We have officially crossed the half-way point of our inaugural season, and with that I believe it’s time for another league newsletter to keep everyone up to date on recent happenings
SUMMARY
- Past Events
- Upcoming Events
- Rules Updates
- New Local Partner
- Code of Conduct
- Cutter Creek Match Play Invitational
- RDUgolf Tour Best Ball team
- Personal Accomplishments
Past Events:
We have had some GREAT events so far and have had 110 different golfers compete across the 7 events (and 145 golfers registered across all 12 events)
Below is a table of some interesting stats from the events so far.
What I am finding most interesting is the winners stats.
The RDUgolf Tour is a league for EVERYONE and so far, golfers of every skill level have won events. It truly is about who shows up and shoots their best any given day!
Congrats to our winners so far:
- Knights Play: John Gagliano
- Pine Hollow: Scott VanderMeer
- Anderson Creek: Craig Walton
- Chapel Ridge: Thomas Walsh
- The Preserve at Jordan Lake: Les Aliff
- Tot Hill Farm: Dave Mills
- Mill Creek: Del Smith
Upcoming Events:
It’s not secret that the 2nd half of the season is STACKED with great courses, including 2 private courses (Bentwinds and Devils Ridge) and the infamous Tobacco Road.
We also have our first MAJOR event coming up next week!
With double the Season Leaderboard Points, extra prizes, more difficult tee-boxes/conditions and fantastic venues, these events should be a great time!
The winner of the Bentwinds Major will be taking home this Custom Print from Lie+Loft AND a 4-hour simulator session at Brookfields Indoor Golf!
Rules Updates:
To keep things fair and enjoyable for all, I worked with the Players Panel to introduce a new rule and a new process.
Rule Update – Tee Boxes (Seniors + 20+ handicaps)
- Current Rule: Seniors & 20+ handicaps are to play a forward tee-box ahead of the main field (specific tee-box provided the week of the event)
- Change: Seniors & 20+ handicap golfers will play a forward tee-box ahead of the main field, but will have a window to request playing the same tee-box as the main field
- Note 1: Approval is at the discretion of the Tour Director and will be made in an effort to keep the fields Pace of Play appropriate
- Note 2: Request window will be from Monday-Wednesday for approval for the main tee-box. Any requests after this point will NOT be facilitated
- Note 3: The golfers tee-box WILL be updated in the scoring app so the course slope/rating align with the appropriate box to derive their Course Handicap
Process Update – Skins / CTP payment timing
- Current Process: Golfers are able to pay virtually for Skins and CTP from Monday until their tee time
- Change: All Skins and CTP payments will be due in by Midnight before the event (Saturday events, Fri @ midnight. Sunday events, Sat @ midnight)
- Note 1: This is to alleviate the administrative burden of the Tour Director which has to update the Skins Group while playing the first few holes of their event round due to last-minute payments
- Note 2: Any payments after the cutoff will not be counted toward the Skins / CTP pots
New Local Partner:
The RDUgolf Tour is excited to announce a partnership with Brookfields Indoor Golf!
Brookfields will be opening on June 25th and is located in The Factory in Wake Forest.
They will have 3 Full Swing simulators with over 84 course and a variety of multisport gameplay that caters to all ages, skill levels, and occasions.
A great place to grow your game, have fun with friends / family, host an event, or just chill at the bar & lounge!
Brookfields Indoor Golf will be providing 4-hour simulator certificates ($160 value) to winners of Major events AND a discount for all league members on standard simulator sessions!
Some sneak peeks:
Code of Conduct:
A bit of unfortunate news that I hoped would never need to happen:
In review of an incident during our last event, a golfer has officially been expelled from the league due a breach in our Code of Conduct follow an altercation with the course staff.
Their actions were harmful to the leagues reputation and almost had that golfer, and the entire event removed from the course
It is a cardinal sin to be disrespectful to the course staff, for ANY reason and to attempt to speak on the behalf of the league. If anything is to ever happen during an event, issues are to be raised to the Tour Director
In the RDUgolf Tour, we take conduct and ethics very seriously, as well as appreciate and respect the professionals that are working in the golfing industry.
Cutter Creek Match Play Invitational:
In related RDUgolf Tour news, we tested a new format and hosted an ad-hoc event which had no impact on league standings
16 golfers played in the first-ever RDUgolf Tour Match Play Invitational at Cutter Creek in Snow Hill, NC on May 15th.
A stunning course, which hosted 36 holes broken into 4 9-hole matches which Les Aliff took home the cash prize.
Winning all 4 of his matches, the final match coming down to the last hole of the day surrounded by a gallery of the entire field of golfers!
After this event, more ad-hoc match play tournaments may happen in the future!
RDUgolf Tour Best Ball team:
RDUgolf Tour also represented well in the Best Ball division of the Raleigh portion of the NextGen City Tour.
Fielding 2 6-person teams, Craig Walton & Sean Webb took home low-pair of the event with a -2, 70 at MacGregor Downs Country Club on May 16th.
With that win, 6 golfers will be representing the RDUgolf Tour at the National Championships at Whistling Straits in September!
There are still spots on the team for these following events:
- Tobacco Road – Sunday, July 25th
- Mid Pines – Sunday, August 15th
Personal Accomplishments
The people of RDUgolf Tour are really what makes this league great and we appreciate all of you and want to share in your accomplishments.
In the past few months, here are a few major milestones league-members have hit!
Golf related:
- Breaking 100 for the first time: T. Walsh (during his W at Chapel Ridge!)
- Breaking 80 for the 1st time: J. Citty (79)
- First ever Eagle: P. Young (during the Anderson Creek event)
- First Tournament round breaking 70: J. Gagliano
- Even par for the first time: Cr. Walton (72 at Tot Hill Farm)
- New personal best: D. McElhennon (63… yes, that’s correct. A freaking 63!)
- Hole in 1: S. Tarcy (his 7th… yup, you read this one right as well.. completely ridiculous!)
More personal:
- Welcoming a new baby girl: C. Allen
- Announced their expecting: J. Gagliano
- Landed a new house (we all know this is a HUGE accomplishment right now)
- J. Gagliano, S. Khot, B. Richards, C. Norton, P. Creghan and S. VanderMeer
- Completing school and landing a great job: J. Wolfe
- Recent engagement: J. Maugeri
I’m SO happy for everyone above and to be able to witness and hear about all of these milestones.
I hope for many more great things to celebrate and hope all of the new adventures go well!
As always, I appreciate each and every one of you for being along for the ride of this first season and hope all of you have enjoyed this as much as I have!