Handicapping

To provide competitive play to more golfers, we will be accepting official AND unofficial handicaps

• See the “Handicapping” for ways to obtain a handicap
• Do NOT guess your handicap, utilize one of the free services
• Handicaps not housed in GHIN or The Grint are required to email an update prior to each event
  • There will be a window between Mon-Wed to provide your updated handicap
  • Any handicap not provided or update in the above window, will be entered as scratch (0)
• All handicaps will be reviewed throughout the season to identify scoring inconsistencies

Weighted Handicapping:

To factor the Pace of Play rules adjustments (Triple Max, white stakes played as lateral hazards, etc), handicaps are scaled by the likelihood of a handicap grouping leveraging the PoP rules adjustments

Ex: An 18 handicap averages 3.31 Triple bogeys a round, while a 3 handicap averages 0.8 per round, and the 18 is more likely to utilize the white-stakes as lateral hazard rule, the 18 handicap will use a portion of their handicap to account for the extra strokes they gained from the likelihood of exceeding triple or going OB.

Tee Boxes

Events will be played from a tee box which course rating is closest to the course par.

The Tour Director holds to ability to adjust tee-box selection or create a set of hybrid tees to optimize playability and Pace of Play.
Tee box selection will be finalized the Monday prior to each event

• Main field (+-19.9 hdcps): Tee boxes listed above
• 20+ HDCPS*: 1 tee box forward of the main field
• Seniors (55 and up)*: 1 tee box up from the main field
• Super Seniors (65 and up)**: 1 tee box up from the Seniors
• Ladies can choose:
  • The tees which Women’s Course Rating most closely matches Main fields course rating
  • The same tee box as the rest of the field
• Approval for forward tees under other circumstances may be granted by the Tour Director
  • Send your request and justification to RDUgolfTour@rdugolftour

* Golfers may elect to play the same box as the main field. Pre-approval by the Tour Director is required
** Golfers may elect to play the same box as the Seniors. Pre-approval by the Tour Director is required

Practice Rounds

Practice Rounds may be available for certain events;
This is at the discretion of the course and are ONLY for golfers in the main field of the event

If practice rounds are available, the Tour Director will email the field rates, times, and booking information.

If golfers are found to be abusing the practice rounds or inviting outsiders using our discounts, disciplinary actions may be taken

Scorekeeping

Scoring will be completed 2 ways:

• Electronically, via the Amateur Golf app by Blue Golf
  • 1 member of the group will enter scores into the app for all members of their group
  • This will be used for in-event Live Leaderboards
  • For Amateur Golf tutorial videos, please see the “Live Scoring App” page of the website
• Manually, via provided scorecards
  • 1 member of the group will record gross scores manually via provided scorecard
  • This will also include Fairway (FW) and Greens in Regulation (GIR)
  • This is to aggregate stats and to provide a fallback if there is an app scoring issue or concern
  • Manual scorecards are to be placed in a plastic container next to the 18th green

It is each golfers responsibilty to confirm both manual and electronic scores for consistency

Tiebreakers:
Ties will be determined by scorecard playoff

• Gross scores comparing hole-by-hole by scorecard handicap, beginning with #1 handicap hole
• If still tied, flip a coin

Pace of Play

Golfers are expected to complete their rounds in 4 hours 20 minutes*
PoP is one of the largest issues and complaints in golf. It is the responsibility of the individual AND the group, so PoP penalties will be assessed to an entire group found to be delaying the play of the tournament.

Full information on Pace of Play rules can be found on the Event Rules page

* some courses may require specific pace of play

Ways to keep pace:

• Please see the “Pace Of Play Suggestions” page

Prizes

No cash prizes will be available for events (except optional cash games).
The largest prize will be bragging rights, but some prizes will be provided to the following (subject to change):

• 1st Place, Net
  • TBD: Being determined for 2022
• 2nd Place, Net
  • TBD: Being determined for 2022
• 1st Place, Gross
  • TBD: Being determined for 2022
• League Champion
  • Your name engraved on the League trophy and possession for 1 year
  • TBD: Being determined for 2022

Optional Games

While cash prizes are not provided, there will be two optional cash games

Buy-ins will ONLY take place virtually via Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle.
Payments must be made by midnight the night before the event
Cash will NOT be accepted.

Payouts will be made via Venmo within 24 hours of the event

• Skins
  • $10 buy-in
  • Using GROSS scores, not handicapped scores
  • Lowest, unique, score on a hole across the group, of golfers that opted in, will win a skin.
  • The Skins Pot will be divided by the number of skins won, and distributed after the event
• Closest to the Pin (CTP)
  • $5 buy-in
  • 2 par-3’s will be chosen for Closet to the Pin
  • The ball must come to rest ON the green
  • The pot will be equally split between the 2 winners

Waitlist Protocols

If an event sells out, golfers will be placed on the event waitlist when registering via BlueGolf.com

Golfers will NOT be charged anything until you are moved from the Waitlist to the main field of golfers

As spots become available, Tour Director will be will reach out to the waitlist based sequentially off of their registration date/time.
If a reasonable amount of time has passed with no response, the next person will be contacted

MAJOR EVENTS: Priority of waitlist promotions will be as follows:
1. Golfers that have completed a regular season event
2. Golfers that are registered for other regular-season events
3. All other golfers, sequentially by time of registration

The members of the waitlist will be contacted on the Monday prior to the event and will be informed of their order in the queue

Week of Events

Communication is key and Monday prior to each event, the field and the waitlist will be emailed event specific information:

• Monday:
  • Event specific email sent to the current field of the event
  • Waitlist members are informed of their spot in the queue
• Wednesday by Midnight:
  • Cutoff for participants to provide needed information
    • Handicap updates, pairing requests, tee box requests
• Finalized Tee Times:
  • To be emailed out no less than 24 hours prior to the event
  • This will include your unique check-in code for the Amateur Golf app
• Midnight before the event:
  • Optional games payments (Skins & CTP) are due by midnight before the event

Cancelation / Refund Policy

Refunds will be given for cancelations prior to these cutoffs:

• Full refunds (less the cancelation fee) will occur until the cancelation cutoff
• Cancelation Cutoff: 11:59 PM on Monday before the event
• NO refunds will be provided for cancelations within 36 hours of the event
• Cancelation fees:
  • Standard Events: 10% of registration cost
  • Major Events: 20% of registration cost
  • 2-Day event: see the 2-day event page
  • Championship event: 30% of the registration cost
• Suspensions and removal from the league:
  • 50% refunds will be provided for registered events for golfers suspended for events or removed from the league

Refunds after the cancelation deadline and before the 36 hour cutoff, will only occur if the golfers spot is filled by a member of the waitlist
If your spot is unable to be filled, no refund will be granted.
This protects the course from losing revenue from agreed upon commitments, and avoids the Tour having to pay for unfulfilled spots

Weather Policy

During instances of inclement weather the Tour Director will provide their input where / when allowed, but the final decision is at the sole discretion of the course.

In the event of delays, golfers should remain on property or in their vehicles until a decision is made on play. Decisions will be made in-person or via email

If an event has to be shortened to a 9-hole event for any reason, this will constitute a full event

If the course offers rainchecks or the event is rescheduled, no refunds will be granted

League Fees

To keep your costs low and provide more opportunities for all golfers to participate, we will charge NO LEAGUE FEES!

The only cost will be event registration fees, and optional cash games if you choose to play

Season Long Points Leaderboard

The Season Long Leaderboard will be used to determine entry to the season Championship event.
Points will be distributed based on the final placements within regular season events.
Points are listed below. Any placements beyond #30 will receive 30 points (60 for Majors and 75 Championship events)

Golfers what withdraw mid-round will receive half of the minimum points distribution (standard events: 15 points, Major events: 30 points)

League Championship

A league championship event will occur at the completion of the season and entry will be restricted to the top 36 golfers that qualify

Ways to qualify:

• Win the prior season Tour Championship
• TBD
  • 2022 qualification requirements are being reviewed

If a qualifying golfer is unable to participate, the forfeited spot will go to the next golfer on the seasons leaderboard

Code of Conduct / Ethics

Ethics is of the highest importance in golf and all golfers that choose to participate are required and expected to behave appropriately and uphold the integrity of the RDUgolf Tour LLC and the game of golf.

Participants are required and expected to follow all rules posted by event venues, treat venue staff with respect, treat venue courses with respect, follow the rules of golf, and behave in ways which are positive to the RDUgolf Tour LLC and the reputation of the league.

This includes both at / during events, and in public forums representing the RDUgolf Tour.

Conduct, ethics, and rules violations in other leagues, will be reviewed any may impact your standing within the RDUgolf Tour.

Violations of the Code of Conduct or Ethics have disciplinary actions up to, and including, suspension* or expulsion* from the league.
Violations will be reviewed by the Players Panel and final decisions will be made by the Tour Director

* 50% refunds will be provided for registered events for golfers suspended for events or removed from the league