2004 State of the Association Address

 

Key Biscayne Men’s
Golf Association

2004 State of the Association Address

Lady and gentlemen,

There are a number of items I would like to cover and, since I have a tendency to ramble, this may take a while, so let’s get started …

I am pleased to report that the state of the asylum, uh, rather, the association is strong.

We have tried to live up to our mission statement of building the premier men’s golf association in South Florida, while maintaining our pledge of meeting new friends and having fun while pursuing the passion we all have for the game we all love.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Major strides have been made in our effort to improve everything from the tournaments to the image of our association. I would like to personally offer my heartfelt gratitude to our board of directors (J.R. Diaz, Tom Halley and Meghan Halley) for all the hard work and long hours they each put in to ensure our association’s continued success. I am proud to be serving on the board with all of you. THANK YOU.

I would also like to thank the membership for supporting us over the past year and especially those members who participate in our monthly tournaments. You guys make it fun and the reason why we all look forward to playing each month and meeting new friends. And a special thank you to Tim Henshaw, for his invaluable suggestions and guidance.

And, of course, a sincere thanks you to our sponsors, with whom we look forward to working in the year to come.

ACHIVEMENTS & BENEFITS

2003 was a challenging year getting the web site written, designed and published. However, other accomplishments were made in the association including, increasing the fees and the membership to enable us to have breakfast, range balls and increased prize monies, free golf clinics by our teaching professionals Kevin Perkins and Maria Cecilia Saenz, sponsorships and now a 10% discount at the Links Grill for you and your guests by showing your current KBMGA handicap card.

WEBSITE

With the creation of our web site last summer, we have been able to do incredible things to make the association grow, as well as ensuring an easier and smoother transition to future directors.

Our web site: www.kbmga.com has over 100 pages of information and pictures. (I know, I wrote every single word on it). It has all the information you’ll need to learn about our association, schedules, formats and the rules and regulations for tournament and championship play. If you’re a new member (or even a long time member), please take the time to explore the site and bring yourself up to date with the info. We’ll be making updates all the time.

TOURNAMENTS

We trust that the ability to register for the tournaments on-line has been as much of a benefit and convenience for the members as it has been for the directors (believe me!).

Speaking of tournaments, our tournament director, J.R. Diaz, has asked me to use this forum to request that you PLEASE do NOT sign up for a tournament until the previous tournament has been played. Organizing one tournament at a time is all we are capable of doing. Plus, we are trying to eliminate the dreaded no-show factor and signing up months in advance only increases that.

We are also trying out a number of different formats this year, some good, some bad, just to mix it up a little. If you have any suggestions for tournament formats, we would love to hear from you. If they seem like a good idea, but too much work to score, you will be elected official scorekeeper for the month. (I’ll be having lunch.)

Speaking of keeping score (I am a whiz at the segue), fellow members Gregory Stula, Juan Porro and Joe Miles (and let’s throw in G.M. Broucek, although he wasn’t part of the conversation) have agreed to revive the skins match for our future tournaments. We’ll see how long that lasts. But thank you guys, for offering.

GHIN SYSTEM

We will be converting our handicaps to the GHIN system soon now that the new pro shop is up and running which will simplify the handicapping procedure, as well. I’ll send out more detailed information when I receive it from the golf course

NEWSLETTER & DATABASE

Our original website has grown to include a “Newsletter” page which, as you can see, we are proudly unveiling today. This newsletter format will be used for the tournament recaps to the membership, thereby increasing the sponsor’s exposure via a logo and link to their websites. We have also created an announcement page which will have the KBMGA header and links but not the pictures and logos. This will be used for individual messages or general announcements to the members. The responses have now been directed to go to our kbmga.com e-mail account which can be viewed and acted on by each member of the board depending on the request.

Part of the Newsletter project was to create a central database of information. Instead of Meghan and Tom having the name/address/phone numbers in their personal computer, me having the current members and e-mail addresses in mine and J.R. having the handicaps and pairing lists in his, we now have it centralized with equal access to the information. This allows any of us to make updates and corrections to the database and everybody stays current. Yet again, an effort to make a seamless transition to future administrations.

I ask each member to please click on the “Update my Info” tab on the right hand side of the tab bar (bar tab?) above this message and make sure that your personal information is accurate. This will help us keep all your pertinent information current. Thank you.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Guillermo Wolf, from www.cyberbox.net, for designing and publishing the web site, database and newsletter for our association. His dedication to our efforts is very much appreciated and we look forward to working with Guillermo and Cyberbox in the future to maintain and enhance our technical capabilities. A number of our members have utilized Guillermo’s talents and have expressed their satisfaction with his design and publishing results. Thank you, Guillermo.

SPONSORS

Another major reason we developed a web site was to create an image and vehicle by which we could attract sponsors for our tournaments.

Last year we were grateful to the Radisson Resort and the TPC at Heron Bay, Dr’s & Associates, Alf’s Golf and Texaco, for donating prizes to our association. This year we have the Comfort Suites Orlando, Texaco, The Biscayne Cafe and the Sonesta Beach Hotel willing to participate. (And this was just the stuff we came up with without really trying). Imagine if each member were to seek a sponsor for one of our tournaments. How good would that be?

We have been kicking around the idea of different levels of sponsorship and the exposure that each would receive. We welcome any and all assistance in securing prizes for our tournaments, whether it’s a weekend stay at a hotel (Comfort Suites, Orlando), a pair of $100 gift certificates for dinner (The Biscayne Café), or free car washes (Texaco). Use your contacts and see what you can come up with, keeping in mind that the first place prize should be worth $100 or more.

IN CLOSING …

It’s been a challenging, exciting, rewarding and satisfying year for me and I thank you all for your continued support of our association. It really has been my pleasure.

As for the future of the KBMGA, having served as your commander-in-chief for the past three years, I can assure you that we will not launch a pre-emptive strike against any other sovereign golf associations (i.e. Biltmore, Doral, etc.). I can also personally attest to the fact that we have absolutely no internal intelligence, and possess no weapons of mass destruction. (Except for, perhaps, Tom Halley’s wild tee shots).

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Bill Hayes
El Mystic Presidente Supremo Grande