MDLGA Bylaws

Click HerePDF

MIDWEST DEAF LADIES GOLF ASSOCIATION

BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I: NAME

This association shall be the Midwest Deaf Ladies Golf Association (MDLGA)

ARTICLE II: PURPOSE

The purpose of this Association is to promote an interest in the sport of golf among the deaf and hard of hearing women and to sponsor a tournament in the United States in conjunction with Midwest Deaf Golf Association to be held the month of August. The tournament for MDLGA shall last three days with nine holes per day (a total of 27 holes) for one group and eighteen holes per day (a total of 54 holes) for another group.

ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP

Section 1: The membership of this Association shall be open to any deaf and hard of hearing women at least 18 years old.

Section 2: The membership dues for either new or renewal member shall be at least twenty-five (25) dollars every year, included one newsletter. Membership fee is non-refundable.

Section 3: The banquet fee after the deadline is non-refundable. Section 4: The prize fee is $50.00.

ARTICLE IV: MEMBERS

Section 1: All members shall have the privilege to vote.

Section 2: Any member can run any office.

Section 3: Any member can be appointed to serve on any committee.

ARTICLE V: OFFICERS

Section 1: Executive Board of this association shall included of six people: President, Secretary, Treasurer and the Law Chairperson, the Hall of Fame Chairperson and the Host Chairperson.

Section 2: President shall be elected by ballot for the term of two years at the annual meeting of odd-numbered year. Her term shall begin on January 1st of the following year.

Section 3: Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected by ballot for the term of two years at the annual meeting of even- numbered year. Her term shall begin at January 1st of the following year.

Section 4: Trustee who will serve a three-year term shall be elected at each annual meeting. (There are to be three Trustees at all times, each trustee serves a three-year term.)

Section 5: Officers shall serve no more than two consecutive terms.

ARTICLE VI: DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS

Section 1: The President shall:

  1.  Appoint the Law Chairperson, the Hall of Fame Chairperson and the Historian for the term of one year.  Their terms shall begin January 1 .
  2.  Preside at the board meetings before the annual general meeting.
  3.  Make sure there is a host chairperson for the assigned tournament.
  4.  Monitor all officers’ responsibilities and approve the minutes before each meeting.
Section 2: The Secretary shall:
  1. Take minutes at each board/general members meeting.
  2. Prepare a roll call of members at the request of the President.
  3. Prepare the copies of the minutes of the previous/current Executive Board meeting for the next generalmeeting.
  4. Send a copy of the minutes of the general meeting to the President for her approval within 30 days of themeeting. After the President has approved the minutes, a copy will be send to the Law Chairperson for

    revision on bylaws/guidelines.

  5. Keep a record of proceedings of the meetings.
  6. Prepare to mail / email the newsletter to members on good standing in member dues twice a year. Emailto all past members who provided their email addresses to secretary.

Section 3: The Treasurer shall:

  1. Keep an accurate account of the monies received and disbursed.
  2. Deposit all monies in a bank of her city of residence. The bank cards for the savings and checking accounts for all monies shall have the signatures of three officers: the President, the Secretary-Treasurer and the Law Chairperson. The signatures of two of the three officers are needed for withdrawal purposes.
  3. Have her financial report from January 1st to December 31st of the previous year audited by the elected Trustees.
  4. Distribute the prize money of the first two days (Tue/Wed) of golfing to be mailed within two (2) weeks.

Section 4: The Law Chairperson shall:

  1. Record the new and revised by-laws as submitted by the members.
  2. Manage MDLGA Golf Rules and score keeping.
  3. Perform the duties of the President in the event of that officer’s absence.

Section 5: The Hall of Fame Chairperson shall:

  1. Be in charge of the Hall of Fame Committee meeting.
  2. Email nomination forms with more than three ladies on the ballot to the members of Hall of Fame Committee three months prior to each tournament.
  3. Make a report of any contributions to benefit the Hall of Fame at each Executive Board meetings.

Section 6: The three Trustees shall:

a. Meet with Treasurer to audit the financial report before the Board meeting prior to the tournament.

Two or three Trustees are required to sign the financial reports before the reports are brought up in the Board meeting. In case only one Trustee shows up, the President has the authority to appoint a pro-term Trustee for that year.

ARTICLE VII: COMPENSATIONS AND EXPENSES

Section 1: Expenses for lodging:

a. The President and Law Chairperson shall compensated one hundred (100) dollars each.

b. The Secretary shall be compensated one hundred (100) dollars.

c. The Treasurer shall be compensated one hundred (100) dollars.

Section 2: The Hall of Fame Chairperson shall be compensated twenty-five (25) dollars.

Section 3: The Historian shall be compensated twenty-five (25) dollars.

Section 4: The Trustees shall be compensated twenty-five (25) dollars each after audit with signatures.

Section 5: These expenses above shall be drawn from the MDLGA General Fund.

ARTICLE VIII: MEETINGS

Section 1: The Board of Trustees and Board meeting shall be held on the day before tournament. Golf rules and general meeting shall follow in the evening      of the same day.

Section 2: It is required that we have 2/3 of vote for attendance in the general meeting.

ARTICLE IX: TOURNAMENT CITY HOST CITY

Section 1: The host city, with the approval of the Executive Board, shall plan, execute and carry out the tournament and solicit donations for all golf events.

Section 2: The host city shall give a full accounting of all monies collected and expended for the tournament.

Section 3: The host city shall provide 6 plaques in all. These are to be awarded to the winners in each group (9 holes and 18 holes) of the Champion and to the two State Team Champions in each group.

Section 4: Limitation of one trophy shall be awarded to each golfer with the exception of the state team golfers. In order to qualify for state team trophy, there must be two or more state teams.

Section 5: The cash prizes from the donation of the host city shall be awarded for the last day of the
tournament to the winners of all golfers in each group (9 holes and 18 holes) according to their scores. The host city’s contribution toward the prizes shall be divided equally among all players. (Example: The host city’s contribution of at least $1,000.00 shall be distributed 35% of cash prize to 9-hole players and 65% to 18-hole players.)

Section 6: Donation of prizes from the Host shall be distributed on the evening of the banquet.

a. If no chairperson/host for ladies, the MDLGA will give as prorated.

Section 7: The host city is responsible to choose someone to sell 50/50 raffles on the evening of banquet for MDLGA general fund. The treasurer will provide the rolls of tickets.

MDLGA

Section 1: The Executive Boards shall determine any amount of the cash prizes for first two days of the tournament for both Champion Flights and First Flights on each group (9 holes and 18 holes) according to their total scores for the first two (Tue/Wed) tournament days.

Section 2: The State team champions shall pay the cost of engravings for the traveling plaques for each group (9 holes and 18 holes). The State team champions are responsible to carry the traveling plaques for one year.

a. The State team champions must pay for the damage, stolen and/or lost traveling plaque.

Section 3: There shall be cash prizes from the MDLGA General Fund for the longest drive, closest to pin and fewest putts winner in each group (9 holes and 18 holes). The prizes shall be $25 each.

ARTICLE X: HALL OF Fame

Section 1: The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to honor the outstanding deaf golfers and leaders who have made exceptional contributions to the sport of golf in this Association.

Section 2: The Hall of Fame Committee of this Association shall be:

The Hall of Fame Chairperson, President, Secretary, Treasurer, Law Chairperson and three members of Hall of Fame.

Section 3: The Hall of Fame Chairperson shall select the three Hall of Fame members.

Section 4: The voting by the Hall of Fame Committee shall be included with at least five nominations with 1 , 2 and 3 places vote. Balloting shall be emailed few months before the tournament. The candidate receiving a majority of votes shall be inducted into the Hall of Fame. No more than one individual (deaf golfer or leader) shall be inducted every odd-numbered year.

Section 5: Golfer and/or leader selected for the Hall of Fame is based on the following criteria:
  1. Participate in at least ten (10) MDLGA years.
  2. Good sportsmanship/leadership.
  3. Committee shall act in good faith for MDLGA.

Section 6: The Hall of Fame award that shall be given in odd-numbered year.

Section 7: Any candidate who is elected to the Hall of Fame shall receive a plaque in recognition of the honor at banquet.  A shirt with logo will be included. A recent photo of the newly elected member shall be requested.

Section 8: The Hall of Fame winners shall wear Kelly green polo shirt with MDLGA logo on the left side during women’s dinner night.

Section 9: Hall of Fame members must pay $25.00 to replace HOF shirt if it worn-out, re-size, lost or stolen.

ARTICLE XI: MISCELLANEOUS

Section 1: After the deadline of entry or at door, there will be twenty-five (25.00) dollars late fee and use e-pay app or

cash only.

Section 2: All members, families, friends and fans are required to sign liability waiver form at the registration table when check-in before the practice/scramble round begins.

Section 3: Golfers shall be divided into two groups; those choosing to play 9 holes or 18 holes per day. Each group shall be lined up as follows:

  1. On the first day, the golfers with low and high averages shall be mixed
  2. On the second day, the golfers shall be mixed.
  3. On the third day, the golfers shall again be divided into two flights (Champion and First) with the approval of the Executive Board.

Section 4: The maximum strokes for Par 3, Par 4, and Par 5 are to be double to 6, 8, and 10 respectively in each rounds of the tournament. If a golfer fails to finish the hole within the "double" par, she must pick her ball up and add an extra stroke, and as for the number of putts, it shall be counted as four (4). For example:

a. Par3X2=6andadd1tomake7strokesandfourputts(7/4).
b. Par4X2=8andadd1tomake9strokesandfourputts(9/4).
c. Par 5 X 2 =10 and add 1 to make 11 strokes and four putts (11/4).

Section 5: In case of the sudden death playoff:

  1. The Pro Manager shall select the holes for the sudden death playoff.
  2. Due to bad weather and/or the time not permitted, the winner shall be determined by the lowest score on the toughest hole and selected by the pro manager after the round is done or stopped.

Section 6: All golfers should wear proper attire for golf:

1. Plunging (loose) necklines are not allowed.
2. All shirts must have collars unless necklines with no collars look nice and professional are allowed.                                                                                            3. Racerback (sleeveless) with collars are allowed.
4. Length of skirt, skort and short MUST be long enough so your bottom area covered.
5. Workout gear and joggers are NOT allowed.
6. No halter tops, tank tops and fishnet tops.

Section 7: MDLGA Code of Behavior:

Golfers should refrain from any action or behavior which may be considered as not sportsmanlike or unacceptable by their fellow competitors.

Any such misbehavior should be reported to the MDLGA Tournament Chairperson who will discuss with the MDLGA Rules chairperson and MDLGA President who will decide what to with the action.

The decision of the MDLGA Rules chairperson, MDLGA Secretary, MDLGA Treasurer and MDLGA President shall be final, if we decide to suspend golfers, It would be set as follows:

1st Suspension - 2 years

2nd Suspension - 5 years

3rd Suspension - Lifetime

Section 8: Any golfer who hits a hole-in-one during the tournament shall be awarded $100.00. The prize shall be taken out of the MDLGA General Fund.

Section 9: All golfers must cash their MDLGA checks within 30 days after the receipt of the checks from MDLGA.

ARTICLE XII: DISSOLUTION

a. In event that the MDLGA dissolves, all monies in the General Fund shall be assigned to United States Deaf Golf Association.

b. All completed albums are sent to the Gallaudet University Library for the Deaf Collection.

 

ORDER OF BUSINESS

  1. Call to order
  2. Roll Call
  3. Approval of the minutes of general meeting
  4. President's Report
  5. Secretary’s Report
  6. Treasurer’s Report
  7. Law Chairperson’s Report
  8. Hall of Fame Chairperson’s Report
  9. Tournament Reports
  10. Unfinished business
  11. New business
  12. Election of new officers
  13. Golf Rules
  14. Announcements
  15. Adjournment

As revised and amended October 1, 2025 Patty Saville, Law Chairperson

** PLEDGE FOR NEW OFFICERS **
I solemnly pledge my honor that I will, to the best of my ability, fulfill the duties of the office to which I have been elected in accordance with the constitution and bylaws.