TEXAS STATE AMATEUR GOLF ASSOCIATION

Date: February 19, 2003

To: All TSAGA Member Clubs & Officers

Subject: TSAGA Update

Gentlemen:

The Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club (POPGC) and I are happy to announce that we have been able to hammer out a budget that will allow us to have a registration fee of $195 for our 60th Annual TSAGA State Tournament to be held on July 10-12. Many thanks go to club President Byron Miles and his committee for developing a budget that will allow us to roll back our registration fees while at the same time, increasing the value of our prize pool for this year. Hopefully this package will address some of the recent concerns about our tournament and allow each of you to provide your membership with the information and encouragement needed to get everyone registered and onboard for Amarillo in July.

I have attached a copy of the complete budget for the tournament for your information. In it you will see that as in the past, we are asking that each Chapter/Club donate a minimum of $200 in advertisements and/or cash toward the tournament souvenir book. It is our goal this year to use the net proceeds from the souvenir book, to meet our mission of proving funding for Junior Golf. We know that some clubs will struggle with this donation, but please do what you can when the time comes to give! By us showing that we DO in fact provide a service to Junior Golf, we will be able to begin to solicit corporate funding for the program and also further reduce the cost and increase the prize pool at our tournament.

Also included as part of this year’s tournament agenda will be a one-hour workshop on “The Rules of Golf” conducted by a local PGA professional. Members will be exposed to the basic rules of golf and be allowed to ask questions relative to the rules. Along with a hospitality suite each night that includes more than peanuts with you drink, the POPGC will be hosting a “Fish Fry” on Thursday evening, and we will have a “Champions Banquet” on Friday evening.

Clubs and members can expect to receive their tournament registration packets around April 1. Please encourage your members to register early. Operating capital for the tournament comes directly from registration. Also early registration assists the POPGC in getting their work done early and making the tournament as enjoyable as possible.

Membership Growth
We are making great strides in increasing the number of clubs and members in our Association during the first quarter. Please join me in welcoming the Kango Golf Association of Lubbock to the TSAGA. The Kango Golf Association can be reached through their President, Ossie Curry at P.O. Box 168 Lubbock, Texas 79408. Ossie’s telephone number is 806-765-6711.

In December, we welcomed back the Gulf Coast Golf Club of Corpus Christi. Gary Pleasant leads the GCGC. The GCGC can be reached through Gary at 2024 Van Loan Avenue Corpus Christi, Texas 78407. Gary’s telephone number is 361-779-1760. The Gulf Coast Golf Club will be hosting their Inter-City tournament on September 20th at the Padre Island Country Club. Be sure to mark your calendars for golfing on the beach!

We continue to work with the Unique Golf Association of San Antonio, the Lone Star Golf Association of Houston and the Sigma Golf Club of Galveston about their joining our Association in the next few weeks.

Not for Profit 501-(C)(3) status
Our Vice-president has located the documentation declaring the TSAGA a 501-(C)(3) organization by the Internal Revenue Service since 1974. This is good news, as we can now eliminate the payment of taxes when doing business, and also approach corporations about donating to our organization.

Unified Handicapping System
Work continues on identifying a service or software that can be used by our Association to collect and report handicap information statewide. In January, we received information from the Texas Golf Association (TGA) about our using the USGA’s Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN) service. The major advantages to the USGA system are:

• Play any GHIN course (anywhere) and have your scores transmitted back to your home club.
• Have one handicap index, which is adjusted for any course and tees played.
• Ability to print handicap reports and flight players for all TSGA members prior to any tournament.

A committee has been appointed to review the GHIN system and other services, and report back to the TSGA during our summer meeting. If your club has any input into this area, please contact Dexter Kuykendall at (254) 751-7237 or by email at: Dexterk@grandecom.net

Membership Survey

In January a survey was developed by the Executive Board and mailed to 150 of our members. To date we have had 60 members return the survey. If you or one of your members has not returned the survey, please encourage them to do so ASAP. The purpose of the survey is to allow individual members of the TSAGA some input into how we operate our Association and where the TSAGA should be going in the future.

Membership Dues and Information
If your club has not done so, please have your Treasurer forward your club’s 2003 membership dues to the State Secretary, Prenis Williams ASAP. Membership dues are $100 per club and are extremely important to the operation of the TSAGA. A check or money order made out to the TSAGA can be mailed to:

Texas State Amateur Golf Association
C/o Prenis Williams, Secretary
P.O. Box 9089
Amarillo, Texas 79107

Attached to this letter is a copy of your club’s membership roster as posted on the TSAGA web-site. Please review the information, update it where necessary and submit to Prenis by March 15, 2003. Be sure that you include your members most recent handicap information, so that we will have the information available for our Inter-City and State Tournaments.

Tournament Schedule
Our 2003 Inter-City tournament schedule gets under way in March with the Monarch Golf Association of Victoria hosting their 40th Anniversary Celebration on March 22 & 23. The Monarch’s tournament will include a Skins Game on Friday, March 21 at Noon, an Anniversary Banquet on Saturday and a Fish Fry following tournament play on Sunday. Tournament headquarters will be at the Holiday Inn (361) 575-0251. For more information, contact Wilford Washington at (361) 573-2795 or email: wilwash@tisd.net

Tournament play continues in April with the Central Texas Golf Association of Waco hosting their annual Inter-City tournament on April 26, 2003 at the Cottonwood Creek Golf course. Cottonwood Creek played host to the 57th Annual State Tournament in 2000. Complete information about the Cen-Tex tournament should be arriving in the mail soon or you can contact Darrell Gaines at (254) 699-5350 or email: Darrell052@aol.com

A complete list of the TSAGA Tournament dates is enclosed.

Finally, I have enjoyed talking by phone or communicating by email with many of our members and club presidents over the past three months. It is my intention to call each of our club presidents and allow them to bend my ear, with concerns, advice and constructive critisicm over the next few weeks. If I haven’t called you yet don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call me. I can be reached day or night at (210) 599-8157 or by email at emiles1@satx.rr.com

Again, hats off to the Pride of the Panhandle Golf Club for working to make our 60th Annual TSAGA State Tournament affordable and exciting. Please send in your $200 contribution and/or advertisements for the journal and I look forward to seeing your players at each stop during the 2003 Inter-City tournament tour!

Sincerely,

Edwin K. Miles, President
Texas State Amateur Golf Association

PS – Please make copies of this letter and attachments and share with your members. Thanks!