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Current Membership Information
We have 385 active members
including
10 pending surrenders
6 on LOA
18 Surviving Spouse/Champion memberships
13 Flex members
19 Non Resident members
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Tonto Verde Golf Club
Financial Report | | |
December 31, 2014
financial report.
Click Here to view the Independent Auditors Report on the Financial Statements
from McGladrey for the year ended June 30, 2014
2014-2015 budget.
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Golf Shop Hours
The Golf Shop Hours are
7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p,m. seven days a week.
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Upcoming Events
February 11
MGA Spring Best Ball
February 15
Couples Valentine Surprise
February 23
MGA Member/Member
March 5
Charity Roundup
March 10
NDA Saguaro Soiree
March 18
WGA Hohokam
April 9
MGA Desert Classic
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| Divot Digest Archive | | Interested in reviewing a previous Divot Digest? Click Here to access the Divot Digest Archive. | |
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| Accessing The Golf Event Calendar | | |
When you click any of the links that take you to the Golf Event Section on ForeTees you will see a login page. For this you will need your ForeTees login and password. If you have forgotten your ForeTees info you can contact the Golf Shop for assistance.
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 | From The President | 
The big news of the week is the announcement on Saturday of a new Golf Course Superintendent, Travis Blamires. With over twenty years of progressive experiences in the golf and turf industry, Travis will begin his new responsibilities on February 23rd. The full announcement can be found in the Archive by Clicking Here.
The Board of Directors met on February 5th at its regularly scheduled meeting. The following actions were taken and reports made.
Action Items
Bylaws Changes: A draft of proposed bylaws changes was presented for Board approval to recommend to the membership. These changes deal with new options for payments to the Surrender List. A workplan to prepare explanations, dates for community meetings and a process for member voting will be developed shortly. We hope to complete the vote before the Town Hall Meeting on March 27th. Approved.
Whistle Blower Policy: At the recommendation of McGladrey & Co., our auditing firm, the Financial Operations Committee (FOC) presented a policy that is being adopted by businesses and non-profits. It contains a process for any member or employee to report unethical business practices to the FOC. It will be published on the website. Approved.
Leave of Absence (LOA) Policy: The Membership Committee recommended that the five year requirement before being eligible for the LOA program be eliminated. Approved.
Peaks Bunker Renovation Design: The Green Committee recommends that Gogel Design (Mike Gogel) do a detailed Peaks bunker design and obtain construction bids. The design project will reflect about 80% of the Master Plan ideas with reshaping and a few additions/removals. Engaging Gogel Design is contingent upon the approval of our new superintendent. The bunker construction project itself is not approved, only this upfront design work. Approved.
Reports
Working Together for Community Success: The Committee meets every other Monday. An update is scheduled to go out to the community this week.
Nominating Committee: The Board of Directors finalists will be interviewed this week and the proposed slate of nominees will be published in the Divot Digest.
Branding Task Force: The group will be finalizing a report to give to Joe Duffy for further input and direction. The term "retirement community" is one the group hopes to eliminate and will coordinate this effort with the TVA on its website information.
Hopefully the cooler weather is behind us and a lot of good golfing is ahead
Tonto Verde Golf Club
Scott Thiss
President
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| Notes From Your Pro |  Greetings golf members. Let me start by recognizing a recent major accomplishment. At age 74, Bob Sands used what I describe as the smoothest swing at Tonto Verde to capture his third MGA Match Play Club Championship outlasting Jay Kernan 1up in the final match on the Ranch course. He now currently holds both the Match Play and Stroke Play titles and is an inspirational model of consistency for golfers around Tonto Verde. Bob will be put to the test again next month when he attempts to defend as Stroke Play Champion against a hungry field of worthy competition. Sunshine and 80 degree temperatures are always strong indicators that the tee sheets will be busy. Plan accordingly and jump on ForeTees seven days in advance as early as 7am to secure the tee times you desire. If you have guests in town and would like to use one of your three preferred tee times, contact the golf shop staff who can help reserve these times outside of seven days. At the PGA Merchandise Show in Florida last month, manufacturers unveiled a plethora of new equipment and products for 2015 that are now available in the golf shop. This Thursday, February 12th will be our largest multi-vendor demo day of the season with TaylorMade, Callaway, Cobra and Ping all set to join us from 11am-3pm on the driving range. No appointments are necessary as we plan to have at least four of our Professionals on the range along with the technical representatives from these companies. I'd like to recognize Curtis Selk, our Employee of the Month for February. As Supervisor of the outside service staff for the last two years, Curtis has had a major impact on the appearance and organization of the practice facilities. He understands the importance of guests' first and last impressions and trains his crew to deliver service with a smile every time. Lastly I'd like to thank all the volunteers at Tonto Verde from the boards, committees, events, task forces and anyone else who is lending their time for the benefit of the golf club and/or the community. From governing the membership, to selecting a new Superintendent, to pushing projects forward, to publishing this newsletter, these combined efforts are truly incredible and wouldn't be possible without all the work that our volunteers do behind the scenes on a daily basis. You know who these people are and it's not too much to ask to thank them from time to time. Until next time, keep em flying long and straight! Jeff Ostlund Head Golf Professional |
| From The Green Committee | |
We are excited about getting our new Superintendent, Travis, into the fold over the next couple of weeks as we continue to work to maintain the great conditions that we currently enjoy. The greens continue to do very well, although not looking as great; the Ranch greens are putting equally as well as the Peaks. Thanks to some timely rains, we weren't forced to irrigate nearly as much as normal in December, nor have we had to that much so far in January. We ended 2014 (according to our numbers) around 60 million gallons under forecast. We have also picked up a few extra staff, which is helping out, particularly on the weekends
We also wanted everyone to be aware of some of the projects we are continuing to pursue.
- We will be tackling both the new bridge on #17 Ranch (chiseling off the high points and adding grout) and cart path issues where we want to replace numerous broken and cracked sections.
- The target areas on the driving range have been repainted again for the remainder of the season. (These are not overseeded but painted for differentiation.)
- Skylights will be replaced on #4 Peaks - both are cracked and leak - and the partitions will be added to the men's restrooms on the Peaks course.
The tree trimming policy has been approved by the Green Committee and all parts of it will be posted on both the Golf side of the website and the HOA side of the website as one document.
Play Well, Play Fair, Play Fast,
Jim Uffelman
Chair - Green Committee
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| From The Nominating Committee | To All Members of the Tonto Verde Golf Club:
In accordance with the procedures for nominating candidates for the Tonto Verde Golf Club Board of Directors set forth in the bylaws, the Nominating Committee herewith publishes its slate of candidates for the election to the Tonto Verde Golf Club Board of Directors. The election will take place at the Annual Meeting of the Golf Club scheduled for April 2, 2015. The candidates elected at the Annual Meeting will serve a three year term. The slate of candidates is as follows:
Scott Thiss
Lynn Robinson
Russ Chance
At least thirty-five (35) days prior to the date of the annual meeting, Regular Members may nominate additional candidates by submitting to the Secretary of the Club, for each candidate, a petition bearing the signatures of at least twenty-five (25) Regular Members concurring in the nomination. Regular Members nominating additional candidates shall also publicly post a copy of the petition. The Election process is detailed in the TVGC Bylaws, Article VIII. Please refer to that if you have any questions, or feel free to contact any of us on the Nominating Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
The Nominating Committee
Mike Morehouse, Chair
Keith Clayton
Judy Sevier
Marianne Johnson
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| From The Membership Committee | |
Please join the Membership Committee in welcoming new members Roger and Caroline Ford from New Vernon, New Jersey!
We are also excited to have a large group of new Temporary Members joining us:
Roger and Karen Hansen - Maquoketa, Iowa (February)
Jim and Gina McCalmont - Hollis, New Hampshire (February-March)
Charles and Virginia Danish - Mankato, Minnesota (February-March)
William and Sara Caile - Denver, Colorado (January-March)
Ron and Jackie Smalec - Burlington, Canada (mid-January to mid-February)
Did you know? Our conversion rate on Temporary Memberships to New Members is close to 50%. Most of our new members comment that it is the people at Tonto Verde that make the difference, combined with our staff and amazingly beautiful golf courses! Thanks to all of our members for making our Golf Community special!
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| From The Handicap Committee
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The Handicap Committee has had a few e-mails asking who determines what handicap is assigned to each hole.
From the Handicap Manual:
"The basic principle of allocating handicap strokes is to equalize the abilities of players at different handicap levels." The Manual recommends that the odd-numbered strokes be assigned to the holes on the front nine and the even-numbered strokes to the holes on the back nine.
In the spring and summer of 2013 our Golf Committee formed a committee to do this task. They used 400 cards from the MGA and 400 cards from the WGA.
This hole handicap analysis was done using the comparison method outlined in Section 17 of the USGA Handicap Manual. The hole by hole score analysis began with the lowest 25% of each organization's membership (Group A) compared with scores from (Group B). The average scores for each hole from Group A and Group B were calculated and the differentials in scores noted. The greater the differential the greater the need for an equalizing stroke, which was the basis for assigning new hole handicaps.
The Handicap Manual states that "a handicap stroke should be an equalizer and should be available on a hole where it most likely will be needed by the higher-handicapped player to obtain a half in singles or four-ball match play. Difficulty in making par on a hole is not an effective indicator of the need for a stroke."
The Handicap Committee also encourages every member to check his or her posting history for correct dates, ratings, and slopes before each handicap revision (revisions are made on the 1st and 15th of each month.) We have found some errors from those posting on our website (ForeTees) or from their mobile phones.
Please keep sending in your questions and comments to: handicapcommittee@tontogolf.com
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From The MGA
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February 23 & 25 - Member Member
Member-Member (Pick-A-Pal) is one of our most popular events a 2-Day Tournament Monday Feb. 23rd and Wednesday Feb. 25th, (12:30 Shotgun). Following Day 1 golf - Cash Bar and snacks, Day 2 - Cocktail Hour and Dinner - Caesar Salad, Pork Osso Buco, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, and for dessert a Chipwich. Click Here to and scroll down to MGA Member Member to sign up.
March 4 - MGA Breakfast Meeting
Click Here and scroll down to "MGA Breakfast Meeting March 4th" to signup. We're back to an 8:00A M breakfast with a shotgun at 9:30 on the Ranch golf course. During the signup process, answer (Yes/No) to "Will you be attending breakfast?", and (Yes/No) to "Interclub qualifying?". Play in the March 4th MGA Shotgun and you will receive a MGA cup point.
To attend the Breakfast Meeting Only, sign up on the TVA side of tontoverde.org - "Event Registration" - "MGA Meeting Only"
Did You Know
Ready Golf means that ALL golfers should go to their balls as soon as possible and get READY to play their shots. While waiting to hit, PLAYERS should SURVEY their shot, SELECT their clubs, TAKE them from their bags, and STAND at their balls READY to step up and make the shot when it is their turn. That's Ready Golf.
Ready Golf particularly means that the DRIVERS of carts should DROP OFF their partners, let them CHOOSE their clubs (take extra ones if required), DRIVE to their own balls, and then get READY to play. DRIVERS should NOT wait for their partners to hit the shot and then drive to their own balls to make their shots.
You can Click Here to see the latest MGA Cup standings.
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From The WGA
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It's been a quick two weeks since the last Divot Update was published with lots of fun and competitive golf days for our WGA members during that time. The next two weeks will have plenty of opportunity for more golf for those members wishing to participate.
On February 10 (Today) we'll have our General Meeting and Brunch starting at 10:30 with a noon shotgun on The Peaks.
The 17th of February is a regular WGA game day on The Ranch course. Click Here to sign up by noon on Monday, February 16th to play with us on the 17th!
Our Match Play Championship is on-going with the 2nd round matches to be played on or before February 24th and the 3rd round matches to be completed on or before March 10th. Any questions please contact chrishardy@cox.net or Angela LeVangie in our Golf Shop.
Also coming up is our annual Hohokam Classic Member/Guest Invitational. The theme this year is "Just Another Day in Paradise" with the practice round being played on either The Peaks or Ranch courses on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday March 15, 16 or 17 and the tournament on Wednesday and Thursday, March 18th and 19th, with 9 AM shotguns on both days. The format is a net better ball of each two-woman team for both rounds. There's still time to sign up but not many spaces left. Hint, hint ... don't delay ... Click Here to sign up TODAY!
Our 2015 TVWGA Four Member Tournament was played this past week with a maximum field of 112 members. It has always been a very popular event and this year it was no exception! In just 1 1/2 hours the tournament sign up sheet was FULL! Whew ... that was F A S T !!! Fortunately we have many active members and enthusiasm for our tournaments is at an all time high. The unfortunate aspect of this is many members who would have liked to play couldn't. Our pro shop is well aware of this problem and the WGA Board members and our pro staff have been working on a solution to this for the future. We would like to have every WGA member who wants to play in each event be given that opportunity!
Here are the 1st place winners of each flight of the Four Member Tournament:
1st Flight Winners: Marilyn Blair, Karyn Lyle, Tracye Osler, Viki Wilds
2nd Flight Winners: Rose Moore, Lynne Crowther, Cari Sorlie, Laurie Furlong
3rd Flight Winners: Anne Buhler, Jill Darrah, Camille Larson, Judy Worcester
4th Flight Winners: 1st place and Overall Champions, Bonnie Svensson, Jan Lents, Carol Gregoire, Judy Knudsvig
Congratulations ALL!
Additional results can be found on our website by Clicking Here under "League Results."
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| From The NDA |
Calendar Reminders: (Have you already signed up for the following?) If not, Click Here to signup. - Feb. 17 - Tuesday golf on the back of the Ranch; a Progressive Best Ball event.
- Feb. 19 - The annual Couples' Event; RED, WHITE & BLUE theme. 3:00 pm shotgun; 5:00 pm cocktails; 6:00 pm dinner.
- March 24 - Interclub at Tonto Verde! Respond to Alyce Kelly (alycekelly@prodigy.net) if you would like to play or if you can volunteer.
- March 31 - Tonto Verde/Rio Verde Exchange Event. Theme: "Rescue Me" 9:00 am shotgun followed by a 12:00 pm Firehouse luncheon. More details on the event and sign up information to follow. Members of the Rio Verde Fire District will be assisting in our round of golf!
TVNDA Communications
tvndacommunications@aol.com
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| Couples Golf |
Bring your sweetheart to the Valentine Surprise to be held on February 15th. You can sign up with another couple, or the pro shop will pair you. Everyone will play their own ball and discover what the event is on each hole when they arrive at the following tee! There is a 1:00 shotgun start with a dinner after. Click Here to signup by by February 11th.
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| From The Lady Putters |
Lady Putters is celebrating Valentines Day on Wednesday, Feb. 11th. We are doing "Putting with the Pros". We will have four of our golf pros putting with the ladies. The Pros will each donate a lesson towards our four door prizes. We are asking our Ladies to wear Red to celebrate Valentines Day. Should be a very fun event. You can sign up on Foretees. We encourage our members to sign up early.
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| Tonto Verde Charity Roundup |
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." Charles Dickens
Join us March 5, 2015 for Tonto Verde's biggest charity event of the year benefiting Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium, disabled American Veterans, Sunshine Acres Children's Home, and VerdeCares.
Golf with a Morning Scramble and Afternoon Best Ball plus a Putting Tournament
Dinner - Live and Silent Auction - Raffle
Click Here to register on ForeTees for golf or putting. Register for dinner only on TVA events calendar. Non golf members should register with the Pro Shop. Registration NOW open.
Want to DONATE AN AUCTION ITEM???? Click Here for the donation worksheet.
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| Don't Forget! | |
It's that time of the year again. Yeah, the Bermuda grass on both courses is dormant and has "no defense" against golf cart traffic. So please follow these directions. Take the cart path until you are 90 degrees from the first ball. Cross the Bermuda rough and stay in the fairway until the last ball by a player in the cart has been played. Then follow the cart signs or proceed at 90 degrees back to the cart path. Apart from what is necessary to enter and exit the fairway please stay out of the rough. Also, do not sand any divots in the rough. Simple enough and everyone's cooperation will make for a better course as the Bermuda comes back to life in the spring. THANK YOU!
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Tell Your Friends!
The Tonto Verde Discovery Program has launched!
or by phone at 480.471.3566
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Your Communications Committee
Tonto Verde Golf Club
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