The Tuesday League weather rules for 2020 are posted

The Tuesday League May 26 results are posted 

The Thursday League May 28 results are posted

 

                   









                                                           

 

                    

Welcome to the

Dwan Men's Club Website

Individual Stableford Tournament Sign up is open 



April 30th Update

Special League Rules for Play under COVID-19 limitations

Attention members of the DMC Tuesday and Thursday Leagues:

 

Because the course has been modified to allow for play under the conditions of the COVID-19 virus, we call your attention to two important rules modifications that will apply to both Tuesday and Thursday League matches.  Please keep in mind that our leagues are self-policing.  Please settle all disputes within your group before you report the results of your match.  We ask you to apply common sense and good sportsmanship to all of our league activities.  This includes calling penalties on yourself if you know you deserve one, and resolving issues with partners and opponents related to the rules.  There are no PGA Officials at Dwan to help you, and remember you are not ruling on the deciding overtime goal in the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals with $Millions at stake.

 

Bunkers:   The bunkers will be power raked every morning by the Dwan staff, but by the time you play many other golfers may have trampled through the bunkers.  Because of the virus, there will be no rakes in the bunkers.  Your ball may come to rest in a footprint or unsmoothed area.  With the acknowledgement of your opponents and playing partners, our local rule until further notice is that you may take a drop in the bunker in the nearest smoothed area, no closer to the hole.  Once in the smoothed area, face the hole and drop the ball from knee level.  If it rolls into an unsmoothed area, you may repeat the drop.  There is no penalty, but you must play from the bunker.

 

Putts and the foam cups:  During the time that we are playing with foam inserts in cups, some putts that would ordinarily fall into the hole, may deflect off the foam and end up outside the hole.  To establish some consistency in how we determine if a putt was made or missed, we are applying the following criteria.  If a ball appears to go into the hole and back out of the cup, the putt counts if the players in the group agree that….

 

  1. The ball traveled inside the perimeter of the hole
  2. After bouncing out, came to rest “inside the grip of the putter.” (closer to the hole than the bottom of the putter grip when measured along the putter shaft)

 

Note:   Some longer putters would give a particular golfer an advantage in this matter.  The group should agree on one putter among the four players that will be used for such measurement, so that everyone in the group is playing under the same standard.  In the end, your group must come to an agreement on whether the putt was made or missed, but the process defined here will help give you guidance to follow.    

 

Some may argue that a putt would have gone in, but deflected farther than the putter grip.  Perhaps that’s true, especially on quick downhill putts.  But we need to have a standard that is not subjective.  The rule is it counts if inside the hole perimeter, then at rest inside the grip. 

 

Finally, take care to apply both the bunker and putting rules in ways that do not slow down play.  Decide on the ruling quickly so you can play at a  brisk pace.  Measure putts quickly, if needed.  Move to the next tee promptly and finalize your decision there if needed. 

 

Tomorrow:  Handicap calculations and entries

 

 

 

                                                                

 

An Open Letter to DMC Members Regarding Our 2020 Season:

 

We are now less than a week away from opening our 2020 Dwan Men’s Club season, albeit a little later than originally planned.  Both the Tuesday and Thursday groups will be able to play complete seasons by bending the schedule just a bit from our normal traditions, and by adhering to some new protocols that are required even to play golf in this virus-affected environment. 

 

Weekend DMC tournaments are on hold right now, but efforts are being put forth by your Tournament Director and board members to develop a way to play most, if not all, of our events.  Hopefully, you will be hearing more about that soon. 

 

Beginning earlier today you received the first of a series of emails, accompanied with an announcement posted to the dmcgolf.org website, each to provide information about policies and procedures that are unique to play under the virus-related protocols.  These emails will address items such as:

 

  1. The need to purchase your patron card and pre-fund your Chronogolf account with a reasonable amount prior to the start of Tuesday and Thursday League Play next week.
  2. An explanation of certain playing rules resulting from the way the course must be set up for golf under the current virus-related environment
  3. An explanation of the responsibilities you will have to bring score cards and score sheets to the course with you, since no such items can be made available on the course. And an explanation of the process that will be used to report the results of matches to your league directors.
  4. Information about the USGA app, your ability to access your handicap before rounds, and post scores after rounds.

 

Until further notice, all play will be modified to meet the Governor’s requirement to maintain social distancing, and the ability to play golf without touching objects or potentially contaminating anything or anyone.  The course will be stripped of anything a golfer might touch such as scorecards, pencils, ball washers, water coolers and cups, benches, divot replacement soil and scoops, rakes in the bunkers, and more.  You are asked to maintain at least a 6 foot spacing from other golfers at all times, avoid touching the flag stick, avoid standing in small groups to view posted information on a wall or similar, and refrain from gathering in the parking lot before and after rounds. 

 

The club house will be locked and off-limits to golfers until further notice.  Outdoor lavatory facilities have been increased, but you will no longer have the ability to walk into the club house to pay the cashier, get food, ask a question, pay fees, access the handicap computer, etc.  We’re going to be sort of roughing it.  Just like you’d bring your Coleman stove on your camping trip, you’ll need to bring your own scorecard, pencil, disinfectants, wet wipes, and really anything that you might need during the round.  If it rains, things may be even more chaotic, because the only shelter may be your car. 

If you do not reference the website and Handbook regularly, you may miss announcements and updates that might otherwise be displayed on the board at Dwan, but won’t this season. 

 

The Dwan course management is adamant that they don’t want any of our members to touch the flag, including tending or pulling the flag.  All putting will be executed with the flag in the hole.  To prevent the ball from dropping to the bottom of the cup where retrieving it might necessitate touching the flag, foam cylinders have been placed in the holes to suspend the ball in the cup.  This means the ball can be scooped out with a putter, or plucked without touching the flag or cup surfaces.   

 

Members are asked to exercise care not to damage the cup with the putter as the ball is being retrieved.  To date, there have been complaints that the foam inserts are too high, causing putts at a reasonable speed to roll right over the cup and out the other side.  This is under scrutiny right now, but we can’t promise what the course management will decide.  We do know they are considering cutting the foam so it sits lower in the hole, but the final answer rests with the course, not the Men’s Club.

 

For Tuesdays and Thursdays your tee times will be established for you.  Team rosters and schedules are available in two places on the website, under the Tuesday League or Thursday League tabs in the menu, and in the Appendix at the back of the Handbook.

 

You’ve already been reminded of your requirement to purchase your patron card and fund your Chronogolf account.  At this point, the Dwan course management has informed us they cannot accept or process men’s club winners certificates to your Chronogolf accounts.  Understandably due to the virus, they don’t want staff to handle paper items that have been touched.  The Dwan Men’s Club is working on this issue.  Those certificates do not lose their value, so hang on to them for now.

 

So watch for the additional emails and website posts over the next few days, each designed to offer more detail on important items. 

 

We look forward to seeing many of you next week, or shortly thereafter, as we finally launch our 2020 Dwan Men’s Club season.

 

Dave Mrocek & the Dwan Men’s Club Board

 

Attention DMC Members, especially League players and subs:

 

Our Leagues begin next week.  Before the first round of league play, you MUST have your patron card, and you must pre-fund your Chronogolf account with funds that can be drawn down as you play DMC rounds.  You may do both by phoning Dwan, and speaking directly with a cashier.  952-563-8702.  Your patron card will earn you a $4 discount for the 9-holes you play in the Tuesday League, and a $7 discount for 18-hole rounds played in the Thursday League. 

 

If you have not met this requirement, please do so asap.  Remember you won’t be able to pay as you go because the club house is closed due to the virus, and the starter cannot accept your money.  You must have adequate funds in a Chronogolf account.

Patron Cards: 

 

You may purchase patron card status over the phone by calling Dwan starting Monday.  They will take you through the process of obtaining your patron card.  You MUST have a patron card before scheduling tee times on line in order to get the discount on greens fees.  See the Dwan course website for more details.  You MUST have a patron card prior to the first round of league play, May 5th.

 

Greens Fees and Cart Fees via Chronos Accounts:

 

Play impacted by the COVID-19 virus necessitates a change in the way green fees are collected.  Because the club house will be closed, and not staffed, no cash can be exchanged at the course.  The starter cannot accept your green fees.

 

You may or may not know that every DMC member has a Chronos account at Dwan.  Chronos is Dwan’s point of sale system.

 

All members of our leagues will be required to use a credit or debit card to place funds into your personal Chronos account at Dwan in advance of any league play.  A suggested minimum amount for starters is at least $60-$75, but you are free to place more, $100 as an example.   Essentially you’re paying in advance for your next several rounds, and creating an account you will draw down as you play future rounds.

 

When you arrive for league play, you will report straight to the starter.  The starter will check you in, including assigning a cart if you are requesting one.  The starter will maintain a list of those playing, and that evening your green fees and cart fees will be deducted from your “pre-funded” Chronos account.  You’ll be able to go on line to check your transactions and account balances, and monitor your account so you’ll know when it’s time to fund the account again.  If you have not sufficiently pre-funded your Chronos account, the starter may not allow you to commence play. 

 

If you receive a winners certificate, we will put a process in place soon that will allow you apply those to the funds in your Dwan Chronos account if you choose.  That process may not be ready by the first week of league play, but will certainly be set up as the season progresses.

 

We hope no one will push back on the request to pre-fund your Chronos account.  If the Governor’s rules allowed for business as usual, there would be other options.  We hope you understand the need to do it this way, because no one outside the clubhouse, meaning starter or ranger, will be equipped to handle your credit card or cash.  The objective is to limit touching items that have been handled by someone else.   These are unique times.

 

Schedules:

 

Separate from this email, those of you who are in either of our leagues will receive team rosters and schedules a few days before the first week of play, hopefully later this coming week.   When those documents are released, they will also be posted in the Appendix of the Handbook.  The first tee time for Tuesday, May 5th will be 4:08.  A few teams with new or restructured lineups will receive team confirmations later this week. 

 

Playing Conditions:

 

The course is electing to use a system that is being used by many courses in AZ and TX.  The flags will remain in the hole for all shots, and never be handled by players.  The bottom of the flag for each hole will be encased in foam, leaving about a 1-inch drop from the top of the cup.  So when the ball is holed, it will “sit up” in a way that will allow players to retrieve the ball with two fingers without touching the flag or cup.  There will be no ball washers, water containers, or bunker rakes on the course.  The unraked bunkers will necessarily get pretty rough over the course of a day of play.  The DMC Board will publish a policy for bunker play before our first week of leagues. 

 

The use of score cards has yet to be finalized.  Dwan does not want golfers or staff to handle items that could potentially spread the virus.  The board will also publish a policy for score cards prior to league play in May.

 

Plan to bring wipes or sanitizer with you whenever you play.

 

Reporting Scores:

 

Since you will not have access to the clubhouse after the round, you will also not be able to enter your scores into the computer for handicap purposes.  Your Handicap Director will be publishing options for posting and maintaining handicaps in the coming days.

 

Providing match results to League Directors will also be impacted by the “no touch” rules.  Watch for specific guidance from your league directors on this matter.  That’s code for “we don’t know what we’re gonna do, but we’ll figure it out and get back to you.”  These are all problems that can be managed.  

 

We hope you’re still solidly committed: 

 

We don’t want to lose any of our members because of the conditions associated with the virus.  We know that some of you may have age or health concerns that may be making you apprehensive about playing.  If for any reason you feel you no longer wish to participate in your league or in general, please let us know asap.  We hope that everyone is committed to moving forward with the season.  But if you truly feel like you can’t play, please contact me, your league director, or any other board member now, so we don’t have to rewrite our schedules or look for new teams in a time crunch. 

 

Thanks for your patience as things get sorted out.  This is not “golf as usual,” but with everyone’s help and understanding we can make it work.  Let’s get golfing!

 

Dave Mrocek


 


Update - March 27, 2020

 

As we patiently wait for the start of the 2020 golf season, your DMC board is keeping our promise to update the membership frequently on how things are evolving.  Needless to say, the COVID-19 virus is still raging, and at this point, the opening of the course and start of our Men’s Club season are still unclear. 

 

The likelihood that our season could be shortened is reasonably strong.  But if there is any possible way to offer a complete season for our leagues and tournaments, every effort will be made to do so.  Should the season need to be shortened, know that various Directors who oversee competitions are already working on contingency plans for shorter seasons.  Directors are also exploring the potential for playing into September, if necessary.  There is no point in outlining any of those options here just yet, but know that every effort will be made to offer the best season we can.

 

The Dwan Men’s Club has completely revised the DMC Handbook.  The existing handbook has served us well.  It was the product of the excellent contributions of many members and past boards, and contained a lot of great information.  But over time, some of the information has become outdated, and locating reference information was not always easy.  So a special committee has been working hard throughout the winter to provide a newer version to serve as a resource for members.

 

Regarding the new Handbook:  It is written from the standpoint of “what a new member would need to know” as they join the DMC.  We believe new members will find it a very helpful way to become informed about the functions and culture of the Men’s Club.  We also believe existing members will find it easier to access information they may need for any reason.  A good example would be the section on handicaps.  The Equitable Stroke Control process is new for 2020, and there are other changes related to handicaps you’ll want to know whether you’re a DMC rookie, or a 20-year member.

 

The Handbook is designed in four sections, the first three of which will remain fairly static from year to year: 

 

Charter:   This section contains information about the foundations of the DMC, including our by-laws.

Member Resources:   This section is just what it says.  It is a guide to information you may need about our website, membership, handicaps, rules, certificates, and course relations.  We are also exploring the use of a “bulletin board” tool to help you seek out subs, volunteer as a sub, sell used equipment, etc.  While it is not 100% ready yet, it is referenced in this section, and on the way. 

Competition:  This section will describe our leagues and traditional tournament competitions, provide information on our traveling teams, and other events and competitive opportunities.

Appendix:  The Appendix will be a fluid section that will change dramatically from season to season.  It will include league rules, team rosters and schedules, member rosters, playoff brackets, tournament schedules, sample score cards, and similar.  You may wish to “pull out” specific items from the Appendix to keep in your golf bag or post on a bulletin board at home.  The potential for a smartphone app is being evaluated right now too, though not ready just yet.

 

Because printing can be very expensive, we will not be providing printed copies for every member.   We will however, print a limited number of copies and place them in binders with section tabs.  Those binders will be available at Dwan for your reference.  You will be able to access the Handbook via the website beginning sometime during the week of Monday, March 30th, and you may certainly print your own copy if you like.  We’re hoping the Handbook will somewhat offset the ability we lost to share information at our canceled spring meeting. 

 

You will note that the Appendix has very few items in it currently.  Many items will be added once we know our schedules, formats, and more.  Plan to check the Handbook regularly as the season gets closer for items that directly impact you.

 

So for now, the best we can hope for is that circumstances allow the course to open soon, and our DMC activities can launch.  Be assured we will inform the membership promptly.

In the end though, it’s just golf.  Let’s hope and pray the issues associated with the virus resolve soon, and that our citizens are spared the pain and suffering this has brought on so many.

Please check the website regularly as well for more information. 

 

Best regards,

 

Dave Mrocek

President

On behalf of the DMC Board of Directors




 

                      



                   
 

A New Brand for a New Era at Dwan

See the full story at the link on the left menu under Home

                                      


                   



















                   

                    

 

 

If you would like to get on a waiting list for the Tuesday or Thursday League, enter your contact information on the waiting list. The options are on the left menu, in the Tuesday & Thursday groups.

While the Dwan Men’s Club can offer no assurances that an opening for league membership will be available to you, those on the waiting list will be given first consideration when openings are available.