OFWW Newsletter January 2023
Message from the President
It’s nearly the end of the year and as always, a moment to reflect on the 12 months passed. From my perspective we had a great golf year. Attendance turnout on Playdays and Bashes was way up compared to the prior couple of years, quite a few new members signed up and our 2 Interclub teams battled hard all season long to earn their 3rd and 6th place in the Interclub League.
As of this writing, winter has arrived in Kingwood. Most shorts have been replaced by long trousers, long Johns and base layers. But in typical Texas fashion fifty and sixty-degree weather alternates with twenty-degree weather. Oh well as long as the sun shines at least it looks pretty and sometimes it even turns into a pretty day to play golf. Makes you wonder how all those folks in Ireland, Scotland, England and mainland Europe play golf in winter. Aching muscles, numb hands and too many clothes definitely hinders my golfing abilities and doesn’t help my mental game either.
One last reminder is that KCC has agreed that club credits earned by OFWW members only will not expire at the end of 2022 but remain valid until the end of 2023. Of course, they would like you to spend as much of that club credit as possible before the end of this year 😊.
This past year certainly creates high expectations for the new 2023 season and I would encourage you to play in the Play days, play in the Bashes, join an Interclub team and invite friends and retired people you meet on the course to join the OFWW.
Hope you all had a great Christmas. Wish you a Happy New Year and may all your golf related wishes come true in 2023!
Edwin Goldman.
January Bash
If you need to cancel during the signup period, you can go into Golf Genius during the signup period and cancel. If you need to cancel after the signup period, please send an e mail to both Tim and Stan letting them know as soon as possible including the night before Timothy.Lovell@invitedclubs.com Stancoburn@embarqmail.com. If you don’t cancel you will still be charged the registration fee.
Sign up will be using Golf Genius. Please look for the mail with the sign-up link or you can go to KCC-OFWW2023.GolfGenius.com
You can usually spot Stan on the course if you want to chat with him about the Bash.
2023 Preliminary Bash Schedule
The monthly bashes are a team event and a great way to meet new people and compete for slightly higher cash prizes.
The bashes are generally held the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 9am except for January (3rd Tuesday) and December (1st Tuesday).
A social with beer and soft drinks is planned after the bash in the scoring area for all bashes except for November and December.
Please remember that this is a preliminary schedule and subject to change.
December Bash Results
We had another successful holiday bash. Many thanks to the team that set up the different hole challenges. Afterwards we gathered for hors-d’oervres and socializing while we watched the results. A fun time for all.
Please feel free to send Stan a note with any comments or suggestions. Stancoburn@embarqmail.com.
Play Days
The play days are a great way to have a tournament type competition and win some money. Stroke play in one of 3 flighted fields for a very small entry fee. You sign up for any available tee time and you can meet other golfers by signing up to play with different golfers each time.
You can also find the results for each play day under the results tab on the OFWW website.
Couple of things to note:
You do not need to check in at the pro shop before the play day. The starter notes the information for billing.
You must enter your score in the Golf Genius app. You do not need to turn in a paper scorecard.
You do not need to enter your score into the GHIN system. The pro shop transfers it over.
Payouts for winning are now credited to your golf shop credit book account once a month. Players should check the amounts to verify they are correct. Questions about the amounts should go to Tim.
The play day schedule for January is:
Tuesday January 3 – Playday – Island
Thursday January 5 – Playday – Lake
Tuesday January 10 – Playday – Marsh (CPO)
Thursday January 12 – Playday – Island
Tuesday January 17 – BASH – Island
Thursday January 19 – Playday – Forest
Tuesday January 24– Playday – Forest
Thursday January 26 – Playday – Marsh
Tuesday January 31 – Playday – Lake
Note – Every association will have a playday on a scheduled Cart Path Only course each month that we are scheduling the CPO course for the week, (OFWW, KWGA 9, KWGA 18) so that the non-association members do not have the CPO course every week.
Golf Genius OFWW Member Portal
All of the content on the old OFWW Web Site has been moved to the Golf Genius Member Portal. Please visit the site at WWW.KCC-OFWW2023.Golfgenius.com or using the GG App every once in a while. Lots of good information, play day and bash results, event sign up and other information. Updates and Training materials, including FAQs to help with the complete transition to Golf Genius (GG) can be found under the “News” tab.
OFWW Interclub
The Kingwood OFWW has two teams that participate in the "North Houston Retired Senior Men's Golf Association". Each team plays home and away matches at other participating clubs, usually on Thursdays. It is a great way to meet people, participate in exciting competitions and play different clubs for just a cart fee. You do not have to play every week.
From the end of February to mid October, the teams play weekly matches with 11 other country clubs in the North Houston and Montgomery County area. The clubs include April Sound, Atasocicta, Bentwater, Elkins Lake, Hearthstone, Lake Windcrest, Northgate, Panorama, River Plantation, Walden Lake Conroe and Walden Lake Houston. It is a great way to play these other courses for just a cart fee.
To join a team contact:
Joe Blankenship - Captain Marsh Team (joeblankenship54@gmail.com)
or
David Bradley - Captain Lake Team (dandbbradley@outlook.com)
Or reply to OFWWkingwood2022@Gmail.com and one of the captains will contact you.
The final team standings for 2022 were:
OFWW Member Hole-In-One
If you get a hole in one during a playday or Bash to please notify Tim Lovell at Timothy.Lovell@Clubcorp.com and Jack Alexander at Jalexand76@Aol.com about that. The Golf Genius system doesn’t necessarily flag your hole in one, for example if your score on that hole is tied with somebody else. Please tell Tim the hole and course, witnesses, club used, enclose a picture if you took one etc.. If you are in the hole in one pot Tim can get the payout process started.
Please do participate in the HIO pot. Currently we have 56 participants out of over 150 active golfers in the OFWW so clearly room for more.
2023 OFWW Officers
Please feel free to reach out to any of the officers with your questions, comments, and suggestions. The board works hard with the club pros, primarily Tim, to run the play days, bashes, and other events.
2023 OFWW Officers
President Edwin Goldman
VP Greg Jensen
Secretary David Wenner
Treasurer Frank Zampello
Tournaments Stan Coburn
IT Support Brent Johnston
Lake Team Captain David Bradley
Marsh Team Captain Joe Blankenship
Communications Jack Alexander
Member Fund Raising Activities
Do you have a fund raising activity or charity you are raising money for? Send a note to Jalexand76@Aol.com with the information and we can post it to the next newsletter.
Rules We Play By
5 Key 2023 Rules of Golf Changes
Rules Question on Balls Hit Out of Bounds
Rules Question on Balls Hit into the Woods
We have gotten some questions recently on the rules about what happens when a ball is hit into the woods and some questions about why some of the woods are marked with a red line and can play as a lateral hazard and some woods do not have any markings and should be played using the lost ball rule.
The KCC local club rule is that unless the wooded area is marked as a hazard (red line or red stakes) it is not a hazard. If the ball goes in there the usual rules apply. Ie. If the ball is lost or hit out of bounds (white line or white stakes or clearly in someone’s lawn) then the local rule is you drop it in the fairway (not rough) closest to where it went into woods for 2 stroke penalty. If the ball is found then you have option to drop within 2 club lengths not closer to the hole for 1 stroke or go back on the line between ball and flagstick as far as needed and drop for 1 stroke or go back to tee and hit another shot for 1 stroke (stroke & distance).
Whenever in doubt after your shot play a provisional and make sure to announce it is an provisional.