Terms of Competition – Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant

Published: October 3, 2023

Last Update: October 5, 2023

The Terms of Competition – Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant are to be read in conjunction with the Golf NSW Terms of Competition – Pennant

Definitions
General
Entry into the Pennant
Player Eligibility
Dates & Times of Play
Format of Play
Section winners, finals and Pennant winners
Promotion & Relegation
Seedings for finals (and relegation) contests
Transportation
Host Club Responsibilities

1. Definitions

Club – a club competing in the Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant.
Contest – the competition between two Clubs.
Finals Contest – a match between two clubs in the Finals Series of a Pennant.
Final Draw – the draw first published on the Golf NSW Website as notified to participating Clubs. If an amendment is necessary to the Final Draw, any amendment(s) will be noted on the Final Draw with the date of the change.
Golf NSW – Golf NSW Limited as the governing body for amateur golf in NSW and the ACT.
Golf NSW Golf Committee – the Golf Committee of Golf NSW established by the Board of Golf NSW.
Host Club – the Club nominated in the Final Draw to host the Contest, whether at that Club or another venue.
Individual Match – the individual competition between two players.
Match Committee of the Host Club – the Match Committee of the Host Club in charge of a Contest during a preliminary round of the Pennant competition.
Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant or Pennant – the Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant.
Professional Golfer – one who is not an amateur golfer. Professional Golfers include members of a professional golfer’s association and players who have made application to regain amateur status.
Rules of Golf and Rules and Rule – the Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status and related Interpretations published and approved by the R&A Rules Limited current at the time of the Pennant competition including any Local Rules published by the Host Club.
Standard Terms of Competition for Pennant Play – the primary terms of competition for all Pennant Play under the control of Golf NSW, available from www.golfnsw.org.au.
Team Manager – the person appointed or nominated under term 9 of these Terms of Competition.
Terms of Competition or Term – This document and the Standard Terms of Competition for Pennant Play and the terms contained within.

2. General

2.1. The Women’s Sunday Pennant competition is a club handicap match play competition played annually between Metropolitan Clubs who are members of Golf NSW.

2.2. The Clubs participating in the Pennant will be divided into divisions or sections depending on the number of clubs that have entered.

2.3. The draw format for the Pennant will be determined annually depending on the number of team nominations received but will generally consist of preliminary rounds (Contests), followed by Semi-Finals between the winners of each Section within each Division and a Final to determine the Winner of each Divisional Pennant.

3. Entry into the Pennant

3.1. The Pennant is open to all Sydney Metropolitan Golf Clubs who are members of Golf NSW, where positions in the Final Draw are available.

4. Player Eligibility

4.1. A player is eligible for the Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant if she is:

a. A female amateur golfer; and

b. Is a financial member of the club they are representing in a category of membership that allows them to maintain a Golf Australia (GA) handicap for the club; and

c. Satisfies the handicap eligibility requirements outlined in Term 4.2 of these Terms of Competition.

4.2. A player’s GA Handicap for eligibility in Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant is the current handicap displayed on GOLF Link at the time of each contest.

This handicap must:

a. Not be higher than 22.0; and

b. Must not have Provisional status when playing in any Individual Match.

NOTE: If a player’s GA handicap in above 22.0, they may play but their GA handicap will be considered to be 22.0 at the time of the contest.

NOTE: Penalty – ineligible player

The Penalty for an ineligible player competing in a Contest is forfeit of the specific Individual Match to the opposing Club. If it is considered that a player is in breach it is up to the affected Club to lodge a protest to Golf NSW (olivia.wilson@golfnsw.org.au) as outlined in Term 30 of the Golf NSW Terms of Competition – Pennant

5. Date & Times of Play

5.1. Contests will be played on Sundays unless prior permission has been granted by the Golf NSW Golf Committee to play on Saturdays. Clubs granted permission to play on Saturdays will be noted as such in the Final Draw.

5.2. The starting time for each preliminary round Contest must be prior to 12 noon (during daylight savings) or 11am (during non-daylight savings times of the year).

6. Format of Play

6.1. The Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant, a Contest consists of six (6) Individual Matches.

6.2. Individual Matches may be played as one or two matches per time slot at the discretion of the host club.

6.3. All Individual Matches will be played over 18 holes of match play with the benefit of handicap.

6.4. A player’s handicap for each contest will be their Daily Handicap calculated for the course being played that day.

6.5. After handicap allowances have been applied, the player with the lowest Daily Handicap plays off zero strokes relative to the other player. The other player receives the difference between their own Daily Handicap and that of the player with the lowest Daily Handicap. In the event one or both players have a daily handicap of plus when handicap allowances are applied, a player with a plus Daily Handicap moves up towards zero. This is to maintain the same relative difference between Daily Handicaps. See Appendix 1 for examples. A spreadsheet to assist with this calculation can also be found at www.golfnsw.org.au.

6.6. Where shots must be given, the match play index in Appendix 2 must be used.

6.7. If an Individual Match in a Finals Contest is tied after 18 holes, play must cease, and the Individual Match shall be declared tied.

6.8. Refer Term 8.3 of the Standard Terms of Competition for Pennant Play for Finals Contests.

7. Section Winners, Finals & Pennant Winners

7.1. At the conclusion of the preliminary rounds the Club which secures the greatest number of Contest Points will be the winner of its Section.

7.2. In the event of two or more Clubs having an equal number of Contest Points then the Countback Procedures outlined in Term 17 of the Golf NSW Terms of Competition – Pennant will apply to determine the higher, or lower, placed Club.

7.3. The winners of each Section will play in the Semi-Final Contests for their Division. The seedings for the Semi-Final Contests are determined in accordance with Term 18 of the Golf NSW Terms of Competition – Pennant.

7.4. Where any division only has 3 sections, the winner of each section, plus the highest ranked second place team will advance to semi-finals. The highest ranked second placed team will be Seed 4 in semi-finals.

7.5. The winners of the Semi-Final Contests in each Division will play in their Divisional Final to determine the winner of their Division’s Pennant.

7.6. If a Semi-Final or Final has not started or where resumption of play is not possible on the designated day, the Golf NSW Golf Committee will determine the action to be taken.

8. Promotion & Relegation

8.1. Promotion & Relegation is currently not a component of the Women’s Sunday Handicap Pennant competition. However, results from previous years may be utilised to seed teams in future years should a Promotion and Relegation System be established.

9. Seedings for finals (and relegations) contests

9.1. At the completion of the preliminary rounds, the Section winners and Last Placed (Relegation team) in each Division will be seeded as follows for the Semi-Finals or Relegation Contests.

Seed 1 v Seed 4
Seed 2 v Seed 3

NOTE: Where a Sectional Winner is in a Draw which consisted of 3 Clubs at the commencement of the season (i.e. the Draw only provides for a possible 4 Contests) their Contest Points and Individual Match Points will be multiplied by 1.5 to determine their respective seeding for the relevant Finals Contest.

Where a Division was reduced to less than 3 Clubs after the commencement of the season due to the withdrawal of Clubs, the matter shall be referred to the Golf NSW Golf Committee for a decision.

10. Transportation

10.1. Refer to the Golf NSW Hard Card.

11. Host Club Responsibilities

11.1. Refer to Golf NSW Terms of Competition – Pennant for additional information.

11.2. When hosting, the preferred time is Sunday morning.

11.3. Buffer Zones
a. The host club must ensure that a minimum buffer zone of one tee time exists before the first group of Pennant Play is scheduled to commence.

11.4. Course presentation
a. The course set-up should be no harder than that used for normal non-medal competition play.

Appendix 1 – Handicap Differential Calculation

Example 1

Player A has a GA of 8.0
Player B has a GA of 22.0
Course information is Par 72, Scratch Rating 73, Slope Rating 134
Player A has a Daily Hcp of 10
Player B has a daily Hcp of 25
Player A drops to scratch
Player B drops by the same amount and now plays off 15
Player B now gets shots on the holes with a match play index of 1 through 15 inclusive using the table in Appendix 2.

Example 2

Player A has a GA of +2.0
Player B has a GA of 11.0
Course information is Par 70, Scratch Rating 70, Slope Rating 128
Player A has a Daily Hcp of +2
Player B has a daily Hcp of 12
Player A increases to scratch
Player B increases by the same amount and now plays off 14
Player B now gets shots on the holes with a match play index of 1 through 14 inclusive using the table in Appendix 2.

Appendix 2 – Match Play Index