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Changes and Additions for 2018

01/08/2018, 11:00am EST
By Admin

The WGAWP Executive Board met during the off-season to review the previous season, develop events and tournaments for the upcoming season and discuss operational/business/policy issues of the organization.  The Board is pleased to announce the following updates for the 2018 season:

The requirements for membership have been "tweaked" a bit to allow scores from non-Western clubs to be considered for qualifying.  If ANY of the 10 scores of the last 20 are from a non-Western club, the qualifying index is lowered to 18.4.  If ALL scores come from Western clubs, the index will remain at 21.4.   The rationale for the change is that  ALL courses in western Pennsylvania are rated with the same process.  The Board became aware of several people who are qualified to be in Western but don't play often enough at their home course (ex. business golf or golf with friends at a non-Western course)

Monday September 24 is the date of the "Mystery Event" at a PREMIER, non-Western course.  Geographically dispersed buses will depart mid-morning to take us to the venue.  This is a PARTNER event (not individual; you will not have to hole out!)  There will be a shotgun start followed by a nice dinner.  Buses will return us to our starting point...no designated drivers required!   The $130 cost (per person) includes greens fees, dinner and transportation.  Half of the field will receive prizes.  It should be a fun "girl trip" so plan to sign up early; we expect this to be a sell-out.  Payment will be at the time of registration through a separate administrative site. More details will follow.

Players may now pick their playing partners for BOTH the Mixed Better Ball and the Mixed Team events.  You may choose to create your own foursome or elect to be paired with another twosome (We know that many players enjoy meeting new people in these events)

Non-Resident memberships: There have been many requests, over the years, from members who wish to remain in Western with a non-resident membership at a Western club.  A large percentage of our membership have out-of-state residences and would welcome the ability to convert their Pennsylvania memberships to non-resident status. but this would result in a dramatic loss of revenue to the clubs who have been so supportive of Western.  This Board (and previous Boards) believe in their obligation to protect our member clubs and, given that our members may transfer to other lower cost clubs within the organization, there will be no change to the current membership requirement.   Periodically, claims are made about people who do not have the proper membership at a club.  Our policy is that members must have an unrestricted golf membership with no limits on the number of rounds played or the payment of greens fees.  These claims have occurred frequently enough to prompt a formal policy to verify membership status of new and reinstated members through the application process.  A process involving the Alternate Delegate and the Club Pro or General Manager will attest to their members having the proper classification.  Western members without the proper membership will have a short period of time to correct the problem or they will be ineligible for Western play.  This process protects current Western members who follow the rules and the clubs to which they belong.

The TPP (Tournament Pairing Program) that has been used for tournament registration will give way to a new platform called Tournament Management, a USGA-branded software program for tournament management and administration.   Instructions for use, including the creation of username and password, will be available soon!

      

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