Page 24 - Las Vegas Golf & Leisure Magazine Winter 2022

AROUND TOWN

NEWS & E VENTS

SNGA Players Claim Prestigious Teeing It Forward
City Amateur Titles is the Place to Be

rett Sodetz (Championship) and Greg Pyszko W ant to enjoy golf more and score better without adding
(Net) captured championships at the 2021 Las a single practice swing?
B Vegas City Amateur while Sean McManaman Well, maybe try teeing it forward when you play and
(Senior) and Doug Pool (Silver) won gross titles in the don’t go for the max distance tees that are probably a higher
2021 Las Vegas Senior City Amateur. degree of difficulty than you need.
Jim LiCausi (Senior) and Mark Williams (Silver) came According to a recent open letter from National Golf Foundation
away with Las Vegas Senior City Amateur net titles. president Josepth F. Beditz, PHD, recent research reveals that
Both events were held at the historic Las Vegas Golf a strong majority of core golfers (over 80%) believe that golfers
Club. playing from the inappropriate tee is a “big problem.” But if all
of us did our part, then we would all have more fun, shoot better
Sodetz, a Coronado High product and UNLV student, scores and play more quickly.
used a first-round 61 to help earn his second Las Vegas
City Amateur title. He also won in 2018. The statistics reveal that the golfers who did tee it forward did,
indeed, have more fun.
“That was definitely a special round,” he said. “And
I didn’t really do anything special. I hit fairways and In the NGF survey, the poll takers learned that 73 percent could
recall the group’s “Tee It Forward” campaign, but only 30 per-
then hit everything to five-to-10 feet and made a lot of cent had actually moved up in the past 5-10 years – most of them
putts. It was just a fun day.” over the age of 50.

It was McManaman’s first-ever SNGA event and he Certainly not everyone needed to make a jump, but the ones
was thrilled to win the senior portion. who did, and followed the campaign’s advice, have almost unan-
imously enjoyed the benefits. Three-quarters say their scores
“My first tournament back and I win the Las Vegas improved, and even more—80%—said they’ve had more fun.
Senior City Amateur … I’m very proud and it’s humbling,”
McManaman said. For sure, a lot of us enjoy practicing, but if we could make this
quick change to have more fun and shoot better scores without
any effort, isn’t this something we should all be doing?

22 LAS VEGAS GOLF & LEISURE WINTER 2022 www.lasvegasgolfandleisure.com