From the President

Welcome everyone to a new year at Dairy Creek. I am your new President, Bernie (Bernadette) Kurtz. As I was contemplating what to say, I thought about what our reasons are for playing golf, and how we, as a club, can make our days of playing golf at Dairy Creek days of fun, days of competition, days of relaxation and days of socializing, after all, we all have a quite a few things in common, golf being just one of them. We also have many moms, many teachers, many businesswomen, many sisters and many grandmothers. Let’s work together, as women do, to continue building a club we are all proud of. Let’s recognize our sameness and appreciate our differences.

Get involved. In order for our club to work, we need volunteers. I urge you to take a chance, and go out of your comfort zone to help your club. We have many very experienced people who can show you the way. (See volunteer openings in this newsletter.)

We are trying to keep all members more fully informed regarding our tournaments, schedules, changes and other news. We want to make it easy to sign up, sign in, find out, join up, help and play. To that end, our website has been reworked and improved. It contains the yearly schedule, as well as all pertinent member contact information, tournament winners and more. We now have the capability of listing tee times, and playing groups on the website, so you never have to wonder when you are scheduled, just a click of a button and you will know.

We are looking forward to a smooth transition from the old handicap system to our new GHIN numbers. We are looking forward to a new enthusiasm and commitment to Team Play. We are looking forward to a year of good golf, good tournaments, good weather and good fun.

See you on the course.

Bernie Kurtz

WPLGA News

2010 WPLGA BOOKS will be available on February 8 play day at Dairy Creek. If Dairy Creek is your initial club, there will be a book with your name on it! This book contains entry forms and information for all WPLGA events- MONTHLY ASSOCAITION DAYS , MAJOR TOURNAMENTS, FAR AWAY EVENT, SENIOR EVENTS, AND FAR-FAR-AWAY TOURNAMENT. The book also lists all the clubs which belong to WPLGA. It is a handy bookto keep for information about your association.

Upcoming WPLGA Events - Mark your Calendars!

	Thursday March 11	Association Day at Dairy Creek	Entries are open Feb. 15-19. Enter as a foursome, threesome, twosome or send in a single entry (you will be put with others). This will be a team event.
	April 12, 13	Far-Away: Palm Springs	Ask Jackie Vaughn or Mary Pollock to tell you about the courses we play the hotels we stay in, and the great dinner and socail hours you have whan 144 women golfers get together! Entries shoulb be out in late Feb. SO get together with some friends and go.
	May 17	Seniors Tournament: Oak Quarry Golf Course	Rated in the top 10 in California! Click n the Course name to tour their web site.Near Fontana in Southern California. Play with ladies of your age and handicap. Entries will open in late March. So get a friend and join the 144 experienced ladies and enjoy those of your age. It's FUN and the course is wonderful.

Team Play

Competition begins March 8th. Play will be on Mondays and some Wednesdays during March. The last day of competition is April 5th, and the finals will be scheduled for some time later in April.

Please support the teams who will be representing our club in Team Play:

B Team Mary Pollock, Captain Carol Berry, Co-Captain Louise McCoy Helen Bourquin Bonnie Brinton Lynn Haley Linda Merrill Jan Butts Diane Waters Margaret Breen Ginny Rarig Dawn Borst Arlene Orman Diane Wyatt Bernie Kurtz

C Team Tanny Koeppel, Captain Bonnie Gromacki, Co-Captain Barbara Attinello Kristie Dalidio Dian Axelson Lynne Pritchard Margot Hemmersbach Sandy Sherer Norma Schroeder Pat Christianson Linda Warren Marge McIntyre Carol Jean Attoe Ruth Nagano Marie Wolcott Jane McCallister

Volunteers Needed

As usual, we need to fill the posts of tournament chairs, so that we can continue to enjoy the festivities here at Dairy Creek.

Following is a list of positions that need filled, as well as the dates of the event. Please call Bernie Kurtz (805) 995-3159 if you are interested and/or have questions.

(Co-chairs always acceptable if you want to do it with a friend!).

	Date(s)	Needs
Invitational	Monday June 7th	Co-Chair** to help with this year and TAKE OVER for next year.
Match Play	Mondays June 14,21,28 July 5,12	Tournament Chair
Club Championship	Mondays August 2,9,16	Tournament Chair
Turkey Trot	Monday November 15	Tournament Chair
Holiday Tournament	Monday December 13

**(Mary Pollack has kindly offered once again to chair the Invitational, and help us in putting on this fabulous tournament. However, she CAN NOT do it next year due to conflicting plans).

SUPER News

Josh Heptig is our superintendent for the County of San Luis Obispo. He has offered to contribute a regular column for our newlsetter.

What a soggy start to the New Year! This weather pattern has definitely not been good for playing a lot of golf, but it has been great for the Central Coast and our golf courses. I have only been here for a bit over two years and this is the first that I have seen our coastal lake levels raise. The ponds on our golf courses were also doing a bit of rising as well. If you have not seen the pictures check out the front door at Dairy Creek’s pro shop or go to my new blogsite, www.slocountygolfcourses.blogspot.com and see how our three ponds became one pond over night. The levels of our ponds came up nearly 4 feet in one evening, subsided and rose another 2 feet the following day! The design of the golf course had great foresight to provide catch basin for all of this water.

During these storms bunkers were washed out and cart paths were covered with soil and mud. My staffs have worked tirelessly to get the course back into shape and get the greens back into shape after not being able to mow for nearly 5 days. The rains have helped to “flush” out the soils which means that salts that accumulate in the soils were washed out of the soil profile creating a more conducive environment for turf and root growth. We hope to get the carts off of the paths and onto the turf as soon as we can, but we must be careful not to be premature in this practice as the turf and soils are very susceptible to damage under such saturated conditions. Damage incurred now will not be visible until later in the summer months when the turf is subjected to stressful conditions. My adage in this instance and many instances regarding the golf courses is “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We can save a lot of money later by being cautious now. So bare with us as we cope with Mother Nature and the surprises yet to come. In the mean time enjoy the much-needed rains and get to the course when the sun is out and we are blessed with the tremendous weather we often take for granted here on the Central Coast. I will see you on the golf course!

From the Handicap Chair

Judy Blakeley Wins Low Net Tournament Each month your hardworking tournament chairpersons and handicap chairperson keep track of each month’s low net golfer. The winner is announced each month during the general meeting. In December the monthly winners play in the Low Net Tournament organized by the Handicap Committee. The name of the winner of the tournament is engraved on a plaque and added to the Low Net trophy board which will, hopefully, one day be displayed somewhere. The 2009 winner of the Low Net Tournament was Judy Blakeley with a low net score of 62, and, as December’s low net winner, qualifies to play in the 2010 Low Net Tournament. Cathy Gardner won second place with a net score of 65 and Jackie Howe’s net score of 68 won third place in the tournament. Elaine Taylor, Handicap Chairperson

From the Tournament Chair

Online Tee Times Thanks to Margaret Breen I am now able to add the club's weekly tournament tee times on the website. Access the website www.dairycreekwomensgolfclub.org (add to your favorites) and click on "Monday tee times." Check for updates as foursomes can and DO change. Weekly Games If you have ideas on weekly games you would like to play please let me know-new ideas are always welcome. Thanks, Paulette McCann