Rules
- USGA rules will be in effect except for additional rules provided below
- Local golf rules take precedence over USGA rules
- We play winter rules (roll it in the fairway only)
- One additional area of relief is if you are in a footprint in a sand trap you are allowed to place it
- There is no OB in Rotten Golfers. Play it as a lateral; two (2) club lengths from OB stakes or edge of where you went out.
- Any player age 80 and over gets to play from the next closest tee (with the exception of Par 3’s) if the yardage is in excess of 5700 yards
- Everyone must putt out every hole – no exceptions. The max score is the dreaded ‘Myrtle 10’. So if you pick up, you get a ten (10)!
- Each player is responsible for identifying their own ball (do not trust your opponents or partners!). If you hit the wrong ball it is a two (2) stroke penalty and you must go back and hit your own ball
- Final one-on-one matches will be against opponent strokes, not the low handicap of the group
Handicaps
- Beginning in 2025 we will be using official USGA handicaps
- To allow sufficient prep time, we will use each players official USGA handicap as of March 26, 2025
- Handicaps will remain the same for the duration of the tournament
- For players without an official handicap, one will be assigned based on collective knowledge
- With the consensus of team captains, newbie handicaps can be adjusted by up to two (2) strokes per day for flagrant sandbaggers!
The GHOST
- When the Rotten Golfers tournament starts with an uneven number of players, the infamous GHOST will be used as a partner for the team that is short. The following rules will apply:
- No player can be the Ghost twice during the tournament
- The Ghost selection will be conducted using the Rotten Golfers web site under the tab ‘The Ghost’
- There are separate Red Team and Blue Team random Ghost selectors
- All team’s players are listed by day and the player requiring a Ghost is substituted with the term ‘Regenerate Numbers’
- There is no distinction given for A or B Flight players
- The random selector will create a random number for each day that matches one of the available players wo will become the Ghost for that day
- IF the random selector picks the number of a player not available to be Ghost for that day (labeled ‘Regenerate Numbers’), the Ghost selector will be regenerated until all of the Ghost players are selected for the week
- ‘Regenerate Numbers’ constitutes a total redo for the week, not just for the day in question
- At least one member from each team must be present to observe Ghost selections for it to be official
- If for any reason, other than a medical or personal emergency (not penalized), a player does not play (Gin Flu, missed tee time, etc.), his partner will have to compete solo against that day’s pairing with a blind. The same person can’t be used twice and 50% of top opponent players are DQ’d by apposing captain prior to picking the blind due to player being an idiot.
Final Day Pairings
- The winning team will submit one of their players and the losing team gets to match that player
- For the next twosome pairing the losing team submits one of their players and the winning team gets to match up with that player
- This alternates until all pairing are complete
- Be aware that either team can select a player to play against the player that has to play two (2) players (the team that is short players will have one player play against two opponents)
- Because the winning team has the disadvantage of throwing out the first player for the twosome matches, the winning team gets to make the first foursome grouping and then the losing team gets to make the second foursome grouping. This alternating process continues until complete.
Wash Outs
- If any day (except the last) is a wash out (course closes), then the wash out day points are added to the next playable days points
- If the last day is a wash out then leader at the end of day three (3) is declared the winner
- However if nine (9) holes have been completed prior to the wash out, then those points only (not overall match points) get added to previous totals for the winner
- Must complete full nine (9) holes for points unless opponent is closed out
Tournament Dinner
Saturday is our annual Tournament Dinner to be held around 7:00PM at the New York Prime Rib