Local Iron Thong News

ITG 5th Tournament Information

5th ITG Tournament
Reigning Champion: Jesse Flores
September 6th, 2008
The Golf Club of Texas
San Antonio Texas

Complete Information/Rules/Payout/Specifications Right Here!

Officer Meeting 07/16/08 - Rolling Oaks Golf Range and Bar

The Meeting was called to resolve and vote on a few issues that ITG

1. Home Course
2. Maximum Yardage to be played
3. Weekly Fee
4. Officer Elections
5. Membership Dues
6. Check and Balance
7. Guests & Children
8. Skins Calculations
9. Points Cup Challenge and Low Net Rounds Contest
10. Dues

Read all about it here!!!!!!

The Fourth ITG Tournament was a total success

Congratulations to Jesse Flores for winning the 4th ITG Tournament. He shot a net 62 to become the fourth ITG Champion and the holder of the ITG Traveling trophy. Congratulations Jesse!

Fourth ITG Tournament ! That's right isn't almost here!

Expected # of Players - Possibly 33

Date: March 22nd, 2008 - 8:00am
Place: Golf Club of Texas

Time: To Be Announced

Payout: $1,300.00 Cash Plus Trophies and Food and Beverages.
Flights: A/B/C
Format: Low Net Tournament

Get ready for the 4th Iron Thong Tournament! It will be held at The Golf Club of Texas, San Antonio, Texas on the morning of March 22nd @ 8:00am Sharp. The pot will be $1,500.00 dollars with plenty of opportunity to win. The tournament will have three flights (A/B/C) Everyone should have a good time and we hope all members will attend. Prize Money Awarded to all flights and Trophies will be award to Closest to the pin, Long Drive, Fewest Putts, Low Net A/B/C Flights, and of course our traveling trophy that is yours to keep for 6 months with your name engraved on it if you are low man Net over all flights. Official Rules and Eligibility of the Tournament is right here!

The Semi-Annual Dues are Due! - It's time again to pay for our Semi-Annual dues. The cost is $20.00 and it gets you into our group with all the perks and a spot in the March Tournament.

The ITG Points Cup Challenge

Starting next week 10/20/07 all members will be competing in the ITG Points Challenge. It cost you or the ITG Kitty nothing, if your a member you are officially in the running starting next week (or) the week you join the ITG. Here is how it will work so please continue reading.

The ITG will contact a local golf store or golf course - We will be trying to get someone to sponsor the ITG Challenge. Whomever sponsors the ITG Challenge at the time it will be named after our sponsor. Let's assume Widget Golf gives us a new R7 Driver it will then be known for the remainder of this season the Widget Golf Points Cup Challenge. In return for the Driver we will give them the name on the challenge and a link on our webpage advertising their business and there logo on a banner with the Points Challenge.

The Goal of this challenge will be to score the most points this season - until the weekend before the next tournament - by scoring Low Nets.

This is all ITG members and no flighting is done in this challenge.

How Points will be scored.

Simple - Take the number of players per week

1st Place - # of Players + 4 points

2nd Place - # of Players

3rd Place # of Players -1
4th Place # of Players -2

5th Place # of Players -3

And so one....

Example - Assuming there are 8 players

1st Place - 12 points

2nd Place - 8 points

3rd Place - 7 points

4th Place - 6 points

5th Place - 5 points

6th Place - 4 points

7th Place - 3 point

8th Place - 2 points

In the event of a tie, both players get the same amount of points in the example above if two players tied for 2nd they both get 8 points and the 4th player still get 6 points. At the end of the season if you have the most points then you win the sponsors award for the points challenge. Hopefully we get a good sponsor and a great prize. So sign up and play - the more you play the better your chance. The more players we have the more points you can win. So everyone can see this is a great incentive to come out and play the ITG Way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can see this is a great way to win something exciting. We'll announce what we have secured for the prize in the weeks to come.

The more players we have any given week the more points can be won. So play your butt off when we have a lot of players. Today we had 15 players and 19 points would have be awarded for 1st and that would have been posted to Louis Menchaca.

I will be designing a new section on our website dedicated to the points challenge. Most likely it will be on the Weekly Analysis page which in my mind only make sense. We'll see.

Alsatians Golf Course in Castroville Texas - News!!!

What a great day at Alsatians. A little warm but non-the-less the course was in good condition with all the rain they had. The course Manager told me that Alsatians got bought out by the the management company that also owns Concan Country Club and another course here in town "can't remember the one though". Alsatians will be renovating their course making an island green on #2 among other improvements which will make the course a jewel. Along with that they will be building a new clubhouse in the empty land right in front of the existing club house. Alsatians is a great course and it will be made better come October to early November.

Concan Resort, in Cancon Texas

The manager suggested we take a ride out to Concan located in Concan, Texas and check it out. It is probably 55-60 minutes from 90/1604. Here is the website let us know what you think. So should we check it out and book in October or November? It's pricey @ 59.99 but he said we could get a better deal then that. This beast is 7333 yards too!

http://www.concangolf.com/

Johnny Martinez Wins the 3rd Iron Thong Tournament

Johnny Martinez wins the 3rd Iron Thong Tournament by firing off a round of Net (71). To see how the whole tournament panned out see the link 3rd Iron Thong Tournament.

The 3rd Iron Thong Tournament - over $1,100 dollars in prize money and awards!

Get ready for the 3rd Iron Thong Tournament! It will be held at The Golf Club of Texas, San Antonio, Texas on the morning of September 8th @ 8:00am Sharp. The pot will be $1,100.00 dollars with plenty of opportunity to win. The tournament will have three flights (A/B/C) Everyone should have a good time and we hope all members will attend. Prize Money Awarded to all flights and Trophies will be award to Closest to the pin, Long Drive, Fewest Putts, Low Net A/B/C Flights, and of course our traveling trophy that is yours to keep for 6 months with your name engraved on it if you are low man Net over all flights. Get all the information right here!

Iron Thong - Yes! We are 100% Authorized by the USGA.

There have been some questions about our handicap system and whether or not we are legit. Please take the time to visit this link:

Meeting 1/4/07 @ Chesters Hamburgers - Please take time to read the meeting minutes. You can read them right here!

New Accounting Method for Calculating Skins - The new method for calculating skins was voted upon by 8 members of the Iron Thong this method is stated as follows:
Skins will be tabulated using (NO PUSH METHOD) from 8/19/06 forward. In order to win a skin in the Iron Thong a play must win the hole out-right. By tabulating the skins in this manner we will bank more money in the kitty for the bi-yearly golf tournament. The value for the each skin is calculated by taking the amount of skin money "# of players X 5.00" and dividing by 18". Each skin is rounded up or down to the nearest .50 cents. In the event there are more then one flight it will be calculated as "# of players x 5.00" and Divided by Total number of holes of all the flights - Two flights = 36 holes, Three flights = 54 holes etc..... Amended 8/19/06.

Guaranteed Tee Times on Saturday mornings, Holidays and Special Events. (RSVP Only)

1st Semi-Annual Iron Thong Tournament - July 8th, 2006 @ The Golf Club of Texas - Well, Well, Well what a tournament huh? We paid out over $500.00 in winnings and prizes on this hot humid July morning. We took a lot of pictures and there was some serious Thong Adjusting. Thank you Golf Club of Texas for letting us use your track and giving us a great backdrop for our first tournament. You will not be forgotten. Thanks to Steve Vanwert for putting together the goodie bags full of Hat's, Shirts, Balls, Markers, Tee's etc. We look forward to our next tournament.

All Skins and Payouts - Skins and Payouts are now calculated on 80% of your handicap.

Upgraded Handicap Software - Loft released version 6.24 of the Golf handicap software and we have upgraded to the latest and greatest. The new version fixes a few bugs in the earlier versions.

Tournament Meeting - Wings and More, San Antonio, Texas. - We had a meeting on July 22nd at wings and more. The Wings were hot and the Beer was cold. You can read all about it here: Meeting @ Wings and More.

The Iron Thong 1st Semi-Annual Golf Tournament - The First Semi-Annual Golf Tournament has not become reality. We have worked very hard towards this goal and we will have a $500.00 Pot. Not bad if you ask me. The Tournament will be held at Golf Club of Texas July 8th 2006. To read about format and obtain general information please go to this link. Iron Thong 1st Annual Golf Tournament Page

Out Of Bounds #7 Willow Springs - According to the meeting it was voted upon to adopt local ruling for out of bounds #7 @ Willow Springs to be the cart path for #7 however after Ed Gambal placed a call to Hank Solinas they defined the out of bound with white paint the morning of 5/13/06. The Out of Bounds is Defined as follows for this hole. The Second cart path behind the #8 tee box and all they way through to the woods a long side the #7 Green. If you have questions about this ruling see a officer and we will gladly explain it to you.

Meeting Rolling Oaks Golf Center - 5/5/06 - Here is what was discussed at the meeting at Rolling Oaks Golf Center. Click Here!

Golf Handicap Software - We upgraded to Golf Handicap 6.22 (the upgrade was free).

Meeting Hooligans IH10 & Huebner - 4/13/06 - Here is what was discussed at the meeting at Hooligans. Click Here!

We have a USGA Trophy to Award - The USGA has given the Iron Thong Golfing Gang a choice of either a Trophy or Award. We may choose to distribute this as an award or trophy. This can be awarded to a golf course, a club member or a school. There is no stipulation as to who or where we choose to award it. Please be thinking about how this award will be handed out.

USGA Type 2 Club "It's Official" - 1/27/06 - That's right it is official. We have completed our process to become a full fledged, fully approved USGA Golf club. Iron Thong Golfing Gang is ready for the 06' season.

Pecan Valley - 1/10/06 - Pecan Valley is now our home course - as opposed to Olympia Hills as originally planned. We have broken our agreement with Olympia and moved to Pecan for several reasons. The first and most important is Pecans track is in everyones opinion a better track, the greens are always superior and it is a wonderful old school track. Second, we have a better working relationship with them because of some of our members. Pecan will be the home of the San Antonio Amateur this year as well. This will give us an opportunity to assist and donate some time to the tournament if they need it. Also, Pecan has a lot of heritage in San Antonio as it has held past Texas Opens and there is a lot of historical golf value to this track so what better place to the call home.

Handicap Version 6 - 1/2/06 - We are now using version 6.0 or Golf Handicap to tracking all our statistics. This upgrade was free of charge for us.

USGA Application Accepted on 1/1/06 - The USGA Accepted The Iron Thong Golfing Gang's application for membership. (View Letter) This comes on the 111th Anniversary of the USGA. There are many exciting things coming in 06', Polish up your clubs boys!

By-Laws of the Iron Thong Golfing Gang - Here are the By Laws of our Group. Please read the By Laws carefully and if you have any questions please refer them to any officer.

Application to the USGA Filed on 12/13/05 - See cover letter here - Just in time for the '06 season! Are you ready for some - GOLF?

It's Official on 12/12/05 - Our home course is Olympia Hills Golf Course in Universal City, Texas. They have agreed to house the Iron Thong Golfing Gang. They have also agree to give us discounts on our rounds with the exception of Saturday and Sunday Mornings. Our next step is to process the USGA Application - That should take 2 - 3 weeks.

New Handicap Calculations - Starting Next Weekend 12/17/05 we will be switching to the Official USGA Handicap Calculations. It calculates as follows.

Prior to this calculation we were using 3 rounds, 100% range and 96 differential.

Your handicap will be dropping I'm sure. There will not be as much of a fluctuation from round to round starting next week. All previous rounds up to date will be eligible in the 20 rounds analyzed.

Pay Out - Each Player playing in the Iron Thong will pay $6.00 per round for the skins pool each Saturday morning - $5.00 will go towards the skin pool and the additional dollar will go into the kitty for the annual golf tournament. An optional $5.00 per birdie pool is available to enter - this is optional only. Only players buying into the birdie pool are eligible for payout. If no birdies are won in the birdie pool all money will be paid back to each participant. All Skins and Birdies pool monies are to be paid prior to the start of the round. All money will be collected by Treasurer, if present, if not then one of the office officials will collect the skins and birdie pool money. If none of the office officials are present then a member of the board of directors may collect and pay out. That party will be responsible for getting the excess to the Treasurer for the kitty pool.

Skins Format - A new skins format is being adopted. All skins will be pushed starting December 10th. Any skins not won will go into the kitty and those monies, however little or large, is added to the 6 month tournament and will be paid out to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Low Net.

Annual Dues - Annual dues of $40.00 a year will cover membership. We want to keep this fair and affordable. The more players we can recruit the better off we all are and the larger the tournament payouts will be. This will be payable on January 1st $20.00 and July 1st $20.00. Payment can be made to the Treasurer, President, Vice President, Secretary. This will help pay the 100.00 Annual USGA Membership. With the left over money a full handicapping Net Tournament will be held in June and December of each year at a course voted upon by the board members and office officials. The event will payout 1st, 2nd and 3rd place Low Net using full official USGA Handicapping. The money will be divided as follows.

Guaranteed Tee Times on Saturday mornings, Holidays and Special Events. (RSVP Only)

Guests - Guest(s) may play with the Iron Thong Golfing Gang. The tee times we make are for our members and they come first! During these rounds they should evaluate the group and see if they would feel comfortable participating. At that point we would hope the guest(s) become a member by paying the annual dues, thus adding to the payout on the golf tournament in March and September.