Director's Perspective from...

- Steve Titus
Chairman, SCGA Rules and Competitions Committee

It's that time again! Check your calendars, schedule time off with the boss (at work and at home) and hit the practice tee. It's tournament season -- the SCGA's 104th year of conducting championships.

Whether you are a scratch player or you live and die by your handicap index, the SCGA has an event for you. The "competitions" side of the SCGA Rules and Competitions Committee wants to provide you with plenty of opportunities to test your playing ability against your fellow SCGA members. So if you like individual competition, whether stroke play or match play, we have events for you. If a four-ball event (a.k.a. partners' best-ball) is what you want, we have that, too. In 2003, we hope to add a foursomes (alternate shot) event to our long list of tournament offerings.

Our goal is simple: we want to crown the best player or team at each of our championships. At each event (qualifying and championship), we strive to accomplish the following:

1. Make sure the venue is appropriate for the event.

2. Ensure players' handicaps are proper.

3. Keep the pace of play reasonable for the course and event.

4. Provide adequate staffing by our volunteers.

5. Strive to make sure that the "spirit of the game" is displayed by all contestants.

You can help make the 2002 season the best ever:

1. Enter on time so that you can get your choice of qualifying courses.

2. Post all of your allowable scores and support your club's handicap committee in keeping your members' handicap indexes at the proper levels.

3. Show up to the course in plenty of time to eat, hit practice balls, test the practice putting green and put yourself in a great frame of mind for a wonderful round of golf.

4. Be at your assigned tee at least 15 minutes in advance.

5. Carry a Rules of Golf book in your bag and become more knowledgeable in the rules.

Finally, whether you're participating in a qualifier or competing in a championship, keep the game of golf in perspective. Please take a minute to thank the volunteer members of the Rules and Competitions committee who give so generously of their time, as well as the staff. They are the ones who make these events possible and enjoyable.

Best of luck to our members this tournament season!

Q & A with SCGA Board Member...
Marc Myers of Hillcrest CC

Marc Myers graduated from USC in 1970 and married a fellow student, Patty, just a few months later. It was during his time as a Trojan that he got into golf, playing the Harding and Wilson courses at Griffith Park on many a late Friday afternoon.

During the decade following graduation he joined Hillcrest Country Club and went to work in the family business (Chandler Lumber Co.), where he would spend the next quarter century.

The building industry was on a downward spiral in the early '90s and Myers and his longtime assistant, Carla Shauer, shared the long, trying period of liquidating the company. During that time a friend and competitor, Tom Mullin of Terry Lumber, asked Marc, to continue to service clients. "It gave me a chance to combine the experience I had gained in selling lumber, and to develop real estate opportunities."

The Myerses live in West Los Angeles. Oldest son Rob, 30, lives with his wife and two children in Mission Viejo and is a bank vice president. Scott, 28, operates a My Gym for children in Redondo Beach. Amanda, 25, is a freelance writer.

Former SCGA president Peter Patman brought Myers into the SCGA fold as a committeeman. Two other presidents-to-be of the SCGA, Jim House and Jack Kaplan added their support. Myers joined the board of directors in the fall of 1994.

FORE: What's your handicap index?
MM: It's 5.6 and continues to creep up on an almost monthly basis.

FORE: Can you identify a truly memorable golf experience?
MM: I've been fortunate enough to play in the Macbeth Invitational (at Wilshire CC) for more than 20 years with the same partner, Nick Elowitt. He's not only a good buddy but also an accomplished golfer. Ten years ago, through the first eight holes of our opening round in better ball of partners, Nick was two under on his own ball. I'd been no help at all and then on the ninth hole, I drove my ball out-of-bounds right; Nick hit his left, near a tree. As he surveyed his second shot, I asked if I could be of any help. He didn't answer, so I asked, "Am I standing to close?" "Yes." "Where would you like me to move?" "How about Cleveland..."

FORE: Any other gems?
MM: Over the past 20 years, I've often served as captain of our group in Team Play. One time, my friend Mike Starkman called as asked if I'd like Burt Lancaster [the late Oscar-winning actor] to play on the team. "Of course," I said. "Who wouldn't; ask him to call me." When he did and Carla answered the phone, she looked over to me and said, "I've got some idiot on the phone who says he's Burt Lancaster." Well, of course, it was, and he ended up winning three of the four matches he played that year.

FORE: What's your best round?
MM: A 68, in 1976.

FORE: Any aces?
MM: I made one in 1986 at No. 8 at El Caballero, and another two years ago at Brentwood's second hole.

FORE: Who's the best golfer you ever played with?
MM: On a professional level, Bruce Lietzke, who shot a then-course record 64 at the 1981 L.A. Open Pro-Am. Among amateurs, Lee Davis (1975 SCGA Amateur champion) is the best I've seen.

FORE: What's in your golf bag?
MM: X-14 Callaway irons, 3 through sand wedge and Ping metal woods 1-3-5-7.

FORE: Suppose you had only one round to play.
MM: It would be at The Valley Club of Montecito with my cousin (Dr. Michael Eilenberg) and me versus my two sons. Not only would it be fun, it would be extremely competitive.

FORE: Do you have an area of special interest in your work on the SCGA board?
MM: I've been fortunate to go through the major change in our course rating system. Back when I first started, we used to "group" golf courses, so it was more subjective. Yardage was the most important factor and still is, but we at the SCGA, through the guidance of Bill Wehnes, further developed the importance of obstacles in our ratings. About five years ago, we switched to the USGA rating system and our ratings are more objective and consistent. Our Rating Committee does a great job on this extremely important task.