THE STATE OF THE IRON THONG

Second report – August 2009

Gang,

The state of the Iron Thong is, as recent polls and votes attest, an ever-changing thing, but still excellent. In response to a few questions and concerns brought up by officers and members since our June meeting, our officers held a meeting on August 15 and discussed a few topics that should interest you. John already sent out a copy of the meeting’s minutes, but I’d like to explain a little bit about what we discussed and what we decided.

 Show me the money!

First, financially, the group is doing fine. As of the meeting, there was nearly $2,500 in our kitty. This will be used for the upcoming tournament in October, and for anticipated expenses.

We discussed the subject of members paying their dues, or not paying their dues. Many of our members consider paying their dues as something that just doesn’t need to be done right away. Think of the Iron Thong as any other club or group you would join. If you joined, you’d have to pay up front. That’s the way it’s done in America – show me the money! This isn’t a problem with our new members. They all pay when they join. Perhaps it would help if you stop thinking of your dues as renewals, and start thinking of them as joining the group every six months. If you were a new member, you’d pay up front. That’s what we’re asking you to do.

Of course, part of the problem is that there isn’t a due date. Well, there is one now. All dues will be due by the halfway point, which is three months after the last tournament. Our next tournament is on Oct. 3, so all dues are due by the first Saturday in December. What happens if you haven’t paid? You’ll be put on an “inactive” list and won’t be able to sign up to play. We have more than 50 members now and we really have to start being proactive about dues paying.

On the bright side, though, we voted not to increase the dues, so they’re still only $20, the best deal in San Antonio.

Ready to party?

We discussed the upcoming General Membership Meeting. There are a lot of different ways to do this, from having a meeting immediately after the tournament, to having a meeting separate from the tournament, to having a social event where we invite spouses (and the club offsets part of the cost of the dinner), to doing the whole meeting thing by email.

Basically, we couldn’t decide what to do, so we’re opened up a poll on our webpage for you to tell us what you think. Some of you have responded already, but the more responses, the better. So please open up the polling page and let us know.

New rules on bringing guests

Even though we discussed this earlier, we wanted to make it official: you can bring only two guests at a time on a Saturday outing. There are a couple of reasons for this, the primary one being that a member is always put in the same foursome as his guests. Each group should have two members in the group to verify the scores at the end of the round.  You also need two members to decide any rules issues that come up during the round.

We’ve got your number … or not

We’re compiling a phone number and email address list to send out to all members. We know that many times one of us may want to contact one or two other members, but don’t want to send an email to the whole group. Pete is compiling the info, so please email him and let him know your latest and correct info. This list won’t be put on the webpage for the entire world to see; it will be emailed to everyone personally for their own use.

Totally gross, man

We decided to add three new trophies to our tournament list. Even though we are primarily a low net group, we thought that we should try to recognize those guys who actually score the lowest, at least on tournament day. To that end, we’re going to award trophies for low gross for all three flights, starting at the October tournament.  This is for the tournaments only, though. Our Saturday mornings still stay low net only.

On the road again

It’s just about time to take another road trip! In the past, we’ve gone to Bastrop and played the Pine Forest course there. We’d like to travel to some other faraway place soon. If you’ve got any suggestions, let us know. We’re considering Pine Forest again, maybe ConCan, or one of the courses in Austin or Houston. How about an overnighter to Coushatta? Let us know.

The Thong Adjuster

Recently we polled the group on whether or not they read the Thong Adjuster every month. Unfortunately for my ego, only a few people even responded. So I have to conclude that not many of you care whether or not it’s published. However, those who did respond were enthusiastic in their praise and wanted it to continue. It’s a lot of work to put it together, and if it’s not going to be read, then it’s not worth the trouble. So I’m compromising. Instead of publishing The Adjuster monthly, I’m going to put it together on a quarterly basis, starting with the October issue, which will be the tournament issue. We’ll publish again in December/January and then in April (another tournament issue). We’ll maintain that schedule for awhile and see how it goes.

The end

Our officers and board will meet again in September, prior to the tournament. I’ll send out another report to you then.

Steve