Three Rounds of Golf with a Total of 24 Points Up for GrabsRound One - Foursomes (otherwise known as Alternate Shot). Total of 6 Points at stake. Both players play one ball. Alternating shot on each hole. Each player alternates shots off tee. Captains name the team pairings but match-ups are random draw. Match play (hole by hole). Holes that are tied are a ½ point for each pairing (halved). Winning pair wins 1 point for their team. Ties at the end of a match are ½ point for each team.Round Two - Four Ball (otherwise known as Best Ball). Total of 6 Points at stake. Each team is represented by 6 teams of two. Both players play their own ball. Captains name the team pairings within the "varsity" (top 4 players) and "junior varsity" (bottom 6 players) categories. Match-ups are random draw within a category. Match play (hole by hole). Holes that are tied are a ½ point for each pairing (halved). Winner of the Match wins 1 point for their team. Ties at the end of a match are ½ point for each team. Round Three - Match Play. Total of 12Points are at stake. Teams are seeded 1 through 12. Match-ups are predetermined (1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, etc). Match play (hole by hole). Holes that are tied are a ½ point for each player (halved). Winner wins 1 point for their team. Ties at the end of a match are ½ point for each team. Game RulesTie Breaker - Unlike the Ryder Cup where the defending champion wins on ties, we play it out! If there is a tie following the completion of all three rounds there will be a "shoot out" on the putting green with each player on each team taking one putt from a pre-determined spot on the putting green. The spot is determined by the Captain of the defending champions and the putt must be between 6-12 steps (or feet). Each team uses their own ball but only one ball per team. Each hole-in-one is a point and the winning team will be the one with the most putts made. Players individual successful putts are one point in their Googel Cup personal statistics (see Choosing Captains below). The order of putting will be from the highest Sunday seed to lowest (with each team alternating, or in other words the #1 seed on Googel putts, and then #1 seed on Glazer putts). The defending champions decide if they want to go first or second. If there is still a tie, a new spot will be chosen by the challenging team's captain (between 6-12 ft), and the challenging team's captain determines if they want to putt first or second (order is reversed and the lowest seeds put first).Coaching - Coaching/advise among teammates is allowed between playing partners only with the only exception being the Captain and/or Co-Captain for that team during that year. We like to call this the Greg George rule. A Captain can roam (once his match is over and provide advice wherever needed). During a tie-breaker put-off all teammates are considered your partner. The only EXCEPTION to the Greg George rule is when there is a 2 on 1 match (see Uneven Teams below). In this case the solo player may seek advise on any hole from one teammate. This teammate can be different on each hole. If the captain is around it can be the teammate and the captain. Choosing Captains - Captains each year will be determined by performance the previous year. The player with the highest points on the losing team will be the captain for his team the following year, and the player with lowest points on the winning team will be the captain as his team defends the Googel Cup title. ** Please note, you must have played in at least three Googel Cups to be eligible to be captain (In other words rookies are not eligible to be captain. The earliest one can be named captain is AFTER their third year, thus actually being the captain in their fourth year). A few clauses to note:2nd year captain clause - A player can be captain a second time ONLY if everyone ELIGIBLE on his team has already been captain once and the player has played more than 60% of the GCs. If the player qualifies to be captain but another eligible player has never been captain than the former player is automatically passed, and the next eligible, first time captain will be named captain. The Googel Cup chairman has made himself ineligible. Captaincy Tie-breaker - If two or more players tie in qualifying for Captaincy, the first tie-breaker will be the person who has gone longest without being captain. The next tie-breaker will be a coin-flip or lotto. Engraving the Cup - The responsibility of engraving the Cup with the names of players on the winning team will be the person named Captain of the champs for the next year (in other words the guy who ended up with the least amount of points for the champions) or John Downes. Costs for engraving will be paid by the Googel Cup (not the individual) but the budget for engraving needs to be pre-approved by Eric Glazer. Chairman Clause - The Googel Cup chairman will determine any controversy and reserves the right to change any of this stuff! Uneven Teams - In the event that one or more players on a particular team do not show up for Googel Cup, the following things will change in format. Note, these stipulations are all based on the player not able to play prior to the particular round or match. If a player bails during the round, see FORFEITS. Foursomes – The team short a player will designate two eligible players to play solo. The #1 and #2 seeds and the bottom two seeds are illegible (as ranked for Sunday’s match play). ** If captains have not yet determined Sunday’s seeding or do not want to commit to Sunday’s seeding so early in the event, the Chairman will deem a temporary seeding chart for purposes of following process noted in this section. ** The team NOT short a player will choose one player from the two selected on the opposite team to compete in one Four Ball match (best ball). The team NOT short a player, must announce a pairing made up of two players, with one player being at least one see below the single opponent and the second player being at least 2 seeds lower than the single opponent a (i.e. if the #9 seed on Team Glazer is solo Team Googel’s pairing must not have a player higher than #10 and 11). The player finally selected to play by himself (from the team short one player) will play Best Ball verses the pairing of the team with the correct # of players. This group will go out LAST on Friday/Saturday so to ensure play is not slowed down. Four Ball - Same as Foursomes EXCEPT the team short a player must submit to play either their 2, 3, 4,* 7, 8, 9** seeds. The opposing team will then submit a pairing following the rules above. * If the team short decides to choose submit their #4 seed the opposing team will be allowed and mandated to play their #5 and #6 seed as the opposition. ** Opposing team is allowed to play their 8 and 9 (they can play their 10 in liew of 8 or 9). ^ If a team is short more than one player, the team must choose two players to compete as solo BUT they must choose one varsity and one jv, allowing the opposing team to choose two pairings that follow the guidelines listed above. ^^ If both teams are short 1 player than a random # will be picked (2,3,4,7,8,9,) and that # seed will be singles. Match Play - The player who is one seed lower than the "no show" player will play in two separate matches vs his original opponent and the opponent of his "no show" team mate. He will use ONE ball but his score on the hole will be pitted vs both players separately. In other words if the #9 seed does not show on Team Googel, the #10 seed will play both Team Glazer’s #9 and #10 seeds on Sunday. He will pit his score, hole by hole, vs each of the two players separately. Greeny-Googel Exception: In years Googel or Greeny are playing, if the seed one above Greeny or Googel is a no show (so in years we have 12 players, if the #11 seed is missing, then the #10 player on the team a man down will play the opposing team's 10 and 11. Tie-Breaker - In the event there is a "putt off" to break a tie at the end of the Googel Cup, the team NOT short a player will choose one player on the opposite team to putt twice. The team short a player has 1 “refusal” allowed where they can force the other team to make an alternate player choice. If a team is short more than one player than they will not be allowed a refusal, and the other team chooses two players to putt twice. Note: the person(s) putting twice, will put in the order that his "no show" would have putted as well his own spot. GC-Specific RulesThe Googel Cup has ONE (maybe two) “Googel Cup Only Rule(s) ” or
exceptions to USGA rules (listed below). In addition, we have also
highlighted a couple of USGA rules that are often forgotten or
misunderstood below.
A few new rules that began in 2009 "to expedite play" IA. NO OB (new in 2009)At Point Sebago, home course of the Googel Cup, OB stakes are on holes 1, 7 and 9 ....as of 2009, all white stakes for Googel Cup competition are "mandatory lateral drops" meaning unlike red stakes where you can choose to play the ball and avoid the penalty, if your ball is OB you MUST drop within the line of "point of of entry" no closer to hole, and take the penalty. This rule is in lieu of USGA Rule 27-1 Ball Lost or Out of Bounds (White Stakes and No Stakes) and makes hitting a provisional unnecessary.IB. A note about Unplayable balls According to USGA rules if your ball is in a red hazard you MAY NOT move any natural objects to improve access to the ball. According to USGA rule #28, if the player may deem his ball unplayable at any place on the course, except when the ball is in a water hazard. The player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable. If the player deems his ball to be unplayable, he must, under penalty of one stroke. GC players MUST use option b or c or the closest solution to b or c. We do not want to slow down play and go back to where the original ball is played unless it's less than 40 feet from where the ball is deemed unplayable. As stated by the USGA the rule reads, if the player deems his ball to be unplayable, he must, under penalty of one stroke.
II. LOST Balls (new in 2009)All un-staked woods at Point Sebago are "red stakes" per their course rules. Thus this Lost Ball rule only comes into play if a ball is lost in or around the fairway and it's fringes. With leaves on the ground it is possible we may lose a ball. If a ball is not found within 5 minutes (USGA Rule 27-1-C) a player must take a penalty stroke BUT follow GC Specific Rule - I entitled NO OB. In other words, no need to go back to where you hit it. Please gain consensus from your opponent on a fair drop location.III. Water Rule/JDZ (new in 2009) Water hazards must be crossed on holes 3, 11 and 13. For these holes only (not #5 or #14) the following GC Water rule comes into play ... GC players will observe a GC Drop Area, over the hazard and 3 club lengths forward, if a player hits two balls into the hazard before crossing (don't laugh). We will call this drop area the Jeff Drop Zone or JDZ (in honor of our two Jeffs, Googel and Green) This means if on hole #3 Downes hits his 2nd shot in the water, and drops for 3, and hits his 4th shot in the water (he will drop on the other side of the water hazard three club lengths from the hazard ..aka the JDZ) and hit 6. Note the verbiage of the rule that states "if a player hits two balls into the hazard before crossing" means the shots don't have to be consecutive for the JDZ rule to come into effect. Imagine Googel hits his 2nd shot in the water, drops for 3, then duffs his 4th shot short of the hazard, and then goes into the water on his 5th (please, don't laugh) ..here too he would then drop in the JDZ for 6, and then hit 7. IV. No GPS of any kind (new in 2009) Unless the course issues GPS systems on all carts, using GPS or those fancy binoculars with distances or any other technology that gives you unfair information are strictly prohibited. Penalty for first offense will be forfeiture of the hole and then hitting three off the tee on the next hole. Second offense will be forfeiture of the match. This rule is meant to keep play fair. Buying the course book with yardages or printing the pages off the web site is allowed. PLEASE NOTE: Don't be a tight ass, but... The Googel Cup is a “very friendly competition” and the various courtesies often allowed by opponents in social golf are encouraged (i.e. allowing an opponent to alter a ‘plugged’ lie in the fair way). Therefore most decisions are left to the foursome or twosome playing with each other. However because it is a competition and controversies may arise, The Googel Cup will defer to the “Rules of Golf” as published by the USGA as a “guide” to settling controversies (see http://www.usga.com/rules/index.html ). Note: the USGA will defer to the Local Rules in regards to specifics of the course (i.e. what is Out of Bounds) and this includes GC Specific Rules. Swinging and missing IS a stroke This is a USGA Rule but a reminder that it is a rule that GC obeys. Accidentally hitting your ball on a full practice swing is a stroke as well (but you may deal with that on your own if you would like). However, let’s not get all touchy/feely if someone is addressing a ball in the tee box, fairway, woods or putting green and nicks their ball by accident at address. Tee Boxes Foursome (Alternate Shot)
Old Rules Not to be Used in 2009 (in gray) Observing the White Stakes - Googel Cup will observe White Stakes (and
No Stakes) for one shot, and then treat the White Stakes or No Stakes
as Red Stakes or a “lateral hazard.” Read on … |
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Format & Rules |