From the Editor Happy New Year All!!! I hope everyone is looking forward to slogging around a waterlogged course for the few weeks, watching your well struck tee shot roll into 6 inches of water and losing balls in bunkers. The course needs to provide a ferry service to get from the 9th tee to the 9th fairway. Like everything else, this too shall pass. A couple of members have asked me about NCGA tournaments and what might be available for any or all players. Scratch tournaments usually require an index of 7.4 or less to enter. Net tournaments, any golfer can enter. Here are four net tournaments which might interest those who would like to compete, with their championship dates and venues and their qualifying venues (nearest to Poplar Creek) and dates: Senior Net Championship Championship at Poppy Ridge June 22-23 Qualifying available at Metropolitan (June 1) and Coyote Creek (June 3) Senior 4-Ball Net Championship Championship at Poppy Hills August 31-September 1 Qualifying available at Metropolitan (July 27) and Coyote Creek (August 5) Public Links Championship Championship at Poppy Ridge September 14-15 Qualifying available at Metropolitan (August 19) and Baylands (August 20) Net Amateur Championship Championship at Poppy Ridge October 5-6 Qualifying available at Coyote Creek (September 16) and Metropolitan (September 17) If anybody is interested in scratch tournaments, send me a note and I can update you on what is available. Message from the President I hope everyone had a nice holiday season and a happy new year! Now that we are in the new year, we get right into the time of the year with 2 tournaments each month. Hopefully the winter weather cooperates and we have no issues with reschedules or make up tournaments. The next tournament, this Saturday, already looks like the weather will cooperate so that is a good start to the season. Coming up, we are about to go live with our new updated website. It will be the same address as before, just much easier to follow and see all the information we have to provide. Big shout out to Skip Sanzeri and Walter Koning for their work on this! Finally, if you haven't seen, the city sent out some updates on the restaurant and it looks like timing of opening is closer to summer unfortunately. In the meantime, we will continue to do food and drinks after the tournaments to help and keep everyone together for some good camaraderie. As always, if you have any questions or need anything, do not hesitate to contact me directly. El Presidente General Manager’s Update Happy New Year and I hope everyone's holidays were safe and enjoyable. Maybe Poplar Creek was on Mother Nature's naughty list as she wasn't too kind to us over winter break. The windstorm on Christmas eve knocked down a few trees in the parking lot but also tore a couple sections of the range netting. These panels will need to be repaired before we can open the range. We are currently getting a quote to do the repairs and will schedule the work as quickly as possible. The recent storms have also brought quite a bit of rain that our maintenance staff is working on pumping off the course. The well drilling project is progressing, and all electrical hook-ups have been completed. The next step in the project will be installing infrastructure to get the well water pumped into our retention pond. Unfortunately, I do not have any updates on the restaurant at this time but will provide any newsworthy updates on this item when they become available. Thanks! Tournament Results Turkey Shoot Rob Carballer shot an amazing 11 under par net to take top honors in the Turkey Flight in the annual Turkey Shoot tournament. Timothy Farr great round of 9 under was only good enough for second place in the flight. In the Gobble-Gobble Flight, three players tied at 5 under par and Felila Esikia was awarded first place in the tiebreaker. The top three finishers in each of the two flights: Gobble-Gobble Flight Turkey Flight 1st Felila Esikia Rob Carballer 2nd Marcelino Llamelo Timothy Farr 3rd Brad Nelson Joshua Baltor Santa Ball A tournament in which the Santa ball and the best ball of the other three players count toward the team score. The Santa ball must be returned after the round for the team to qualify for the top prize. Of the ten teams entered, only four Santa balls were returned. One team lost the Santa ball on the first hole. Winning team – Ken Gerstle, Dennis Reiser, Michael Sevilla and Larry Shaw Flight winners and runners-up: Flight 1 Flight 2 Flight 3 Flight 4 1st Joseph Canepa Michael Brosnan Joshua Baltor Steve Rush 2nd Steve Martino Alex Alvarez Dennis Reiser Walter Koning Upcoming Tournaments January 10 – 2 Man Razzle Dazzle January 24 – 4 Man Scramble February 7 – 2 Man NCGA Qualifying February 21 – Beat the Pro, Prez and GM Member Updates Tom Santoro passed away on August 31st at the age of 81. Ralph Costanzo passed away on December 1 after a long bout with cancer. Glenn Natenson had a Hole in One on August 26th at Graeagle Meadows Golf Course, Hole #8, Par 3 140 Yards with a 6 iron. Rules Corner Poser Number 1. Three incidents with the same outcome. What are the rulings? 1. Greg chips his ball on the fringe and the ball in motion accidentally hits a 5-iron that was left on the putting green near the fringe by a player in the previous group. 2. Jerry strokes his ball on the putting green and the ball in motion accidentally hits a 5-iron that was left on the putting green near the fringe by a player in the previous group. 3. Mike strokes his ball on the putting green and the ball in motion accidentally hits a 5-iron that was left on the fringe of the putting green by a player in the previous group. Poser Number 2. A provisional ball may not be played: 1. When the player has played his original ball towards a known penalty area that is surrounded by closely-mown turf. 2. When the player has played his original ball towards a known penalty area that is surrounded by deep rough and woods. 3. When the player has played the original ball into an area where the ball may be unplayable or lost outside a penalty area. 4. After the player has gone forward 20 yards to retrieve a different club from his golf bag. Poser Number 3 When is a player no longer permitted to play his original ball? 1. The player plays a provisional ball from where the original ball was last played, and it comes to rest nearer the hole than where the original ball is likely to be. 2. The player finds his ball in an unplayable lie after a two-minute search. 3. The player’s first stroke from the tee comes to rest in a penalty area and a second ball is teed but not yet played. 4. A new ball has been dropped under Rule 17.1 (Relief for Ball Not Round but in Penalty Area) when the player’s original ball has not been found but is known to be in the penalty area. Points to Ponder Diapers and politicians should be changed often. Both for the same reason. Did you know that on the Canary Islands, there is not one canary? And on the Virgin Isles? Same thing, not one canary there either. One good hole is all it takes to ruin your plans to quit golf forever. Researchers claim that simply thinking about golf boosts your mood more than antidepressants. The good news is I’ve made it to my golden years. The bad news is there ain’t no gold. If NASA really wants to find water or Mars, they should just send me there to hit a golf ball. Answers to Rules questions: Poser Number 1. Incidents 1 and 3, the stroke counts, there is no penalty and the ball is played as it lies. In incident 1, while the ball hit a movable obstruction, it was played from off the green. In incident 3, while the ball was played from the green, it hit a movable obstruction off the green. No harm, no foul. Incident 2, under Rule 11.1b(2), If…the ball in motion hit any of the following on the putting green, the player must replay the stroke from the spot where that stroke was made: • Any person other than the player or a person attending the flagstick • A movable obstruction other than the club used to make the stroke, a ball marker, a ball at rest or an attended flagstick • An animal. If Jerry does not replay the stroke, he gets the general penalty. Poser Number 2. 1. When the player has played his original ball towards a known penalty area that is surrounded by closely-mown turf. It is not probable the ball is lost outside the penalty area. Points 2. And 3., the ball may be lost outside of a penalty area in which case a provisional is permitted. Point 4, he is permitted to use a different club to hit a provisional. Poser Number 3 4. A new ball has been dropped under Rule 17.1c when the player’s original ball has not been found but is known to be in the penalty area. (Definition of In Play – A ball remains in play until it is holed, except that it is no longer in play … When another ball has been substituted for it, even if not allowed by a Rule.