WMC Competition Policies
Pace of Play Penalties
Starting times are gapped between 8 and 10 minutes, depending on the course. Any foursome finishing more than 20 minutes (one full starting position) behind the foursome in front of them may be charged a 1 stroke penalty for each member. Finishing times will be tracked in some events by the marshal, but it is the tournament chairman/scorekeeper who will assess the penalty, not the marshal.
GHIN Handicap Policy for Competitions:
For Weekend Majors, all players (members and guests) MUST have an active GHIN membership prior to the event. A player is expected to have at least 10 scores posed over the prior 12 months, or a waiver granted by the handicap chairman[1], to ensure that the field is fairly handicapped when competing for the prize payouts. If you have scores in another system, please post scores from the past 12 months into GHIN prior to the event. Players who do not meet the handicap requirement may play in the event for KP and Gross Skins (and must still pay the tournament fee) but are not eligible for net payouts.
For Thursday League events, we will work with new players who do not have a handicap to either establish a provisional handicap estimate[2] for up to two events, or they will play in a “No Handicap” flight at the tournament director’s discretion.
[1] Handicap Chairman Waiver will be for cases where the player has a past handicap history but may not have been able to play actively in the past 12 months to post 10 scores due to health, work or personal reasons. New GHIN members who do not have at least 10 scores entered should contact the handicap chairman for a waiver.
[2] Typical methods for establishing a provisional handicap are the lowest one out of three or four recent scores where the score, course and tee are known, an inactive handicap from a prior year that hasn’t been activated in time for the prior revision date, or documented handicap from a non-GHIN but USGA recognized handicap service such as Diablo Golf or Oki Golf.
Participation Requirements
Club Championship. The Club Championship in August requires participants to have played in at least 36 holes of golf at other Willows Mens Club events during the same year. This could be four Thursday league 9-hole events, two 18-hole events, two match play rounds, or any combination. Total holes from Majors and 9-hole events played are tracked in the points tracker. Players will have to manually track and add any match play events to this total if needed.
Match Play Events. Match play Quarter-Final rounds (Round of 8) require at least 18 holes of golf played in regular Willows Mens Club stroke play events during the same year. The Final Championship requires 36 holes of golf in regular WMC events. Players who do not meet the requirements prior to their match will be disqualified.
Thursday League Cool Down
We have used the <Thursday Cool Down Policy> for handicap control for the past several years for our Thursday events. This has helped when a player's 9 hole performance is improving faster than their handicap reflects, especially if htey are mostly playing 9 hole rounds. The policy is a recognition for playing well - If a player shoots net 2-under for 9 holes twice within any 4 consecutive Thursday night league play events, the player will be assessed a 1 stroke 9-hole handicap reduction for their next 2 Thursday night events. In addition, if a player shoots net 4-under in a single round they will be assessed the 1 stroke penalty; or net 6-under in a single round will be a 2 stroke penalty. Full details are available in the lnked policy.