Boards Golf Society: Rules and Regulations

Update rules
Folks, the rules of the society have been updated and will appear each year on the main thread. The rules thread will also be updated by Keano or Charlie at some stage.

The society has been created in such a way to be as fair as possible to golfers of all abilities. It is a chance for everyone to play the game we love in a more relaxed environment. Everybody from a beginner having never hit a ball to a scratch golfer is welcome to play. The main aims and objectives are for everybody to get out and have fun, meet new people, get to play some great golf courses and hopefully during the year be in with a chance of winning something for your efforts should you happen to play well. Official handicaps are not essential as the society can provide one for you. Remember everyone is welcome.

Committee
A committee has been formed to implement the rules of the society and to organise and run the outings as smoothly and as efficiently as possible. All members are free to make suggestions to the committee of ideas which they feel may benefit the society. The committee will discuss all suggestions received and implement changes as deemed appropriate. All decisions made by the committee are final.

Current Committee Members
Captain Ballyk
SeveOB
Keano
CharlieIRL
ssbob

General Rules

The rules of golf apply for all outings. Local rules will apply at each outing. It is the players responsibility to know and understand the rules of golf. Any breech in the rules of golf will be dealt with by a committee disciplinary hearing, up to and including expulsion from the society.
Members of the society must have a Boards.ie account. While it is not a requirement to post regularly to the site, it is expected that you keep an eye on the relevant society threads for up to date information.
Users who have been banned from the Boards.ie golf forum and Boards.ie website in general are not entitled to join the golf society.
Men & Women, Ladies & Gents, Boys & Girls, of all ages young and old and of all abilities from pro to hacker are welcome to join the society.
A general thread for each year of the society will be updated during the year and a specific thread for each outing will provide all the necessary information for the members.
The Teamer app and website are used to organise attendance at outings.
It is expected that if you are unable to attend an event at short notice, the player should decline on Teamer and post to the relevant thread ASAP.
No shows are not appreciated and may be punished as the committee see fit.
The use of Distance Measuring Devices is permissible at all outings, with the exception of devices capable of measuring wind speed and direction.
Golf Buggies are permitted if required.

Fees
An annual subscription of €30 will apply. This entitles you to play and compete for the main prizes in every qualifying event. Depending on the course played, the green fee may fluctuate, but it will be balanced out across the year as best possible and the aim is to keep the fee to approximately €35 per event. Other costs may arise throughout the year but these will be advised in the various threads we start regarding each outing.

Outings & Prizes
Outings are organised at locations throughout the country generally in close proximity to the motorway network and are primarily played on Saturdays. There will be 8 official outings each year, one each month from February through to September. All outings will be scored in stableford points. For each outing there will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd places, longest drive and nearest the pin. Where the budget provides, there may be extra prizes on offer such as extra places, front 9, Back 9, most golf or picky outs. In the order of fairness, players may only win one prize per outing. In conjunction with these prizes there will also be a 2's club, Golfer of the year and a team match play event. Other non-official outings may be organised ad hoc during the year, but will not be counting events.

Two's club
At each outing we shall run an optional 2's club with an entry fee of €2.00. Any entrant who has a score of 2 on any hole at the event shall win or share in the spoils. A hole in one shall count as double two's. If there are multiple winners the pot shall be divided equally. If nobody has a two the pot shall carry over to the next event. If the pot carries over anybody wishing to enter the 2's club who had not entered the previous event may be asked to pay for previous event also or only share the winnings from the current event pot.

Golfer of the Year
Each main event from February to September will have order of merit points awarded on a sliding scale similar to the Fed-Ex cup. To make it fair to all, as not everyone will be able to attend all 8 events, it will be the best 5 points tally for each player which will count towards the order of merit rankings. The Golfer of the Year will be the player who tops the order of merit after all events for the year have concluded. They will be awarded the perpetual Seve OB trophy for the period of 1 year, which can be engraved with the winners details. A separate prize will also be awarded to the Golfer of the Year.

Captains Prize
The Captains prize will normally be the last event of the year. To win the Captains prize you must have returned at least 3 cards in the given year and have your subscription paid in full. The winner will be awarded the perpetual Boards.ie Captains Prize Claret Jug Trophy for the period of 1 year, which can be engraved with the winners details. In addition, there will be a better than usual selection of prizes on offer.

The current years captain may participate in the event and may win the Claret Jug and collect the Golfer of the Year points, but may not collect the main prize. It shall be passed down to second position.

Ryder Jug
The Ryder Jug is an annual team matchplay event played between the Boards.ie golf society and the Reps golf society. The Boards.ie Golf society team shall be made up of the top ten players from the Order of Merit plus 2 Captains picks. Should a player in the top 10 not be available for selection, the Captain will be afforded an additional pick. To qualify for the Ryder Jug team, each player should have competed in at least 4 qualifying events during the year. A qualifying event is any Boards event deemed qualifying by the committee and may not be limited to society outings. The Ryder Jug is competed for in a one day event of 6 fourball head to head matches, played generally in early to mid October.

Handicaps
Golfers with a GUI membership shall initially play off their official handicap. For golfers who are not members of the GUI a society handicap shall be awarded. This will be calculated on the basis of any previous GUI handicap, ability, experience playing the game, recent scores etc. to try and obtain a fair handicap. Complete beginners shall receive a handicap of 18 and somebody who has played a limited amount of golf but who does not have an official handicap will receive 14. The committee feels this covers most abilities and can give a very good reflection of a more accurate handicap going forward. Please note this society is about having fun. Honesty and etiquette are valued much more than prizes so it's up to all golfers to be honest about their abilities when being reviewed.

Handicap Adjustments
Prize winners will have their handicaps cut in the following manner
1st place -2.5
2nd place -1.5
3rd place -1

The average score of the next 5 positions will then be calculated and any player who has recorded a score better than the average shall be cut 0.5. Any player recording a score within a buffer zone of 3 shots of the average shall have their handicap unchanged. For scores outside the buffer zone, an addback of 0.5 will be applied to their handicap.

Any player who has their official GUI handicap cut is responsible to report it to the handicap secretary. Your boards society handicap is limited to 2 above your GUI handicap.

The committee shall have the option to cut or award handicaps as they see fit. All decisions will be made in the best interest of the whole society and not any individual.

Visitors
You must be a fully paid up member to compete for the main prizes at each outing. However visitors are welcome where space on the timesheet is available and will be charged at the course rate of the day plus €10. Visitors are entitled to compete for a visitors prize, nearest the pin, longest drive, 2's club but if victorious they must collect their prize on the day or at the following outing otherwise it will be forfeited and added back into the prize fund. Visitors are not entitled to enter the Golfer of the Year or Captains Prize and are not eligible for selection to the Ryder Jug. A visitor may join the society during the year by paying the annual subscription fee.