Greenhorn Invitational

The Castle Oaks Swingers would like to thank the ladies of Greenhorn Creek 9-Hole GC for a fun filled day with their Invitational Up Up and Away.  

We had 7 ladies from the Castle Oaks Swingers 9-Hole GC in attendance and they played well.The first place team on the front nine were Glenda Hofstetter, Conni Warren, and Marie Garcia.  Glenda also had closest to the pin on the front side.  On the back nine second place team was Sandy Ferrario and Dianne Binnell was on the third place team.  Congratulations to all of the winners.

Member Club Profile - Haggin Oaks

This month we're featuring the many clubs we have at Haggin Oaks in our Member Club Profile! Click here to read more about all of the clubs we have at this course!

Seniors and Super Seniors - RESULTS

Thank you so much to all of our ladies who came out and played in our event at Lincoln Hills! We hope you had just as much fun as we did, and we hope to see you back at another one of our Major Tournaments down the road!

Now for some Results!! Pictured above: Tina Barker - Seniors Low Gross. Pictured below, left: Pam Katros - Seniors Low Net. Pictured Below, right: Susan Peterson - Super Seniors Low Net. Pictured below center: Irene Gotta - Super Seniors Low Gross

Also, huge congratulations to everyone who placed in your flight, but the following are the winners of each of the flights!

SENIORS: For Full Restults Click HERE

Flight 1: Monica Saneholtz

Flight 2: Jane Ott

Flight 3: Vivian French

Flight 4: Rhonda Barth

Flight 5: Alba Rodriguez

Flight 6: Joanne Hansen

Flight 7: Karen Alejo

Flight 8: Nancy Boggs

Flight 9: Carolyn Sipes

Flight 10: Kathy Ingram

SUPER SENIORS: For Full Results Click HERE

Flight 1: Beverley Olson

Flight 2: Kathi Bothelo

Flight 3: Joan Bolles

Flight 4: 

Flight 5: Kathi Kopyn

Flight 6: Bonnie Hing

Flight 7: Joyce O'Connell

Flight 8: Myrna Sablik

Flight 9: Pam Adams

Flight 10: Val Anderson

To view all of the photos of the winners, click here

Local Rating Calibration Seminars at Castlewood Country Club and The Ridge Golf Course

By: Kaaren Walsh, Course Rating Director

In the last rating blog posting, an update was given on the USGA Rating Calibration at Aliso Viejo Golf Course. As a follow up, the rating directors for both PWGA and WGANC felt that this knowledge should be shared with all raters of both organizations.


So two local seminars were set up so that the raters would not have to travel too far to attend and to ensure that the rating of all courses in Northern California would be consistent between the two organizations. Approximately 50 raters attended the seminar at Castlewood and 30 the one at The Ridge. Four women from the Northern Nevada Women’s Golf Association also attended.
The raters were given a short quiz taken from the USGA Calibration Quiz to take before hand. It was interesting to see what everyone knew and what areas need work.

Both seminars essentially followed the same format. First Jerry Moreno, our rating trainer extraordinaire, explained all the changes that went into effect this year. After that the raters broke into groups and went out on the course to rate a few holes. Lots of discussion took place and lots of learning happened. Everyone had a chance to use the stimpmeters and do various measurements of each hole. The quiz answers were distributed and explained. The master rating team then talked about how they would have rated the same holes. All of the teams were happy with their ratings. There was lively discussion at times however.

Now the teams are ready to rate the courses in their areas that are due. We try to rate courses every eight years. However if a course has undergone extensive renovation, we re-rate within a year. In addition, if a course or PWGA club thinks the course has changed enough to affect the rating, we will do a rating more often or just rate the hole or two that has changed.

Julie Gonzalez is a Difference Maker

Learn more about our very own Julie Gonzalez - truly a woman dedicated to the giving back to the golf community.  Julie served as President of the PWGA in 2013, and she continues to serve on the Rules Committee and as the USGA Liaison to the PWGA.  She was featured in the recent NCGA magazine - Read the Article here.  Volunteers like Julie make this game great.  If you are interested in becoming involved in PWGA as a volunteer please reach out to us we'd love to hear from you and we are always looking for talented women to  help carry out the mission. http://www.golfpwga.org/volunteer-interest-form.html

Member Profile: Fumi Urabe 

Fumi Urabe, a long time PWGA member at Salinas Fairway Niners, is a rock star both on and off the course.  Like many female golfers, Fumi originally got involved playing because her husband is an avid golfer. Urabe took her first lessons in her early 20’s and now at the age of nearly 97 (May 10^th she will be 97 years old) she hasn’t looked back! “When my three children were younger, I didn’t play as much, but I still found time on the weekends to get out and play a little bit,” said Fumi. Once she became a more active member of her club in the 1980’s, she loved holding office positions. Fumi served as treasurer for the Fairway Niners for many years, and loved providing great prizes and incentives for the players in big tournaments.

When she’s not golfing, Fumi loves to fish in the ocean, bass fishing specifically. The Sea Cliff Pier in Santa Cruz is a frequent, and favorite, fishing spot for Fumi. On a few occasions, she’s caught upwards of 22 pound bass!!

“Some people ask me why I keep playing at my age. And I tell them I do it because I love the game, it’s keeping me young and healthy! Someone told me one time that I might die on the course, and that’s fine by me!” Fumi says. Continuing to walk and play golf is such a great way to keep your body healthy, and the game is so awesome for someone of any age!

Ladies, like Fumi, who have been playing for years are continually puzzled by the fact that there aren’t more ladies out playing! The PWGA has so many opportunities for ladies to get playing, even for beginners. With our Twilight Club, Niner Clubs, 18-hole Women’s clubs, and our NEW Caddie Club for beginners, there are plenty of great ways to get involved in the game! So get playing, or join a PWGA member club! Bring a friend too, because golf is always more enjoyable with a partner. And who knows, maybe you’ll still be playing like Fumi!

PWGA Poll: Haggin Oaks named NorCal’s
 top women-friendly public golf course

Rocklin, CA (April 12, 2016) – Sacramento’s Haggin Oaks collected more than twice as many votes as any other nominee in February voting conducted by the Pacific Women’s Golf Association to find the most women-friendly public golf course in Northern California.

PWGA Executive Director Caroline O’Brien will present an award to Haggin Oaks during the complex’s annual Golf Expo April 29-May 1.

“We’re very pleased at the participation of our members in the poll, and in its outcome,” O’Brien said. “Haggin Oaks has been a great partner to the PWGA, with five women’s clubs and a deep commitment to growing the game among women. And they’ve recently created a new position, Golf Ambassador, to help them strive for even higher participation and satisfaction among women golfers.”

That commitment starts with the customer-first philosophy that Ken Morton Sr. has insisted on since he started working part-time at Haggin Oaks in 1958. Today he’s CEO of Morton Golf, which manages the complex.

“Our staff is constantly being observed and nurtured to treat people with respect and with a caring and positive attitude,” Morton said. “We provide significant Customer Service Training as well as management training for monitoring and managing of behaviors. Our goal is for everyone to be a happy, friendly and enthusiastic staff member.”

Morton spoke in general about customer service, but acknowledged that the needs of the female golf customer warranted some research. The results – particularly statistics in the Sacramento Bee reporting that women’s golf declined as much as 40 percent after the last recession – prompted Morton to hire Linda Reid as Golf Ambassador to focus on training Haggin Oaks staff to serve and communicate better, especially with women golfers.

 “We have found that most of the problems we have with women is that we simply haven’t communicated with them to let them know what we are doing, why we are doing what we do and how what we do impacts women,” Morton said. “We must educate our staff about how to specifically communicate with the five different generations of women who enter the game and those who are already playing the game of golf. Each generation of women communicate differently and each generation looks at golf in a different way.”

Reid is developing such programs as “Wine and Wedges,” an evening clinic series, and “Get Course Ready,” an extension to the PGA of America’s popular “Get Golf Ready” introduction to the game. “If I can bring more players into the game by creating a welcoming, comfortable learning environment where they can make new friends, become healthier and embrace this great game, it’s good for them and it’s good for golf,” Reid said, noting that men are not excluded from programs designed to appeal to women.

Haggin Oaks was designed 83 years ago by the renowned architect Alister MacKenzie. Today there are five sets of tees on the walkable MacKenzie course, starting at 4,552 yards, and the two Arcade Creek nines have red tees at under 2,000 yards and an innovative short-game set at around 1,200. Rates depend on starting time; for instance, a prime 9 a.m. weekday time for a nonresident “guest” is $35.

PWGA poll voters’ comments included: “They just cater to women golfers in every way, including the store.” ... “Friendly employees and awesome women's programs.” ... “Has great women teachers.” ... “Fun to play and very accommodating to ladies, then the shopping!”

The famed-among-shoppers Haggin Oaks Super Store houses what may be the largest selection of women’s golf merchandise – especially fashion and shoes – in Northern California.

PGA Head Golf Professional Mike Woods was honored but not surprised to lead the way in PWGA balloting.

“We don’t track it, but I’d say our percentage of rounds by women is much higher than the (17 percent) industry average,” Woods said. “I think it could be as high as 25 percent. We take great pride in our personal relationships with all golfers, and hope to deepen each of those relationships in the years to come.”

With more than 400 voters selecting five courses each – most, of course, touting their home clubs --  Haggin Oaks wound up collecting nearly twice as many votes as runners-up Pacific Grove Golf Links and Lincoln’s Turkey Creek Golf Club. Bailey Creek in Lake Almanor and Sacramento’s Bartley Cavanaugh completed the top five.