Revised on December 5, 2009

SIGN-UP PROCEDURES FOR ALL TOURNAMENTS: Sign-ups for all tournaments are handled by the U.S. Mail. Checks (made out to STMGC) must accompany entry forms, which are available on the website and in the newsletter.

Send your tournament entry forms and fees to:

Santa Teresa Mens Golf Club
P.O. Box 64415
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-4415

Entry deadlines are generally 7 days prior to the tournament date; if your entry arrives after the entry deadline or after the field is full, your name will be placed on a list of alternates.  Note: Entries are processed in the order that payment is received; i.e. your verbal or written intent to enter is incomplete until payment has been received by the Treasurer.

You may request to play with specific players by indicating your preference on the entry form; we prefer (but do not require) that you enclose payment for all such players in the same envelope. Please coordinate with your preferred playing partners, to ensure they do intend to play, and that they have not already committed to another group.

If you do not pay for the optional contests at the same time you send in your entry form, there will be a $2 surcharge added per contest entered the day of the tournament; the $2 charge is not included in the prize fund.

REFUNDS: For a home tournament entry fee to be refunded, the Tournament Chairman (not the Golf Course) must receive a cancellation notice from the entrant prior to the scheduled tee-time. Lack of said notification will result in forfeiture of the entire entry fee.

For away tournaments, once payment has been made to the Golf Course, cancellations shall first be filled by available alternates. If there are no alternates, the canceling member is responsible for filling his slot or the entry fee shall be forfeited.

In general, tee-times are assigned based on Pace of Play performance. Players with a proven history of fast play will be given the early times. The postmark on the entry form will be a secondary factor in assigning starting times.

Special requests for an early time will be honored, but the group must exhibit good Pace of Play performance, or future requests may be denied.

As a condition of competition, we've adopted the Note to Rule 6-3, which grants a player a 5-minute grace period after missing his tee-time (at a penalty of 2 strokes for stroke play, loss of hole for match play); after 5 minutes, the player is disqualified.

HANDICAP INDEX TO BE USED: Starting in January 2010, the NCGA will be updating Handicap Indexes twice monthly, on the 1st and the 15th.  For our tournaments, the HI in effect 7 days prior to the first round will be used for the tournament (including all rounds of multi-day events).  For example, if the tournament dates are the 21st and 22nd of the month, the HI issued on the 1st of the month will be used for both rounds.  Alternatively, if the tournament date is the 4th day of the month, the HI issued on the 15th day of the previous month will be used.

ELIGIBILITY: Except for the annual Member/Guest Tournament, participation in home tournaments is limited to members of STMGC with valid handicap indexes. If a new member appears on the club's roster on GHIN with enough posted scores, the Handicap Chairman can issue a temporary handicap for use in that month's tournament (USGA Handicap Manual 8-2h).

FINALIZATION OF TOURNAMENT RESULTS: As a convenience to our members, we publish the tournament results on the website as soon as they're available. These results are considered unofficial, until the Board has a chance to review them. After a short review period, the Tournament Chairman declares the competition closed, and the results are then official.

TIE-BREAK PROCEDURES: Always check the Tournament Rule Sheet to determine the Tie Break method in effect.  Logistics normally prevent us from using a playoff to break ties; in these cases, we break ties by consulting the players' scorecards.  See details below:

Scorecard Method: For most club events, we'll use the USGA recommendation for breaking ties by scorecard, as outlined in the Rules of Golf, Appendix 1, Part C, Section 11 - How to Decide Ties, Stroke Play (c). If this does not settle the tie, this procedure will be applied to the front nine. Here is the description:

An acceptable method of matching cards is to determine the winner on the basis of the best score for the last nine holes. If the tying players have the same score for the last nine, determine the winner on the basis of the last six holes, last three holes and finally the 18th hole. If this method is used in a handicap stroke-play competition, one-half, one-third, one-sixth, etc. of the handicaps should be deducted. Fractions should not be disregarded. If this method is used in a competition with a multiple tee start, it is recommended that the “last nine holes, last six holes, etc.” is considered to be holes 10-18, 13-18, etc.

Playoff Method: For stipulated events, a 3-hole aggregate playoff will be used to break ties, with one-sixth of the course handicaps used for the 3-hole playoff, allocated over the first 3 holes. Handicap stroke fractions of one-half stroke or more will count as a full stroke, and any lesser fraction shall be disregarded. If still tied after 3 holes, a sudden-death playoff will commence on the 4th hole, with handicaps spun off the lowest handicap, and the handicap strokes will apply as stated on the official scorecard used for the competition proper.

• Individual Formats:  The 3-hole Playoff Handicap is deducted from the 3-hole aggregate gross score, to arrive at the 3-hole net score.
• Four-Ball Formats:  The 3-hole Playoff Handicap Allocation for the first 3 holes will be 1, 3, and 2, respectively (this corresponds to their relative handicap allocation ranking). For example, the team of A and B have a Course Handicap of 4 and 15, respectively. They are in a playoff with C and D, who have Course Handicaps of 14 and 19.

  		Holes 1, 2, 3			Holes 4, ...
  Player	Course Hdcp	Calculation	3-hole Playoff Hdcp	Stroke Holes	Sudden Death Hdcp
  A	4	4 ÷ 6 = 0.67	1	1	0
  B	15	15 ÷ 6 = 2.50	3	1, 2, 3	11
  C	14	14 ÷ 6 = 2.33	2	1, 3	10
  D	19	19 ÷ 6 = 3.16	3	1, 2, 3	15

FLIGHTING GUIDELINES: Flights will generally be sized between 12 and 18 players. Flight sizes will be equally sized, if possible. If there is an odd number, the following guidelines will be used to determine the odd-sized flight(s):

• Keep all golfers with the same course handicap in the same flight
• Minimize handicap spread across a flight

The number of players in a flight determines prize money. Therefore, the larger flight(s) will have more prize money spread among the winners to ensure equity.

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SETUP AND FORMAT: The Club Championship will have one Championship Flight and multiple handicapped flights. The number of entries determines the number of flights. Note: Participation in the Club Championship is limited to those members who have played in a minimum of 2 STMGC tournaments since the completion of the previous year's Club Championship. The Away tournaments (e.g. Poppy Hills and Poppy Ridge) are included in this calculation, but the TOC Finals and the NCGA Team Match Play events are not.

• CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
  The Championship Flight is played at scratch and is contested from the Black Tees. Any member may enter the Championship Flight, regardless of his handicap index.
  A minimum of 8 members must enter the Championship Flight, or it will not be contested.
  
  If exactly 8 members enter the Championship Flight, the championship will start at Match Play. The Handicap Index will determine the top 4 seeds. The opponents for the top seeds will be determined by blind draw. In this situation, the first two rounds of match play will be contested during the first weekend, and the championship match will be played on the Sunday of the 2^nd weekend.
  
  If more than 8 members enter the Championship Flight, a medal qualifying round will first be held to determine the 8 players who will advance to Match Play. The qualifying scores will be used to determine the seeds. For the purposes of seeding, any ties will be broken using the USGA card matching procedure (see Tie Break Procedures section). Any ties for the last qualifying spot will be broken using a Sudden Death playoff commencing on the 1^st hole. Note: To minimize the time required to determine if a playoff is necessary, tee times for the medal qualifying round will be assigned based on flights.
  In Match Play, any ties after 18 holes will be broken by a Sudden Death playoff commencing on the 1^st hole.
  
  
• HANDICAP FLIGHTS
  The size of the handicap flights will be at the discretion of the Tournament Director. The handicap flights will be contested from the Blue Tees.
  A medal qualifying round will determine the 8 players who advance to Match Play. The qualifying scores will be used to determine seedings. For the purposes of seeding, any ties will be broken using the USGA card matching procedure (see Tie Break Procedures section). Any ties for the last qualifying spot will be broken using a Sudden Death playoff commencing on the 1^st hole. Note: To minimize the time required to determine if a playoff is necessary, tee times for the medal qualifying round will be assigned based on flights.
  
  Handicap strokes for Match Play will be calculated based on the lower handicap. For example, if Jim has a 16 handicap and his opponent Bob has a 20 handicap, Bob will receive a handicap stroke on the 4 lowest handicapped holes.  The official scorecard will show the correct assignments. It is also posted on the club website (see Competitions – Scorecards).
  
  In Match Play, any ties after 18 holes will be broken by a Sudden Death playoff commencing on the 1^st hole. Handicap strokes will continue to apply as they are stated on the scorecard for the duration of the playoff.

MEMBER/GUEST TOURNAMENT: Guests in the annual Member/Guest tournament must meet the following eligibility guidelines:

• Guests must have an established handicap index from a USGA-approved organization (e.g. NCGA) or from an R&A-approved National Union; otherwise, the Guest shall play at scratch.
• Guests must play the same tees as the STMGC members, using the gender-appropriate rating/slope for the purpose of computing the Guest's Course Handicap.
• Guests are not eligible for the Hole-In-One prize or TOC points; however, they are eligible for Closest-to-Pin awards.
• Juniors are eligible to play as Guests and are expected to perform at an acceptable level.
• Members are responsible for their Guests' behavior and pace of play.

USGA RULES OF GOLF APPLY: If extraordinary ground conditions require Local Rules, or if any other Special Rules are applicable, beyond those printed on the Golf Course score card, they will be provided on Tournament Rule Sheets available at check-in.

CELL-PHONES AND PAGERS: The use of electronic communication devices is discouraged during Tournament play. For the enjoyment of the other players, please turn off the ringers on such devices.

GPS AND OTHER RANGE FINDERS: As a condition of STMGC competitions, we allow the use of GPS and other range finders, per Decisions 14-3/1 and 14-3/5.5. These devices may determine distance only the use of devices which gauge or measure other conditions that might affect a player's play (e.g. wind or gradient) is not permitted.

MULTI-DAY TOURNAMENTS: Each player (or team of players) who advances past the first day of a multi-day tournament is responsible for paying their greens fee (for all subsequent rounds of the multi-day tournament) directly to the ProShop. Players who don't pay their greens fee are not eligible to receive award certificates.

NCGA TOURNAMENT SUBSTITUTION POLICY: When a player who has qualified at the Club Qualifier cannot participate in the next stage of qualifying, the Tournament Director must be notified as soon as possible. The qualifying spot will be offered to the 2nd place finisher in the Club Qualifer. In the case of a team event, the non-withdrawing partner will choose his new partner from the 2nd place team. If a substitution cannot be made from the 2nd place finisher, the 3rd place finisher will be offered the qualifying spot.

CLAIMS, DISPUTES, DECISIONS: At all tournaments, one or more Committee members, or their designates, will be assigned to resolve claims and disputes. These decisions shall be final ( Rule 34-3 and Rule 33-7)

DISQUALIFICATION: A player who has been disqualified is still eligible for TOC entry points, and any Skins or Closest-to-Pin awards he may have won.

POSTING TOURNAMENT SCORES: After completing a tournament round, the player should check his scorecard, sign it and obtain the marker's signature. DO NOT POST the adjusted score on the GHIN computer; the Committee will post scores for all tournament rounds.

SLOW PLAY: The Committee, in consultation with the golf course Marshall, is empowered to penalize groups, or individuals for slow play (see Rule 6-7: Undue Delay). The USGA penalty for breaches of Rule 6-7 may include disqualification.

HOLE-IN-ONE AWARD: If you score a hole-in-one during the first day of any STMGC tournament, you'll win a $500 cash award.

REVIEW AND CHANGE PROCEDURES: This document will be reviewed at least once a year by the Board for appropriate additions and amendments.

The Board welcomes written suggestions for change and improvement to these Policies and Procedures and encourages feedback from the membership. Please send your comments to webmaster.

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