FINER NINER AWARD
The Finer Niner award was created in 2001. A plaque/medalion is given at the final meeting/brunch of our league season. The award gives recognition to the person(s) who has been instrumental in making our league the best league in Sun City Grand. We know there is a lot of unused talent in our organization, so please volunteer.
2021 – Becky Meng
2020 – Fay Telleck, Sue Perry
2019 – Vicki Burke
2018 – Trudy Goetz
2017 – Linda Innecken
2016 – Joyce Craft
2015 – Geri Babcock
2014 – Dodie McManamy
2013 – Marilyn Book
2012 – Chris Pires
2011 - Kathy Smith
Joyce Craft received a President’s Award for her outstanding service as the Publicity and Fun Times Chair for as many years as I can remember. Joyce wrote the excellent article about the club celebrating 20 years as a charter club and it was published in the March issue of Grand Lifestyles. She assisted with pulling together the slide shows you see and did the bulk of the work on the one shown today. She has been making us smile, literally, for many years when she takes our pictures. The pictures that you can see on the website (under Photos tab) are pimarily because of Joyce. Additionally, Joyce is a charter member of the club, having been a member for the entire 20 years (and maybe more). Thank you, Joyce, for your dedication to our club! Now, if she could just get out of Canada and join us back in Grand!
Sue Perry received a Finer Niner Award in 2020. Last January, after realizing that we would need to join AGA and then switch to GHIN for handicapping, we found out the GHIN system would not be compatible with Golf Software, our handicapping system at that time. Golf Operations offered to have us use Golf Genius (GG) Premium at no cost to us. With switching to Golf Genius for handicapping, we had the opportunity to use their portal for our website. Meetings with the GG Customer Manager took place and I found Sue had an interest in helping with the tech functions of the club and was willing to help. Once the framework or skeleton of the website was determined, Sue has been working with me in building the website. She has spent countless hours, offered suggestions to make it function more easily for the members, researched options if something didn’t work right, and is constantly, to this day, finding solutions and building and improving the site. We owe her so much and I thank Sue for sharing her time and extraordinary tech savviness with our club.
Fay Telleck received a Finer Niner Award in 2020. Fay and Margaret Anne started learning the desktop version of Golf Software first. Then, she and Margaret Anne needed to switch to the online version. In early March, Margaret Anne left on a cruise and ended up quarantined on the ship and then at home when she returned at the end of March. Fay quietly took over doing all of the Pairings work on her own. She was learning Golf Genius and then Covid-19 hit. She figured out how to do tee time Pairings in Golf Software. In May, Golf Genius was launched and she was now doing tee times in Golf Genius. This was used through the entire summer so that we could work out any bugs that may arise with Golf Genius before we used it in the fall. We were set for the fall and then we were told we were doing Shotguns! After getting all of the rounds set up in the system for Shotguns, we were switched back to tee times. Another change for Fay. She has quietly made all of these changes and still everything gets done on time and error free! She makes the Pairings available on Wednesdays, which has been received very positively by the members! And, this has also helped Golf Operations with putting unused holes into Chelsea for other residents. I thank Fay for her flexibility and the countless hours she spends on this important function but also for helping us make the smooth switch to Golf Genius and work out any bugs in the new system.
PRESIDENT'S AWARD
The 2021 Finer Niner is Becky Meng. Becky has been the Handicap Chair since the fall of 2019. Due to medical reasons, the Handicap Chair at that time had resigned and the club needed a new HC. Becky came to me and said, “I know nothing about handicaps, but I’m willing to learn.” And learn she did! That was on a Tuesday. By the end of the week, she and the committee were trained on the handicap system and on entering scores in Golf Software. Then came the big move of our club under the Arizona Golf Association and the directive that we needed to switch from Golf Software to GHIN. This meant learning GHIN and how to enter scores through GHIN and the USGA administrative portal. Becky embraced the challenge and we moved to GHIN.
At the same time, we were trying to understand the new World Handicapping System (WHS). She, Kathy Lewis and I traveled to Scottsdale to be trained on the WHS. We were all certified in the WHS. It is a requirement that at least one member be certified in the WHS. Enter Golf Genius (GG)! We were now developing our use of GG. Becky learned how to enter scores into GG and trained the HC committee.
Becky has always been available to consult with questions about handicaps. We, as a club, are blessed to have such a knowledgeable and wiling member. And, if you haven’t noticed, she always is smiling and easy-going. Becky also served as a committee member on the President’s Cup Tournament this year, assisted with the development of the criteria for the two new awards this season, and completed the calculations of the differentials for the new Club Champion Award. She is truly a FINER NINER! Becky received a bag tag inscribed with 2021 FINER NINER, BECKY MENG and a Pro Shop gift card for $100.