SaddleBrooke Lady Niners weather monsoons in style

Barbara Johnson

September has been a busy month for the SaddleBrooke Lady Niners. Even though play was shortened by the monsoons (two weeks cancelled) and the course closures for overseeding at the end of the month, we made good use of the time remaining. First off was the Ace of the Month competition on September 2. Our August Aces are Sharon Dicosola for Low Gross and Edie Crall for Low Net. Congratulations, ladies!

Our next big event came on September 23 with golf, brunch and our General Meeting. This proved to be quite a busy and productive day. We felt this was a good time to reintroduce the aqua tees, so everybody played from this location. Then we gathered together for another delicious brunch prepared for us by our excellent Food and Beverage staff. The agenda for the meeting was very full! The first item of business was to introduce some very special guests for the day. Joining us were Rose Nehring, the Director of Girls’ Junior Golf of Tucson, as well as one of her protégées Hailey Tellez and her grandmother Theresa. Our ladies wanted to present them with a check for $500, comprised of our surplus from our Invitational and additional funds from our organization. Rose accepted our check and thanked us all for all of our continuing support of their organization; an organization which makes it possible for girls all over the Tucson area to play regardless of their financial status. The highlight of the presentation was a speech from Hailey herself. Thanks to Girls Junior Golf, she began playing at the age of seven and is now a six year veteran at the ripe old age of 13. She just returned from a tournament in Pasadena, California, an International Tournament she had qualified for. She is doing so well that now she has her grandmother playing also!

Next up to the podium was our Pro Bernie Eaton. Bernie gave the ladies valuable information about sign-ups for golf for next year and made them aware of the various plans available and how to renew their membership. Bernie was followed by Barbara Johnson and Judy Fick, who explained the new format which is being adopted this year to allow more flexibility in scheduling for our upcoming President’s Cup. We are really hopeful for a good turnout this year! Opal Larkin followed up with an explanation of the Power of Pink event coming up in October including golf, putting games and the auction and dinner. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity to have fun and join a most worthy cause at the same time!

Our next speaker was Tricia Pohnert who presented the slate of officers for 2015. Since we had no nominations from the floor, the elections were held on the spot. Next year’s officers are President Barbara Johnson, Vice-President Char Crossman, Secretary Tricia Pohnert, Treasurer Jan Wehmann, Pairings Julie Egolf, Tournament Louise Jeffery and Handicap Charlotte James. The officers will be inducted at the December luncheon.

Our meeting concluded with Ellie Cannan presenting pins to all those ladies who achieved birdies and under 50 scores. We are now looking forward to our next big event – the Sputters Tournament – which will occur on October 21. This is a favorite event because we get to leave the putting to our Sputters partners!