2023 Raccoon Creek Men’s Club
President’s Message
Welcome to the 2023 golf season. We are excited you are interested in becoming a new member or continuing your membership with the Raccoon Creek Men’s Club (RCMC). The Board, working with the Course has lined up a great season of golf for competition, bragging, crying and camaraderie. For 2023, your RCMC Board will remain the same as last year. This all-volunteer Board worked closely with the course to bring the membership what we believe will be a great season of golf for 2023.
Travis Beattie President Kent Mitchell Vice President
Britt Holtz Secretary Joe Anderson Treasurer
Terry Scanlon Tournament Chair Dewey Jones Handicap and Rules Chair
Brad Ramming Casual Play Chair
Raccoon Creek will be getting new golf carts this spring. After a few years of keeping our RCMC tournament green fees the same, the course will be raising the green fees from previous years.
RCMC Tournament Green Fees for 2023 will be:
Walking - $62 Riding - $80 Employee/Annual Pass - $52
Also, as RCMC members you will get club rates for green fees during the year. Just make sure you tell the pro-shop you are a RCMC member when you check in. The club green fee rates can be found here: 2023 Club Green Fee Rates. Also receive 20% off regular price for apparel, headwear, shoes, gloves, and most accessories in the pro-shop plus 10% off food in the Farmhouse restaurant as a RCMC member.
Raccoon Creek is one of the premier public golf courses in the Denver area. Raccoon Creek, being privately owned, does mean that revenue is a driving force in decisions made by the course. The fact that private tournaments make significantly more revenue than RCMC events and standard tee times means that we must be flexible with our dates and times.
We have discussed having earlier first tee times for our tournaments and the course has obliged us. Expect 7:00 AM (or possibly earlier) first tee times for our tournaments in the middle of summer. Also when we have occasional afternoon tee times, we should be following a morning shotgun that will be clearing the course within a few holes of our starting. This should help with pace of play, but we as the men’s club must do our part to keep a good pace of play as well.
In 2022, RCMC had twelve tournaments for fourteen rounds of golf. (not including the Raccoon Cup). For 2023, we have added two more tournaments for fourteen tournaments and seventeen rounds of golf.
Please see the schedule as currently planned on the RCMC 2023 Website. RCMC Schedule.
For 2023, we are going to continue the Friday and Sunday Casual Play with two tee times (8 players) for Friday afternoon and three tee times (12 players) for Sunday. The club is very fortunate to have the relationship the course that they block out these times for RCMC.
Not showing up for Casual Play when signed up reflects poorly on the RCMC and is missed revenue for the course. It also takes away the opportunity to play from another member. In 2023 no-showing for Casual Play (less than 48 hours’ notice) more than once will have your name and privileges to play removed from the Casual Play roster.
For 2023 Match Play, Challenge Coin, and Ringer will be back if you would like to play in those again. Rules, payouts, and formats for both will come out to those signed up once we better understand how many of you sign up.
RCMC is also pursuing with CGA as well as the course entering a team into the CGA Interclub matches for 2023. A short description of Match Play, Challenge Coin, Ringer Tournament, Casual Play and Interclub can be found here: 2023 Side Games
The Hole in One and Eagle Pot will be active again this year for all tournament rounds and is part of your membership dues. The Hole in One pot will be almost $3200. Eagle Pot is available for any individual gross eagle on a par 4 or gross albatross on par 5 (non-red tee box events) and will be split at the end of the season. Eagle pot should be around $600 for 2023.
Also, for 2023, the Board has elected to include the Annual Kickoff Meeting in your dues. This is a fun evening with prizes and lots of information on the course, the club and plans for the year. Including the annual kickoff meeting along with additional rounds for this season requires a modest $25 increase in dues for 2023. Colorado Golf Association has also increased the base rate for GHIN by $8.00 to $43.
Finally, like other years, we have offered an early bird discount with Registration, the price goes up by $25 on base registration if you wait until after February 28, 2023 to register, so save money and help the Board out by registering soon, so we can get everything finalized and planned out.
We will finish the season with the Raccoon Cup. This Ryder Cup style event is hosted by the course with two teams usually captained by the Head Pro and Assistant Pro. You must qualify for the Raccoon Cup and the best way to qualify is to play in tournaments. The top 22 get automatically included. This is based on points as follows:
- Participate in Tournament 10 Points/round
- Play in Match Play, Challenge Coin and/or Ringer 5 Points each, plus a 5 point bonus if sign up for all three.
- Place in your Flight in a Tournament 1st=10, 2nd=8, 3rd =6, 4th=4, 5th=2 points/round.
I want to thank our membership for making RCMC a successful club. Remember to refer your friends and if they join and identify you as the referring member during registration, you will get a $20 credit applied to your first tournament fees.
We often describe RCMC as a social club first, which it is. But we are also a competitive club and want to play within the integrity and rules of golf, which we recognize can be confusing. As such look for the board to provide more information around the rules of golf this year as well as ensuring people are following the rules and posting scores properly this year.
Have a safe, fun, and great 2023 golfing season.
Sincerely
Travis Beattie
RCMC President