Thanksgiving Dinner in the restaurant, or enjoy it with your family!!
DivotDs
DIVOTS Nov. 1, 2016
From the Pro Kim Griggs, PGA November is the true beginning of our season. It is has been great seeing all the snow birds coming back!! The golf course is starting to fill up again and that is nice to see. With that in mind, please be aware of your pace of play. If you are slower group, please do not hesitate to let others play through. Remember our rangers are only doing their job out on the golf course, please be courteous and listen to their instruction. Fairway & Tee Box Divot Repair Please fill your divots in the fairway & on tee boxes with the sand and seed mix provided. DO NOT fill in divots in the rough. Please fix your ball mark on the greens!!! Fix yours and 2 more and this will help keep our greens in great shape.
The Pro Shop & Driving Range will close on Thanksgiving at 2:00 PM so that our staff can enjoy Thanksgiving with their families. Enjoy your
Bunker Etiquette The question of where to put the rake (in the bunker or out) has always been an issue. The PGA recommends that you leave the handle of the rake outside the bunker and the rake part inside the bunker. This will make it easier for the next person to use the rake. Also, PLEASE enter every bunker from the lowest side (not the steep side). After hitting your sand shot, PLEASE rake and smooth all foot prints and uneven areas for the next person. No one likes to hit out of a foot print or indentation. If we ALL follow these simple rules, I would appreciate it. Golf Course Mike Kropf has purchased some new cart signs to direct you to the cart path. Please do not drive around the side of the greens, but instead get on the cart path. For example on # 4: DO NOT drive on the left side by the green, and on # 5 do not drive on the right side of the green and behind the green to get to the cart path.- these are just examples of 2 holes that I can think of. There will be ONLY 1 EXCEPTION: On hole # 16, we will allow carts to drive on the left side by the green and around behind the green, due to the steepness of that hill.
Checking In When checking in for golf, we now have a cash register (Point of sale) at both
registers now. So, this should make check in a little faster for everyone Also, it is VERY important that we receive the correct names of the people playing in each group as soon as possible. Making Tee Times Please remember that when you are checking in for a shotgun that it is very busy, we will ask you to fill out a form for a tee time request and leave it on the pro shop counter. After we send out the shotgun, we will be more than happy to take care of your request. Thank you for your patience and understanding. From the Assistant Tim Lochner First of all I would like to welcome back all of you returning to Sun City for the new season. I very much looking forward to this season, it should be a great one. I thought you might enjoy a little history in this month’s article so that’s what this one is about.
The History of the Golf Ball How did it become what it is today? No one knows for certain exactly when the game of Golf started. The earliest references date back to the beginning of the 15th century. There we find the first references to golf club and golf ball makers coming from Holland. The game at that point was actually referred to as
“Kolf” which is a Dutch word meaning club. These early players of the game we call golf today used balls shaped from pieces of wood. These 1st golf balls were definitely not perfectly round like the balls of today and had no dimples. The smooth surface provided no way to control golf ball spin. The result of not providing a way to control golf ball spin was increased drag and negligible aerodynamic properties. This led to unpredictable flight characteristics of these early golf balls. In 1618 the Feathery golf ball was introduced. These handcrafted balls were made from boiled goose or chicken feathers (approximately enough to fill a gentlemen’s top hat) packed tightly into a sphere made from sewn together sections of horse or cow hide that were still wet. After the feathers were stuffed into a small opening left in the hide it was sewn up tightly and allowed to dry. During the drying process the feathers would expand as the leather shrank. This made the feathery ball surprisingly hard. After the balls were dry they were hammered into shape and coated with several coats of paint. This process was very time consuming and expensive as well as inconsistent. Due to this time consuming process, quantities were very limited and so expensive they were only available to a select group. Despite these shortcomings this was the ball of choice until the mid 1800’s.
In 1848 the Gutta-Percha golf ball or “Guttie� was introduced by Rev. Dr. Robert Adams Paterson of St. Andrews. Gutta-Percha is a rubber like sap produced by the Sapodilla tree. This rubber like sap was heated and shaped into a sphere which could be used as a golf ball. Initially these balls had a smooth finish on the surface. This smooth surface again provided no way to control golf ball spin and led to aerodynamic properties which actually created more drag and kept the Guttie from traveling as far as the Feathery. However this golf ball could be produced more economically to the tune of about one quarter of the price of a Feathery. It also could be repaired after play by reheating and reshaping. As time went by players found that Gutties that had been used and now had nicks and scratches in them had truer flight characteristics than the smooth ones. This led to the development of the Hand Hammered Gutta. This was a process whereby a softened ball was hammered with a sharp edged hammer giving the ball an even pattern. This pattern was the beginning of providing a way to control golf ball spin leading to improved flight characteristics. During this time the Victorians brought about industrialization and mechanization. This meant that the Gutties were now made from moulds increasing their affordability, consistency and quality. The increased affordability along with a legitimate railway system greatly expanded and popularized the game of golf. This
popularization was aided by the increased leisure time available from the prosperity brought about during the industrial revolution. Gutties continued to be revised with new patterns on the surface. Most manufacturers used the Bramble pattern. This new pattern was an improvement in controlling the golf ball spin providing even better flight characteristics. In 1901 the next change came when Coburn Haskell an employee of the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company invented the Rubber golf Ball. It had elastic thread wound around a rubber core under great tension covered with patterned GuttaPercha. This ball had its skeptics until Sandy Herd played 72 holes with the ball at the Royal Liverpool course and beat the great Harry Vardon and James Braid by one shot. Sandy Herd was the only player in the event to play the ball. In 1908 the golf ball received its first dimple pattern. Dimples were found to be even better than the raised patterns of the past in controlling golf ball spin. This reduced drag and aerodynamically created lift to keep the ball in the air longer for increased distance. These balls continued to vary in size and weight. In 1932 the United States Golf Association imposed standardization of the golf ball as it is know today. This standardization calls for
a golf ball that weighs no more than 1.620 ounces and is at a minimum 1.680 inches in diameter. The modern golf ball of today continues to be improved with new chemical compositions and manufacturing techniques allowing manufacturers to increase durability, consistency and performance. Manufacturers are now making golf balls with multilayer construction to control the spin rate as the golf ball is struck by different clubs helping players have more control over their shots.
Nov 15–President’s Cup & Stableford Nov 22– Turkey Shoot – Low Net Ladies 9 Hole Golf Club Nov 3– Speedy Scramble with Handicap Meeting & Lunch to follow. Nov 10– Strokes to the Green Nov 17– Best Ball Gross-Net Nov 24- Thanksgiving (No Game) Men’s 9 Hole Golf Club Nov 3 – Sucker in the Bucket Nov 10 – Play With Buddies – Scramble (Meeting & Burger Bash) Nov 17- No Choice Nov 24- Thanksgiving (No Game)
Calendar of Events Nov 24 – Thanksgiving – Pro Shop Closes @ 2:00 pm
Club Activities TVWGC (Crossover) Nov 1– Hate’em Nov 8– 5 & 4 Nov 15 – Low Gross Low Net and Medallion/ So Dist Nov 22 – 2, 2, 5 Nov 28- Catalina Cup (The Views) Nov 29 – Fairway minus Putts Men’s 18 Hole Golf Club Nov 1– President’s Cup Qualifying & Low Net Nov 8 – President’s Cup & Low Net
Merchandise Just a reminder that if you are a 9 hole or 18 hole Annual pass holder, you will receive 30% off your purchase in the golf shop. This excludes sale items, balls and golf clubs. If you are a resident of Sun City you will receive 15% off your purchase, also excluding sale items, balls and golf clubs. Beginner Golf School We will be conducting our next beginner golf school on Nov 12, 13,19,20,26 & 27 from 9:00-10:00 am. The cost for the six one hour sessions is $120.00 pp. If you do not own your own clubs, we will provide clubs for you. We need to have at least 4 participants to have the school.