6/24/08 - GREAT PLAY "NIGHT"!
Thanks to all the ladies who came out last night for our first play "night" at West Brazos. I think we definitely found a way to play golf and beat the summer heat. We had 15 ladies who played and I am pretty sure that everyone had a great time. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support of the IMGA. Several of you were expressing your desire to do West Brazos again during the summer. So we will be talking with the great folks out there and try to get something on the calendar. The great thing about having it on Monday night is that there is already a small existing group that plays that night so we are just adding to the group and it is a definite no matter how many sign up. So remember that any Monday night that you want to play, there is always a game at West Brazos.

THANK YOU PHYLLIS AND CECIL STEDMAN (from West Brazos) for a great price and for being so accommodating to us. We'll be back!

Check back later tonight for pics from the outing.

Thanks again to all the ladies for playing!!

Jaci

6/18/08 - Let's Catch Up!
Hey Gang...it's been a while but life has been a little on the crazy side lately. With the passing of my father in late April, I appreciate everyone's sympathy emails, cards and flowers. There is nothing like friends when your heart is breaking. But everything is getting back on to normal. My mother is coping very well all things considered and trying to start a new life on her own. Just prior to my father's passing she had purchased a set of Yorkies, Zoey and Toby, and they have been great comfort and companionship for her. Once all the dust settled, in late May I convinced her to go to San Antonio with me for the weekend to visit my sister. Then the next weekend we were off to Dallas to see my nephew graduate from high school and then on to Bossier City, LA to visit my brother. She is now back in Bossier City spending time with my nephew before he goes off to college in Kansas.

To add to the crazy factor, we started a major remodel of our home on May 5th which should run through July (probably more like August) If you are interested in the progress you can visit my blog at www.jacireese.blogspot.com. We are adding a new living room, covered patio, walk in closets, walk in shower, doubling the kitchen space and re-purposing the old living room into a dining room! I'm just hoping that I am going to have enough time to still get some golf in. It seems like I spend every weekend looking at shower tile, granite, windows, carpet, etc.!

NOW...how about some golf!! This Monday night we will be playing at West Brazos in Brazoria. I hope everyone can join us for a fun evening of golf. For more details and to sign up visit our calendar. Please sign up as soon as possible so that we can plan. We will be having some yummy snacks before and after play.

With the heat setting in for the summer, I am working another really fun evening event for July. Check back in the next week or so for more details...but I'll give you a hint...it includes glowballs!!

4/18/08 - IMGA PLAY DAY AT RIO COLORADO
I hope that everyone is having a great week and looking forward to a beautiful weekend (after this little storm passes this morning). Our play day for tomorrow, April 19th at Rio Colorado is going to be beautiful. If anyone needs directions, please email me. We will start at 9:00am so make sure to be on time. You will pay the course $40.00 (plus tax) which includes your golf, cart, range and lunch and you will need $10.00 cash for prize money. The range will be open for us if you would like to come early to warm up. After play we will meet in the clubhouse for lunch. I look forward to seeing all of you and meeting a couple of new ladies who are playing their first play day with IMGA. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to call me 979-236-4069 or email me. See you tomorrow.

We have three upcoming outings planned:

March 15th - Columbia Lakes Play Day
April 11th - 13th - Cypress Bend Weekend Golf Get-A-Way
April 19th - Rio Colorado Play Day

Check the calendar for more details and to sign up.

I am really looking forward to some great golfing with everyone this season. If you are interested in helping out with the association, specifically at some of the outings, there are a few key personnel that we need to help things move a little smoother. First, we need a photographer. Not a professional, just someone with the ability to center a picture and not chop off anyone's head!! At the last event, with everything going on I completely forgot to take team photos. As a side note, I want to encourage some ladies to bring your digital cameras out for our play days and take some candid pics of your group throughout the round to add to our gallery. Second, we need someone to help during registration at the events. I have been trying to work with the club staff and also get everyone going in the right direction at the same time and it gets a little hectic. So having someone else who knows what's going on would be great. If you are interested in helping in either of these areas or you have another area of expertise that you would like to offer your services for, please email me or give me a call. I would love to talk with you and get you involved.

One issue that came up at our last outing was handicapping. I want to encourage everyone to work on getting an official handicap. Having a true handicap is really the only way to level the playing field and make events fair. The easiest way to establish your handicap is to sign up with one of the local clubs. Freeport Municipal charges $20.00 per year and they will keep your handicap for you. Turn in all your scores from ANY and ALL courses that you play and the scores will be calculated in to establish your handicap. The Wilderness offers the service as part of their yearly membership fee which is $69.00 per year. Columbia Lakes offers it as part of their WGA membership. The key is to turn in ALL your score cards from all courses that you play. An initial handicap can be established with as few as five scores. There is a way for the IMGA to become a licensed golf club with the USGA and offer the service but there is a lot of work to it and without a committee to run the process it is not feasible for us at this time. Hopefully, sometime in the future it will be possible.

There are several other golfing activities we are working on for spring and summer events. We are creating a couple of options for individual stroke play events. First, we want to set up play days for individual stroke play for mid-week (evening starts when the time changes) and weekend dates. These outings will also serve to help establish USGA handicaps as well as offer those who want more opportunities to play. I need to know what day is best for everyone interested in mid-week play and what times you could start. I will be putting a link up under the members only section soon for you to give us your playing availability. Initially, these individual stroke play days will be non-competitive and only serve to help ladies establish a handicap as well as give us another opportunity to play golf. By the end of summer, we hope to have a club championship tournament that these play days will be great practice for while establishing your handicap for the championship tournament.

Your second option for individual stroke play (ISP) will be starting in April in what I am calling an "IMGA Monthly ISP Tournament". You MUST have an established handicap to participate in the ISP Tournament. This is how it will work: We will pick a local course for each month that will be the tournament course for that month. Our course for April will be Freeport Municipal. Everyone will play the course on their own during that month and turn in their scores via our website but official cards will be required to be signed and turned in at the end of the month. Although your best score will be your official tournament score, if you play multiple times at the course, turn in all your scores because we will be working with the local courses to offer gifts to the player who turns in the most scores for the tournament. Full handicaps will be applied to your lowest tournament score. If we have enough participation, I would like to charge a fee of $10.00 for the prize pot to go to the winners (pay places based on participation). Freeport Municipal will be awarding a free round for 2 including cart to the person who turns in the most scores for the month (members of the tournament course are not eligible for the free rounds). On top of the prize pot money, the course will also be giving the first place winner a dozen golf balls and the second and third place winners a sleeve of balls each. If you are interested, you can sign up online so we will have an idea of how many would like to participate.

Well I guess that's all the updating for now. Please remember to sign up for the upcoming events as soon as possible so that we can plan. . I look forward to meeting all of you soon.

Wishing you Fairways & Greens,

Jaci

02/16/08 PLAY DAY RESULTS
I'm kicking myself right now because I completely forgot to take any pictures on Saturday at our play day at the Wilderness. We had nine players and the teams were:
TEAM 1 - Jackie Jones, Jaci Reese, Stephanie Paul
TEAM 2 - Karen Coulter, Karen Land, Crystal Kuharski
TEAM 3 - Sarah Patterson, Anna Carson, Frances Smith
Team 1 was the winning team but all the teams did a great job and more important, all the teams reported having a great time.

The Wilderness did a great job of opening up the course for us. We played on a relatively open course thanks to their great management skills. The marshalls, Mike & JW, were making sure that we were enjoying ourselves and were a little more than curious about how all the teams were playing. They were very impressed with our pace of play as well as the playing ability of the teams. The weather held out until the last couple of holes for the last team, who got a little damp on tne way in. Otherwise it was a great day to play. Thanks to all the ladies for following through with their commitment to play even though the weather was a quite ominous.

Our next outing is scheduled for March 15th at Columbia Lakes. You can start signing up online. I look forward to meeting more of you there.

Jaci

02/16/08 - WE ARE PLAYING GOLF TODAY!!
We are playing this morning.  The course is looking good and the forecast is only a 25% chance of rain for the day.  Looks like the showers may start this evening.  So we are clear to go.  If you are playing this morning I would appreciate it if you would send me a confirmation email if you check this before 8:30am.  I will be at the course around 8:30-8:45.  Everyone can come out early and warm up on the driving range, chipping area and putting green.  They have great practice facilities at the Wilderness.

Let play some golf!!

Jaci

02/13/08 - SATURDAY, Feb 16th PLAY DAY

Again our play day is in jeopardy of being cancelled due to inclimate weather. We are waiting until Thursday to see of the weather changes. I will let everyone know as soon as we decide. The makeup date will be Saturday, February 23rd at the Wilderness. Check back tomorrow for updates.
Jaci-

01/31/08 - Saturday, Feb 2nd Play Day

We currently have 9 ladies signed up for Sat., Feb 2nd Play Day at Jackson Oaks. I had hoped to have more particpating but I know that scheduling conflicts are preventing many ladies from playing the make-up date. But we are going to have a great time anyway. The weather is going to be beautiful and we are finally going to play some golf!! With 9 players, we will play a 3 person scramble and we tee off at 10:00am. The green fee/cart will be $35.00 plus tax and the prize fund will be $10.00 per player. This will be a winner takes all scramble! After play we will meet in the Grille for the awards and social time. Lunch will be on your own and you can order off the menu if you choose.

01/23/08 - IMGA First Weekend Get-A-Way Planned

Ladies...pack your bags because IMGA is hitting the road this spring for our first weekend golf get-a-way on April 11th-13th! See details on our calendar. I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to clear their schedules and be a part of the fun, golf-packed weekend. For the golf-maniac...unlimited golf!! For the 18-holers, after golf there is fishing, indoor/outdoor heated pools, hiking, walking trails, spa and salon services. The resort also boasts two dining facilites as well as "social" room (bar). This resort is right outside my hometown of Natchitches, Louisiana and just a short 4 hour drive from Lake Jackson. It is built around Toledo Bend Lake and offers a beautiful golf course surrounding by a serene lake. Visit their website to read more about this great golfing location. I have added the event to our Event Sign Up Form so start making plans!!

01/22/08 - PLAY DAY RESCHEDULED FOR FEB 2nd AT JACKSON OAKS

First let me say how sorry I am that we had to cancel our first play day on Jan. 19th. Saturday morning I kept asking my husband, "Now remind me why I'm NOT playing golf right now?" It was a beautiful morning but looks were deceiving because it was cold and very wet. But one thing that really had my spirits high Friday night was the determination of the 16 people who were signed up to play. Not one of them called to cancel because of the weather. In fact, several emailed me to say that they were still in regardless of the weather. I now know that I have a group of ladies as passionate and committed to the IMGA as I am. Thanks ladies!! Your committment meant more to me that you will ever know.

Our Jan 19th play day has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 2nd at Jackson Oaks. We will start at 10:00am to give the day a little time to warm up but it looks like the weather is going to be ideal in the low 60s...if it holds out!! The event has been added to the Event Sign Up under the members only section. One change that I am going to have to make is that there will be no pre-determined teams. One of the main goals of IMGA is to meet new people. Going into the first play day I had a lot of people who wanted to play with their friends. I totally understand that sometimes it can be a little daunting to come into a new environment to play golf and it would be more comfortable to play with a "friend". Unfortunately that made it very difficult to balance teams handicaps and move people around in order for all the others to play with new people. Therefore, I am going to have to insist that all players sign up as individuals and we will do all the pairings based on handicap. The average handicap of our ladies is a 24. If you are a max handicap (which is a 36 with the IMGA) then you are probably only 12 -18 strokes off our average...an extra stroke per hole. We do not want anyone to be intimidated by this policy but I do feel like it is necessary in order to accomplish one of our goals. I hope everyone understands. Trust me when I say that I have met and spoken with many of the ladies that have joined and all of them are wonderful ladies and I know I would enjoy playing with and getting to know all of them.

So please start signing up to play so that we can start the planning process again and this time we have less than 2 weeks to do it! So don't delay...sign up today!!

Jaci

01/18/08 - JAN 19th PLAY DAN CANCELLED
A SAD DAY FOR THE IMGA
I cannot express how sad I am to say that our first play day has been cancelled.  Jackson Oaks has taken on a lot of water in the last few days and it seems to be continuing through the night and into the morning not to mention the extreme cold that we are expecting tomorrow.  Even if we started later, the temperature with the wind chill is predicted to be in the 30s.  After speaking with them, I have reluctantly decided to cancel the play day for tomorrow.   

Tentatively, we will have a makeup play day on Saturday, Feb. 2nd at Jackson Oaks.  I will confirm the day tomorrow with the course and post it on the website and you can begin to sign up for it.

Everyone remember that we do have an online forum (also called discussion or message board).  It is under the members only section.  The way to use this forum is to register as a member.  When filling out the registration, make sure to put your usual email in and say yes to the option at the bottom that says “Always notify me of replies”.  That way when you post that you are looking for a golf partner, if someone responds, a notice will be sent to your email and you do not have to continually check back to the forum waiting on a reply.

So if you are the true Iron Maiden and you actually play somewhere tomorrow, we want a picture!!!  Take a picture and I will post it on our site and make you the first Iron Maiden of the Month…haha!!

Your Sad and Disappointed Director,
Jaci

01/09/08 -PRE-SEASON MEETING - Last night we had our first meeting for the IMGA. Present were Joyce Barefield, Kathy Fisher, Carolyn Brower, Leslie Willard, Fay Burke, Pam Stewart, Carol Smith, Crystal Kuharski, Frances Smith and myself.

There were many things discussed and below are the major issues that were addressed/changed:

1.) Instead of tournament, which indicates a competitive atmosphere, we will be calling our monthly outings Play Days where the emphasis will be on having a great time playing golf and forging new friendships.This is also so that we do not intimidate new golfers who may feel uncomfortable with the term tournament. We will still play for the prize money.

2.) We are working on a lunch option with all the courses. Currently the play day fees do not include lunch. I will update everyone via email and on the Event Calendar as to what the options/costs will be.

3.) Instead of a 2-Person Scramble, we will be playing a 4-Person Scramble for the first few Play Days. We will divide and even out the teams based on the handicap/18 hole score turned in for each player. As the season progresses we may alter the play day formats.

4.) In regards to handicapping, we are not going to be rigid about handicaps for the first 4 months of the season, however, we want to encourage everyone to obtain an official USGA handicap. If you regularly play at a specific course, please inquire with the course about their handicapping services. According to the USGA, you will need "five 18-hole scores or ten combined 9-hole scores to establish an 18-hole USGA Handicap Index." Members of Columbia Lakes and Jackson Oaks should check with their WGA. The Wilderness offers handicapping as part of their annual membership dues. Handicapping services are also available at Freeport Municipal for $20.00 per year and may be included with your membership (check with course).

5.) Officers and Board Members: Currently I am the only officer that is serving and for now I will assume the title of Director since I am in essence directing the association's development. Hopefully as our season progresses others will be interested in serving and we will consider voting in additional officers. In the meantime, our Board will work with the Director and will be comprised of our Committee Chairs. If you are interested in serving in a position with the association as a Comittee Chair or as a member of one of our committees as all the committees will need additional members, please contact me either by email or phone. Some of the committees include:
Membership - Serving our membership by keeping contact with them such as checking on active and inactive members, birthday wishes, etc.
Hospitality- Responsible for welcoming and directing membership and new members at all association events. Very important so that people feel welcome and included especially in the beginning of our association with so many ladies coming together for the first time.
Tournament - Responsible for organizing play days and tournaments.
Social - Responsible for organizing social event for the association.
Mentorship - Responsible for working with new golfers and partnering them with other mentors.
Golf Education & Rules - Responsible for helping to educate the association on the rules of golf including golf etiquette and USGA rules for golf. Also responsible for handling any on course rules issues/disputes during play days or tournaments.

6.) Purpose of IMGA. Everyone was in agreement that the primary purpose of an organization like IMGA is to meet new friends for golfing relationships. Even some that are associated with other groups were interested in the idea of having a larger circle of possible golfing partners and increase our opportunities to golf.

Overall it was a very good meeting and I feel confident that our association is going to be a great success. A special thank you to the ladies who attended the meeting. All the ladies brought great insight to the meeting including the new golfers who raised issues that the more seasoned golfers may not remember. Thanks ladies!!!

Our first Play Day is scheduled for January 19th at Jackson Oaks. Please go online as soon as possible and sign up to play.

I look forward to meeting everyone and having a fantastic season of golf.

Jaci


01/07/08 - Ok finally the holidays are all over. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday. I know that I enjoyed them but I am glad that they are over and we can get back to a normal schedule. This year is going to be really exciting for IMGA. As we start our first year of existence, I am looking forward to meeting all of you and making new friends. I played a round out at beautiful Columbia Lakes this past Saturday with my husband and I have to admit that my attention was on the two groups ahead of us, a foursome of women and a foursome with three women and gentleman. I was wondering how many of them I would be meeting soon. However, I was a little too shy to approach them in their group. Maybe next time I'll be able to call them by name or better yet be playing with them.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, Jan 8th will be our Pre-Season Planning Meeting. Thanks to all the ladies who have signed up to attend. If you would like to attend please sign up online today or tomorrow morning so that we can prepare enough goodies and handouts.

Our membership seems to be growing daily and I am still making efforts to get the word out. Thanks to all the ladies out at Jackson Oaks and Columbia Lakes for sharing IMGA with others. If you know someone who might be interested please direct them to our website.

Hope to see you all soon,

Jaci

12/13/07 - Wow..Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas is just around the corner. I hope you ladies have been taking advantage of this awesome weather. Unfortunately, I see that coming to an end in the next few days.

The IMGA is doing wonderful thanks to the 32 ladies that have signed up so far. I am so excited about what we are starting and the possibilities of new friends and great golfing.

Our inaugural meeting will be January 8th and I am still trying to decide on where we should have it. My dilemma is the number of people that are attending. So far only a couple of people have signed up saying they will be attending. I really need everyone that is available to come and give us your opinions and ideas about the association. Please take the time to go online in the Members Only section and sign up under the Event Sign-Up. While you are there, go ahead and sign up for the first tournament. I have some ideas to make our first outing really fun and you'll only find out about them by coming to the meeting!!

Thanks again for all your support...see ya soon...Jaci

11-28-07 - I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with lots of great family time and turkey! With Thanksgiving behind us, Christmas is well on its way! I for one took advantage of Black Friday and shopped my feet off. Got lots of great deals and the majority of my shopping done. Now I'm ready for some golf.

We are in our 4th week of our membership drive and have recruited around 25 official members! Thanks to all of you who have signed up. And thanks to so many of you for expressing your enthusiasm and support for the association. Please feel free to email me with your ideas and suggestions. Please know that all emails you receive from IMGA are personal. There are no automated emails going out, maybe some form letters, but there is a real person on the other end and I would love to hear from you. I can see from our Webstats that many of you are looking at the site and checking back often. Send me your suggestions to improve or add to the site.

I hope to have a discussion forum in the Members Only Section of the site soon where you can actually meet and converse with each other. Also, I am working on a membership roster to post on the site in the Members Only section so that you can communicate with each other and get to know each other through our profiles. The Members Only section is up and members should receive login information via email tonight. Be sure to go on and complete the Member Profile Information so that we will know more about who you are.

Additionally, the online tournament sign-up form will be online in the next few days. Please make sure that you are committed to playing when you sign up. This is a new venture and we want to fulfill our promise to the courses that are hosting us and earn a good reputation so that they will WANT us to come back again and again.

Again, thanks for all your support...talk to you soon...Jaci

11/13/07 - Well we are officially in our second week of our membership drive and things are looking great! Thank you to all the ladies who have signed up already. Please forward the information to any of your friends who might be interested. The ladies of Columbia Lakes are coming in quickly and we are so excited. This week we will be putting informaton out at Jackson Oaks and The Wilderness. I played in a Tournament Director's Day today at The Wilderness. Kit Thomson, the general manager is excited about the association as is Chad Vanhoy with Jackson Oaks. They both know that this is a group that has not been tapped as a source for increasing play on their courses. That kind of support will be priceless as this group develops.

Although we have had a lot of ladies sign up only a couple have agreed to be a part of the planning committee. Be assured that we are not going to monopolize your time or overburden you, but we do need your input. I know that we all have jobs, families and responsibilities and for the most part golf is just a hobby for when everything else is taken care of. I myself am a very organized person and I plan on making this as hassle free as possible for all of us. So please reconsider being on the Planning Committee and shoot me an email letting me know if you are willing to serve. If after the first meeting it seems to be too much, just let me know. But I think that it will be more fun than work!!

I will be designing a Members Only section of the website soon where members can meet other members and get to know one another. Be checking back on the website under the Members section in the next week or so.

Please feel free to email me or call me anytime if you have questions or suggestions.

Wishing You Fairways and Greens,
Jaci