HGS Northumberland Trip
(16th-19th June 2023)

Specific Rules for the Trip & Competitions

Daily Individual Stableford competitions

• Each round is an individual Stableford competition, with prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, and usual Countback method used to separate tied scores
• players will start round 1 using their current WHS Handicap Index, and this will then apply to all 4 rounds of the Trip's competitions (regardless of whether a player submits their card(s) into the England Golf system and receives a WHS Handicap Index change mid-trip)
• each round will be played off a Playing Handicap, which will be 95% of the player's Course Handicap for that course less any Trip Handicap Adjustments that apply
• Trip Handicap Adjustments will be applied to the winner and runner-up of each round, and will affect their Playing Handicap for the rest of the Trip:
  • Winner receives an adjustment of -2
  • Runner-Up receives an adjustment of -1
• please Putt Out on each hole
• please keep individual cards for each player, and ensure that you record your individual birdies and lost balls on your card
• please hand your signed card to Peter Bollands on completion of your round (this will be returned on request for submission for handicap purposes, if desired).

Trip Individual competition

• The total of the best three Stableford scores out of the four rounds count as the player's Trip score
• in the event of a tie, the discarded round score will be used to differentiate; if still tied, then Round 4 will be used

Trip Team competition

• There will be 6 teams of 3 players, chosen by personal affinity to the rivers which give the teams their names (or not, as is the case!)
• each player will be allocated a number in the range 1-18 which will assign them to a slot in the pre-determined Order of Play for the 4 rounds which ensures that the same two players do not play together more than once during the trip
• if a team is short of a player for the trip or a particular round, Darren Priest or Nigel Cooper (who are not involved in the team competition this year due to injury) may fill in for that round - failing that, a GHOST player will be drawn in each round from all the players
• the Team Score in each round will be the top two Stableford scores of the three team members for that round
• in the event of a tie for the Team Scores totalled over 4 rounds, the total Stableford points scored for all 4 rounds by all members of the tied teams will be compared.

Virtual Knockout

• A draw was made before the trip to identify the virtual pairings in the first 3 rounds, with 3 players contesting the virtual semi-finals and final
• the winner of each virtual game will be the highest Stableford score of the two (or three), using usual Countback rules in the event of a tie

Sweepstake Competitions

• Darren Priest is organising this, and will confirm details just before the event - last year's competitions were:
• Birdies: guess the total number of birdies over 4 rounds; nearest the number (+/-) wins (multiple winners share the total prize) (Entry: £2)
• Lost Balls: guess the total number of lost balls over 4 rounds; nearest the number (+/-) wins (multiple winners share the total prize) (Entry: £2)
  • a ball is 'lost' if it goes out of bounds (even if retrieved) or is physically lost within the course
  • only 'live' balls can be lost; eg a missing provisional is not counted if the first ball is subsequently found
• Rounds of 30 Stableford points and Over: guess the total number of individual rounds of 30 or more points over the 4 rounds played throughout the weekend; nearest the number (+/-) wins (multiple winners share the total prize) (Entry: £2)
• Daily Stableford Winner: predict the winner of each daily Stableford (multiple winners share the total prize) (Entry: £1 per round)
• it would be helpful if you could pay for total entry (3x£2 & 4x£1 = £10) in advance of the Trip by electronic transfer to the HGS account and submit your entries to Darren via Whatsapp or email by no later than the 1st Tee Time on Friday and (for the other 3 daily winners) by midnight the night before

Updated: 6th May 2023