Helpful Hints
1. Schedule
Tournaments are held at the Stonebridge Ranch Hills Course, weather permitting, every Wednesday throughout the year except during the two weeks around Christmas and New Years. We are using assigned tee time from 8:03 to 9:33 during the COVID pandemic.Tournament play starts at 8:30 a.m. during the summer months (generally mid-May to October) and 9:00 a.m. the remainder of the year.
2. Eligibility
Only SMGA members that have paid their dues and have an established USGA handicap are eligible to compete in tournaments. Participation in the annual SMGA Championship Tournament requires that a member participated in at least five weekly and / or interclub tournaments. Consult with the SMGA Tournament Director if you have any questions.
3. Sign-up
You can only sign up using this Golf Genius Application. Please see the "How to Signup / Cancel for our Events" link in the Members Handbook for complete details.
4. Tournament Fee
Each member’s account will be charged a tournament fee of $7.00 ($6:00 during COVID) for participation.
5. Cancellation
If you need to cancel, please follow the same procedures as above. Note: When signed in your status for each event is displayed, just click the "Cancel Signup" button. However, if you fail to cancel before the deadline (usually 3:00 pm Tuesday) and do not show up for play on Wednesday, your account will be charged the standard tournament fee, and if it is a team event your partners will be really annoyed!
6. Check In (No Check In During COVID) However, you must be at your starting tee BEFORE your assigned tee time. If you are not more than five minutes late, the penalty is two strokes, after five minutes the penalty is DQ. IMPORTANT: We are using only Golf Genius electronic scoring:
Your score, as displayed on Golf Genius, is your official tournament score and assuring that your score for each hole is correctly entered into Golf Genius is your responsibility. You may find it helpful if you print out your scorecard from the PDF file attached to each emailed tee assignements. It is highly recommended that you verify each hole’s score on Golf Genius before losing contact with whoever entered your scores. The Golf Genius App provides numerous ways for you to personally check your score. However, if you choose not to check independently or to validate your scores with the one member entering the scores, you run the risk of submitting an incorrect score card. If you submit a hole score lower than your actual score the penalty is DQ, if you enter a score higher than your actual score the higher score stands (Rule 3.3b). You can easily check that your scores have been entered correctly by logging in to Golf Genius on your device, selecting “Hills SMGA”, and then selecting “SCORECARDS”. The scorecard for your group will be displayed and you can verify that your hole-by-hole scores have been entered correctly.
On tournament day, every player is requested to please check in with the Tournament Director at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. There is usually a rush at that time and it will take a few minutes to get checked in. Failure to check in with less than 20 minutes before start time could result in your spot being filled by an alternate player. The check in is handled by your officers and they usually are playing too and need a few minutes to get things finalized and get to their assigned holes.
7. Pace of Play
Pace of play is important to everyone’s enjoyment of the game and to get every group done at about the same time. The expected pace of play for our formats is less than 4:05. There is a "Pace of Play" line on your scorecard detailing the time you must be done with each hole. If you are really slow your group may be disqualified, consult our bylaws for complete details.
8. Some Key SMGA Local Rules See the SMGA By-Laws, Appendix C for the official list, but we limit the score on any hole to net double bogey, we have a drop zone on Hole 24, and you can drop a ball in the fairway if lost or out of bounds for two stroke penalty.
9. Forward Tees Program (Optional -- You just have to declare)
Most members play from the White Tee box during SMGA tournaments. However, any SMGA member may elect to play from the forward tees (selecting Gold or Green) if more than 50% of his GHIN handicap scores are from the selected forward tees. The Committee may grant a temporary exemption for those players transitioning from a different set of tees or establishing an initial GHIN handicap. See appendix D of the Bylaws for full details. (Note: we used to have an age restriction, but that has been removed.)
10. Closest to the Pin (CTP) (Optional) (Cancelled during COVID)
Closest to the pin competition will be played on every par 3 hole at each SMGA tournament. The closest to the pin will be determined using measuring tapes placed at each hole. Participation is optional. Sign up for the CTP will be in the Men’s Grille Room starting approximately one hour prior to the tournament start time. The CTP entry fee is $2. The total collection of entry fees will be paid out equally divided amongst the declared winners on the par 3 holes.
11. Hole-in-One Club (Optional)
A Hole-in-One Club is available to the SMGA membership. Members are encouraged to join the Hole-in-One Club. Dues are $5. Any Hole-in-One Club member making a hole-in-one during a weekly SMGA tournament, SMGA interclub tournament at home or away, SMGA Match Play Tournament or SMGA Championship Tournament will be awarded all dues collected. Should multiple hole-in-ones occur on the same day, the award will be shared equally by the players scoring a hole-in-one.
Revised Feb 18, 2021