“Chip Shots”

December 2011

This fall was great for those that like to get out for the last few rounds of golf before the inevitable season ahead.  For some reason that ‘next season’ seemed to hit all of a sudden as we enjoyed a great late fall for golf-but we all know the spring will be right around the corner and we will soon be out golfing again

At the fall golf advisory board meeting a few weeks ago, we discussed a rather long list of topics- the every year topics of state tournaments, state banquets, the ratings and academic awards were covered.  This year we added a few other topics which I hope you read to the end of the article to see.

Before that, I would like to encourage you to join the coaches association-we work behind the scenes trying to make HS golf better across the state.  This past year there are 8 schools which will be receiving a check for 500.00 because they sold the endorsed by the Minnesota Golf Coaches Association-Minnesota Golf Card.  The schools drawn were Buffalo, East Central, Hinckley, Hopkins, Park Center, Rockford, Rogers, and Woodbury-and the coaches involved in those programs have been contacted-congrats, and the checks are in the mail so to speak.

Remember in order to be eligible for the drawing for the money you have to be a current member of the golf coaches association. Unfortunately, this past year there were quite a number of coaches which were not members and their schools were drawn.  So join the coaches association and get out and sell the cards-it seems that all golfers in Minnesota are out looking for the bargains.

This year marks the start of the golf coaches association getting back involved in the Sunshine Golf Clinic.  A long history there, but in the next few weeks we will be sending out the information on the golf clinic.  Mark the dates of March 5^th in Staples-Motley as the northern site and March 12^th at Providence Academy in Plymouth as the metro area for the clinics-much more information will be coming.

At the Presidents meeting early this fall I received a list of topics form the MSHSL as discussion topics for our advisory board.  One area we need to address is the slow pace of play and I would like for all of us to make it a focal point for the upcoming season.  I know some coaches are on the fence as far as being in favor with coaching on the course-but for or against Coaching on the course, I believe we need to help speed up the play and not have the coaching on the course slow down the pace of play.  As a group we all need to help with this-it seems that this past year, at times, the rounds seemed to get slower.

A second topic, of course, is coaching on the course.  My concern is there seems to be inequities with this.  If a coach is the host school they usually have many other duties other than just coaching-getting parents to the hole their child is at, making the scoring sheets, checking out the pace of play, keeping the members happy who have given up their course for the high school teams, etc.  For example, what if a participating school brings a second coach to the meet and the host meet assistant is out of town at a junior varsity type meet.  In this example there seems to be an advantage for the visiting team.  We discussed many examples with the coaching on the course topic-we discussed, but came to no conclusions.  I have suggestions but many will not like them-so try to make it work as best you can this upcoming year and look for suggestions as we get closer to the start of the season.

Other topics included the use of carts.  I did not know where this topic was coming from and as a board we discussed it in two ways-first, allowing the use of pull carts which I believe will be coming soon.  It appears that health workers are in favor because of backs and such and I have noticed some colleges are starting to use them.  And the second is the use of carts by the spectators.  This is difficult-the courses are discounting the green fees in some areas and then by allowing the use of powered carts by spectators they are able to recoup some lost money--there are a lot of stories out there on the use of carts by the spectators.  As we go out this year keep the eye on the players and pace of play and also the parents and how and where they are driving them.

It also appears that distance range finders might be allowed soon.  I do not have a date or if they will be allowed this upcoming season but both the MGA and PGA are starting to soften the rules on this.  Keep up on this to allow your players the most up to date info if it should change for the upcoming season.

The last two topics are the statistics and finding a central place to call in scores.  It appears that this is not going to happen this year but keep this in mind as we enter the season--in the future there might be a central place to send all scores.  The scores we are thinking about are the team meet results and the top one to three individuals of a tournament.  This central location would then immediately forward the info to the newspapers across the state.

The last topic is the number of holes in qualifying for the state meets.  I know of many sections across the state have tried to get a two day tournament for the state qualifying and there seems to be sticking points.  The league is interested in getting the best teams to the state tournament but I also recognize that the travel distance would be a real hardship for a two day tournament for some.  We discussed this topic and not wanting to put words into the MSHSL’s mouth the topic of a uniform or at least support of a uniform qualifying method was discussed-watch for info on this as well.

As I reach the end-polish up the clubs for the winter and check to see that your email contacts are correct on the MSHSL website.  We will be getting out some information in the future on any upcoming changes and additional information on the upcoming clinics.  A special thank you goes out to the efforts of George Reynolds and his continued involvement with golf in the state.  He is supporting the efforts of the coaches association with the Sunshine Golf Clinic and we are really appreciative of his continued efforts.