A discussion of the gold tee boxes at last week's Golf Committee opened with Golf Operations Director Darryl Muldoon reporting that three or four tees need to be moved but 98 percent were good. He was surprised at that number.
The gold tees started with the "Play It Forward" program which the Golf Committee first discussed in 2016. In order to make golf more enjoyable for a variety of players, the new tees are in a specific area in front of the regular tee boxes so drives are shorter. The gold tees don't have a box, but a marker is placed on the cart path and the player tees off in the fairway.
"No tee box is perfectly level in Bella Vista," Muldoon said. He reported on a two week test that required a lot of paperwork and he found the most used boxes are the red tees and second are white tees. Gold tees are the fourth most used.
Committee member Sheila Heward brought a presentation about the gold tees. She said mostly women use the forward tees, but they are not exclusively used by women. She said a sample of about 400 w0men golfers showed 68 percent used the gold tees.
She requested a roll call vote on two motions that she wanted to put on the table. The first motion was to use a local rule to establish the space defined by a pair of gold tee markers about 20 feet apart. After two months, she suggested a committee look at all the tees and decide which ones needed to be leveled. If necessary, the work would be done when the course was closed for other reasons.
Currently, the markers are close to the cart paths which limits the area for the gold tee, member Susan Nuttall pointed out. Most golfers believe they need to stay close to that marker.
Muldoon said he wanted to use USGA guidelines to place the markers even though that may mean moving the current markers.
Committee Chair Jason Loyd and member Ruth Hatcher objected to the idea that a large committee would evaluate each gold tee area warning that too many opinions would make a decision impossible. The USGA representative should make the decision.
Nuttall said she plays with golfers who disagree with Muldoon's earlier statement that most of the tees are level. Some local input is needed to make sure everyone is satisfied. She said she would like to see a meeting where the USGA representatives meet with local golfers to hear local concerns and then explain their recommendations.
Later, answering a question during open forum, Muldoon said he didn't know when the USGA work might be done. At the moment their teams are not traveling to golf courses because of concerns about Covid-19. He has a meeting next month to set Bella Vista up with its handicap system.
He said he would publicize the current USGA rules that allow golfers to move up to two club lengths from the marker, but the second markers will not be placed until the USGA visits.
Golf Maintenance Director Keith Ihms showed a short video he made to demonstrate the proper way to repair ball marks. All golfers are asked to do their own repairs.
The committee also heard from Muldoon that rounds were up in August and the high school 4A tournament will be held at the Highlands later this month.