Costa Mesa Golf Club
Memebership Information Handbook
Welcome to the Golf Club of the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club. The Golf Club has been in existence since 1967 as a California nonprofit corporation.
1.0 Board of Directors
The Costa Mesa Golf Club is governed by a Board of Directors elected by the members at a general meeting in November. Any actions taken by the Board must follow the Club Bylaws, which can by downloaded from our website. A member in good standing for a minimum of one year is encouraged to run for the Board of Directors. Directors are elected for two year terms and are limited to two terms in any five years.
In early December, the newly elected Board meets to elect its officers: President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Each officer has certain responsibilities, such as:
President- Makes the agenda for and chairs both the general and Board meetings; is chief liaison between the Club and Mesa Verde Partners, the managers of Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club, as well as the public; troubleshoots Club problems; oversees and works with all members of the Board
Vice President- Supervises the Saturday Sweeps and assumes presidential authority in the absence of the President
Treasurer - Maintains a check register, detailing all funds received from members and bank deposit slips, all invoices paid and a check book; prepares tax returns for the previous year; prepares the monthly financial statement to be posted on the website, maintains the Hole-in-One insurance list.
Secretary - Keep the minutes for the monthly Board meeting and posts minutes on website; archives pertinent Club information. The Secretary is also responsible for the yearly elections to the Board.
Once elected, the President appoints the balance of the Board of Directors to the positions of Tournament Director, Membership Director, Handicap Director. Each Director may appoint a committee to assist him with his responsibilities. The President may decide to combine the responsibilities of these Directors.
The following are some of the responsibilities of these Directors:
Tournament- Determines the type of play for each monthly tournament; provides a written copy of the rules of play to the players; maintains the tournament budget, collecting all fees, paying expenses and providing prizes for winners; arranges for workers to assist in collecting fees, preparing scorecards for players and verifying the scores; manages the tournament; coordinates efforts with the treasurer and the rules and greens chairman; presents prizes and awards to the winners
Membership - The SCGA reinstates current members and enrolls new members to the Club throughout the year via the internet. The Membership chair reviews and maintains a current Club roster with name, address, phone, SCGA #. The Membership chair communicates with new members via phone and/or email.
Handicap - Becomes certified by the SCGA as handicap chairman; collects and monitors scorecards for correctness; updates the Club computer on a monthly basis; establishes temporary handicaps for new members; notifies and sets penalties for players with incorrect scorecards
Communications- Maintains the club website by posting tee times, tournament descriptions, pairings and results; posts news items, and all other pertinent issues that need to be communicated to members in a timely manner.
Board members are not paid for their services to the Club, but realize some benefits such as reduced entry fees for tournaments worked and reduced membership fee.
2.0 Membership
Membership in the Golf Club has various benefits mentioned throughout this booklet, including enrollment in the SCGA.
2.1 Membership Renewal
New members get a 12-month membership that can start at any time during the year. Memberships are renewed for another 12 months on the member’s anniversary date by the SCGA. The SCGA notifies the members 2 months prior to the anniversary date.
3.0 Club Activities
Membership in the Costa Mesa Golf Club allows one to participate in a variety of activities: the Saturday Sweeps, a monthly tournament, SCGA Team Play in January, the Presidents Cup, and scheduled dinner meeting. Additionally, Membership may provide access to non-Club competitions conducted by individual members on other days of the week.
3.1 Saturday Sweeps
The Saturday Sweeps has 16 tee times early Saturday morning for anywhere from 64 players, playing as foursomes, up to 80 players, playing as fivesomes. The responsibility of the Sweeps table operation belongs to the Vice President. Each week the Vice President and his committee decide the playing format and decide the pairings for each tee time available from the list of those you have signed up to play that week. Club tournaments take precedence over the Sweeps.
Note: Every reasonable attempt will be made to accommodate the request of members to play with certain other members and/or requests for an early or late tee time. However, this may not always be possible and the understanding of the members is requested and appreciated.
Usually on the Wednesday preceding the Saturday of play, a list of players and tee times is posted on our website: www.costamesamensclub.org
You must check in at least 30 minutes before your tee time. The table closes one hour after the first tee time or 45 minutes before the last tee time, whichever comes later. Important time is needed for the committee to do the accounting, pay the green fees and be ready for their tee time. The entrance fee to play in the Saturday Sweeps consists of the green fee plus a prize fee for the individual and/or team competition of the day. Sweeps results are posted on the website following verification of the results.
Members who are unable to play must call the Sweeps chairman by Friday at noon so that groupings can be adjusted.
3.1.1 Sweeps Signup
- The preferred way to sign up for the Sweeps is to respond affirmatively to the Sweeps notification email sent out early in the week by noon the Tuesday prior to the event.
- Alternatively you may sign up for the following Saturday Sweeps when you check in at the table (currently in the coffee shop) the previous Saturday. There is a sheet for the next Saturday Sweeps event at the table.
- If you failed to sign up or missed the deadline, you can put your name on the waiting list at the Sweeps table in person if there is room available to play that day.
3.1.2 Guest Policy
We allow members to occasionally bring a guest to play in the Sweeps for the purpose of exposing the guest to the club and potentially having the guest join the club. The member and their guest will be placed towards the end of the Sweeps tee times as space permits. The guest pays only for their green fee and is not eligible for the prize fund.
3.2 Tournaments
A list of the tournaments for the year can be found on the club website. A brief description of each upcoming tournament is also given in the club newsletter and club website.
Additionally, the Tournament Chairman and his committee are responsible for variation in play of each tournament. He establishes the format for each tournament and provides a written copy of that format at the beginning of play. A description of the format is also provided on the signup book available before each tournament.
The signup book for the monthly tournament is usually available at the Sweeps table each Saturday. You may also sign up by responding affirmatively to the tournament notification email sent out. (Important: To really help the Tournament Chairman have tee times and scorecards ready in a timely fashion, you need to sign up by the deadline, usually the weekend before the tournament).
The Board has established penalties for those players that sign up for tournaments and do not show for the event.
3.2.1 Tournament Eligibility
Eligibility for Major Tournaments requires that you play in at least five (5) Golf Club events during the past twelve months. For all other tournaments and the Sweeps, a temporary handicap gives you eligibility. A temporary handicap is established by a new member turning in five or more completed scorecards with full name, course, tees played/slope and date. The scorecards should be dropped in the handicap chairman's box in the locker room. The handicap chairman will determine the temporary index. Players with current established SCGA indexes are also eligible to play in these other minor tournaments and Sweeps.
3.2.2 Major Tournaments
The following tournaments are considered major tournaments: Member-Guest, Club Championship, Member-Member, Senior Championship and President's Cup. All other monthly tournaments are minor tournaments.
The Club Championship played over two days awards both low gross and low net winners. The field is broken into flights depending upon participation. A player's flight is based on his handicap or index. The low gross winner, regardless of flight, becomes the Club Champion.
The Senior Championship. To qualify, you must be age fifty or older. The low gross winner, regardless of flight, becomes the seniors Champion.
The Men's Club may reimburse or otherwise assist in paying the Club Champion's entry fees for the SCGA Club Champions Tournament, as long as he adheres to SCGA rules.
The President's Cup
A match play tournament with multiple flights. Play continues until only one player in each flight remains undefeated. These players are the President's Cup winners of their flight. Also, there could be a match between the flight winners using handicaps to determine a President's Cup champion.
Major tournaments are sometimes governed by certain rules not used in minor tournaments.
Also, a differential to be determined by the Tournament Director is used in the Member-Member Tournament. So, if the differential is 8 strokes and a 25 handicapper wants to play with a 7 handicapper, he has to play with a 15 handicap.
4.0 Special Events
4.1 Team Play-Thursday and Saturday Teams
The SCGA conducts annual inter-club, match-play, team competitions starting each January. The honor of winning holds much esteem. Each team may consist of as many players as the Board of Directors and team captain has agreed upon. However, only sixteen players compete in each event. They compete in match play against other Golf Clubs in the Southern California area.
Play covers six weeks beginning in January. Divisional winners continue into quarter-finals, etc. Play alternates between the home course and the visiting team course. The home team covers the cost of the match. Each year, the Board of Directors appoints a captain for each team. The Club has traditionally fielded a Thursday and Saturday team. The cost of fielding these teams is partially subsidized by the Club.
4.3 Hole-In-One
Our Golf Club also has a Hole-in-One Insurance pool with a current entry fee of $5. To qualify for a pay out, a player making a hole-in-one must be in the Insurance pool and make the hole-in-one during the Saturday Sweeps or a monthly tournament of the Golf Club, on either Los Lagos or Mesa Linda.
Among the events excluded from the pool are Team Play
The club subsidizes the Hole-In-One pool by providing the first $100, and the pool is increased by $5 for each player who buys insurance. If multiple players make a hole-in-one during the same event, we will not attempt to determine who was first, even if it is obvious. Instead, the Club will add an additional $100 to the pool for each additional hole-in-one and the total pool will be shared equally by the players. Remember, you cannot collect the premium if you get a hole-in-one before you pay the insurance fee.
4.4 Members Rewards Tournament
We hold a low or no entrance fee Members Rewards Tournament each year, typically in December, to recognize the players that participated in the most Golf Club Events. Point values vary according to yearly Board decisions. Points are awarded for:
- Playing in a tournament
- Playing in a team play event
- Playing in a Saturday Sweeps
- Referring a new member
The entrance fee for the Members Tournament comes from an assessment of each player in each Golf Club Tournament or Sweeps event. This assessment is deducted from the total amount of money collected for each event and is therefore included in the entry fee paid to play in the event. Point standings will be posted monthly in the men's locker room and on our website.
5.0 Handicaps-SCGA Index
The Handicap Director appoints a committee to assist him in auditing score cards to verify correct posting on the computer. The Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) implemented the current INDEX system in 1990. The SCGA devised a SLOPE system for rating each golf course by tee location, thus establishing a given course variable handicap base. Your monthly index is then used as a base to find the handicap for a specific tee location. Check the INDEX listing posted at each course that you play to find the handicap you must use when playing that course.
Our Handicap Director or a member of his committee posts the monthly Index Sheet on the bulletin board in the men's locker room. This INDEX Sheet shows your CURRENT INDEX (CI), the number of games played in the month, and your LOW INDEX (LI) for the year. The LI is the lowest index that you attained during the prior 12 months. Additionally, there is an away listing recording all of the games played away from Costa Mesa at courses serviced by the SCGA. It is the responsibility of the member to post his scores at the away club or to turn in the attested score card at Costa Mesa. The Handicap Director will post the score as an away game, but be sure to show your SCGA number along with the course slope and your handicap for the course.
If you are a new member without a handicap, you must aggregate a minimum of five (5) rounds to establish a temporary handicap. If the five rounds are all posted at the home course, the computer will immediately assign a temporary handicap index. This temporary handicap gives you eligibility to play in our minor tournaments or Saturday Sweeps.
Until you receive an SCGA number, you should keep your score cards. Once your SCGA number is entered into the SCGA system, you will be able to enter your scores directly into the computer. When entering these scores, you will have to change the date in the computer to the date you played. If you have score cards from courses other than Costa Mesa, you should give those to the Handicap Director who will enter them for you. Part of your membership fee to the Men's Club goes to the SCGA and entitles you to an SCGA Handicap and a subscription to SCGA's FORE Magazine, which covers all of their activities. You will also receive a yearly membership and Index card and monthly index updates, which should be affixed to this card.
Upon completion of any home or away game, sign your score card and have it attested by your fellow players. Post your score on the GHIN app or in the computer in the pro shop if you have an assigned SCGA number. Place your score card in the Handicap Director's box in the men's locker room.
Once you receive an index, you must adjust your score on the card before entering it into the computer. Adjusting to SCGA standards means Equitable Stroke Control (ESC).
Currently all sweeps and tournament scores are automatically posted via the software package. Record other scores on the computer or the GHIN app according to the course and tee location played-Los Lagos Blue or White tees, Mesa Linda Blue or White tees. If you play elsewhere, record your adjusted score on the GHIN app or on the local computer usually found in the pro shop or locker room of the course played. Follow the instructions on the computer when posting.
6.0 Costa Mesa Golf Club Rules and Standing Rules
Standing Rules are expedient actions taken by the Board of Directors that apply to the membership, supplementing or altering rules itemized in the Club Bylaws The actions are in effect until amended, changed, or deleted by action of the existing or succeeding Board of Directors. Current standing rules are posted in the men's locker room.
6.1 Local Rules
The SCGA does not endorse preferred lies and winter rules and recommends that the rules of golf be observed uniformly. However, if the conditions are so general throughout a course that the Committee believes preferred lies or winter rules would promote fair play or protect the course, the Committee shall adopt a local rule and notify the players. Prior to teeing off in any Golf Club Event, it is your responsibility to ask if any additional or special rules are in effect that day.
Winter Rules: The ball may be picked and cleaned, through the green, placed within one club length of the original position of the ball, no nearer the hole.
Aeration Holes: If a ball comes to rest in an aeration hole, the player may, without penalty, lift the ball and clean it. The player shall drop as near as possible to where it lay, but not nearer to the hole. If a question exists whether the ball has come to rest in an aeration hole, marking and lifting for inspection is permissible. If no hole is found, replace the ball in the exact position previously occupied.
For more information, refer to the latest edition of The Rules of Golf, available from the USGA. A list of Local Rules for the Men’s Club is found on pages to follow.
6.2 Slow Play
The rules of slow play apply to all Golf Club events, i.e. Saturday Sweeps and Tournaments. Upon receipt of a second warning, a member or members warned to speed up play become subject to a two-stroke penalty.
When teeing off in sequence in Men's Club events and you allow a hole to become open in front, you are guilty of slow play, even if there is a hole open behind you. When the hole in front is open and the group behind is waiting, the etiquette of golf demands that you allow the group behind to play through. During tournaments where Men's Club members occupy the position of the first groups off, we expect no group to take longer than 4 ½ hours.
7.0 Dinner Meeting
The Golf Club dinner meeting is intended to be held annually, but may be changed at the discretion of the Board of Directors. At this meeting, the election of the new Board of Directors is held. At the beginning of the year, the newly elected Board of Directors determines the dates for the monthly tournaments and dinner meetings.
These dinner meetings are open to all members. Currently, the dinner is free to all members. During the meeting, the Directors will inform the membership of any situations which may affect the Club in the future.
8.0 Newsletter
The Golf Club publishes a monthly Newsletter describing all of the past month’s activities and coming events. The Newsletter is available on the Club website and will be emailed to the membership.