The Poplar Post – January 2025
The Poplar Creek Men's Golf Club Newsletter
January 2025
Issue 4
From the Editor
Happy New Year!! It is time to renew your Men's Club membership. If you haven't already done so,
help us out and do it soon.
It's that time of year when the golf course is in miserable condition. The left side of the first fairway
(among other areas) is a swamp. The front of the third and sixth greens feel like quicksand. I'm sure
everybody has their most unfavorable spot on the course in this weather. Not much can be done
except to wait it out. However, members should be conscious of the bad areas and keep carts
away from them to avoid deep tire ruts.
Also, please repair divots. Your editor played today (New Year's Day) and saw a minimum of 5
divots measuring 4" by 7" or better. How can anybody that understands the game of golf make a
divot that size and not replace it.
Unfortunately, being one of the most played golf courses in the area, there will be a certain
percentage of the general public who have no concern about taking care of the golf course. They
are either complete narcissists who think it is below their dignity to bend over to pick up a clump of
grass or complete morons who don't realize the consequence of their 35-yard chunked wedge shot.
Please take care of the course in the winter months so it is more playable in good weather.
President's Message
As we embark on the new year of 2025, I hope everyone had a very festive and happy holiday
season! I'm really looking forward to this next year as we have a full slate of tournaments with a lot
of fun individual and team formats, along with many away tournaments at new courses. While we
are still sad about missing our local watering hole, the board is working on new ways to congregate
and celebrate after tournaments to keep up the camaraderie we have built over the years. Stay
tuned for updates on this, or just come to the next few tournaments and find out for yourself in
person. As always, if you have any suggestions for the board or need anything from me, never
hesitate to reach out directly.
From the General Manager
As you may know, the City temporarily closed the restaurant and banquet space at Poplar Creek
Golf Course as a precautionary measure while it investigated the cause of water seeping into the
banquet space/kitchen. Although there did not appear to be structural damage, City staff
determined it necessary to close the facilities to ensure public safety to investigate the cause. The
City brought in an air quality testing specialist, and the preliminary results indicated high levels of
airborne contaminants, potentially indicative of a wastewater source.
The City's team has initiated containment and investigatory work at the facility, including sanitizing
equipment and identifying areas impacted by the water seepage. These investigations, including
videoing subsurface drain lines, will help the team determine the extent of impacts and what
restoration efforts need to be done in order for the public to safely return and banquet operations to
resume. Depending on the extent of impacts, restoration could take several months.
In the meantime, the City has rented bathroom trailers for golf course patrons and users of the
driving range and pro shop and is evaluating alternative options for providing food and beverages for
customers who would like quick meals and drinks on the go. We have several vendors who have
committed to being on-site Thursday-Sunday each week pending weather and customer demand.
These vendors will rotate based on their availability and we will have one vendor on-site per day.
Tournament Results
Santa Ball
Ten four-man teams were entered into this event which required the Santa ball (festively decorated)
to be played by a designated player on each hole, with that ball and the best ball of the other three
counting towards the team score for each hole. To be eligible for the team prize, the Santa ball
must be turned in with the scorecard. Amazingly, only three Santa balls made the complete circuit,
as the 2nd, 3rd, 11th and even the 8th hole claimed the other seven balls. The winning team (although
not with the lowest score) was the group of John Edmondson, Artie White, Joe Cioni and Kirk
Hansen.
Individual flight winners were as follows:
Flight 1
1st
2nd
3rd
Arthur White
Kenneth Boone
Paul Montserrat
Rules Corner
Flight 2
Alan Miyake
Flight 3
Alfred Bogenhuber
Justin Rouspil
Dave Koons
David Delbon
Joshua Baltor
Flight 4
Walter Koning
Frank Purcell
Scott Zammit
Answer to last month's question. The answer is C –Marty's score on the hole is 8. Let's count.
Original drive into the tree near the penalty area. Returned from green to play ball out of penalty
area, pitch onto the green and two putts. 5 athletic strokes. Jim picked up ball and put it back
without marking it. Same as if the player did it – one stroke penalty. And then, under Rule 18.3(c)3,
a provisional ball must be abandoned when the original ball is found before a three-minute search
has expired or if the original ball is found in or known or virtually certain to be in a penalty area.
Marty must not make any more strokes with the provisional ball which is now a wrong ball. Since
Jim informed Marty that the original ball has been found, but Marty holed out the provisional ball, he
played a wrong ball – another two stroke penalty.
But what if either Marty or Jim had seen the ball dislodged from the tree from his second shot. Then
we go to Rule 9.6 for a ball moved by an outside influence. It must be replaced. It wasn't replaced.
Marty would have had to take an unplayable lie penalty. Further, hitting from where Jim found the
ball was the wrong place, a two-stroke penalty. But Jim picking up the ball, since it was not in the
correct place isn't a penalty. So Marty's score in that scenario would have been a 10.
Here is this month's poser
In stroke play, a player's ball is struck towards a penalty area and is not found. It is neither known
nor virtually certain that the player's ball is in the penalty area, but he drops a ball under Rule
17.1d(2). Before he plays the dropped ball, his original ball is found within the three-minute search
period. What is the ruling?
a. He must not play the original ball. If the original ball was in the penalty area he gets a one-
stroke penalty under Rule 17.1d(2) and must continue with the dropped ball. If not, he must
return to where he last played and re-drop the ball with a one -stroke penalty under Rule
18.1.
b. The player dropped under an inapplicable Rule. He is penalized two strokes, must abandon
the dropped ball and proceed with the original ball.
c. The player dropped under an inapplicable Rule. He is not penalized, must abandon the
dropped ball and proceed with the original ball.
d. The original ball must not be played. He must abandon the dropped ball and proceed under
stroke and distance getting the one-stroke penalty under Rule 18.1.
Upcoming Events
Skins every Thursday
Saturday January 11 – 2 Man Razzle Dazzle
Saturday January 25 – 4 Man Scramble
Saturday February 8 – Qualifying Round for NCGA 4 Ball Tournament
Saturday February 22 – Beat the Pro, Prez and GM
Saturday March 15 – Match Play Tournament Qualifying Round
Sunday March 16 – First round of Match Play Tournament
Points to Ponder
I heard the word "icy" is easy to spell. Looking at it now, I see why.
A bike in town keeps running me over. It is a vicious cycle.
Research shows that 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't Happy.
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.