courses. Designed by renowned golf architect William Francis Bell, the courses are recognized as two of his masterworks along with the likes of Torrey Pines Municipal, site of the 2008 U.S. Open. Bell and his father, William Park Bell (Billy Bell Jr. & Sr.), are considered California’s first family of golf course architects having designed hundreds of exceptional courses throughout the state including the very exclusive Valley Club in Montecito.

Congratulations to the Industry Hills Women’s Golf Association!

Submitted by the WSCGA Membership and Compliance Committee.

Conducting a Club Championship

The Club Championship is the most coveted of all awards. All members should be encouraged to participate in this important event and every effort should be made to assure that the best golfer of a club is the champion.

April is the traditional month set aside by the WSCGA for Club Championships. It’s not required that a club play its Championship at this “set aside” time; however, it is suggested that the tournament be completed and results reported to the WSCGA before September 1st of the current year so the information can be included in the WSCGA Directory.

To encourage all members to participate in the Club Championship, various methods of play (stroke or match) may be used. WSCGA does not recommend any method as best. Choose the one that fits your club’s needs.

WSCGA recommends that a Club Championship be decided by 72 holes of Stroke or Match Play played at scratch. The tournament may also consist of Stroke or Match Play with the Championship Flight played at scratch and all others at course handicap.

In Match Play, if the Championship Flight consists of the minimum eight players, it must include an 18-hole qualifying round for flighting and/or ladder position purposes. Also, the USGA recommends that a “bye” not be given in the Championship Flight. Flights should be equal in number depending on the number of entrants, if possible, and set-up according to course handicap. Players of like ability in the same flight should all play the course at the same time and under the same conditions.

WSCGA also suggests that clubs have in place a Tournament Committee of at least three people. That way there’s always a majority when taking a vote and any decision does not rest on the shoulders of one person.

It’s also recommended that the Tournament Committee provide Conditions of the Competition for each event which address any situation that could arise. USGA Rule of Golf 33-1 states that “the Committee must establish the Conditions under which a Competition is to be played.” If written Conditions of the Competition are not in place, the Committee is ultimately responsible for making decisions on any issue(s) which might arise.

The method for breaking ties should be published in advance of the tournament. Refer to the USGA publication “How to Conduct a Competition” for suggestions. A sudden death playoff in the Championship Flight could be held to determine the Champion and Runner-up. Clubs may choose other tie-breaking procedures for the remaining flights, such as the USGA Back Nine Method.

For information regarding prizes and awards refer to the WSCGA Blog “Never Cash!” January 15, 2009,

If you have any questions regarding Club Championships, please contact the Tournament Desk at 909-592-1281 x 204

Never Cash!

WSCGA receives several club inquires each year about giving cash as prizes at a club event or guest day.

Under the USGA Rules of Amateur Status, cash is cash is cash and is not an acceptable prize under Rule 3 except for a hole-in one while playing golf. The USGA is unequivocal on this point as it is the bright line that distinguishes an amateur from a professional.

The amount of money paid out does not matter. It is not an acceptable prize. Also, by virtue of the club licensing agreement with WSCGA, each club represents that it follows the USGA Handicap System as well as the Rules of Golf which also include the Rules of Amateur Status.

Although the USGA does not condone wagering,typical skins games and other forms of gambling engaged in during a round of golf do not violate the prohibition of giving cash as prizes as long as participation is voluntary, players are betting on their own performance and all monies are collected and distributed on the same day of the event. (see page 153, Rules of Golf Appendix)

Although the prohibition against cash may seem unnecessarily broad, the USGA has liberalized the Rules of Amateur Status in recent years. Cars received as a hole-in-one prize are now acceptable prizes, as long as it is made during a round of golf and not in a hole-in-one competition. Prizes up to $750 in retail value per tournament are acceptable under the Rules as well. Gift cards, silver bowls or gold jewelry are all acceptable prizes under The Rules of Amateur Status as long as the retail value is $750 or less.

If you have questions about acceptable prizes under The Rules of Amateur Status or other questions , please contact the WSCGA office at 909-592-1281