Greatest Golfer adds adult divisions for August event

All:

We hope your summer is a Greatest one – especially that we’re finally drying out a smidge.

We’re told you’ve missed us? Really? We’ve had about 10 golfer emails asking “where are the emails?”

So here’s your email – and some exciting Greatest news.

• Greatest Juniors tee off Sunday for their championship at Avalon Lakes. It’s probably the strongest juniors field yet in 5 years. Check out the lineup on vindy.com/golf and get to Avalon Sunday afternoon to watch the next Valley golf wave compete.

• We are strengthening your adult event in several ways. Read close:

-- New divisions: We are adding a new men’s and senior’s division NOW. Why wait a year? See details below.

-- New verifications: We are launching a 2-prong approach to player placement verification. One is a stronger internal system of verifying all players and scores the last 4 weeks headed into Greatest.

We also seek more participation from all players to help us direct the field to its best structure.

Said simply: Watch the player board and email us in confidence if you have concerns of a player’s status. It’s been done before and has helped us. We ask for more of it this year.

-- The 2-better plan: We have launched a routine where, if you averaged 2 strokes better than your division low-mark on all 3 days of Greatest, we want a deeper chat with you the following year as to where you will be placed.

NEW DIVISIONS:

We are adding a new division to Men and Seniors to honor more players and play.

MEN will now be:

Divisions of 0-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17+

Making this change, we drop each grouping from 5 shots to 4. It gives the bottom players in each group a better chance to compete for a title.

We will start rolling players over to their new divisions this week and next based on your handicap number on your registration form.

If you see an error, please email vinygreatest@vindy.com.

SENIORS will now be:

Open Division and 10+ Division.

Handicaps have not been sought before for this group. So if players wish to declare 10+, they must call 747-1471, Ext. 1253 or email vindygreatest@vindy.com.

There are no changes to Women (Open and 8+) and Super Seniors (Age 70+). These changes are a reflection of your commitment to Greatest.

The timing is a result of some heartfelt debate from a patient core of committee members and Greatest players eager to keep the event a Greatest test of skill and Greatest show of camaraderie.

Any questions Todd Franko, 330-747-1471, Ext. 1253 and tfranko@vindy.com