From the President

How time flies. We are already half way through the year and it seems like just yesterday that we were planning, organizing, and budgeting for this year's coming activities.

Your board has been working diligently on a implementing a number of goals that you, the membership, have expressed as important to the Morro Bay Golf Club. We have consciously put time, effort, and money into promoting such priorities as:

• membership and club promotion;
• social functions;
• NCGA tournament events;
• greater overall membership involvement;
• junior support and participation;
• and of course continued fiscal responsibility.

I want to personally thank all the members of the Board for their dedication to the task and for the outstanding job that they have all done so far this year.

As your President, I hope you will continue supporting the many events and activities that are available throughout the year. Thus far we have had great turnouts for both our NCGA tournament events as well as our in-house tournaments such as Mixed Doubles, Match Play, Eclectic, and of course our regular Tuesday play.

A special thank you to the coordinators of these special events:

• Don Albin (Match Play Tournament);
• Bill McCann (Mixed Doubles Tournament);
• Margaret Breen (Eclectic Tournament and all NCGA Tournaments);
• and of course Jim Watts (Tuesday Tournament Play).
• And for those who have been following our Summer League Team, what a great job our captains Jack Johnson and Bill McCann have done. The Board is already in contract negotiations with these two in hopes that they will accept an extension of their contracts with an added 100% bonus in monetary compensation.

In closing I would like to encourage all of you with Internet access to frequently visit our website (Morro Bay Golf Club.org) to see what's happening. Our bulletin board at the golf course clubhouse is also a great place to reference upcoming events, activities, and important club information.

Have a great summer and we will see you on the golf course.

Southern California Moving to GHIN

In 2010 the Southern California Golf Associations (SCGA, WPLGA, etc.) will be moving to the GHIN software, which is the same software that the NCGA uses.

Golfers who belong to both organizations will no longer have two numbers. You will only have one number and one handicap. The plan is that your NCGA/GHIN# is the one you will retain after the change.

So, if you have both an NCGA/GHIN# and a Southern CA number, please let the Handicap Chair of your Southern CA club know your GHIN# . This will ease the transition and ensure you don’t lose any history.

For the rest of us, this means that starting in 2010, posting at Avila or Blacklake or any of the other SCGA courses will be just like posting at Dairy Creek!

Summer Team Play

Morro Bay Clubs the Country Clubbers!

Our winning team: Back Row: Dennis Marty, Frank Morales,Ted Oliver, Sam Mangum, Don Albin, Alex Kuchenmeister, Larry Rentler, Randy Kleinhammer, Les Wade, Steve Carnes, Rita Carnes Front Row: Josh Heptig, Captain Jack Johnson

Our team won their first match defeating the SLO Country Club 28-8.

Randy Kleinhammer, our former 5-time club champion, came out of semi-retirement to win 3 and 1 with an eagle on the first hole, pitching in from 70 yards. If that wasn’t demoralizing enough, he shot a 69 with a 4 hc. His partner, another new player, Josh Heptig (77), lost 3 and 1 to a hot opponent that shot a 73. The team won 2 and 1 for 4 points.

Carnes (76) and Wade (84) won big, 4 and 3. Carnes had 3 birds. They both edged out 1 up wins by each scoring on the 18th. That gave them a max team total of 6. Wade made a miraculous recovery after being down by 4 with 8 to play.

Albin (79) and Rentler (82) won 2 and 1 in their usual classy style. Albin polished his man off 4 and 3 (wow) but Rentler ran into a guy that shot a 76, 2 under his hc. Another 4 for the team.

Oliver (76) and Kuchenmeister (76) steamrollered their opponents 3 and 1 with Oliver winning 6 and 5 (wow) and Alex 5 and 4 (wow). Another 6 points!

Morales (80) knocked off the testy team captain 2 up with a bird on 18. Mangum (83) lost 3 and 2 to a man that shot 77, 5 under his hc. The team got a split. The other captain was grumbling that 'it doesn’t make sense. Two guys with12 hcs only one over in the first 5 holes!'. And later '… doesn’t Sammy ever miss?'.

Marty (91) thought he lost but actually tied his opponent. Rita Carnes (87), another first timer, made a fantastic recovery, winning 2 of the last 3 holes for a 1 up victory. Her husband, when told said 'isn’t she something, she’s better than watching TV'. They also took 5 points for the team by each winning one of the last 3 holes.

As exciting and amazing as all this was, reality may settle in on the 25th when the Morros take on Bayonet at MB. Bayonet is one of the 4 best teams in the NCGA.

Statistics: SLOCC as a team was only 5 over their handicaps. MB was 5 under. Captain errors: if I had switched Albin and Rentler they both would have won!

Who were those masked men?

Bayonet ran us into the cactus 28-8!

Once again the amazing Mr. Kleinhammer shot up his opponent 1 up with a 75. Carnes had trouble mounting his horse losing with an 82. The team went down 1up.

Wade used both guns again helping to steel a team win with a bird on 17. He missed a tie in his singles duel on an 18th hole penalty. Rentler couldn’t find his horse with an 84.

Albin made all three pops work in a heated battle for a tie with a 78. Semenza came out blazing on the first hole and then disappeared in a cloud of dust with an 84. They lost a close match 2 and 1.

Kuchenmeister, still the fastest gun in the west, dropped his man 1up with an 82. Oliver fell off his horse with an 86. The team lost 2 and 1.

Stoll had a great round 80, losing to a sharpshooter that was 6 under his hc. Nielson had a good ride, an 84, but was mistakenly shot by Stoll with a free shot for Mike’s opponent and a penalty shot on 18. They also lost a close one 2 and 1.

Johnson blew away every can in the air with his Morro Bay best, an 80. All he got was a tie. East couldn’t shoot strait with an 89. He must not have known he had a horse! They lost a squeaker 1up when Shadie’s opponent holed a 20 footer.

Sunnier days ahead at the ranch in two weeks.

Notes: The worst score from Bayonet: 82. Their first six scores: 75,74,73,75,75 and 76! We were 7 strokes over our combined hc. Bayonet was 22 under! We might have been a little over our heads, you think?

NCGA Qualifying Events

Congratualtions to the winners of our NCGA Qualifier Events:
	4-Ball	Nick Parenti/Dick Mooney Shadie East/Rudi Semenza
	Zone Championship	Sam Mangum/Ted Oliver Shadie East/Rudi Semenza
	Senior 4-Ball	Paul Bittick/Chuck Stoll Steve Spisak/Tom Massey

Our final NCGA qualifier will be the Net Amateur. This is the one qualifier which is both individual and players get their FULL July handicap. The qualifier is scheduled for July 28th .

The format will be individual stroke play. The four golfers with the lowest NET scores will qualify for the next level.

Click here for full details and an entry form.

Invitational Tournament

We have changed the name of our Member-Guest Annual Golf Tournament!
As you can see, we are making an attempt to expand it by not only having flights for Member/Guests, but also incorporating flights for Guest/Guests.

For some time this idea has been "kicked around" and so finally the Board has decided to give it a try. For years the Morro Bay Ladies Club has filled their tournament (144) by inviting teams of players from outside their club to participate in a Guest/Guest flight. Considering the time, money, and hours spent in organizing this event, we thought more people would have an opportunity to participate if we tried this format.

A few of other changes have also been made. It will be a one day tournament: Saturday, September 12 and much less expensive ($50). The format is two-person best ball.

What has not changed, however, are all the prizes that will be awarded to all flights (net and gross); the outstanding luncheon; and the total enjoyment in playing in this, our 49th Annual Tournament.

Your Help is Needed!

Rick Betterley and Chuck Stoll will be coordinating this year's tournament. And YES, they are going to need all the help and cooperation they can get from all of us.!

They are asking all of us to help them secure raffle items and sponsorships. These, along with our very special silent auction, allow us once again to generously support our local high school golf teams and put on one heck of a good tournament.

Please contact any member of our club's Board of Directors if you can help in any way.

Thank you very much.

Weekly Play

We could really use your help in the way you complete your score cards for our weekly games!

Please list your handicap! If we have to look it up for every player we would never get done!

Please put first AND LAST names.
You know who was in your group, but we find it hard to decide which Bill or Bob or Jack you are referring to. Wouldn’t want the prize money going to the wrong player!

And please make sure you are only signed up once! We have had a lot of duplicate signups lately which has caused confusion for the starter and players.

Rules Update

Rules Chairman Bill McCann warns that your Foot is not an outside agency! It appears that overall we are doing a better job of playing by the rules. There are still some who continue to break the rules on a continuing basis. Believe me, we know who you are. The word gets around through casual conversations, who are the culprits, and what are the infractions. There are even some who just slap the ball around without even trying to do their best. You know who you are. It would be better if you took it upon yourself to start playing by the rules rather than the board taking action against you. If we all play by all the rules, all the time and always try our best, we will all be better served.

Thank You from Morro Bay High School

Dear Morro Bay Golf Club,

On behalf of the entire Boys Golf Team at Morro Bay High School, we would like to thank you for your most generous support of this year's golf team. Your donation helped us to purchase golf balls, team shirts, and provided additional funds to help pay some of the costs of playing and practicing this summer.

Although we didn't quite make it to CIF this year, we did come very close. Our last tournament of the year was played at La Purisma and we finally did defeat St. Joseph's High School in Santa Maria who placed second in our league this year. Next year we have a very good chance of beating both St. Joe and Santa Ynez as we have 5 returning varsity lettermen. Wish us luck!

Once again, thank you very much for everything.

Sincerely,

Matt Hansen
Eric Olson
Team Co-Captains

Pictures Wanted!

Any members with digital pictures that they think would be appropriate for the web site should contact Margaret Breen at  morrobaygc@hotmail.com