CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF

San Antonio Senior Golf Association

             SAN ANTONIO, TX

June 1, 2013

Article I.  Name:

The name of the organization shall be San Antonio Senior Golf Association.

Article II.  Purpose:

The purpose of this organization is to stimulate general interest in playing golf by all members of the Association and to create a friendly atmosphere for all members in the sport of golf.

Article III.  Board:

Article IV.  Officers and Board Members:

All officers and directors shall be elected at the annual meeting by a majority vote of those present and entitled to vote. All terms of office are one year and begin after election at the annual meeting.  The President may appoint replacements for any vacancy occurring during the year. The Board must confirm all appointments within thirty (30) days.  Appointed officers or directors shall serve only the remainder of the term for which the said officer or director had been elected.

Article V.  Duties:

 Section 1.  President:

The President shall preside at all meetings of this Association and shall conduct the proceedings according to the established rules of Parliamentary Procedure.  All authority not otherwise vested shall be exercised by the President.  The President shall also be a member of the Board and have the power to appoint all committees.  When a different President is elected the immediate Past-President will automatically be retained as a non-voting member of the Board for one additional year to share his experience, knowledge, and wisdom.  In case of the President’s resignation or inability to act, the Tournament Director shall assume all the duties of the President.  The Board must select a new President within thirty (30) days to fill the vacancy in the Board.

Section 2.  Tournament Director:

The duties of the Tournament Director consist of the following items:

A.) Exercise complete authority to establish rules and policy that will govern weekly and annual tournament play, including deviations and local rules when United States Golf Association (USGA) guidelines, golf course rules and/or weather conditions do not apply.  (See Article VII, Section 6 for standing local rules.)

B.)  Represent the Association in meeting with golf course officials to obtain the lowest fees possible and best conditions and formats.  Schedule all rounds of play for the current year.

C.)  Determine the distribution of prize money with generally accepted formulas.  Fundamentally, the greater the number of players the more winners will result.

D.) Be the focal point for tournament play complaints.  If appropriate, the Tournament Director will confer with the President, Secretary/Treasurer and/or the Board to resolve the complaints.

E.) Establish all players’ handicaps and continuously update handicaps in accordance with generally accepted procedures.  Control the starting spots of all players at scheduled tournament.  Determine which tees to use for the best length of play for all players.

Section 3.  Secretary/Treasurer: The duties of the Secretary/Treasurer consist of the following items:

A.)   Collect weekly and annual tournament fees and membership dues, maintain the club bank account, made deposits, pay bills

B.)    Prepare and distribute winnings as directed by the Tournament Director.

C.) Keep the official minutes of all meetings of this Association, recording all proceedings and actions    conducted at these meetings.

D.)   Report financial status to the Board and membership regularly.

E.)    Be the custodian of all papers, documents, and files of the Association and prepare all the correspondence pertaining to the Association.

Section 4. Director:

The duties of a Director consist of the following items:

A.)    Collect ideas and concerns from the general membership and present them at Board meetings

B.)    Vote on all official Board business

Article VI. Amendments:

This constitution, including the By-laws, may be amended or replaced by a majority vote of the members present and voting, provided that the amendments were submitted to the membership in writing at least (30) days in advance of the meeting.  Amendments may be voted at any regular meeting or a special meeting to be called by the Board upon written request from 10 or more active members and subject to the preceding provisions.  Such amendments, alterations or repeals shall take effect immediately upon adoption.

Article VII. By-laws:

The provisions of a code of By-laws to be adopted simultaneously with this constitution shall govern this organization

Section 1.  Membership:

All persons who are now members of this Association or who may be in the future admitted into the membership in the manner prescribed and whose dues have been paid for the current year shall constitute the membership of this Association. Annual dues are payable on January 1st of each year and must be paid before member plays in that calendar year.  Members must have an established handicap in this club to be eligible to win prize money.  3 rounds are required to establish a handicap.  Questions regarding handicaps should be directed to the Tournament Director.

Section 2. Two Divisions:

Weekly play will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the Tuesday group being referred to as the Seniors Group and the Thursday group being referred to as the Members Group.

Section 3. Dues and Fees:

A.)  The annual dues for the membership shall be Thirty ($30) dollars or $20 if playing only in one Group.  First year dues for members joining between July 1 and the end of the year shall be half price. (Note: The President, Tournament Director and Secretary/Treasurer are exempt from annual dues and annual tournament fees as compensation for services.)

B.)   Weekly tournament fees are set at $15.  $2 goes into the club treasury for annual tournaments and other legitimate club expenses.  The balance is returned as weekly prize money.  All prizes will be in even dollar amounts.  Guests and new members that have not yet established their handicap will pay $3 to play in the weekly tournament.   (Note: The Tournament Director and Secretary-Treasurer are exempt from the weekly fee as compensation for services.)

C.)   Members electing to play in an annual tournament will pay a $25 fee.  Once a member commits to tournament play this fee is non-refundable regardless of the participant’s inability to complete all of the holes/rounds scheduled for that tournament. Exceptions can be approved by the board

Section 4. Misconduct of a Member:

A panel appointed by the President may review misconduct or other unfavorable actions that might reflect badly on the reputation of the Association.  Panel findings and recommendations will be presented to the membership.  A majority of the members present at the meeting must approve imposition of penalty, including termination of membership.

Section 5. Meetings:

A.) The election meeting of this Association shall be held after the annual tournament for the election of new officers.  The specific date will be announced two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled meeting.  Special meetings will be scheduled by the President for the general membership whenever necessary, and at a convenient time selected by the President.  Special meetings may also be scheduled by written request to the Board, and signed by at least ten (10) active members.

B.) All active members are encouraged to participate in the proceedings at the regular meetings and to discuss and vote on all proposals and business matters brought before the general membership.

Section 6. Local/Club Rules:

A.) Putting Ball:  After reaching the green players may putt with another ball.                                                    

B.) Ball Laying In Rocks  to prevent damage to golf clubs, a player that finds his ball outside of a hazard but on or around rocks that could reasonably damage his club may ask another player to check his lie and, if that player agrees, the ball can be dropped without penalty behind the rocks along an imaginary line from the hole through the ball.  Drop as soon as you are clear of the rocks.  This rule does not apply if the ball is in a hazard.

C.)  High Grass Rule any grass higher than the length of any of your grips on your clubs, be deemed a lateral hazard.  Drop outside at point where your ball crossed into the high grass,  two clubs lengths no closer to the pin add one stroke penalty.

D.) Aeration Holes.  When a course has been aerated, a Local Rule permitting relief, without penalty, from an aeration hole may be warranted. The following Local Rule is recommended: 'Through the green, a ball that comes to rest in or on an aeration hole may be lifted without penalty, cleaned and dropped, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green. On the putting green, a ball that comes to rest in or on an aeration hole may be placed at the nearest spot not nearer the hole that avoids the situation.

E.)  Provisional Lost Ball.   After a reasonable time searching for a lost ball, the player should leave the other members looking for the ball, return to where the ball was last struck and hit another ball (provisional).  If the lost ball is found before the provisional ball is hit a second time, the first ball (formerly lost) shall be considered in play.  No Penalty

F.) You are allowed to tap down scuff marks on the greens.

            G.) Stones in bunkers are movable obstructions (Rule 24-1 applies).  The pros never encounter this problem since they play on special PGA sand.  It’s not fair that we amateurs should have tougher playing conditions than the pros.  Therefore you can remove such things from sand bunkers without penalty.

            H.) Occasionally you will encounter an area with grooves or ridges obviously caused by golf carts using that area as an unofficial cart path.  This local rule allows you to treat these lies like you would if it was on a designated cart path by providing relief of the type afforded under Rule 24-2b from roads and paths not having artificial surfaces and sides if they could unfairly affect play.  Drop the ball no further than 1 club length no nearer to the hole without penalty. At least one other player must agree that the lie meets the highlighted criteria.

         I.) —Two-stroke Out of Bounds Penalty

If you think a shot may be out of bounds, add 1 stroke, drop another ball from the same place and hit a provisional ball.  (Stroke and distance as per the USGA Rules of golf---preferred).  But, if you do not hit a provisional ball and discover your ball to out of bounds you may either go back and hit as above OR drop another ball where your ball went out of bounds, add 2 penalty strokes and play on.

This second option will speed up play by not having to go back to where your last shot was played.

Example: Your tee shot hits a tree but you think it stayed in bounds so you do not hit a provisional.  When you get to that tree you cannot find the ball and must presume it went out of bounds or you find it out of bounds but you are 150 yards down the fairway and next group is on the tee box so you elect to drop a ball inbounds near the tree and play on.  With the 2-stroke penalty, you will be hitting your 4^th stroke at this point.  (If you go back to the tee box, you will be hitting three and may or may not be better off when you get to your 4^th stroke.)

             J.)--Improving your lie but not your position in a sand bunker.

Since professional golfers never have to hit out of a footprint or find a rock in front of their ball in a bunker, and we amateurs regularly do, we are going to try a local rule that allows you to pick up your ball, smooth the sand beneath it and drop your ball approximately where it was…improving your lie but not your position. 

Since this rule could be easily abused it will be necessary to involve another player in your group to agree and observe the procedure.  If, for instance, your ball is buried in the face of the bunker, you must play it as it lies.  If your stroke simply dislodges the ball and it rolls down into your footprint, you may apply the procedure above.  The idea is to make your lie more like the typical lie a pro would encounter.

J.) Fire ants is always a free drop even in a bunker.

http://www.usga.org/rules-hub/rules-modernization/text/major-proposed-changes.html

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