TWIN BRIDGES MEN’S CLUB OFFICIAL RULES & INFORMATION
COURSE CONDITION
PUTTING
PACE OF PLAY
SAND BUNKERS
FAIRWAY BUNKERS
LEAF RULE
PENALTY AREAS & DROPPING
BLIND DRAWS
TEE ASSIGNMENTS
HANDICAPS
TIE BREAKING
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
MEN’S CLUB DUES & FEES
SIGN UPS & DEADLINES
HOLE-IN-ONE
IRBY RACE & FEES
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
UNKNOWN GOLF FEES
START TIMES & DEADLINES
CHOOSE UP FEES
WINNINGS
MEN’s club committee
MISC
COURSE CONDITION
Unless you are incurring a penalty or are getting relief from one of the noted bunkers, we will play Lift, Clean and Place within 6 inches of where your ball came to rest throughout the entire course.
PUTTING
All putts must be holed. If you pick up, your score will be an Automatic Triple Bogey.
PACE OF PLAY
Holing out putts, will in theory add a slightly bit more time. Do your prep on the green and in the fairway while others are playing. Be ready when it's your turn. Play ready golf when you can. Be self-aware. We don't need 5-hour rounds! Rule of thumb, you're most likely doing something wrong, if you have the same number of people in your group as the group in front of you and you are not keeping up to them! Unless you're under 4-hour pace, you should always be keeping up with the group in front of you.
You have three minutes to look for your ball. The three minutes begins when you get to the point where your ball crossed into a hazard or is assumed lost.
SAND BUNKERS
You are entitled to lift, rake and place within 6 inches in sand bunkers.
In addition to any areas that are marked with white paint as “Ground Under Repair”, we consider the following as Ground Under Repair:
- #6 Front Left Greenside
- #10 Front Left Greenside
- #15 Both Right Greenside
- #17 Front Right Greenside
Relief from these bunkers is Lift, Clean and Place, no closer to the hole, within one club length from point of complete relief outside of the bunker. They are not marked, so as a reminder, complete relief means you do not have to place your ball on the side of the hill that is part of the bunker.
FAIRWAY BUNKERS
Most of our fairway bunkers no longer exist. Some are filled in. A few are not maintained. You are entitled to lift, rake and place within 6 inches in any of those fairway bunkers.
In addition to any areas that are marked with white paint as “Ground Under Repair”, we consider the following as Ground Under Repair:
- #13 Left and Right Fairway Bunkers…the ones reachable from the tees
- #16 Right Fairway Bunker
Relief from these bunkers is Lift, Clean and Place, no closer to the hole, within one club length from point of complete relief outside of the bunker. They are not marked, so as a reminder, complete relief means you do not have to place your ball on the side of the hill that is part of the bunker.
LEAF RULE
If you and your Team Captain are reasonably certain that your ball is under a leaf that is not in the woods or at the edge of the woods or in a pond or at the edge of a pond then you are entitled to, without penalty, put a new ball into play by placing the ball, as close as possible to the point where you believe the ball is.
PENALTY AREAS & DROPPING
We will play all of the heather, woods, ponds, creeks and driving range as a Red Stake Lateral Hazard.
If your ball lies in a penalty area (woods, pond, creek, heather or driving range) and you choose to play it, you can lift, clean and place within six inches without penalty.
The three areas below incur a one stroke penalty.
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- You can play from where your last stroke was made (Stroke and Distance)
- You can take Lateral Relief by placing your ball within two club lengths of where the ball crossed the hazard line…not where it came to rest in the hazard
- You can move back as far as you want keeping the point where the ball entered the hazard in a straight line between the hole and where you place your ball.
You have three minutes to look for your ball. The three minutes begins when you get to the point where your ball crossed into a hazard or is assumed lost.
BLIND DRAWS
Occasionally, we will need to have a Blind Draw to make teams even. The player that serves as a Blind Draw will not win any money due to being a Blind Draw on a team that places in the money. The other members of the Blind Draw team that finished in the money will not win more money because they had less players. They will be paid the same per man share as if they had a full team. The money left over from the missing player on the Blind Draw team, will go into the Hole-in-One pot.
TEE ASSIGNMENTS
We use a formula that takes into consideration age and handicap. If you feel your Tee Assignment is not appropriate, please seek a meeting with the Men’s Club Committee.
We will assign people based on the following guide. In the end, if you disagree or want to play another tee, we will let you decide where you want to play as long as it's a handicapped event. You can always move a tee backward without issue. However, we require you to choose a tee and then remain there the rest of the year and not hop around. If you go against our guide and move forward when you probably shouldn't be, that will all be on you. Meaning, you should consider your decision carefully and why. If it comes across not legitimate you'll have to live with everyone talking about it. None of this applies to gross events like the club championship, where we will assign tees based on different criteria.
The guide is simply this... Up to 49 years of age is on the Gray tees. 50 to 64 is on the White tees. 65 to 79 are on the Gold tees. 80 and older are on the Red tees, when we figure them out. And then if your handicap index (not course handicap.... your index) is greater than 14, you are entitled to move up a tee.
We make this assessment at the beginning of each year and expect the player to remain there for that season, until a re-assessement takes place at the beginning of next season.
HANDICAPS
A BlueGolf handicap is required for everyone to play in our club. This is acquired thru the proshop. The cost is $35 unless are you have purchased a season pass, which in that case it is included with your membership at the golf course. We will be playing 100% handicap, except for special formats like shambles or scrambles where a percentage is used.
The handicap committee reserves the right to adjust a player’s handicap prior to a tournament if their handicap is discovered to be inaccurate.
TIE BREAKING
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- Choose Ups - All ties for placement are accepted. 1st place and down. This applies to money and points. The computer does all these calculations automatically.
- Irby Cup Events - All ties for placement are accepted. 1st place and down. This applies to money and points. The computer does all these calculations automatically.
- Club Championship Divisions will be decided by Sudden Death Playoff starting on hole #1 and continuing until we have a Champion.
- Irby Cup Championship - if there happens to be a tie in the final year long standings after the 2-day playoff, the champion will be determined by who finished highest in the 2-day playoffs. If that by chance is a tie, we will then look at who had the best performance in the majors.
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Our league is open to all, but with slight restrictions. Due to our games and how our league is designed, we maintain an ability requirement and a code of conduct, to protect the integrity and enjoyability of the league.
- ALL Members: In essence the Twin Bridges Men’s Club is a social club with a competitive aspect, and it is critical that every member conduct themselves in a manner so as to not alienate themselves from other members. Should a person’s behavior negatively impact the group as a whole, the Board Members of the Men’s Club reserves the right to remove that person from the Men’s Club.
- NEW Members: To enhance the likelihood that you will contribute in a positive manner to the Team Game, players interested in playing in the Men’s Club must maintain a handicap of 18 or lower for their age appropriate tees as outlined in our rules. Pace of play is important to management and capping the handicap helps us do our part to reduce the possibility of slow play in an effort to cooperate with the objectives of Twin Bridges Golf Course.
MEN’S CLUB DUES & FEES
Annual Dues for the Men’s Club is $30 and is required to participate in any choose-up or event. We do allow 2 free guest plays to “try us out.” This must be paid in cash at the golf course or given to Eric Gessner or Buford Peebles.
The fee options for the Irby Cup year long points race that spans over 10 events are:
- $20 per event if you pay-as-you-go. This fee covers closest-to-pin contests, skins and hole-in-one contests.
- $160 for the entire year which needs to be paid prior to our first Irby Cup Event. Paying the $160 up front can save you $40 (2 events). The package price of $160 includes fees, closest-to-pin contests, skins and hole-in-one contests.
If you want to play on a day that we have an Irby Cup event, but you do not want to participate in the Irby Cup, that fee is $15.
SIGN UPS & DEADLINES
In winter mode our deadlines tend to be relaxed. We communicate on our GroupMe chat and flex with the conditions and whether the course is busy or not.
During the summertime it is critical that we release unused tee times back to the course at the earliest opportunity. Also, we need more to provide more advance notice to the course if we need additional tee times. Therefore, we have adjusted the sign-up deadlines:
- Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday choose-up deadlines are 7:00 pm the evening before unless our tee times are full.
- Saturday events and all other tournaments or special events, the cutoff is 7:00 p.m. two evenings before the event unless our tee times are full.
- You must sign up and register using Unknown Golf.
- The person or people making the game and the teams have the flexibility to extend the deadlines in an effort to have even teams.
HOLE-IN-ONE
Hole-In-One is only available to Men’s Club Members who have paid their dues, unless we have an event with a stated exception. It will be assumed you are participating in the Hole-In-One each time it is played unless, for that day, prior to teeing off, you advise your Team Captain that you are not participating.
We will have a Hole-In-One contest anytime there are 12 or more players (3 groups) in an event.
When there is a Hole-In-One winner, the winner shall win 80% of the pot, and we use the other 20% to start a new pot. If we have two holes-in-one on the same day, the two winners will split the 80%.
IRBY RACE & FEES
We have 3 majors and 7 team events for our season long FedexCup type points race. The top 15 will be paid out from a prize pool ranging from $2000 - $2500.
For collecting points, we count your best 2 out of 3 majors, and your best 5 out of 7 team events. And in the year ending 2-day playoff championship event, we count your best 1 out of 2 rounds.
Even though we play a team format, all 10 events are based on your individual performance, including the 2-day championship playoff. You will collect normal points during team events, double points during majors, and triple points in the year ending playoffs.
90% of our players purchase the $160 season pass that covers all 10 events. With this package, you are playing 2 events for free. Or you have the option to pay each event as you go at $20 per event. The 2-day championship playoff is a separate entry fee of $5 per round.
If would like to go ahead and pay your $160 pass, you can give cash or check to the golf course or Eric Gessner or Buford Peebles or pay by credit card at the golf course.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
Our championship is a 2-day, 36 hole stroke play event. There are 3 divisions. Super Senior Champion (gold tees), Senior Champion (white tees), and Official Men’s Club Champion (gray tees).
Entry fee for event is $30. Winners will get their name on trophies in the clubhouse, along with a parking space near the front of the club. As well, we will award 6 places in shop credit for each division. This is based on having the minimum participation level in each division.
Eligibility is based on age. If you qualify for the Super Senior and wish to move backwards and play in the Senior or Men’s division you can. And Senior can play in Men’s. But you cannot move foward… Men’s cannot play in Senior or Super Senior, and Senior cannot play in Super Senior.
- Age 54 and younger will play in Men’s Official Club Champion division
- Age 55 to 69 will play in Senior Champion division
- Age 70 and older will play in Super Senior division
UNKNOWN GOLF FEES
Every person who plays in our club will be required to pay the unknowngolf subscriber fee. This gives you full rights through the app with all features. They are constantly improving and developing the app and it has given us the ability to run net/gross games effortlessly and play many formats and streamline all our efforts from an administrative perspective as well as give us great features like live scoring and much more.
Once you install the app from your app store on your phone, you can subscribe through your profile and then under the settings tab. It is normally, $10 per month or $49 for the year.
If you choose not to pay a subscription, you can use the web based, limited version, and you will be charged an extra $2 per round for any event at the club to cover the fees they charge us for unsubscribed event players.
START TIMES & DEADLINES
This year, our Saturday and Special Event start times will be 8:30. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday will remain at 12:00.
CHOOSE UP FEES
All regular choose up fees during the week and weekend will be a $10 game. Unless it is a special event.
WINNINGS
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- Irby Cup events and year Top 15 payout and club championship are paid in Shop Credit
- All other events and choose-ups are paid in cash
MEN’s CLUB COMMITTEE
For any issues, concerns, feedback, or ideas… please contact a person on the committee. The steering committee is a group led by our directors, to represent the men’s club as a whole and provide a balanced perspective, for the high to low handicapper, and the serious to the fun golfer. To help make decisions that make sense for the entire group, and help keep us improving our product moving forward.
The steering committee is made up of:
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- Avery Motes
- Don Strickler
- Greg Shaver
- Don Gessner
The directors of the committee are:
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- Buford Peebles
- Eric Gessner
MISC
All situations not addressed in this document will be covered by Twin Bridges Local Rules and the USGA.