MESSAGE FROM THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Good Afternoon,
We’ve had a great … and very busy opening weekend here at Lookout Point Country Club. We want to start by thanking all the members who came out and followed the protocols we have in place to keep Lookout Point a safe place to enjoy some outdoor activities. We’ve had a few questions pop up, and we will answer those in our next newsletter.
Today we have some exciting things to share this week - our Golf Shop is nearly stocked (albeit we can’t invite you indoors to browse yet) and our Mens & Ladies sections along with our Games committee have been busy planning the calendar of events for the first few months of the season. More information will be coming from our Games committee later this week (or early next) on the member event schedule for the year. In the meantime, our Men’s and Ladies sections are ready to start taking signups for the Men’s and Ladies Leagues for 2021. Full details can be found by clicking on the appropriate buttons below. If you have any questions regarding the leagues, please feel free to get in touch with Ben Scapillati (Tournament & Events Coordinator) at ben@lopcc.com or contact us in the golf shop.
In today’s newsletter we have a reminder from our Handicap Committee, an update from Aldo in our latest “Green Report”, the re-launch of our online store (featuring some essential curbside items) and the results of our Masters Pool.
Happy reading!
On behalf of the Professional Staff,
Dan Roud
Golf Shop Manager
PGA of Canada
MASTERS GOLF POOL RESULTS
We had almost 90 participants in this year’s Lookout Point Country Club master’s pool!! Thank you to everyone who participated. We hope you enjoyed watching Hideki Matsuyama bring Japan their first Men’s major championship. I’d fully expect we will see a HUGE boost to the popularity of Golf at this summers Olympics in Tokyo as well as for year’s to come in Japan.
Closer to home, we had 5 members who will take home prizes from our Pool. Our 1st place team Who’s the greatest (Gino Paolone) rode the strength of Will Zalatoris & Jordan Speith along with a final round surge from John Rahm to win the pool by a single stroke over Team Hackenbush (Rob Culliton). Rob had an excellent team with tournament champion Hideki Matsuyama & both players who tied for 3rd overall (Jordan Speith & Xander Schauffele). Xander, Xander, Xander……if only he didn’t triple the 16th, Rob might have run away with this thing!!! In 3rd Place we had a 3 way tie between The Timmsdale Tips (Shawn Petlichkov), 19th Hole (Reid Hodgson) & DFight runner up (Todd Dougall) who all finished at -22 under. Reminder: The tie breaker only decides our overall champion. All 3 tied members for 3rd will share the 3rd place pot.
PRIZING
1st Place
GINO PAOLONE - $445 in Golf Shop Credits
2nd Place
ROB CULLITON - $267 in Golf Shop Credits
3rd Place
SHAWN PETLICHKOV - $59.33 in Golf Shop Credits
REID HODGSON - $59.33 in Golf Shop Credits
TODD DOUGALL - $59.33 in Golf Shop Credits
*Credits will be applied to winners account this week and can be used for future purchases. All credits expire on December 31st, 2021.
FROM THE GREEN ROOM
In addition to our tree removal project that you have already heard about, around the golf course, we have also pruned back large trees where they impede approach shots towards the greens. The picture you see here is the 3 large walnuts to the right of #6 valley in front of the green. You will also notice during your play, we pruned back 2 large walnuts to the left of the 6th valley. The intention is to also prune back the tree fence line which impacts the tee shots on the 11th & 14th holes.
During the tail end of the well pumping season, located behind the 9th green, late last summer during a heavy lightning storm the well pump motor was hit and was compromised. We were in a position to have a new pump/motor installed last week. We needed to bring in a crane to remove, section by section of 6 inch pipe which went down 340 feet into the well. As you can see in the second photo, water is coming out as the new pump was being successfully tested.
Finally, here is a photo of our sprinklers watering #3 green last week due to the early heat wave we witnessed. Our golf course has very sandy soil, albeit great drainage but unfortunately does dry up much sooner than other golf courses. So far this year has seen some very uncommon weather patterns to the point of having to irrigate our greens on a few occasions already.
FROM THE HANDICAP COMMITTEE
An Active Season is the period of time when acceptable scores from a specified area should be submitted for handicap purposes. The Rules of Handicapping stipulates that every player is responsible for submitting all acceptable scores into one’s scoring record for rounds played on courses during the active season.
It is the responsibility of authorized provincial golf associations to declare active and inactive seasons, with area clubs and players required to observe these dates for score posting purposes. To make this process easier, the Golf Canada Score Centre automatically considers the active season of the course being played when a score is posted and whether it should be included in calculating a player’s Handicap Index.
In Canada, the active season in each province is as follows:
BC = Mar.1 – Nov.15
AB = Mar.1 – Oct.31
SK = Apr.15 – Oct.31
MB = Apr.15 – Oct.31
ON = Apr.15 – Oct.31
QC = Apr.15 – Oct.31
NS = Apr.15 – Oct.31
NB = May.1 – Oct.31
PE = Apr.16 – Nov.14
NL = Apr.1 – Nov. 30
Scores made at any golf course observing an inactive season are not acceptable for handicap calculation purposes. This is because course conditions during inactive seasons are not consistent with the way that the Course & Slope Ratings were determined, which can impact the accuracy of a player’s Handicap Index.
Scores made at a golf course in an area observing an active season must be posted for handicap purposes, even if the golf club where the player is a member is observing an inactive season.
It’s important to note that if you are travelling to other countries or regions, you should confirm their active seasons to ensure all acceptable scores are posted. Your home club needs all acceptable scores (even if played during a Canadian “off-season”) to ensure that your Handicap Index is accurate and reflects your demonstrated ability.
For example, if a player belonging to a golf club in Ontario plays golf in Florida (which observes a year-round active season) during January, any score(s) made in Florida are acceptable and must be submitted to the player’s scoring record. If the player is also a member of a golf club in Florida and Ontario, it is important to remember that all acceptable scores must be posted to each scoring record. The Golf Canada Score Centre has tools available to link Canadian and USGA accounts, so that a score posted to one account is automatically transferred to the other.
For more information, or to set up this link, please contact members@golfcanada.ca or phone 1-800-263-0009 X399.
Here are a couple other reminders of recent changes to the Golf Canada handicap system:
Playing Conditions Calculation (PCC)
Under the World Handicap System, a player’s performance in a round is measured against the Course Rating and Slope Rating of the tees that were played. However, these values are based on normal playing conditions, and factors such as weather or course set-up can make a course play harder or easier than normal.
When abnormal course or weather conditions cause scores to be unusually high or low on a given day, a Playing Conditions Calculation (PCC) will adjust Score Differentials to better reflect the player’s actual performance. This mechanism works by a statistical procedure which evaluates acceptable scores submitted each day and compares them to the expected scores of those players. The PCC is calculated automatically, so there is no additional work for players or club administrators.
To learn more on PCC, please watch this video.
Net Double Bogey
By setting a maximum score on each hole for handicap purposes, the new Rules of Handicapping will ensure that the occasional bad hole does not impact a Handicap Index too severely or prevent otherwise good scores from being used in the Handicap Index calculation.
The maximum score for each hole played is limited to a net double bogey – which is equal to Par of the hole + 2 strokes (double bogey) + any handicap strokes the player is entitled to on that hole based on their Course Handicap.
For example, a player with a Course Handicap of 16 is entitled to one additional stroke on holes allocated with stroke index 1 through 16 on the scorecard. On a par 4 hole, with a Stroke Index of 6, the player’s maximum score would be 4 (par) + 2 (double bogey) + 1 (stroke received) = 7.
Alternatively, Golf Canada members can choose to post their scores in the Hole-by-Hole (HBH) format. Posting in this method requires no adjustments from the golfer as the Golf Canada Score Center system will make all necessary adjustments automatically.
On behalf of your Handicap Committee,
Joanna Maund
Handicap Co-Chair
ONLINE STORE
We are in the midst of reviving our online store to help with members who need some essential items prior to or following their round. A reminder that the Golf Shop is available for take out items (such as snacks & drinks) 10 minutes before your tee time.
Click on the following buttons to see updated items in the following categories :
We know everyone is anxious to see some of the new Apparel that we have to offer. Unfortunately during this Stay at Home order we can’t invite you in the browse and try on clothing. In the meantime, we would like to offer members a chance to book a “virtual appointment”. Virtual Appointments will be available daily between the hours of 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm and can be booked in advance by calling a member of the golf shop team. The Golf Shop will then connect with you on zoom and be able to tour you around some of the products we will be carrying.
Until we are re-opened fully we have also prepared a section on the online store where you can preview the brands and product lines that we have available. Feel free to browse our suppliers websites and contact us with any special order requests. Note: Not ALL products you see on a vendors site are available for order. Please click the button below to find out more….