Current CGA Handicap determinate of all net winners. Flight shuffle will continue every five events up until the last 10 events of the season. It is believed that since flighting will be based on handicaps instead of stroke average that movement will be less often.
MEMBERSHIP: Membership in The UGA Tour cost $75.00 for a 12 month membership from the date of joining. The UGA is an affiliate club of the CGA. This affiliation with the CGA allows the UGA to offer its members a handicap service for an annual fee of $20.00. All UGA players must have a CGA Handicap purchased through the UGA.
All new players will have to furnish a handicap or 10 score cards by the Wednesday before the up coming event in order to be eligible for the up coming event. The UGA Tour begins in March and runs through November of each year. The UGA handicap service runs from January 1st thru December 31st.
PAYMENT POLICY: The UGA Tour will accept cash, money orders, checks, and credit cards. There will be a $30 fee for all returned checks. If a check is returned, all future payments must be made in cash, money orders, cashiers checks or credit cards. There is a 3% handling fee for all credit card transactions.
REFERRAL CASH AWARD PROGRAM: All active members of The UGA Tour who sponsors a new Tour Member will receive an immediate cash bonus of $25.00.
ELIGIBILITY: Players must meet the "Amateur" qualifications as described by the USGA.
PRIZES: The low GROSS and low NET score will be awarded a trophy. All net scores will be determined by the CGA handicap of record by the Wednesday before the up coming event. In the case of a tie for GROSS winner there will be a sudden death playoff to determine the first place finish. If a sudden death playoff cannot take place then the tie breaker will be determined by a "scorecard" playoff starting from the number one handicap hole and continuing till a winner is determined. In the case of a tie for NET winner there will be a "scorecard playoff" beginning from the tenth hole working back towards the 18th hole. All other ties, both GROSS AND NET, will share equally in the tournament finish. Anyone who is a low round leader that is in a tie first and leaves the course then that player is automatically determined to be the second place finisher See "Points" in the UGA Rules section below.
ENTRY DEADLINE: Entries must reach the UGA Headquarters by 5:00PM on the Wednesday before the event that you wish to enter.
CREDIT CARD ENTRIES MAY BE MADE BY TELEPHONE BY THE ENTRY DEADLINE.
TOURNAMENT ENTRY PROCEDURE: To enter an event, all players must have their cash, check, money order, cashiers check or credit card number in the UGA Tour office no later than 5PM on the Wednesday before the event date. Any member using credit cards can have their credit card numbers on file at the UGA Tour office. Once the credit card number is on file a player may enter an event via the mail, telephone, or email tomtour2000@charter.net by 5PM on the Wednesday before the event. In the event that there is a limit on entries, first paid bases will be used for entries. All new players will have to furnish a handicap or 10 score cards plus all fees and event entry fee by the Wednesday before the up coming event in order to be eligible for the up coming event.
TEE TIMES AND GROUPINGS: Event tee times and pairings will be completed on the Friday after the event deadline. Pairings and Tee Times will be in the order of the finish from the week before based on the NET finish. The GROSS winner and the NET winner from the week before will always receive the first Tee Time on the following week. Any players entering an event that did not play the week before will be assigned a tee time beginning at the end of players who had played the week before. Tee times will be displayed on The Unifour Golf Magazine website at www.uni4golfmag.com by 12:00 noon on the Friday before the event.
TOURNAMENT CHECK IN: It will be the players' responsibility to be at the teeing ground at their designated tee time. Players reporting to the teeing ground up to five minutes past the designated start time will be assessed a penalty of 2 strokes. After five minutes players will be disqualified and forfeit their entry fee.
WITHDRAWALS: In order to receive a full refund all withdrawals must be received by the Thursday before the event no later than 5:00PM. To withdraw from the tournament please contact the UGA Headquarters at 828-465-4693 or email to: tomtour2000@charter.net. Players will forfeit 50% of their entry fee if withdrawals are made on the Friday before the event and 100% forfeit of paid entry fees for withdrawals or "No Show" on event day. No refunds or credit will be given for any reason once a player has teed off.
DISTANCE MEASURING DEVICES: In all UGA events, a player may obtain distance information by using a device that measures distance only. However, if, during a stipulated round, a player uses a distance-measuring device that is designed to gauge or measure other conditions that might affect his play (e.g., gradient, wind-speed, temperature, ect.). the player is in breach of Rule 14-3, for which the penalty is disqualification regardless of whether any such additional functions are actually used.
FOOTWEAR: It is a condition of competition that shoes with traditionally designed spikes or metal spikes are prohibited from being worn in any UGA event.
TOURNAMENT PLAY RULES
USGA Rules govern all play unless others stipulated with the following:
The event Tournament Director or it's representative and/or rules committee may implement "local rules" and/or decisions during the course of competition as deemed necessary by the Tournament Director and/or rules committee which shall take precedent over any other rules or procedures stipulated elsewhere.
CELL PHONE AND PAGER USE IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED DURING TOURNAMENT PLAY!
Grass and areas of vegetation that are not mowed or border holes beyond the second cut of grass (rough) are considered lateral hazards unless otherwise marked. These areas are to be played under Rule 26. Players may exercise options under Rule 26 and drop using the grass cut line to define the hazard boundary.
Unless otherwise marked, tree wells, flowerbeds and bedded plant areas are treated as ground under repair (Rule 25-1). Players MUST NOT execute a stroke from within any of these areas:
Balls SHOULD be marked and MUST be declared on the 1st Tee. Balls MUST be designated on the USGA current list of conforming balls.
Embedded ball rule is in effect. Be governed by Rule 25-2.
One ball rule is in effect. Be governed by Appendix 1, Part C-1.
Tire ruts, and washouts or ruts in bunkers due to lack of proper maintenance: These areas may be considered as GUR. Be governed by Rule 25-1. Areas of sparse vegetation do not qualify for relief under this rule.
Private properties, as well as all course perimeter roads are out of bounds.
Players are responsible for any damage inflicted on any property as a result of their actions during a tournament.
Scorecards must be signed, attested and submitted for posting within twenty minutes of the group ahead. Scores will be posted immediately following the tournament for public inspection. All scores will be verified.
Situations creating "Doubt as to Procedure" be governed by Rule 3-3.
If in the instance of a dispute or question, an alternate ball may be played until the question at hand can be resolved by a tour official. The players must remember that their actions reflect on the Tour and the host facility as well.
At the discretion of the Rules Committee, the following actions are grounds for disqualification from an event and/or suspension from the Tour:
ALCOHOL ABUSE, THROWING OF AND CLUB BREAKING: The UGA Tour will not tolerate bad behavior such as throwing clubs or uncontrollable outburst. All players have to respect all other players. When a player commits a breach of etiquette that player will be disqualified without refund of entry fee and banned from the next three events. For the second offense that player will be disqualified and banned from the next five events. On the third occurrence of the season the player will be banned from the Tour for the remainder of the current season and will forfeit Tour membership fee.
EXCESSIVE PROFANTIY.
LITTERING AND DAMAGE TO HOST COURSE EQUIPMENT AND PROPERTY.
ABUSE OF TOUR HOSPITALITY LOCATIONS.
VIOLATION OF HOST COURSE AND CART REGULATIONS.
PUBLIC ATTACKS AGAINST THE UGA GOLF TOUR OFFICIALS, HOST FACILITIES, PLAYERS, SPONSORS, AND HOSPITALITY LOCATIONS.
OTHER CONDUCT DEEMED BY THE RULES COMMITTEE TO BE UNBECOMING OF A UGA TOUR PLAYER.
DRESS CODE: The UGA Golf Tour is a professional organization and desires to continually display that image to the public. Proper attire in accordance with host facility policy must be adhered to at all time. Please be aware of this when selecting your tournament attire.
The UGA Golf Tour players are allowed to wear Bermuda style shorts, if desired, for all practice and tournament round. Players may be required to wear long pants for specific events. Jeans or other denim, flip-flops or shirts without collars are not permitted except for the newly accepted mock collar golf shirts. It is to be further noted that The UGA Golf Tour is designated a spike-less tour. You must wear soft spikes during all practice and tournament rounds.
PACE OF PLAY: The UGA Golf Tour utilizes the "ready golf" format to expedite the pace of play. If a player may execute a stroke without interference of another player's opportunity to play they should do so. Players are also encouraged to exercise the "continuous putting" practice until holing out whenever possible.
Stipulated time for a round will be set at 4 _ hours (2 hours 15 minutes per nine). This allows for an average of 15 minutes per hole. If in the instance of slow play by a group being reported to tournament officials, a monitor may arrive to observe and access the situation and may begin trimming of payer's stroke that he can play without interference or distraction.
In addition, the following UGA Golf Tour pace of play policy is adopted from the USGA Pace of Play Policy and is in effect in all UGA Tour events.
USGA Rule 6-7 states, in part that: "The player shall play without undue delay and in accordance with any pace of play guidelines which may be laid down by the Committee. The following pace of play guidelines and penalties for stroke play competitions has been adopted."
Stipulated Time for a Tournament Round: Allocated average time per hole - 15 minutes. Time allocated each nine - 2hrs 15 min. Allocated time for a stipulated round is 4 hours and 30 minutes (4hr30min).
ORDER OF FINISH: Groups must meet one of the following criteria. Groups must finish within the time allocated for a stipulated round-4hrs30min. Groups must finish within 20 minutes behind the group ahead. Consideration will be given concerning the 20-minute provision to a foursome following a threesome. Consideration will be given in the event inclement weather requires groups to operate on a "Cart Path Only" basis.
SCORES AND SCORE CARDS: Each player will continue to keep their opponents score.
Each player will keep their own stats that will be recorded on their opponents score card. Look for the score card format to change to accommodate this new procedure. Each score card will have the players name and handicap listed on the score card. The handicap will be rounded up if over a point five or rounded down if under a point five.
TURNING IN OF SOCRECARDS: One competitor from the group must report to the scoring committee within the stipulated time when the group is finished with their round. Cards must be signed by the player's marker and attested by the player. Cards must be submitted in a timely manner upon completion of round. All event gross scores will be registered to the CGA by the UGA Tour Director.
PENALTY FOR BREACH: Groups finishing at greater than 4hr50min or more than behind the group ahead will be considered "Out of Position" and finishing in excess of one hole behind. Penalty: One stroke - added to final hole score of each player in the group. Slow play will not be tolerated any longer. Any player who is identified as a slow player will, regardless of handicap or net scores, be placed last in the pairings and t-times.
Groups finishing at greater than 5hr10min or more than 40 minutes behind the group ahead will be considered "Out of Position" and finishing in excess of two holes behind. Penalty: Two strokes - added to final hole score of each player in the group.
Groups finishing at greater than 5hr30min or more than 60 minutes behind the group ahead will be considered "Out of Position" and finishing in excess of three holes behind. Penalty: For a breach of this magnitude will result in the disqualification of all players within the group. Scores posted will not be counted in the player's scoring history and entry fees will be forfeited.
All groups finishing within 20 minutes of the group ahead will be considered to have fulfilled Tour Pace of Play Policy and will not be penalized.
INCLEMENT WEATHER: Upon announcement of the Tour Schedule listing the host facilities and dates, the players will be responsible for arriving at their appointed playing times or face disqualification from that event. In the case of inclement weather, the Tournament Director in conjunction with the Host Professional may cancel the event and refund or credit entry fees to player
EQUIIPMENT
BALLS AND FOOTWEAR: Only equipment and brands of golf balls on the most current USGA conforming list may be used. The one ball rule is in effect. The UGA Golf Tour is a soft spike tour.
SPECTATOR GUEST AND TRANSPORTAION: Spectator guests in separate carts must remain on the cart path at all times. Any additional cart rentals needed for spectators are the responsibility of the player.
PUBLICITY AND PROMOTIONS: The UGA Golf Tour has the right to any personal-historical information herein for all media and public relations use. The players' consents to the use of their name, likeness, voice, references to players, photographs and other images of the players and their play connected with their appearance on the Tour. The cooperation of players with authorized representatives of the media is required, provided that no pre-tournament activities outside of those activities, which are part of the Tour, shall be required and provided that the player's event play is not unreasonably interfered with.
POINTS: Each tournament will carry a pot of 1,000 points except for the four "Majors." The four Majors will carry 2,000 points. Each player will earn a portion of those points based on their finish that is determined by their "gross" score at each event.
The player who has earned the largest number of points by the end of the season will be crowned "The Number One Amateur Golfer in the Unifour. The number one golfer will receive a trophy and a paid Tour Membership for the next season. At the end of the season The UGA Golf Tour will also award the highest point's earner in each flight with a trophy and a paid Tour Membership for the next season.
